CHAPTFR V

THE EXPERIHENThL COURSE

Thc chapter has th ree sections. The f i r s t sec t ion gives an

account of the context i n which the experimental course was

designed and implemented, the second g ives the ob jec t ives

and the methodology of the study adopted, and the t h i r d

analyses the classroom i n t e r a c t i o n on each u n i t of t h e

mater ia ls prepared.

5.1 CONTENT OF COURSE DESIGN

The Course i n Wr i t ing was f ie ld - tes ted i n the Pandi t

Jawaharlal Nehru College o f Agr icu l tu re , Karaikal ,

a f f i l i a t e d t o the Tamil Nadu A g r i c u l t u r a l Un ivers i ty ,

Coimbatore. The students were i n the F i r s t Year 0.Sc.

( A g r i c u l t u r e ) c lass and were twenty-four i n number,

cons is t ing of boys and g i r l s . They had compulsory Eng l ish

f o r on ly one t r imester from November t o February. The t r i a l

reported i n t h i s study las ted from November 1990 t o

February 1991.

The students had two hours o f prose a week, the t e x t

prescr ibed being U e r s t a n d i n a Technical Ena l ish by

Sudarsanam (1908) and a three-hour session f o r Composition,

c a l l e d P r a c t i c a l Class every week. No separate course book

on w r i t i n g was prescribed. There were a l together 20 hours

f o r prose and 10 three-hour sessions f o r composition dur ing

the t r imester .

The prescr ibed syl labus (Appendix - 0 ) broadly s ta tes

t h a t language s k i l l s have t o be imparted t o the students,

bu t does no t mention s p e c i f i c a l l y the w r i t i n g sk1115 t o be

developed. Further, the Engl ish teacher i s the course

teacher who se ts the c lass t e s t s as we l l as the f i n a l

examination and evaluates, r.e., there i s 100% i n t e r n a l

assessment wl thout any ex terna l examiner. This Q ives wide

scope t o the course teacher t o devise h i s own supplementary

m a t ~ r i a l s f o r teaching comporlt ion and adopt s u i t a b l e

classroom s t ra teg ies and appropriate evaluat ion procedures.

The study draws on the b e l i e f tha t , given teacher

autonomy, as i t was i n the present case, the course teacher

can design a course based on cur ren t theorxes o f learn ing

w i t h s u i t a b l e mater ia ls, keeping i n view the syl labus

requirement and the needs of the students.

The w r i t i n g course was made a par t of the o v e r a l l

teaching of Engl ish. Supplementary mater ia ls were used on

the c w r s e and the classroom approach and teaching

methodolopy adopted d i f f e r e d from the usual teacher-centred

approach i n v o l v i n g the use of sentence-level exercrses and

the prepara t ion of students only t o r a f i n a l examination.

The researcher used the two hours o f prose clams pmr week

t o deal w i t h the prose lessons t r y i n g t o help the students

understand the tex ts . The w r i t i n g course was, however.

f u l l y used t o lead the students through the varrous stages

i n the process o f w r i t i n g drscussed i n Chapter 111.

There were 49 students i n the f i r s t year and f o r

prose classes they s a t together. The c lass was, however,

drv ided i n t o two - Section A w i t h 24 students and Sect ion B

w i t h 25 students. The course i n w r l t i n g designed by the

researcher was t r i e d out w i t h Section A.

5.2 OBJECTIVES AND CLASSROOM METHODOLOGY

The ob jac t rves o f the present study were:

I) t o design a Wr i t ing Course w i t h top ics re levant

t o the students ' academlc and professional needs,

2 ) t o t r y out a process-oriented classroom approach

t o the teaching of w r i t i n g ,

3 ) t o e s t a b l i s h the r o l e o f the teacher i n the

classroom a s t h a t o f a f a c r l i t a t o r ra ther than o f

a d i c t a t o r . and

4 ) t o make the teaching of writing task-based w l t h a

view t o developxng i n the students the w r i t i n g

s k i l l s .

The study i s based on the research f ind ings discussed

i n the previous chapters t h a t I) w r i t i n g i s a means o f

exp lo r ing waning, 2 ) the syl labus should be learner-

centred r a t h e r than f u l f i l only the examination needs, and

3 ) w i t h appropr iate classroom s t ra teg ies , the teaching of

w r i t i n g can be made more purposeful and meaningful t o the

students.

Since the course was meant t o respond t o the language

needs of the learners, t h e i r needs were studied before

designinp the course through personal ln te rv lews ( ~ n f o r m a l

t a l k ) w i t h the s t a f f of the co l lege and an ana lys is o f the

p r e v i w s years ' c lass t e s t question papers s e t by the

m a r l i e r course teachers and the wescr ibed text-book.

5 .2 .2 I n teaching the var ious u n i t s , the students were

guided through the d i f f e r e n t stages o f w r i t i n g as explained

i n tht previous chapter. Refore the students could begin t o

wr i te , the task was thoroughly discussed w i t h the whole

c lass. The students were encouraged t o ask questions, r a i s e

doubts, and seek clarifications f r e e l y on any p o i n t

p e r t a i n i n g t o the task.

611 e f f o r t s were taken t o see t h a t the students d i d

n o t fo.1 i n h i b i t e d t o speak f o r fear o f producing

ungrammatical sentences. Whcn grammatically unacceptable

uttmrances were made, the researcher modif ied them by

rephraming them without i n any way disparaging the

s tudent 's e f f o r t . The pre-wr i t ing discussion had an

advantage i n t h a t correct ions, i f necessary, could be

c a r r i e d out a t the o r a l stage i t s e l f wi thout being c a r r i e d

over t o the w r i t t e n tex t . Therefore, once the students

bepan t o wr i te , they were no t s i t t i n g starry-eyed f o r want

01 ideas o r expressions.

Depending on the nature o f the tasks, the students

were sometimes i n s t r u c t e d t o discuss the top ics i n groups.

During these sessions, the researcher went round helping

the students and d i r e c t i n g the course o f the discussion.

Special a t t e n t i o n was paid t o the weak and the meek.

Generally, Eng l ish was used i n a l l the interactions, and

Tamll was used occasionally by the rural-based Tamll medium

students whenmver they f e l t the need.

The students were encouraged t o w r i t e one o r two

rough d r a f t s concentrat ing on ly on the organizat ion of the

c ~ n t e n t and no t t o f e e l constrained by grammar. Help was

provided dur ing t h e i r w r i t i n g through the researcher 's

p o s i t i v e i n t e r v e n t i o n a t the p o i n t a t which d i f f i c u l t i e s

arose. I n t h i s way, the students were given genuine

support when i t was most needed and could have the maximum

b e n e f i c i a l e f f e c t .

Once the students were ready w i t h t h e l r f i r s t d r a f t s ,

they were i n s t r u c t e d t o c i r c u l a t e them among the members of

thmir group f o r comments. They were given gu ide l ines t o

mvaluatm them w i t h reference t o cohesion, coherence, main

and support ing d e t a i l s , and o v e r a l l o rgan iza t ion of

content, etc.. The purpose o f both peer and teacher

eva lua t ion was n o t t o g ive gradeslscores, b u t t o provide a

use fu l feedback t o the students f o r improving t h e i r

w r i t i n g .

During a l l these a c t i v i t i e s , the teacher 's job was

perceived mainly as c rea t ing cond i t ions i n the classroom

t h a t would enable the students t o learn by being engaged i n

a c t i v i t i e s o r working on tasks, tha t i s , h i s r o l e was on ly

t o " s e t up condi t rons and activities t h a t would make i t

poss ib le f o r students t o operate w i t h language" (Murdock

1990115).

Since there was a need t o make students r e a l i z e t h a t

successive d r a f t s and painstaking attempts a t r e w r i t i n g

them would baar f r u i t , mvmry stmp was taken t o make them

r e a l i z e t h a t they would be successful, i f they were

d l l i p e n t , and t h a t effective w r r t i n g was no t e matter of

luck but thm r e s u l t of sustained e f f o r t . This was

necessary as many students have

the b e l l e f , sometimes well-grounded i n t h e l r

prmviw. experience, t h a t w r i t i n g teachers are

o p r i c i w s i n d i v i d u a l s , and tha t , therefore,

6uccess i n the w r i t i n g c lass w i l l have l i t t l e t o

do w i t h a b l l r t y o r e f f o r t . Thls be l ie7 hinders

t h e i r w r i t i n g e f f o r t (Mc Leod 19871430).

A5 there was a lso the need t o wean the students away

from the t r a d i t i o n a l , product-oriented approach, the

remearcher subt ly impressed upon them the need t o proceed

along the var ious stages of w r i t i n g w i t h i n t e r e s t .

Although successful w r i t e r s are t y p i c a l l y

unconscious o f t h e i r w r i t i n g processes ( thereby

f res ing t h e i r consciousness t o concentrate on

conten t ) , w r i t e r s who wish t o improve should make

themselves temporar i ly conscious o f t h e i r w r i t i n g

processes (Coe and Gut ierrez 1981:264 1 .

The process approach a lso requires "teachers t o

assume a less c o n t r o l l i n g r o l e , t o g ive up the no t lon t h a t

they 'own' knowledge" (Zame1 1987~701). This encouraging

r o l e instead o f a domineerrng one would help t o c rea te a

support ive atmosphere f o r the students t o work i n . I n t h i s

way, the teacher would p i v e them the freedom t o w r l t e w i t h

ease as we l l as the d i s c i p l i n e t h a t i s necessary t o blossom

i n t o good w r i t e r s .

Keeping the o v c r a l l deslgn of the course i n view,

s u i t a b l e supplementary mater ia ls were selected and used

w i t h the students. These mater ia ls were genera l l y

encountered by the students i n t h e l r ac tua l l i f e and

academic context - newspapers, magazines, text-books, and

seminars. They Were from Various sources and were thus

var ied i n nature. I n a d d ~ t l o n t o long tex ts , there were

shor t news writ=-ups and diagrams, ranging from text-book

mater ia ls t o conference papers.

The students t a k ~ n g the w r i t i n g course had j u s t

stepped i n t o the p o r t a l s of the co l lege from the h igh

school and were new even t o the main subject o f t h e i r

study, a g r i c u l t u r e . Hence, the mater ia ls were no t very

techn ica l i n nature, though they had a bearing on science,

p a r t i c u l a r l y agr lcu l tu re . They were, however, such t h a t

they c w l d be r e l a t e d t o the students ' personal i n t e r e s t s

and academic experience. They would serve t h e l r short-term

goals, i..., the need t o write laboratory repor ts f o r t h e i r

p r a c t i c a l c lasses, general assignments, tes ts , etc. as w e l l

as the long-tern goals of doing research, w r i t i n g semlnar

papers, etc. .

Since the aim o f the course was t o impart the w r i t i n g

s k i l l s and t o teach the students t o w r i t e reports, essays,

and memoranda, and t o i n t e r p r e t diagrams, charts, and

tables, the mater ia ls were selected rn a way t h a t they

could lend themselves t o such tasks. They were a150

designed t o provide f o r problem-solving a c t i v i t i e s , g i v i n g

scope f o r d ive rgen t views i n the a n a l y s i s o f t h e g iven da ta

dur ing dimcussions.

These functionally conceived m a t e r l a l s were lntended

t o make the writing course enr rch lnp f o r the s tuden ts and

t o enable t h e teacher t o p lan meaningful classroom

a c t l v i t l e s and move towards deslgnlng s e l f - l n s t r u c t r o n a l ,

task-based mate r ia l s . ficcordang t o a study made by Slngh

(1992:39), an overwhelmrng Bb% o f the s tuden ts o f

professional co l leges interviewed supported sel f -access

lea rn rng mate r la l s . Th ls suggests t h a t t h e students would

like t o take a personal rou te f o r l ea rn ing Enql1.h t o take

care of t h e l r l n d i v l d u a l needs.

Data were provlded f o r a l l the tasks so t h a t the

s tuden ts cou ld concentrate on o ther fea tu res o f wra t ing

l i k e o r g a n i z a t i o n and e f f e c t i v e p resen ta t ion of the

content . Since w r l t l n g p r r m a r l l y rnvo lves s e l e c t i o n and

organization o f rn fo rmat ion , the students must t h i n k about

those they would need t o s e l e c t f o r the purpose and present

them i n a coherent fashion. Rruner ( i n Mohanraj 1980) has

es tab l i shed through h i s research t h a t the c o g n i t i v e s k i l l s

t h a t a person al ready possessed would he lp h im t o t h l n k

i n d u c t i v e l y . Th is shows t h a t by exposing the s tuden ts t o

f a m i l i a r data, which they need t o manipulate and reproduce

i n a d i f f e r e n t manner, s tudents can be made t o w r i t e a-

we11 as t o th ink . Hence, i n the present study the students

were given data f o r a l l the tasks they had t o attempt.

Even the teaching of common grammatical s t r u c t u r e s

was task- and text-based. For example, a c t i v e and passive

cons t ruc t ions were d i f f e r e n t i a t e d through different k inds

of tents. Grammar l n s t r u c t i o n was a lso individualized

based on the e r r o r s of the students and was done dur ing the

r e w r i t i n g stage when the researcher evaluated and

reformulated the students ' n r l t i n g s . Utterances were

looked a t n o t I n isolation but w i t h reference t o the

contex t i n which they appeared. Grammar was there fore no t

t rea ted i n i s o l a t i o n but i n the context of forming

sentences t o convey meaning i n appropr iate s i tua t ions .

The teaching o f vocabulary too was t e x t - and task-

based. The students were made t o look a t words i n t h e i r

contexts.

The way t o understand the meaning o f a word i s t o

study i t i n the language game t o which i t

belongs, t o see how i t cont r ibu tes t o the

communal a c t i v l t y o f a group of language users.

I n general , the meaning o f a word 15 not i n an

o b j e c t f o r which i t stands, but ra ther i t s use as

a language (Kenny 1973:14 i n Nair 1991:78).

I n eva lua t ion , ttm focus was on f luency and con ten t

I n t h e e a r l i e r d r a f t s and on the mechanics of w r i t i n g on ly

i n t h e l a t e r ones. Eva lua t ion served as a feedback and

helped t o b e t t e r one's w r l t i n g . E f f o r t s were taken t o

impr rss upon the students t h a t mere mechanical p e r f e c t i o n

would n o t make f o r effective presen ta t ion of the content .

E r r o r s i n t h e s tuden ts ' w r i t i n g were used t o p lan ahead, as

suggested by Raimes (1983:22).

5.3 PILOT STUDIES

Before des ign ing the exper imental course repor ted i n t h i s

thes is , the researcher had attempted many p i l o t s t u d i e s

dur ing two years e a r l i e r a t the t e r t i a r y l e v e l . Two o f them

are o u t l i n e d below.

5 . Z . 1 The f i r s t one invo lved a c l a s s o f twenty students i n

a two-hour session. The o b j e c t i v e s were! a ) t o devise an

e f f e c t i v e p r e - w r i t l n g a c t i v a t y t o facilitate wr i t znp , b l t o

ge t s tuden ts invo lved and i n t e r e s t e d i n the m a t e r i a l

presented, c l t o develop i n them the a b i l i t y t o analyse the

m a t e r i a l f rom var ious p o i n t s of view, d ) t o enable them t o

communicate o r a l l y what they have understood before

w r i t i n g , and e ) t o make them t h i n k c r e a t i v e l y t o f i n d a

suitable t o p i c t o w r i t e on.

The m a t e r i a l s chosen were8 a) a news i tem t h a t had

appeared i n an E n g l i s h newspaper a month before, b ) an

e d i t o r i a l w r i t t e n on the inc ident reported i n the news

item, and c ) a few l e t t e r s t o the e d i t o r t h a t had fol lowed

the news i t c m and the e d i t o r i a l .

The news i tem wa. about a f i r s mishap t h a t had

occurred i n a match fac to ry i n Sivakasi i n Tam11 Nadu. I t

was a ghas t ly scene i n which were found the charred bodies

o f some ch i ld ren , who must have been employed against thm

labour laws.

Some students were given copies of the news rtem, a

few others the e d i t o r i a l , and the r e s t the four d i f f e r e n t

l e t t e r s addressed t o the ed i to r . They were i n s t r u c t e d t o

read through the t e x t s given t o them, exchan~e comments on

them or seek explanat ions or c l a r l f ~ c a t l o n s . They were

encouraged t o guess the meanings of un fami l ia r words from

the context , although the researcher had t o g ive the

meaning o f some o f those words himself.

One student presented h r s summary o f the news i tem t o

the c lass and the students w i t h the same mater la lc f i l l e d

the gaps i n h i s summary. The others w i t h the e d i t o r i a l and

the l e t t e r s were attentive t o the summary because what they

themselves had been given and had read would now be

understood b e t t e r o r i n a new l l g h t . The e d i t o r l a 1 and the

l e t t e r s beinp comments on the incident, the e d i t o r and the

l e t t c r - w r i t e r s had only al luded t o c e r t a i n par ts i n the

news item.

Neut, when the students w i t h the other mater ia ls

presented i n d i v i d u a l l y a summary o f what they had read, i t

was a k ind of an informatlon-gap f i l l i n g exercise. " I n

order t o promote r e a l communication between students, there

must be an informat ion gap between them. Without such a

gap the classroom a c t i v i t i e s and exercises w i l l be

mechanical and a r t i f l c l a l " (Richards u. 1985:140, i n

Slngh 1985). "Information i s we l l recelved only when there

i s doubt" (Cherry 1857:168, i n Singh 1985.) .

The mater ia ls given thus provided d iverse po ln ts o f

view on the same accident r n d i f f e r e n t genres - a news

repor t , an editorial, and l e t t e r s t o the e d l t o r . The

students ' o r a l presentations were fol lowed by a c r l t i c a l

ana lys is o f the ~ n c l d e n t , w i t h the researcher d i r e c t i n g the

discussion through comprehension questions.

Rf te r the discussion, the students were asked t o f i n d

a s u i t a b l e t o p i c t o w r l t e on i n an essay o f about 200

words. Since essay-wri t lng was a p a r t of the syl labus, the

experiment f u l f i l l e d a syl labus requirement too.

The researcher found t h a t newspaper mater la ls o f such

t o p l c a l , l o c a l and emotional ~ n t e r e s t gave much scope f o r

b r a ~ n s t o r m i n ~ and discussion among the students. Moreover,

top ics of t h i s k ind were a lso sometrmes given i n the

examination. This experiment proved tha t , t o create a

communicative s i t u a t i o n i n the classroom and t o generate

ideas f o r an essay, mate r ra ts from newspaper5 cou ld be

used e f t n c t i v n l y w i t h s u i t a b l e classroom s t r a t e g i e s .

5.3.2 I n the second study, the researcher t r i e d o u t a

method f o r g i v i n g t o a w r I t i n g task an audience focus,

purpose, and a touch of r e a l i t y . I t invo lved a s h o r t s to ry ,

'Half-&-Rupee Worth' by R.K.Narayan l n the prose t e x t

prescr ibed. I n the s t o r y , Subbiah, a r i c e merchant, 1 0 5 ~ ~

business owrng t o the i n t r o d u c t i o n o f r a t r o n i n g and so he

a p p l i e s t o r a l i c e n c e t o open a f a i r p r i c e shop t o s e l l

government-d ist r ibuted r i c e and o ther commodities.

Two tasks were constructed based on t h l s s l t u a t l o n l n

the s t o r y .

a ) The s tuden ts were i n s t r u c t e d t o w r i t e a l e t t e r as

Subbiah would t o the D i r e c t o r of C i v i l Suppl ies

seeking a l i cence t o open a f a i r p r l c e shop.

They had t o g i v e s t rong reasons why he should be

g iven a l i cence .

b ) They had t o imagine t h a t Subbrah met an o f f ~ c a l

i n the C i v l l Suppl ies Department and pleaded h i s

case f o r s l i cence . The students were asked t o

w r i t e o u t the d ia logue between Subbiah and the

o f f i c a l , i n which the o f f i c a l must seek d e t a i l s

about the former 's business and the l a t t e r had t o

press h i s case.

The advantages of the tasks were: a ) The context o r

the s i t u a t i o n i n the s to ry had a touch o f r e a l i t y , and the

l e t t e r had s s p e c i f i c purpose and a spec i f rc audience, both

o f them very Cruc la l t o r e a l - l l f e wr l t lng . b ) The students

could get i n t o the s p l r i t of the tasks and be a l i t t l e

c rea t ive , as they could i d e n t r f y themselves w i t h the

characters I n the s to ry . c ) The exercise. enhanced the

students ' vocabulary re levant t o the situation, and hence,

f a c i l i t a t e d t h e i r w r r t i n g o f a summary I n the examrnation.

These experiments on c e r t a i n aspects of w r i t i n g

served t o he lp i n the design of the process-orrented, need-

based W r i t i n g Course. The students ' ac t i ve p a r t i c i p a t r o n

i n the classroom dlscusslon, ther r involvement r n the

w r i t i n g o f the tasks, and the b e t t e r output could be

explormd I n a bigger way i n the design and e f f e c t i v e

implementation o f the Wr i t ing Course.

The f o l l o w ~ n g sec t lon gives an analysls of the mater ia ls

used i n the classroom on the experimental w r i t i n g course

and r e p o r t s on the lassr room ~ n t e r a c t l o n . Each session was

Of thrmm hours' dura t ion and there were a l together 10

sessions. The f i r s t sesslon was meant fo r administer ing a

pre-test .

5.4.1. The pre lpos t - tes t paper IOppendlx - E) had four

sect ions t o be attempted by the students. The f i r s t one

nason essay wr i t ing . The students had t o w r i t e an essay, i n

no t less than 150 words and n o t exceedrng 400 words, on

'Eucalyptus t r e e s ' . R controversy was raging then i n Tamil

Nadu about the b e n e f i c i a l and harmful e f f e c t s of eucalyptus

t rees on the ecosystem. The regional Tam11 rnagazrnes too

c a r r i e d a r t i c l e s and news items on the issue. Hence, the

t i t l e was t o p i c a l l y re levant t o the students a t t h a t time.

The students were provided w i t h the data co l lec ted from a

few a r t i c l e s so t h a t they could focus on the organizat ion

of rdeas without spending much time on generating the

content and other aspects. However, they had t o s i f t

through the data glven, manipulating them t o s u i t the focus

of t h e i r essay. They were ins t ruc ted t o use only the data

provided, s ince the focus was on t ra in rng them t o use the

a v a i l a b l e data.

The second sec t ion was on r e p o r t wr r t ing . The

students had t o w r i t e a r e p o r t as from the Revenue O f f i c e r

Of Thanjavur d i s t r l c t of Tamil Nadu t o the Mxnister f o r

R g r i c u l t u r c on the f lood s r t u a t ~ o n i n the d i s t r l c t . There

was a r e a l - l i f e purpose f o r the task - the Revenue O f f i c e r

has t o send repor ts on such calamitres as a matter of

r o u t i n e and as p a r t of h i s d u t i e s and r e s p o n s r b i l i t i e s , and

t o reek ass is tance f o r r e l i e f measures f o r the people.

There was a l s o a c l e a r sense o f the readership - the

Minimter f o r P ~ g r i c u l t u r e , i n t h i s case, who would need such

a r e p o r t t o take necesmary ac t ion . Here too, as i n t h e

previous sec t ion , the students were g iven the data, which

they had t o use t o prepare an e f f e c t i v e repor t . The

students were expected t o g i v e a form, present the

calamitous s l t u a t l o n r n a convincing way, and seek s u i t a b l e

ass is tance f o r r e l l e f operat ions.

The t h i r d sec t ion was on the use o f

rmperat iveslpassives, the most common sentence pa t te rns i n

the l a b o r a t o r y repor ts . Instead o f sentence- level

exerc ises, a t e x t was p lven p rov id ing a s u i t a b l e con tex t

f o r the s t r u c t u r e s and the students were asked t o use the

imperative and the passive s t r u c t u r e s I n a meaningful

d e s c r i p t i o n o f a process.

The f o u r t h and l a s t s e c t l o n was on note-making and

w r l t i n g an a b s t r a c t . The students were expected t o w r i t e

down the main p o i n t s / i d e a s o f the t e x t grven and produce an

a b s t r a c t o r a b r i e f summary o f l t .

5.4.2 R f t e r the p re - tes t was administered, regu la r c lasses

fo l lowed, f o r two three-hour sessions a week. CI un i t -w ise

a n a l y s i s of t h e m a t e r i a l s used and an account of the

classroom i n t e r a c t i o n are g lven below. The m a t e r i a l s a re

g iven i n Appendlx - F.

W: It consisted of f i v e sect ions. The f i r s t

s e c t i o n w i t h f i v e Passages was meant t o make the s tuden ts

aware of the sentence pa t te rns - passive, asser t i ve , and

impera t i ve - by a process o f Induc t ion . The students were

made t o l e a r n the appropr ia te s t r u c t u r e s i n contexts.

They were asked t o go through four passages - A, 8,

C, and D - and f l n d ou t the d i f fe rences and s l m i l a r i t i c s ,

i .e., they were asked t o see what sentence s t r u c t u r e s were

used and i n which con tex t o r contexts a particular mode o f

w r l t i n g o r speaking would be appropr iate.

Some came o u t w r t h the explanat ion t h a t , s lnce the

doers were many I n Text 0 and s ince a l l o f them were

impor tan t , t h e a c t i v e vo ice cons t ruc t ron was best s u i t e d

f o r t h i s k i n d o f d e s c r i b ~ n g a process. Text C was f e l t t o

be s u i t a b l e when someone had t o exp la in a process t o

someone e l s e i n a s ~ o k e n con tex t .

The s tuden ts were asked t o i d e n t l f y the verbs rn Text

A . I t was found t h a t the verb6 cou ld be grouped under two

p a t t e r n s - ( a ) - ed and ( b ) a r e - ed. Even &

c o u l d be l r s t e d under Pa t te rn ( a ) . The students

r e a l i z e d t h a t , f o r the l i m i t e d purpose of w r r t l n g

l a b o r a t o r y r e p o r t s , the passive cons t ruc t ion was more

appropr ia te . The students were then i n s t r u c t e d t o r e w r i t e

the imperat ives i n Text D i n t o the passive form as i n Text

h , and v i c e versa.

These t e x t - l e v e l exercises, instead o f sentence-level

ones, were aimed a t g i v i n g the students exposure t o the

common sentence s t ruc tu res of imperatives, act ives, and

passives i n meaningful contexts. The students general ly

have the no t ion t h a t a l l the ac t ive sentences i n the

Eng l ish language could be transformed by a mechanical

process l n t o passive sentences. Though actrve-passlve

t ransformat lon i s possible, they are n o t f r e e l y

interchangeable i n a l l contexts. These text-based

transformat ion exercises were given t o b r ing home t h i s

aspect o f the language t o the students.

I n Sect ion 11, sentences w i t h blanks f o r verbs were

given i n a jumbled order. These sentences descr ibe how

lea ther puppets are made. The students were served w i t h

p i c t u r e s (included I n the U n i t ) descr ib ing the method i n

the r i g h t order. By studying them, they had t o reorder the

jumbled sentences and f i l l i n the blanks w i t h the cor rec t

form6 o f the verbs supplied.

Some o f the students interchanged the two sentences,

- Jhe s k i n i s i roned out and The sk in i s dr ied. Many

students f i l l e d i n sentence ( e ) w i t h i s d r ied because ' l t '

became s t i f f , l i k e parchment. Though the exercise w i t h

P ic tu res appeared simple, i t set them th ink ing . The

students were a l s o encouraged t o exchange views w i t h t h e i r

neiqhbours, which generated L i v e l y discussion.

The students of agriculture were requ i red t o have

p r a c t i c a l work eaperlence i n the i l e l d s . They had t o

observe farm a c t i v i t i e s o r do some work themselves, and

document t h e i r observations o r work. Hence, i n t h i s

exerc ise, they were asked t o cbserve the process i n a c t i o n

and u r i t m about i t . TI,? verbs were suppl ied. However, i f

t he s t u d e ~ ~ t s were very advanced i n Englzsh, t h e supply of

verbs might be dispensed w i th . The a b l l i t y t o observe,

understand, and document was considered necessary f o r the

students.

I t was a c t u a l l y found t h a t the verbs had t o be

supp l ied even f o r the advanced l e v e l s tudents i n the c lass ,

because no one had any knowledge o f how puppets were made

and took some t ime t o sequence the p ic tu res . The verbs

supp l ied t o them, i n f a c t , helped them in sequencing the

steps. D i f f i c u l t i e s experienced by them on ly paved the way

f o r some hea l thy classroom ~ n t e r a c t l o n .

The t h i r d s e c t i o n was on ly a r e ~ n f o r c e m e n t of the

e a r l i e r s e c t i o n on imperat ives.

The f o u r t h s e c t i o n gave a f low-chart on how rubber o r

l a t e x was made. The students were asked t o descr ibe the

Process us ing passive verbs/ imperat lves. They were a l s o

asked t o use appropr ia te l i n k i n g words. Since the students

had t o l e a r n u l t i m a t e l y t o w r i t e coherent and cohesive

t e x t s , the use Of l i n k e r s was b u i l t i n t o a l l the exerc ises.

White (1980) suggests a lesson p lan t o teach

'process' through f low diagrams. F i r s t , s tudents can be

g iven s description of e process which they have t o

summarise i n t h e form of a f low diagram. 67 blank f l o w

diagram w i t h the r e q u i s i t e number o f boxes t o match the

s teps i n the process can be given on a worksheet. The

completed worksheet can then become a cue sheet f o r a

w r i t t e n recons t ruc t ion of the process. Secondly, a

completed f low diagram can be given t o a c t as a cue sheet

f o r t h e p roduc t ion of a w r i t t e n t e x t .

H r , however, cau t ions teachers t o avoid c o n t r a s t i v e

p resen ta t ion o f a c t i v e and passive forms, as t h l s would

confuse the students. I n a short - term programme w i t h the

f i r s t year s tuden ts o f a p ro fess iona l course, i t was f e l t

t h a t t h e r e was a need t o p r a c t i s e a l l the forms together.

Resides, the exerc ises were meant t o be a re inforcement of

what they a l ready knew I n the case o f some StudenE and, i n

the case of a few others, an introduction t o the

appropr ia te forms i n con tex t .

Tho f i f t h and l a s t sec t ron uas on w r i t i n g a s h o r t

Paragraph us ing active/passive/imperatiVe sentences,

d e s c r i b i n g how m i l k was processed. The process was

domcribmd i n s i n g l o word8 l i k e Purchase, Weiqhinq, and

Test ing. The students were asked t o read through the c h a r t

of words g iven and understand the process. They were then

r e q u i r e d t o w r i t e a paragraph w i t h appropr ra te l i n k e r s i n

any way they thought would be proper and e f f e c t i v e .

The var ious verb pa t te rns - ac t i ve , passive and

impera t i ve - were thus int roduced i n d i f f e r e n t ways -

through paragraphs, P ic tu res , and f low-charts. Paragraphs

cou ld be g iven i n f low-charts and v i c e versa. I n case any

s tuden t war good a t drawing, he cou ld at tempt a ske tch

a f t e r read ing the process from the paragraphs and f low

char ts .

U n i t 2. Th is u n ~ t was on note-making. G passage on

' I n s e c t s ' was g iven w r t h notes on i t as a model. The

s tuden ts were f i r s t asked t o go through the passage, make

no tes on i t , and then compare t h e i r notes w i t h the ones

given. They had t o see i f what they had w r i t t e n was

d i f f e r e n t and how t h e i r notes could be modi f ied i f

necessary. The model no tes were n o t grven t o t h e lea rners

t o be copied o r i m i t a t e d , b u t were shown t o them on ly a f t e r

they had attempted maklng notes on t h e i r own, t o b e n e f i t

from them.

Two students came out w i t h the fo l low ing sketchr

I Useful - Ex. Bees, Silkworms

Insec ts - I Harmful - Ex. Locusts, Mosquitoes

: Merely i n t e r e s t i n g - Ex. B u t t e r f l i e s ,

Ladybirds

Such a ske tch l t ree diagram format had already been taught

t o the students wh i le doing the prose lesson 'R igh t shape

f o r the game'. Students were ins t ruc ted t o make notes i n

any format, which would help them t o r e c o l l e c t the po in ts

l a t e r and develop them i n t o an essay.

I n the pa6Sage on 'Hero' , the students i n i t i a l l y had

some d i f f i c u l t y . Since ~t was about an event. they could

l i s t the ac t lons i n chronological order, one by one. The

purpose was t o make the students know t h a t the format of

notes would depend on the kind of tex t .

Model notes on two passages a and B - 'acqu i r ing

In fo rmat ion ' and 'Musical Instruments' - were given w i t h

blanks i n them t o be f r l l e d i n by the students. Since the

students had already attempted note-making, these exercises

were meant t o provzde fu r ther p rac t ice , i n case they had

s t i l l any d i f f i c u l t y w l t h t h i s s k i l l , o r f o r improving

t h e i r own understandlnp o f the technique by being exposed

t o o ther ways o f jotting down points.

The no tes on 'Pyramids' and 'Mal ta ' had every p iece

of i n fo rmat ion i n f u l l . They were given t o t h e s tuden ts t o

be improved upon. S t i l l , a few students i n the c l a s s took

down no tes i n complete sentences, o r phrases w i t h complete

verbs. The s tuden ts were the re fo re i n s t r u c t e d t o go through

Passages r? and R and r e c a p i t u l a t e how notes had been made

on them. Such models were found u s e f u l by the b r i g h t

s tuden ts t o improve on t h e i r performance and the weak

3tudents t o l e a r n from.

Thm notms taken by some o f the students were analysed

in t h e open c lass . For the second and the t h i r d paragraphs

i n the passage on 'Pyramids ' , the students came o u t w i t h

' e a r l i e s t pyramid ' and ' t h e l a r g e s t pyramid' as the two

main p o i n t s . I t was pointed o u t i n the d iscuss ion t h a t ,

~f they wrote down 'Step Pyramid' and 'Great Pyramid' as

the main rdeas, the subordinate ideas l i k e ' s i d e s go up r n

l a r g e s teps ' and ' t h e pyramid c o n s l s t s of more than two

m l l l i o n b locks of s tone ' would f r t the main ideas. Makrng

no tes thus rnvo lves n o t on ly s t o r r n g f a c t s t o r e t r l e v e them

l a t e r , b u t p u t t i n g the r e l e v a n t da ta / fac ts imaginatively i n

a compact form.

U n i t 3. Summarising. Th is u n i t on summarislng was

b u i l t on the prevrous u n i t of note-making. Students would

a l s o see t h e purpose and meaning behind tak ing c l e a r notes.

"Summaries mtem from notes" (Tickoo and Sasikumar

19791131).

Students were asked t o g i v e a summary o f the passage

on 'Ma l ta ' from the note5 they had taken. Everyone of them

p u t i n the summary the p o i n t s i n the order i n which they

were found i n the o r i g i n a l t e x t . One student , however,

began her summary w i t h a no te on M a l t a ' s importance as a

s t r a t e g i c area, which was found l a s t i n the t e x t . To her,

the passage on 'Ma l ta ' became re levan t because o f i t s

s t r a t e g i c importance. Thls became the foca l p o i n t o f

d i scuss ion i n the c l a s s and the students were g lven

i n s t r u c t i o n s on how, by g i v i n g a focus o r by p u t t i n g some

catchy phraseslsentences, the summary might be made t o

cap tu re the r e a d e r ' s a t t e n t i o n .

The usual way of summarising i s t o pu t i n the summary

the p o i n t s l i d e a s i n the same way as they appear I n the

o r i g i n a l t e x t . But here, the students were encouraged t o

use t h e poznts/ ideas o f the o r i g r n a l passage i n any

e f f e c t i v e way they l i k e d i n t h e i r w r i t i n g . I n t h i s way, the

task on summary w r l t i n g was a l s o used t o teach wa,,s t o make

v a r i e d b u t e f f e c t i v e o rgan iza t ion of ideas. The students

should l e a r n t o manipulate the ideas they f i n d i n the t e x t .

Moreover, the summary w i l l be "a clumsy p iece of work",

d i f f i c u l t t o read o r understand, i f the students merely

" take o u t sentences and phrases from a t e x t and p u t them

down l u s t as they are i n the summary". The students must

l e a r n t o use "own words and rearrange the ideas i n a new

o r d w as ( t h e y ) chose" ( C a r r o l l 1971:72).

Unit. Charts and Diagrams - students were g iven

c h a r t s and diagrams w ~ t h comprehension quest ions t o guide

them t o understand, i n t e r p r e t , and w r l t e a s h o r t paragraph

on them.

Two s k i l l s were expected of the students: a ) the

s k i l l o f i n t e r p r e t i n g the c h a r t s and diagrams, and b ) t h a t

of w r l t i n g s h o r t , meaningful sentences. For the students

of a g r i c u l t u r e , t h e s k i l l of represent ing ideas I n the form

o f diagrams and c h a r t s was q u ~ t e essen t ra l besides lea rn ing

t o c o n s t r u c t s h o r t , apt , giammatical sentences by way of

l n t e r p r e t l n p them. Charts and dlagrams are methods by

whlch in fo rmat ion can be r e t r i e v e d a t a glance when

s t a t i s t i c s a r e involved. The students who were weak i n

E n g l i s h a l s o f e l t conf ident t h a t the re were areas where a

minimum language s k i l l was requrred of them.

The c h a r t s and dlagrams grven were of va r ious types

and wsre meant t o be represen ta t rve samples. The students

c o u l d have been g lven data and asked t o prepare dlagrams

and c h a r t s based on the data, bu t t h l s task was n o t done

owing t o p a u c l t y o f t lme.

There were f l v e char ts . One o f t h e c h a r t s gave

d e t a i l s of percentage of expendi ture on Defence and

Educatron by n i n e c o u n t r i e s o f the world. I n one o ther

c h a r t , t h e r e were d e t a i l s of the number o f s tuden ts

e n r o l l e d i n the C i v i l Engineer ing and Mechanical

Engineer ing courses o f a U n i v e r s i t y . While i n t e r p r e t i n g

them and comparing the f igu res , the students cou ld use

s p e c i f i c s t r u c t u r e s l i k e the comparative and super la t i ve .

The s tuden ts r e a l i z e d t h a t the c h a r t s were the

qu ickes t means o f r e t r i e v i n g in fo rmat ion . To questrons

l i k e , 'Which c o u n t r i e s spend more on educat ion than on

defenceq' o r 'Which country has the hrghest percentage o f

expendi ture on defence compared t o the expendi ture on

educat ion?' , the students were ab le t o g rve the answers

eas11y.

The p resc r ibed t e x t Understandrnq Technical Enq l rsh

by Sudarsanam in t roduces s tuden ts t o two ways of

rep resen t ing in fo rmat ion - t a b l e s and tree-diagrams. The

t a b l e g i v e s a c l a s s i f i c a t r o n o f s o i l s w i t h chemlcal

composi t ion. I t has blank columns t o be f i l l e d and i t i s

fo l l owed by a d e s c r i p t r v e passage on the sub jec t . The

s tuden ts had t o read the passage given and f i l l i n t h e

columns i n the t a b l e s u i t a b l y . When the students were f ~ r s t

asked t o read through the passage, many of them cou ld n o t

exD la in the con ten t bu t when they were ~ n s t r u c t e d t o look

at the chart and fill in the blank. columns, they could

perform the task after some effort. Then, they could

explain the content of the passage in terms of the tabular

information. Thus the tabular form of presenting the

content of a passage was found to be an easier way of

explaining the passage.

Transferrlnp lnformatron from a table Into a test and

vice versa was done tak1nQ the mater~als from the

prescribed text (Ibid., 100-1013. The students were

required to study the table and present the information In

a paragraph of contrnuous writing. In the next exercise,

informatron was grven in a text and the students were

requlred to present the content in the form of a table. The

first exercrse served as a model. It was found that this

particular exercise - table-te%t transformation - fulfilled the specific needs of the students as the subject of their

study, agriculture, easlly provided for such exercises in

information transfer.

The inverted tree dlagram or the classification chart

was on 'Conductors of electricity'. The students were

requlred to write a short paragraph on the topic taklng the

details from the chart (Sudarsanam 1988:21).

Unit 5. Report-writing. The researcher chose the

general, administrative reporting of events/issues related

to agriculture. The flrst exercise related to the writing

o f a r e p o r t by the D i r e c t o r o r Secretary of the P lg r i cu l tu re

Department t o the S ta te M i n i s t e r on a mat te r o f t o p i c a l

importance. The o ther two were on s i m i l a r I rnes .

The news i tem from The Hindu dated 5 January 1991 was

used as a base f o r w r i t l n g a r e p o r t . I t was drscussed i n

the c lass , and the reasons f o r I n d i a stopplng the lmpor t o f

palm o i l from Malaysia were l i s t e d and w r i t t e n on the

board.

Why has I n d i a stopped the import7

1. F lush season i n the domestic market.

2. P r l c e has gone up - from 9300 t o $375 a

tonne.

3. The na lays lan government r a ~ s e d the export

duty on crude palm o i l from 2.68 t o 7.42

Malayslan d o l l a r s a tonne.

Dur lng t h e d iscuss lon some students presented the

vrew t h a t the p r r c e went up ( l l s t e d second above) because

the Malayslan government ra ised the ehport duty ( I l s t e d

t h l r d above). Though there were no c l e a r d e t a r l s r n the

news l t e m t o support the vrew. assumptions based on weak

evldence a l s o generated some dlscusslon.

The s tuden ts were i n s t r u c t e d t o w r i t e a r e p o r t . They

were asked t o imapine t h a t they were the D i r e c t o r o r

Secre ta ry of t h e O g r i c u l t u r e Department and had t o w r i t e t o

the M i n l s t e r f o r A g r i c u l t u r e asking him t o s t o p the impor t

of palm o i l from Malaysla g i v i n g v a l i d reasons. The purpose

of t h e r e p o r t was t o convince the government t h a t i t should

s t o p t h e import . The students were a l s o asked t o assume

t h a t they had t o w r i t e the r e p o r t i n October 1990. I t

should be w r i t t e n i n such a f o r c e f u l manner t h a t t h e news

repor tad on January 5, 1991 should become a r e a l i t y .

The students were g l i e n a few l e t t e r s t h a t would go

w i t h the repor ts , and l e t t e r s o f i n fo rmat ion from the

Department of FIgr icul ture, Government o f Pondicherry f o r

t h e format. The format of l e t t e r s / r e p o r t s was g iven f o r an

a n a l y s i s of t h e convent ions t o be fo l lowed. The s tuden ts

were asked t o concentrate on how bes t they cou ld make use

o f the g iven con ten t ~n w r i t i n g an effective r e p o r t .

The students evinced a l o t o f i n t e r e s t i n w r i t i n g the

r e p o r t . When some students expressed t h e i r doubts about the

use fu lness of the da ta on the rmport o f petroleum crude

from Malaysia, they were t o l d t h a t they cou ld omit what

they considered t o be i r r e l e v a n t data, b u t one s tuden t

wrote i n h i s r e p o r t thus: "Since there i s the Gulf C r i s i s

and t h e p r i c e of petro leum has gone up, t o o f f s e t t h e p r i c e

rn petro leum pr i ces , the impor t o f palm o i l must be

c u r t a i l e d . Moreover, the re i s the f l u s h season."

The news i t e m from The Hindu - ' I n d i a stops impor t of

Palm o i l from Malaysia ' - had on ly 146 words b u t provided

f o r meaningful and l i v e l y classroom i n t e r a c t i o n . The

con ten t was au then t i c in fo rmat ion and was an uptodate news

of n a t i o n a l importance. The students ' concen t ra t ion was on

e f f e c t i v e manipulat ion of the data srnce content and format

were a l ready given.

The news on 'hybr rd tomato' appearing i n The Hlndu

dated 7 January 1991 formed a s u i t a b l e m a t e r i a l f o r another

repor t . It was a matter r e l a t e d t o a g r i c u l t u r a l research

and so f o r the students l t had some re levance t o t h e i r

sub jec t . They had al ready experienced w r i t i n g a r e p o r t and

known the format. With data suppl ied, they thought o f

n ~ a n l p u l a t i n g the data I n a more e f f e c t i v e way than they had

done e a r l l e r .

The then Vice-Chancellor o f Annamalai University t o l d

Presspersons t h a t the agriculture f a c u l t y of the Unrvers i t y

had evolved ' a hybr rd tomato' and he o u t l i n e d a scheme t o

t r a n s f e r technology from the labora to ry t o the land and

t r a r n the v i l l a g e youth. The students were asked t o w r i t e a

r e p o r t on t h i s sub jec t . The s imulated situation was t h a t

they had t o lmapine themselves t o be the Head of t h e

Department of P l a n t Breeding, and w r i t e t o the Vice-

Chancel lor about the outcome o f the research which the

department had undertaken on ' h y b r i d tomato' and suggest

s teps t o b r i n g the b e n e f l t t o bear on the r u r a l mass. Since

the Vice-Chancellor would have t a l k e d t o the presspersons

on ly on the a u t h o r i t y of an authentic in fo rmat ion / repor t

from the A g r r c u l t u r e Facu l t y o f the Un ive rs i t y , the r e p o r t

which t h e s tuden ts were requ i red t o w r i t e assumed

importance.

The n e x t exerc ise i n r e p o r t - w r i t i n g on 'Signs o f

d r i n k i n g water shortage' had a s i m i l a r news i t e m as the

basis. The C o l l e c t o r of any d i s t r i c t of Tamrl Nadu i n which

t h e r e were i n d i c a t i o n s o f water shortage i n February even

be fo re the onset of summer had t o w r i t e a r e p o r t on t h e

problem t o the department concerned a t the s t a t e c a p i t a l

and suggest s teps t o meet the shortage. The students were,

the re fo re , requ i red t o present the r e p o r t from the

C o l l e c t o r ' s p o i n t of view.

These exerc ises pave scope f o r ' c r e a t r v i t y ' . F i r s t ,

the s tuden ts had t o view the sub jec t from a p a r t i c u l a r

p o i n t o f view and trme. Secondly, the tense s t r u c t u r e o f

t h e sentences had t o be changed t o s u i t the con tex t . As

aga ins t sentence- level t rans fo rmat ion of sentences, t h e

r e p o r t provided a meaninpful, con tex tua l i sed s i t u a t i o n t o

use t h e appropr ia te tense. The t h i r d and l a s t exerc ise on

water-shortage provided more scope f o r c r e a t i v i t y . The

s tuden ts had t o use the in fo rmat ion t o emphasise t h e

e f f e c t i v e steDs t o be taken t o meet the water shortage.

To some students w i t h a sound knowledge o f Engl ish,

t h i s would be an oppor tun i t y t o show t h e i r f l a i r f o r

language. They p i c t u r e d the situation g r a p h i c a l l y . The weak

s tuden ts too f e l t encouraged t o do the task. Uslng the

convent ional form of w r i t i n g the repor t , they made very few

mod i f i ca t ions i n the in fo rmat ion provlded. A few weak

students were poor i n changing the sentences t o s u i t the

t ime of the repor t , b u t a l i t t l e guidance from the

researcher helped them t o overcome the problem.

W. The home assignment, the w r i t i n g of an essay

i n about 400 t o 500 words, was aimed a t r e l n f o r c i n p i n the

s tuden ts the sk111s o f w r i t i n g a l ready taught and

developing these s k i l l s f u r t h e r . The theme o f the essay was

' t h e need t o preserve f o r e s t s ' .

The m a t e r i a l s were newspaper repor ts , an a r t i c l e on

t h e t o p i c i n a newspaper, an a r t l c l e from the Time

magazine, and a semlnar paper. They were thus from varrous

sources w i t h v a r l a t r o n s i n r e g l s t e r t o f a m i l i a r i s e the

s tuden ts w i t h va r ious modes o f rep resen t ing the

in fo rmat ion / f a c t s . With the p resc r ibed t e x t Understandinq

Technical E n a l l s h g i v i n g one mode o f w r l t i n g - essays on

science - the m a t e r i a l s g iven provlded d i f f e r e n t forms o f

w r i t i n g . Moreover, the newspaper c l i p p i n g s and a r t l c l e s on

science were meant f o r the general p u b l i c and the semlnar

papers were by s p e c i a l i s t s meant f o r o thers i n the f i e l d .

With seminars and conferences becoming a forum f o r

p u b l i s h i n g and ga ther ing in fo rmat ion , the students were

given t h e two papers. The Ind ian Exoress, a w ide ly

c i r c u l a t e d n a t l o n a l newspaper, and the m, an

i n t e r n a t i o n a l magazine, were brought t o the c l a s s and the

s tuden ts were exposed t o t h e i r language.

Though the students were g lven gu ide l ines on s tudy ing

the problem of de fo res ta t ion from c e r t a i n angles, they had

the freedom t o make use o f the m a t e r i a l s i n any way they

thought f i t , provlded they stuck t o the maln theme. By

being served w i t h m a t e r i a l s from var ious sources, the

students were made t o understand t h a t data could be

c o l l e c t e d from any source providmd they warm r e l e v a n t t o

the main theme o f t h e i r w r i t i n g . The m a t e r i a l s given, they

were t o l d , might have a l o t o f data i r r e l e v a n t t o the

t o p i c . They had t o lea rn t o s i f t the g r a i n from the cha f f ,

o r t o know how t o make the data re levan t t o the t o p i c .

Wi th the p r a c t i c e gained e a r l i e r Ln note-making and

summarzslng I n the c lass , the students cou ld at tempt t h l s

home assignment us ing bo th the sk111s. They had t o c o l l e c t

da ta from var ious sources and organize them i n t o a coherent

and cohesive t e x t . The students were r n s t r u c t e d t h a t they

should compu lsor i l y take m a t e r i a l s from a t l e a s t th ree

s o u r ~ e s t o enhance t h e e f fec t i veness of the essay. Thrs was

done t o ensure t h a t the students d i d n o t r e s t r i c t t h e r r

read ing t o on ly one source - say, the semlnar paper o r t h e

a r t i c l e - and merely summarise i t . The s tuden ts were

a l s o r e q u i r e d t o c i t e the sources.

The s tuden ts were i n s t r u c t e d t o use the da ta givmn as

much as poss ib le . They cou ld a l s o g ive t h e i r views and

comments on t h e data. Since the purpose of the assignment

was t o develop i n them the a b i l i t y t o read, understand, and

i n t e r p r e t the data and use them i n an essay g i v i n g i t a

purpose and focus, they were n o t ewpected t o go t o o ther

sources f o r more d e t a i l s , though they were n o t discouraged

f rom doing so. Moreover, the d e t a i l s they were g iven were

f e l t t o be adequate f o r an essay t o be submrtted i n a

f o r t n i g h t .

The home assignment was a l s o g iven t o wean the

s tuden ts away from the t r a d i t i o n a l rote- learnrng,

euaminatlon-orrented and set-book study, f o r i n t h i s

assignment t h e r e was no scope f o r memorising any

in fo rmat ion . The s tuden ts had t o keep the m a t e r i a l s be fo re

them, c o l l e c t the r e l e v a n t data from them, and prepare the

essay. U n l i k e i n the examlnat lon con tex t , the students were

n o t bound by r i g i d t ime and place. Instead, they were g iven

a f o r t n r g h t i n which they cou ld complete the task a t t h e i r

convenience a t home/ i n the hos te l . They were n o t asked t o

g l v e merely a summary o f what they had read b u t p i v e a

focus t o the essay w i t h a l l the ideas c o l l e c t e d from the

various sources w i t h reference t o the c e n t r a l theme.

Note-making and summarislng done i n the e a r l i e r

sessions i n the c l a s s were l i k e sub-uni ts ac t rng r n t h e

background t o the present task. Here the two s k i l l s were

r e i n f o r c e d and made meaningful by he lp ing the students w i t h

the b igger and more important task of w r i t i n g an essay/

assignment. The assignment was meant t o mot i va te the

s tuden ts t o read the t e n t s w l t h an eye f o r in fo rmat ion ,

which cou ld then be used f o r academrc purposes.

I n eva lua t ing the essay, the students were guided t o

read through i t w i t h a focus on the organizatron o f ideas.

Once they f i n i s h e d w r r t r n g the assignment, the f o l l o w i n g

gurde l ines were g lven, and dur lng one of the sessions, they

re read t h e i r essays i n the l l g h t of these

gu ide l ines :

I . W r l t e the t o p i c sentence o r the main idea of the

paragraph i n the margin. I f the re i s more than one

main ~ d e a , s p e l l them out .

2. I f the re 1s o n l y one main idea, i d e n t r f y the r e l e v a n t

and r r r e l e v a n t ideas. I f the re 1s more than one idea,

s p l i t them and w r i t e as many paragraphs as necessary.

3. Oncm tho main ideas and the ruppnr t inp idmas a re

g iven, f r n d o u t what cohesive devices a re used.

4. F i n d o u t ~f the essay has a c l e a r i r l t r o d u c t i o n and an

ending. If there i s no l n t r o d u r t r o n o r ending, supply

i t .

5. Look a t each of the r e - w r i t t e n paragraphs f o r t h e

main ideas and r e l e v a n t support ing ideas.

6. F i n d o u t how the main ideas are developed - throuph

s p e c i f i c instances, comparisons , etc. .

7. F i n d o u t l f the conclusion g ives a sense o f

complet ion t o the composi t lon.

The s tuden ts were asked t o eva lua ta the assay

c r i t i c a l l y w i t h the he lp of these gu ide l ines . Such

guidelines make apparent t o the students the c r i t e r i a w l t h

which t h e composi t ions a re evaluated. They a l s o provxde

them w i t h the framework t o Improve t h e i r own w r i t i n g . I n

the absence o f such gu ide l ines , i t i s n a t u r a l f o r t h e

s tuden ts t o work towards mere mechanical p e r f e c t i o n i n

t h e i r w r i t i n g .

I n the present case, even though some o f t h e s tuden ts

d i d n o t f u l l y succeed i n r e w r i t i n g the essay based on the

guidelines, they a t l e a s t became aware o f what they had t o

look f o r i n an essay and what c o n t r i b u t e d t o an e f f e c t i v e

p resen ta t ion of l n fo rmat lon o r ~ d e a s .

5.9 CONCLUSION

The course was designed w i t h a vlew t o guide t h e s tuden ts

through the var ious stages o f w r i t i n g . M a t e r i a l s were

se lec ted from var ious sources w i t h an eye on a g r i c u l t u r e , a

s u b j e c t which i s o f d i r e c t i n t e r e s t t o the students. The

p r e - w r i t i n g a c t i v l t i e s , group I n t e r a c t i o n , peer evaluation,

r e v i s i o n s , and the teacher ' s p u i d e l l n e s have a l l

c o n t r i b u t e d t o c r e a t i n g ari atmosphere f o r e f f e c t i n g w r i t i n g

a c t i v i t y . The students a t tend ing the sessions, each of

three-hour dura t ion , found them u s e f u l and mot i va t ing , as

is ev iden t from t h e i r responses t o the statements i n the

ques t ionna i re administered towards the end of the course,

and the d e s i r e o f some students f o r a longer d u r a t i o n o f

the course. They showed i n t e r e s t desp i te t h e i r havrng a

t i g h t schedule o f attending classes r n t h e l r m a m sub jec ts ,

sc ience p r a c t i c a l s , t e s t s , and assrgnments.