The purpose of this study is to examine the process and aspects of the process writing through the integrated writing workshop in a regular elementary English class and to investigate an effective English writing instruction method for elementary stud...
The purpose of this study is to examine the process and aspects of the process writing through the integrated writing workshop in a regular elementary English class and to investigate an effective English writing instruction method for elementary students. Eight workshops were implemented during 16 weeks for the twenty seven 6th grade students from a class of K elementary school in Seoul. Each writing workshop was conducted through integrated teaching of reading-writing as a unit of 80 minutes for 2nd and 3rd periods of each lesson.
Writing workshop consists of 4 activities including reading aloud to children, minilessons, writing, and sharing, and was implemented through a process of the five-stage writing process. The stages are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Literature texts relevant to the theme, communicative capabilities, and language rules of the each unit of a textbook were used for reading aloud to children. The qualitative analysis based on students' portfolios, questionnaires, teacher's field notes, interviews, students' comments on the lesson, and videos showed the following results.
First, writing workshop was applied to regular elementary English class as the meaning-centered writing activities. In the writing workshop using literature texts as context providers of reading and writing, students could write a self-directed writing as the means of communication. In addition, they had chance for integrative use of the 4 language features, such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Second, students developed new awareness and attitude on English writing activities after the process oriented writing activities through writing workshop. Students perceived the need of writing with a sense of purpose and found out the pleasure of writing as the process of expressing and sharing what they wanted. Activity-based writing helped children gain their confidence in English writing.
From the results of study, following implications for English writing instruction for upper graders can be inferred. First, writing workshop is expected to be effective in teaching English writing in elementary school within the 2008 revised national English curriculum which is characterized by learner-centered and expanded class hours, since students can write an authentic writing that will meet the students' needs in writing workshop.
Second, writing workshop presented a new English writing instruction method through a differentiated teaching, and the new instruction method was based on the revised curriculum that suggests choosing the differentiated instruction according to students' interests and levels. In workshop, students form small groups according to their writing abilities, and chose writing theme themselves. Thus, writing workshop can provide differentiated instruction for students with diverse writing capabilities without separating them into proficiency levels.
Third, using various literature texts, writing workshop will provide opportunities for students to be exposed to English language in a meaningful and natural context in addition to the reading material on the textbook. Literature texts will arise the interest of the students through literary experience, and give students the context of writing. Students can use vocabularies and sentences for writing through the understandable writing input as well.