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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

15th

April 2017. Vol.51. No.1

© 2012-2017 TIJOSS & ARF. All rights reserved

ISSN 2305-4557 www.Tijoss.com

1

THE TEACHING OF WRITING SKILL AT THE UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL:

A CASE STUDY IN BANGLADESHI PESRPECTIVE

Hossain Ahmed, Lecturer in English

International Islamic University Chittagong

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This small study investigates the ways or techniques teachers generally adopt in their

writing classes at the undergraduate level in one university. Two separate questionnaires

have been used to elicit information from students and teachers to know how they handle

the writing tasks in the class. All the interviewees both students and teachers have been

interviewed individually so that transparency and confidentiality is maintained

throughout the data collection process. The research questionnaires mainly stress on the

approaches of the writing skill: product approach, process approach and genre

approach. The extracted information shows that students have a tendency towards

product approach to writing as a skill rather than process approach. At the same time,

regarding the teaching of writing, the research has brought to light a number of issues

such as pre writing activities, erratic practice of giving feedback, and negligence of

taking preparations including a good lesson plan, lack of selecting the writing tasks and

eventually students’ lack of practicing the writing regularly.

Key Words: Approach, Feedback, Communicative skill, Mechanics, ELT, Questionnaire.

1: Introduction

Teaching English is an interesting

experience, but it is also a very challenging one

in EFL context like Bangladesh. In our country

we have a long history of English learning and

teaching where the challenge for the teachers is

very basic as the average learner often comes to

the classroom without basic skills. Many of them

never reach the full potential in their professional

lives because of this shortcoming. Students are

aware of their own difficulty in writing but their

efforts to improve their skill are often spoilt by

the gap between their own understanding and the

teachers’ expectations. The situation is further

worsened by the unsatisfactory quality of

teaching and the want of suitable teaching

materials. Writing as a skill is always a

challenging task for the students, indeed to some

extent daunting due to the lack of proper

initiative or orientation.

At tertiary level students have to study

English language in various titles such as

Foundation English, English Proficiency course,

Remedial English, Advanced English and so on

in the undergraduate programmes. These courses

mainly stresses on grammatical rules which are

taught in descriptive method. Alongside other

areas of the language, they are also required to

attempt some writing such as paragraph, letter,

story-completing and composition.

All the aforementioned writings are merely

some set activities which students prefer to

memories from books available to them for exam

purpose. The objectives of these types of writing

often get little or no importance which indicates

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two main assumptions responsible for such a

declining condition of students in achieving

writing skills. These happen either because

students do not get proper motivation or because

teachers don’t take writing activities seriously.

Of the four basic skills writing and

speaking are productive while listening and

reading are receptive skills. It is said that writing

is discouraging to most students (Sultana,

2000:p155). No accurate explanation has ever

been given by any researchers or by any teachers

to reduce the fear of students. Despite this

everyone at least has his/her own explanations

behind such declining condition in achieving

writing skill. It is noteworthy here that the

students who take admission into this university,

have completed twelve years of education in

which they have read English as their

compulsory subject.

In this small study I have analysed the

ways of how writing is taught in the classroom

situation and the subsequent problems facing the

students while improving writing as one of the

fundamental skills of language.

2: Rationale for Choosing this Topic

In the countries like ours where English is

used as ‘second or foreign language’ (Banu:

2003), practice and development of it is very

limited except in some areas such as

international business and foreign

communication. It is certainly true that students

start learning English from class one in Bangla

medium and from nursery in English medium.

By the time they complete higher secondary

level, they will have finished twelve years of

schooling and are expected to have developed all

the four skills upto the desired level. When they

enter university for higher education, they should

do the tasks for improving further the learned

skills. But reality is quite the opposite, at least

my experience as a language teacher at the

university level proves so. Moreover, Quader

(2007:23) records the observations of the

practicing teachers at the higher secondary and

tertiary levels regarding the low proficiency at

the entry point

Many teachers repeatedly stressed that

students entered the HSC level with very low

proficiency. They said, ‘The students cannot

write even a sentence correctly.’ This is largely

of the manner of testing at the lower public

tuitions, memorization of the questions from

notebooks, and adopting unfair means, students

will not have the proficiency necessary for the

higher level of education. (Quader, 2007:23)

As such in our day-to-day affairs we use

the writing skill much less than other three skills:

speaking, listening and reading. It happens due

to our monolingual environment, in which we

hardly use English other than Bangla, unless we

are compelled to do. However, the writing tasks

students do are very limited and almost set-type

which do not require them much practice and

skill. Nor do students need to be creative to write

them. When students admit into university they

suffer very much for the lack of proper

orientation. In true sense they should improve

their language skill here. I have felt interested to

study the ways how they are taught the writing

skill to develop their communicative skill. This

interests me most as a language teacher.

Moreover it involves the development of the

potential students.

3: Research Objectives

As a language teacher, I feel interested to

investigate the issue as the importance of writing

skill is beyond measure in the case of

commutative competence and knowing the texts

of the famous writers in the target language.

Moreover the person, whose writing capacity is

sound, is sure to get better jobs in the

competitive market. It is also essential to know

at which approach learners feel comfort and what

mechanics are suitable to break through writing

skill. Above all this small study has investigates

the ways or techniques teachers generally adopt



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in their writing classes at the undergraduate level

in the university.

4: Research Question

1. How is the writing skill taught at

the undergraduate level?

2. What areas of writing are mainly

focused in the teaching of writing

skill?

5: Literature Review

The most important reason for teaching

writing of course is that it is a fundamental skill

of language, just as important as speaking,

listening and reading. Students need to know

how to write letters, how to put written reports

together, how to reply to advertisements and

increasingly, how to write using electronic

media. In order to know how the writing skill is

taught in the classroom situation, particularly at

tertiary level, it is important to be informed of a

number of issues related to writing such as

approaches to writing, cohesion and

cohesiveness, using of meaningful tasks in

developing writing and finally covering feedback

in writing including peer feedback etc. to the

written tasks of the students.

5.1: Approaches to Teaching Writing

Teaching writing as a skill mainly depends

to a great extent on approach the teacher is

practicing in the class. Teaching professionals

practice a number of approaches to teaching

writing in the classroom context.

The effectiveness of a particular approach

depends on a number of things e.g. the rationale

or nature of writing, students’ level, the

underlying philosophy, or even just personal

approach. (Ahmad, 2005:92)

Sultana (2003:157) elaborates different

approaches to teaching the writing skill in the

classroom. Mainly she focuses on the product

approach, process approach and genre approach.

Eventually she also presents a synthesis of the

process and genre approaches.

5.2: Product Approach

Pincas (1982) explains that ‘the product

approach to teaching of the writing skill is

influenced by the structural and behavourist

learning of theories of L2 learning that were

practiced in the 1960s. It therefore gives

importance to structures, appropriate vocabulary,

syntax and cohesive devices. Students in this

approach are involved in sentence formation and

grammar exercises. Classroom activities include

imitation, copy and transformation of the correct

sentences. (as cited in Sultana,2003)

In the product approach to writing

according to her, learners usually observe four

steps: familiarsation, controlled writing, guided

writing and free writing:

1. In familiarization step:

students require filling in gaps,

to complete sentences,

transform the tense form or

persons and complete other

exercises in the text that they

make them gain linguistic

accuracy and overcome the

common mistakes.

2. In the controlled step: students

practice some fixed patterns

generally from the substitution

table. This makes them attain

the structural knowledge of

language.

3. In the guided writing step:

learners practice the skills

which they have already

gained, with increasing

freedom and copy or imitate a

model of the text.

4. In the free writing step:

students with their skills which

they have acquired by this time



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through the cyclic process

begin to write letters, stories or

essays.

5.3: Process Approach

Process approach principally emphasizes

on the ‘the linguistic skill’—the skill which

students use in the process of writing to come to

the product, i.e., the writing / text. It is widely

used approach in second language writing and

focuses on the ‘linguistic knowledge’ which

enables students to produce the product, i.e. the

writing. According to Janet Emig (1971, cited in

Sultana,2003) ‘ writing is a nonlinear in nature

and students simultaneously go through various

stages repeatedly while they compose such as

rehearsing, drafting, and revising until they

discover meaning.’ She quotes Jordan (1997)

saying that the product approach to writing

emphasizes the finished product of writing, i. e,

the text. It includes several exercises on a certain

model of writing. Through these exercises

students are expected to learn the structure,

organization, cohesion, grammatical aspects and

then to produce similar text by themselves, on

which they are assessed.

She quotes Badger and White (2000:154)

making distinction between product and process

approaches to teaching writing. They say that the

product approach focuses on the ‘linguistic

knowledge’ which enables the students to produce

the product i.e. the writing, while the process

approach focuses on the ‘linguistic skills’ the

skills students use in the process of writing to

come up with the product i.e. the writing. In the

case of the process approach to the writing, she

also notes that students go through four stages:

pre writing, composing/drafting, revising and

editing.

i. Pre-writing stage: students,

after selection of the topic do

brainstorming, collecting data,

note taking and outlining etc.

ii. Composing: they get down the

ideas on paper.

iii. Revising: students responding

to feedback do reorganizing,

style, adjusting to readers,

refining ideas.

iv. Editing: they check and

correct form, layout, evidence

etc

Initially students learn to identify four

elements such as, the audience, the generation of

the ideas, the organization of the text and its

purpose. The four steps mentioned crate a ‘cyclic’

process in which students can move backward and

start pre-writing again if needed.

5.4: Genre Approach

Third and last one is genre approach. To

some degree it is ‘an extension of the product

approach.’(Xu2000, as cited in Sultana2003) It

mainly focuses on the linguistic aspects of writing

as in the product approach. According to Sultana

(2003:162) it emphasizes the importance of

incorporating those genres in writing tasks that are

crucial to educational and social discourses. The

samples of genre include sales letters, research

articles, recipes, or reports linked with different

situations. This approach involves students in

three stages which are follows:

1. Modeling the target genre.

2. The construction of the text.

3. The independent construction in the

fashion with the given genre.

5.5: Interconnection between the approaches

Regarding the synthesis of the process and

genre approaches Badger and White (cited in

Sultana: 2000) say that writing involves

knowledge about language (as in the product and

the genre approaches), knowledge of the context

in which writing happens and especially the

purpose for the writing (as in the genre

approach) and skills in using language (as in the



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process approach). Writing development

happens by drawing students’ potential (as in the

process approach) and by providing input which

the students respond (as in the product and genre

approach).

She says that through the writing students

gain control over their thoughts. The teacher’s

responsibility is to help foster learners to achieve

control over the written task.

Next she focuses on the process approach to

writing which is more concerned with compiling

method. This approach perceives writing as a

creative task and thus teaching mainly gives

emphasis on involving students in various

creative writing. It considers writing as a

recursive process of modification and rewriting,

which eventually leads to the final draft of

writing. Her final comment regarding teaching

writing skills is mention worthy here:

However regardless of the

approach in the pedagogy of

writing, good writing needs

a multitude of skills on

content, organization and

style, including the

conventions of writing

English…(Ahmad,2005)

So we see that process writing focuses on

the writer, the creativity and individualism of

writing. It also emphasizes on the process of

writing as a whole starting from the prewriting

stage involved in generating ideas to the editing

of the draft. Here the main concern is the form

and structure, and there are many writing text

and methodology books, which ‘contain no

grammar reference or instructional component’

at all.

5.6: Mechanics of Writing

The writer (student) requires observing

some conventions of writing skill in order to

develop the effective writing skill. These include

legible hand writing, spelling, structures,

punctuation, cohesion and coherence. Harmer

(2003) argues that ‘though punctuation is

frequently a matter of personal style, violation of

well-customs makes a piece of writing look

awkward to many readers.’

He also focuses on neatness and legibility

of handwriting since it often affects the reader

when assessing the content of the write-up. He

then moves to generalize the problems which

students often face while doing writing tasks. He

says that spelling mistakes and violation of

punctuation and faulty layout etc. are some

common problems.

Ahmad (2005) has discussed how discourse

analysis can facilitate the goal of teaching

effective writing. After having identified written

discourse as an important organ of discourse

analysis, she illustrates the grammatical

correlations within a text and also explains how

structures in text build links between sentences

and paragraph assisting ‘in the progression of the

whole text’ (Mc Carthy1991). She has also

opined that discourse analysis can be a useful

means for teachers teaching writing in English.

5.7: Using Meaningful Task in Developing

Writing

It is extremely important to be careful to

select tasks for practicing the writing in the

class. The selection of meaningful tasks

facilitates learning. Harmer (1998) describes

different ways of selecting the writing tasks in

the classroom situation from elementary to

advanced levels. He has shown four model

examples which he thinks may be effective in

the classroom teaching of writing task. The

models are as follows:



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1. Writing postcards for the elementary

level.

2. Altering dictations for the intermediate

level.

3. Matching the newspaper headlines with

the stories they come, for intermediate

/upper intermediate level.

4. Report writing for the advanced level.

He also gives importance on arranging

the writing task according to the age, interest and

level of the learners. Furthermore he suggests the

teachers to make the learners familiar with some

of the writing conventions such as punctuation

and paragraph construction etc. He also

recognizes the importance of writing skill just as

speaking, listening and reading. It seems that the

writer has aptly explored various ways of

preparing and selecting writing tasks effective in

the class.

5.8: Feedback on Written Task

Feedback in general is a response or

reaction from one person to something that one

does. This information can be used to assess or

improve one’s performance. In language

teaching class feedback is an indispensable tool

for assessment and improvement of learning the

target language.

Jordan (1997, cited in Khan2002)

challenges that ‘no matter what kind writing

students undertake students will need feedback

regarding its acceptability, quality and accuracy.’

Feedback from the teacher will help students to

see their strengths and weaknesses in writing and

to keep on improving their written product

according to the teacher’s comments and

suggestions. So it is nothing new.

Khan (2003) has laid stress on giving

feedback for the acceptability, quality and

accuracy of the writing task undertaken by the

students. She also talks about different stages or

steps of writing e g. planning, drafting, revising

and editing. She considers feedback as an input

from the reader (assessor) to the writer with the

effect of providing information to the writer for

revision if necessary. Besides other roles of the

teacher, she thinks that the teacher provides

authoritative feedback on students’ performance.

She criticizes the very limited role the teacher in

the traditional writing classroom. She has

explored different types of approaches to

feedback. In short it is seen that the writer has

assembled much more devotion to feedback

outlining its various forms and advantages.

5.9: Peer Feedback

In language learning and teaching giving

feedback, it is acknowledged, is very important

since it gives proper guidance for the ongoing

progress of the learners. Feedback can be of two

types- feedback from the teacher to the students

and from students to students, which is known as

peer feedback. According to Sultana (2000) the

peer feedback is essential in language learning

for several reasons. First peer feedback makes

classes interactive. Such interaction between the

students eventually affects students’ language

learning.

Secondly students become critically

involved when they comment on grammatical

and stylistic aspects of each other’s

compositions. This sort of practice not only

improves their immediate composition but also

increases their long-term writing ability. She also

opines that peer feedback puts students at ease

since there is no traditionally authoritarian role

of the teacher.

Sultana (2001) has endeavoured to prove

empirically and theoretically how peer feedback

is effective in writing classroom. She has also

shown reasons behind this sort of feedback. She

seems to be principally confined to peer

feedback in ESL context rather than in EFL

environment. Peer feedback as she argues, not

only improves the learners’ immediate

composition but also increases their long term

writing ability. She observes with dismay that in



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fact the way teachers mark students’ answer

scripts proves their preoccupation with testing of

students, not of the writing. Consequently this

practice that does not conform to any rational

approaches to writing fails to lead students to the

higher level of competence. She has called the

successive declining trend of students’ writing

skill as ‘mysterious’ as she notes with

disappointment:

‘Writing, one of the

most important English

skills that students in

Bangladesh nowadays

need for their

successful future

career, is mysteriously

neglected at the

secondary and higher

secondary levels

education.’ (Sultana,

2000: 157)

Basu (2006) has attempted to show how

feedback especially peer feedback in EFL

environment may given effectively. Here he

discusses the common practices of giving

feedback by explaining how to deal with the

problems of grammar and content. There are

mainly two types of feedback—teacher feedback

and peer feedback according to the writer.

Regarding nature of feedback he also mentions

three types of feedback such as written feedback,

elaborated feedback or conferencing and peer

feedback etc. Again he has laid down some

suggestions as to how to conduct feedback in the

classroom situation. These are mentioned

numerically:

1. Praise the written work of the students,

2. Use clear and straightforward directions

so that students may understand what

the teacher means by them,

3. Experiment with diverse means of

giving feedback: written comments in

drafts, separate pages, online response,

oral conference, peer response and

workshops etc.

4. Identify the type, save time.

5. Peer response groups.

6. Use a standard set of symbols and

7. Evaluating and grading.

In the above mentioned literature review

it seems to me that most of the researchers have

given elaborately described various types of

approaches to teaching the writing as a skill.

They have also attempted to establish a link

between them to show the linguistic knowledge,

linguistic skill and linguistic aspects. Some have

too synthesized product and process approaches,

bringing forward a new kind of approach to

teaching the writing whereas some of them have

recognized again the indispensability of feedback

and demonstrated different types of feedback

normally given to the students’ written tasks.

Harmer among the researchers has depicted

splendidly the writing conventions essential for

students to improve their writing skill. It seems

to me that all of them have shown their

explanations theoretically; none have presented

any data from student’s and teachers’ perspective

to depict the real classroom situation. Hence it is

difficult to assume the true picture to teaching

writing as a skill just going through their

research articles. I have therefore tried to study

this area of research keeping this aforesaid point.

6: Methodology of the Study

This research has attempted to enquire into

the ways of teaching the writing skill inside the

class. Qualitative approach has mainly been

followed for the study. However, a small amount

of quantitative data has been used in order to

attain an accurate and precise analysis of the

present situation of classroom teaching. Two sets

of questionnaires for teachers and students

respectively have been used keeping an eye on

the techniques of teaching the writing skill in a

non-native context. The purpose of these



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questionnaires was to illustrate the real

classroom situation. Simple random method has

been used for collecting data through

questionnaires.

6.1: Participants

In the study participants were teachers and

students of the university. Some 50 student

participants studying under different departments

of different faculties were selected randomly and

were given the questionnaire to elicit data from

them. The time of interview was fixed before in

order to lessen their mental stress. They were

assured that their identity would not be

mentioned in the research which seemed to keep

students more confident and interested. Every

interview with students took me nearly 20

minutes to finish.

In the other group of the participants were

15 teachers who are teaching English language

courses in various departments of the university.

They were supplied with a separate questionnaire

individually and discussed it with them to extract

data smoothly. They were also assured of

keeping their identity secret which helped the

writer very much to collect data for the study

spontaneously without any obstacle and

confusion. The data collection from the students

and teachers continued for about two months.

6.2: Tools of Data Collection

As tools for data collection the writer has

used two separate questionnaires for students and

teachers. In students’ questionnaire there were 20

questions whereas 15 questions in teachers’

questionnaire. Both covered some essential

aspects of teaching such as prewriting

activities, 2.writing inside the classroom, 3.

writing lesson. 4. vocabulary. 5. evaluation

system. 6. learner 7. teacher. and 8. teaching

technique.

Data have been analysed to present the

existing scenario of teaching and learning

writing as a skill within the classroom context so

as to identify learner's particular choice for any

particular aspect of writing skill.

7: Data Collection

Here I have presented various data that I

gathered for my research. At first I made an

average of the collected data that I got from the

three departments of the university. As stated in

chapter one, the purpose of the study is to find

whether L1 is used in ELT classes. Another

purpose of the study is to find out the situations

in which L1 use is beneficial. This chapter is

divided into two sections- the first section will

present the data and the second section will

present the analysis and finding of it.

8.: Data Analysis

8.1: Students’ Questionnaire

While doing data analysis of this small

study, I have kept four basic aspects of teaching

writing in the class. They are teacher’s

approach to writing, students’ perception of

learning writing as a skill in the classroom

situation and finally feedback given by teacher

and peer students for further improvement.

In the first question put forward to the

students was ‘which pre writing activities are

offered by the teacher in the class?’ In response

to this question, 40% students talked of being

supplied ideas about the topic by their teacher.

It is a good sign that students are given some

ideas or clues concerning the topic to be

attempted by them as a writing activity. There

are, however, some other ways of giving pre

writing activities in the writing class, for

example: arousing interests, asking questions,

showing pictures related to the topic and so on.

The immediate next question was what the

teachers generally do before he asks students to

attempt a task. The highest number of

respondents (66%) said that the teacher writes



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the name of the topic on the whiteboard and

asks them to write about it. Here perhaps fails

the role of teacher of being a motivator and a

facilitator. He is supposed to explain all the

relevant parts/ elements of a piece of writing of

which students need to aware of clearly.

In a writing class the role of the teacher is

very crucial and often it is multidimensional as

Harmer (2003) comments that ‘although the

teacher needs to deploy some or all of the usual

roles when students are asked to write, the ones

that are especially important are as follows:

a) Motivator,

b) Resource,

c) Feedback provider.

In the traditional classroom, it is hardly

seen the teacher playing the aforementioned

roles simultaneously. They, as is certain, will

not feel encouraged to motivate their students

unless they are trained up. Moreover teachers’

motivation and positive outlook will surely

make the whole environment friendly and

comfortable for the learners. For better

understanding, it is important to look at the

three roles of the teacher in details as described

by the renowned ELT trainer.

Motivator is on of our

principle roles in

writing tasks to

motivate the students,

in creating the right

conditions for

generation of ideas,

persuading them of

the usefulness of the

activity, and

encouraging them to

make as much effort

as possible for

maximum

benefit.(Harmer:2003

)

Regarding the role of the teacher’s being

resource, his evaluation is that teachers, during

the extended writing tasks, should be ready to

supply information and language to tell students

of their being available and prepared to looks at

their work as it progresses, by offering

responses and suggestions in a constructive and

tactful way. The unsuccessfulness of the

teaching writing as a skill in the classroom

situation may be partly attributed to the

teacher’s indifference to the role an active

motivator and resource person.

According to Grabe and Kaplan (1996)

writing has three operational processes—

planning process, translating and revising.

Moreover the planning process is also divided

into three subcomponents such as generating

ideas, organizing information and setting goals.

In the actual generation of the text, ideas in the

planning stage are formed into language on the

page, which are reviewed and revised. (cited in

Sarwar,2010:2)

In the question it is too discovered that the

teacher does not always take away the finished

task from students. It may happen probably due

to time constraints or due to absence of a good

lesson planning according to which the teacher

is expected to give class. Sometimes the

teacher, as 60% students said, waits for them to

complete the task for giving feedback later. It is

seen that teacher are not regular in making their

own lesson plan before going to the class. 68%

students confirm this scenario of the class. We

know planning especially for young teachers is

very important to achieve desired objects of

every lesson; otherwise, his labour will of no

use. Harmer the most renowned teacher trainer

argues that lesson planning is the art of

combining a number of different elements into

a coherent whole so that a lesson has an identity

which students can recognize, work within, and

react to – whatever metaphor teachers may use

to visualize and create that identity.’



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Giving feedback on the written tasks

demands special care and teachers require

responding positively and encouragingly to the

content of what the students have written. When

offering correction, they should choose what

and how much to focus on the level of the

students in a particular task and the task they

have undertaken.

Feedback as has been mentioned in chapter

increases the acceptability, quality and accuracy

of the written tasks undertaken by students.

Freedman (1984) says that feedback plays a

pivotal role in the process writing. As writing is

a complex, which cannot be mastered without

practice in rewriting and revision. So the task of

the teacher, therefore, is to interact with the

students through feedback to help them to

‘consciously identify and solve their composing

problems.’(cited in Sarwar, 2010)

But the very nature or mode of feedback, if

given at all, is error correction type. 36%

students said that they get the written task back

underlining mistakes in red ink by their

teachers. One interesting matter to note here

that submitting the revised task to the teacher

for further feedback is very crucial as it is said

mastery on writing skill is almost impossible

without going through the rewriting and

revision stage. However the percentage of

feedback from the teacher is scanty and

disappointing compared to the bulk of students.

Question no. 19 in the students survey

asked them about the teacher’s approach to

handling mistakes of the written tasks.

Maximum students (48%) replied that their

teacher just circle in red ink the mistakes of the

test papers. Merely circling the mistakes of the

written task without any clear written comments

or any clues is a sheer wastage of time because

students do not benefit from this kind of

feedback. However they often do not give

second look to such feedback. It is to note here

that usually in traditional approaches to

teaching and learning writing, the teacher is

believed to be ultimate source of all knowledge

and authority. It is also mentioned in literature

review of chapter two that feedback given by

the teacher is the final response or reaction to

the students’ tasks, assessing their performance.

Feedback is therefore an indispensable tool for

improving the teaching and learning of writing,

by providing information to students on the

performance of their work. There are a number

of ways of giving feedback such as written

comments as shown by Khan (2002)

Major Forms of Feedback

1. Error Correction

2. Peer Correction

3. Conference

4. Reformulation

5. Taped Commentary

6. Text Approximation

7.Wrtten Comments

8. Grades and Numbers



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In these study teachers are found not to

be well-acquainted with the different types of

methods of feedback. They rather like to adhere

to the traditional one that is underlining or

circling the mistakes in coloured ink.

Regarding the objectives of learning

writing skill, the response of the 70% students

was that they were practicing writing as a task to

just pass the examination. Instead of fixing a

long term goal, they are found pre occupied with

thought of achieving a good grade in the

examination. Such short term, therefore makes

them more selective and lessen the amount of

their effort required for acquiring mastery on

writing skill. In the conventional system where

achieving a good grade in the examination is the

only concern of most students, they seem to be

reluctant to observe the complex process of

writing which is considered extremely important.

The condition is blamed for lack of students’

proper orientation for practicing writing skill.

The research of course shows that 16% students

think that writing task is not satisfactory due to

lack of proper teaching method while another

16% holds unspecific target/ goal responsible for

this; but other 58% students blame irregular

practice of writing English in the class.

Students, who undertake practicing

writing as a skill, do emphasise on learning

grammar and vocabulary by writing correct

sentences. Bashir (2005) quotes Scott and

Chapman saying,’…grammar is the organizing

principle of language. If writing is a craft, the

writers need to know the materials they are

working with and the tools they are going to

use.’ So only acquiring the ability to write a few

correct sentences may not help very much unless

he gives importance on being creative through

communicating ideas. Hedge (1988:23)

comments that ‘good writers tend to concentrate

on getting the content at first and leave details

like correcting, punctuation and grammar until

later.’ In this study only 22% students replied

that they enjoy practicing it as a kind of creative

activity.

8.2: Teachers’ Questionnaire

The questionnaire consisting of 15

questions was designed for the teachers who are

taking English language courses or who have at

least some experience of taking classes under

various departments of the university. It focuses

on teacher’s approach to teaching writing,

handling writing in the class and finally giving

feedback to the learners.

In a creative writing class the role of the teacher

is of facilitator and manager. He is required to

oversee the whole class activities providing

necessary help or prompt to the learners. Harmer

(1998:1) points out a number of qualities of a

good teacher. They are as follows:

He makes the lesson interesting.

He loves his job.

He has good personality.

He has a lot of knowledge, not

only of his own subject.

He has a positive outlook,

instead of a negative one.

In other words ‘good teachers care more

about their students’ learning than they do

about own teaching.’ (Harmer 1998: 3)

The first was about which pre writing

activity they (teachers) have the students in the

class in order to arouse interest of the latter to the

topic.40% respondents said they give students

ideas about the topic to be attempted in the class.

While students are doing a piece of writing task,

about 53% teachers move round offering help.

Teachers were asked about cooperative

class and whether they practice it in their writing

class; 52% opined that classroom lessons

become interesting and enjoyable because of



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cooperative atmosphere. Seeking help is a social

strategy and could actually be positive for

language learning. A discussion on a language

task involves meta-cognitive activities. It helps

learners to think and talk about the language task

in groups /pairs. Discussion even with peers

sometimes helps clarify problems that the

learners feel too shy to ask the teacher.

Moreover, it is not possible for the teacher to

give attention to every student. So, encouraging

discussion among the students is a more

interactive social strategy that could prove useful

even outside the classroom in environments that

are more naturalistic. However, discussing and

copying are two different things and the learners

need to be made aware of the advantages and

disadvantages of each one respectively.

Question 5 was on which areas of

teaching the teacher mainly gives emphasis. 46%

of them said that they give stress on developing

ability to communicate ideas while 33% talk of

practicing grammar and vocabulary. As penny

Ur points out:

…that grammar mistakes need to

be corrected, it is important to

them not as a sign of inadequacy

(you have failed to teach

something and the student has

failed to learn it), but rather as

means to advance teaching and

learning. (Ur, 1996, cited in

Bashir, 2005)

He also quotes Ur rightly saying that

‘many of us are familiar with the phenomenon of

learners who get full marks on all the grammar

exercises and tests, but then makes mistakes in

the same structure when they are composing in

their own speech or writing.’ The problem is

manifest in the case that many of our students

know the discrete grammatical elements, and

even the grammatical rules, but they cannot use

them correctly in their speaking and writing.

Regarding the role of the teacher, 86%

think that their role as a teacher should be of a

friend and facilitator in writing class. They were

too asked if they get sufficient time to take

preparation for ensuring interesting lesson.67%

teachers said they do not get enough time to

make a lesson planning. It is true in the case of

private university where teachers are often

burdened with extra classes. That is why; there

is always a pressure of taking more and more

classes. Elliot (1980) considers the practical

aspect of teaching, and declares that teacher

training needs to involve them in activities that

will seek to develop their awareness and control

of the principles of the underlying effective

planning, organizing, management, and delivery

of the institution. To develop their own approach

to teaching, trainees should be sensitive to

interactions between teaching, observation, and

investigation, and be able to make connections

between these. They should also be able to make

decisions in order to solve problems that are

unique to a particular teaching situation. All this

has to be learnt through a practice teaching

training situation where trainers can guide them.

Trainee teachers need to develop various micro-

level skills. Obviously, only practical hands-on

learning can ensure the scope for such

development.

Question no. 14 was how they identify

students’ problems while the latter are doing a

writing task in the class. 47% of them answered

that they go round the class to see that students

are writing so that they can provide any help if

necessary. The teacher also plays the role of an

observer and evaluator. So they were asked to

identify the areas of students’ problems. 33%

teachers said students face problems in

organizing ideas whereas another 33% identified

students’ in ability to understand the

requirements of the question. In fact two areas of

students’ lacking draw more attention because

these are stumbling blocks for learners.



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13

Teacher’s feedback in process teaching

writing plays an instrumental role in helping

students improve their writing skill. Question no.

7 in the teacher survey asks them how they give

feedback to students’ written work. 52% of them

said they underline the mistakes in red ink so

that students can see that they have made

mistakes. However 67% teachers said that they

are irregular in providing feedback to students’

tasks no matter whatever feedback.

How they can motivate students in a

writing class was the last question of the

teachers’ questionnaire 40% teachers said that

they encourage students participating in group

work or pair work while another 20% for

pointing mistakes without insulting; but another

20 % for taking tests at regular intervals and the

rest 20% for making friendly behaviour. The

teacher is not only a feedback provider and

resource person but also a motivator in a

language class. The more creative he becomes in

giving motivation to his students, the more

effective and fruitful the learning becomes.

9: Limitations of the Study

I have identified some limitations while

doing data collection and analysis. Firstly the

study has been carried in a small scale and scope.

The elicited data might be more substantial and

acceptable if more universities were covered.

However interviewees were selected in random

selection method. If students from other public

and private universities were involved in the

study, the findings could be more reliable for

further study or research in the future. It is to

mention here that there was a time limit. I hope I

would be able to carry out study covering more

students from different university to present the

actual picture of teaching writing as a skill at the

tertiary level.

10: Implications for ELT

Writing, one of the most important English

language skills that students in Bangladesh

nowadays need for their successful future career,

is neglected at the secondary and higher level of

education. (Sultana, 2003:157)

Teachers usually make students write on a

given topic and correct the product, i.e. the

compositions, identifying errors in grammar,

spelling, sentence structures and vocabulary

selection. After doing the data collection from

teachers and students, I have here humbly put

forward some observations with a view to

making teaching writing a more effective and

fruitful in classroom situation at tertiary level.

1. Writing involves a number of stages

such as familiarization, planning,

organizing ideas, drafting and revising.

Students need to be familiar with any

kind of writing at first, before they truly

start writing start writing. Prewriting

activities, if the teachers offer sincerely

and regularly, may be helpful to

learning writing.

2. Selection of writing tasks in order to

bring variety is important to make

lessons interesting and enjoyable. If

teachers are successful in holding their

students’ attention in the class, it will

certainly facilitate the learning of

language very much.

3. The research shows that teachers are not

very regular in providing feedback to

students’ written work. It hampers the

whole learning process and eventually

weakens the teacher-student interaction

in the class. We all know feedback is an

indispensable tool for improving the

teaching and learning of writing, by

providing information to students on the

performance of their own work.

4. If they inculcate the habit of giving

feedback regularly by exploring various

ways of feedback to match the teaching

strategy, teaching the writing skill may

be more enjoyable to both students and

teachers.



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5. Teachers might take initiative to ensure

a cooperative class environment, since

cooperative class helps students learn in

friendly and congenial atmosphere,

allowing peer feedback in the class

under his guidance. This is a good

exercise for the students as it engages

them in communicating with their

classmates. This opportunity to discuss

each others’ essays and writing gives

valuable feedback. Students may write

with more specific focus because they

know that their peers will also be

reading their papers.

6. In this research it is too found that

teachers do not make lesson planning

regularly which is good tool to ensure a

fruitful class. Lesson planning conforms

to organizing tasks depending on age,

interest and level of the students. It also

maintains the sequence of chronology

of writing activities to be done in the

class. So planning lesson plan helps to

utilize maximum potential of the

teacher and maintain sequence of

lesson. It is very essential for the

teachers to be more attentive making

lesson plan.

7. Training for the teacher especially in-

service training will affect the

classroom teaching to a great extent.

Richards (1998) said that education of

any second language teacher needs to

draw on a variety of disciplines such as

linguistics, psycholinguistics,

sociolinguistics and education. If it does

not do so, the work of a language

teacher can lack a coherent foundation.

If they have to work without training,

they function in a vacuum, only

assuming the bases from which they

work. It is not only good training that

can give them a clear idea of the basis

for teaching, of why they are doing

what doing in the class.

11: Conclusion

In this small study on teaching the writing

skill at the undergraduate level, I have

investigated the ways or approaches to handing

writing tasks from teachers’ perception as well as

from learners’ perspective. I have used two

questionnaires designed to collect data from the

teachers and students to have a clear picture of

classroom teaching of the writing. The

questionnaires mainly focus on the on the areas

related to teaching of writing as a skill, i.e. 1.Pre-

writing activities, 2. Writing inside the

classroom, 3.Writing lesson. 4. Vocabulary. 5.

Evaluation system. 6. Learner. 7. Teacher. and

8. Teaching technique. The collected data have

been analysed to depict the existing ways of

teaching and learning writing skill inside the

classroom

The teacher adopts different approaches of

teaching writing. Throughout the whole process

he usually plays the role of ‘facilitator’. The

guide students through the writing process and

help them to generate, draft, and refine ideas and

at the end develop meta-cognitive awareness of

their writing processes; that is, their ability to

reflect on the strategy they use to write.

Most of the teachers offer prewriting

activities in one way or other to arouse interest to

the topic which students are going to write.

About 53% teachers said they go round the class

to provide any help students may require while

they are busy in writing tasks. They often allow

students to correct themselves which means that

students get time for feedback. It is true that

‘peer feedback ensures the active and critical

involvement of students in the writing

process.’(Sultana, 2003:86)

The fact that writing activities mostly done

in the class mainly focus micro linguistic level.

Hardly does the teacher give any emphasis on

students’ creativity and their ability to



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communicate ideas effectively. The teachers

were asked to specify the problems behind the

poor development of writing skill. More than

half of the total respondents think that the lack of

practicing writing regularly is a big problem.

Another remarkable feature that the study has

brought to light is teachers’ irregularity in

providing feedback to the written tasks of

students. They also do not make lesson planning

which is due to lack of regular practice. They are

expected to become more creative and dynamic

regarding to planning lessons, teaching

technique, and feedback etc. It has not been

possible because of time constraints to

investigate all issues pertaining to teaching the

writing elaborately.

Works Cited

Ahmad, S. N. (2005). Discoure

analysis:implications for teaching effective

writing, Spectrum,3,(1). 92-101

Banu,R(2003). Linguistic imperialism: the

Bangladesh case, IML Journal, 1(2).29

Basu, B. L. (2006). Providing feedback on EFL

students’written assaignments:nature and

implications Spectrum, 4(2).164-180

Bashir, A. (2005). The place of grammar in EFL

composition classes’, The Arts Faculty Journal.

Harmer, J. (2003). The practice of English

Language Teaching, England: Longman,

Harmer, J. (1998) How to Teach English,

England: Longman,

Hedge, T. (1988). Writing, Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for Language

Teachers, England: CUP

Kamal, M (2005). Problems of learning English

in Bangladesh: a student’s perspective.

Spectrum, 3(1).125-134

Khan, R. (2003). Responding to student writing

in the TESOL environment: some feedback

options, IML Journal

Nunan, D. (1991). Language Teaching

Methodology. England: Prentice Hill of Second

International (UK) Ltd.

Rahman, A. (2000). A qualitative approach to

educational research, IML Journal, pp31-49

Sultana, S. (2003). Approaches to teaching

writing, IML Journal, 2(1) 157-172

Sultana, S. (2000). Impact of peer feedback on

writing in EFL, IML Journal

Appendix-1

Questionnaire for Student Survey

a) Giving idea about the topic. 1. Which pre-

writing activities are

offered by your teacher?

b) Arousing interests about the topic.

c) Asking questions on the similar ideas discussed in the writing task.

d) Making you think and discuss in group about the topic using

introduction of the text and given picture.

a) He writes the topic on the whiteboard and asks the students to write. 2. Which of the

following activities does

your teacher do before he

begins a writing activity in

the class?

b) He explains how to write a particular type of writing task.

c) He gives an outline about how the writing needs to be begun,

developed and concluded successfully.

d) Both b and c

3. How does the

teacher handle the writing

task in the classroom?

a) He always gives the task and asks the students to complete them.

b) He sometimes gives the task and asks the students to complete them.

c) He rarely gives the task and asks the students to complete them.



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d) He never gives the task and asks the students to complete them.

a) Friend 4. What role does the

teacher play while you are

doing a particular writing

task in the classroom?

b) Facilitator.

c) Lecturer

d) Both friend and facilitator

a) Simply start writing soon after the teacher asks to write the given

task.

5. How do you begin

your writing task in the

classroom situation?

b) Discuss in pairs / groups where it is possible.

c) Do brainstorming on the topic at first and start drafting.

d) Both b and c.

a) Enjoy writing as a kind of creative activity. 6. For which

purposes do you mostly

practice writing activities?

b) Do writing as a task to pass the examination.

c) Since the teacher compels to do practice as a skill of language so as

to communicate with others comfortably.

a) Helps learn and practice writing correct sentences. 7. Which benefits do

you get while doing a piece

of writing task in the

classroom?

b) Scope of developing oneself as s creative writer.

c) The chance to develop writing as a language skill by following a

plan.

d) Reflect the thoughts on the writing activities.

Always b) Sometimes c) Never 8. Does the teacher

encourage you to do

writing outside the

classroom?

9.

a) Yes b) No c) Sometimes.

10. Do you think

practicing writing tasks

inside the classroom is

adequate to help you

develop your writing skill

in the real life situation?

a) Practicing grammar and vocabulary. 11. On which areas do

your writing lessons focus? b) Communicating ideas.

c) Understanding the main idea of the text.

d) Just to meet requirements of the examinations.

a) Lessons are not chronologically arranged. 12. Why don’t you

enjoy writing activities

inside the classroom?

b) Lessons are difficult and not interesting.

c) Teachers cannot make the lesson interesting and easy.

d) Teacher is not enthusiastic and encouraging.

a) Yes b) No c) Sometimes

13. Do you do

homework on writing task

as assigned by your teacher

regularly?

a) He takes and keeps it under his custody. 14. What does your

teacher do after you have

submitted a writing task to b) He takes and returns after checking it later.

c) He returns the tasks underlining the mistakes with feedback.



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17

d) He takes the tasks and hardly returns. him?

a) 1to 5, b) 5 to 7, c) 7 to 10.

15. How many tests

does the teacher take

during the 42- hour class

duration for a course?


16. Does the teacher

discuss and practice all

types of writing tasks

assigned for the syllabus?

Yes b) No c) Sometimes

17. Do you maintain a

list of problems found

while doing writing

activities?

a) Due to lack of proper teaching. Why is your development

in practicing writing tasks

not satisfactory?

b) Due to lack of clear idea about practicing writing task.

c) Due to unspecific target / goal.

d) Due to lack of practice of regular writing in English.

a) Asking you to give a general idea on the topic. How does your teacher

identify your problems

before imparting a writing

task?

18.

b) Making you read and explain sample writing.

c) Asking you small questions on the topic.

d) Asking you to read a sample task which will be done in the

class.

a) Pointing out mistakes without insulting. 19. How does your

teacher give feedback

about your writing

activities?

b) Discussing the common mistakes made by students in a particular

writing in the class.

c) Just circling the mistakes on the test papers.

d) Encouraging participating in the group work and pairing work for

self correction.


20. Does your teacher

make planning to give an

interesting class?

.

Appendix-2

Questionnaire for Teacher Survey

1. Which pre-writing activity do you follow?

a) Giving students about the topic to arouse their interest.

b) Showing pictures related to the topic to be taught in the class.

c) Making students think and discuss the topic in group and in pair.

d) Asking students some specific questions on the theme/ points about the topic.

2. What do you do when students are attempting a writing task inside the class?

a) I sit on my chair and wait for the students to finish.



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b) I sit on my chair and see how they are handling the task.

c) I move among the students and offer help if necessary.

d) I sit on my chair and check their previous test papers.

3. How do you maintain discipline in your writing class?

a) I punish the naughty students severely to frighten others in the class.

b) I go to the respective student and warn him/ her instantly.

c) I expel the criminal student from the class.

d) I at first try to realize the cause of the indiscipline and motivate him/her to the class.

4. What benefits do your students get in a cooperative class?

a) Facilitates understanding of the topic.

b) Inspire you to participate in group work / pair work.

c) Allows the weaker students to be benefited from the better ones.

d) Classroom lessons become interesting and enjoyable.

5. On which areas of teaching writing you mainly focus?

a) Practicing grammar and vocabulary.

b) Reproducing ideas of the text.

c) Developing the ability to communicate ideas.

d) Developing the capacity to participate in group work / in pair work.

6. Do you give feedback on students’ written work?

a) Yes b) No c) Sometime

7. How do you give feedback on students’ written work?

a) I take several tests during the course.

b) I give instant correction when students make mistakes.

c) I underline the mistakes in red ink so that students can understand.

d) I underline the mistakes and make a list of common mistakes to explain in the class.

8. Do you think the existing system of evaluation is enough to give feedback for the students’

development in their writing competence?

a) Yes b) No c) Sometimes.

9. What should be role of a teacher in a writing class?

a )Friend b)Facilitator c)Lecturer d) Both a and

10. Do you get enough time to take preparation for giving an interesting lesson?


11. Do you make planning for giving an interesting class?


12. What is the attitude of the students towards writing class environment?

a) They are enthusiastic

b) They like

c) They dislike

d) They are indifferent

13. In which areas do the students have shortcoming?

a) Being creative in writing

b) Organizing ideas with coherence and cohesion.

c) Understanding the requirements of the questions.

d) Writing correct sentence structure.

14. How do you identify the problems of students while they are doing a writing task in the class?

a) I guess what kind of problems students may face in a particular type of writing task.

b) I take a list of mistakes while students are attempting a writing task.



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c) I move from student to student to see what they are writing so that I can give essential feedback to

their work.

d) I ask the students to come to me with written task one after another.

15. How do you motivate your students in a writing class?

a) Pointing out the mistake without insulting.

b) Taking tests at regular intervals.

c) Encouraging participating in group work / pairing work.

d) Making friendly behavior.


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