Oral and literate connections in second language / November 18, 2009

Williams, J. The speaking-writing connection in second language and academic literacy development

One of the most interesting arguments to me in this chapter is that “retrieving a form repeatedly in planned production, such as in writing, increase the likelihood that it will be produced later in a more spontaneous setting such as conversation” (p. 13). It is interesting because I intuitively believe that repeated production in writing facilitates my spontaneous oral production. But I didn’t know that this connection is actually researched in the field and have some ground to argue for the connection.

This argument can be more valuable in EFL settings where learners have truly limited opportunities to speak English in real life. Not only that, writing is less stressful to learners because it’s not spontaneous, which is why it would be easier to provide students with writing opportunities in the classroom. In contrast to some people making a case that repetition is useless and should be removed in language classrooms, I want to argue that repeated production of unfamiliar forms in writing should be encouraged in and out of the classroom. Simple repetition of discrete and decontextualized words may not be that helpful. If possible, teachers need to try to come up with ways to get students to use some constructions in a meaningful context.

Writing to read, Reading to write: November 11, 2009

Writing is not simply to transcribe our thoughts and ideas onto paper or computer screen.
I strongly agree that writing strengthens reading and facilitates learning. That’s why writing needs to be incorporated into English classes for other modalities such as reading and speaking. Although it would be better not to separate those modalities in the first place, reading and speaking teachers can encourage students to keep uncontrolled journals, or take notes etc. when organizing the structures of classes are beyond the control of teachers.

Yuko’s acquisition of academic literacy in Spack’s (1997) article is interesting because writing played an important role in her academic life. While Yuko’s efforts were worth being appreciated, I believe that teachers’ support must have been there. “The experience of writing and revising journal entries in her sociology class showed her a way to use writing to clarify reading and to put social scientists’ ideas into her own words” (p. 46). When she entered college, it seemed that she didn’t expect the beneficial effect of writing in her learning. One or some of her teachers must have encouraged her to keep journals and revise her journals. Or the teacher must have shown strategies of using writing for her learning and reading. This is what we teachers need to do.

A small change in teaching practices can make a big difference in our students’ learning path. I observed that even teachers’ passion about a topic and care about our students made a difference in student learning in classrooms. No matter how insignificant what teachers do in the classroom look, it can have a great or small but sustainable impact on students’ success. Teachers need to acknowledge the value of writing and try to incorporate writing in their teaching.

Reading and writing connections in second language: Reader Response Theory as a social process/ November 4, 2009/ Hirvela chapter 1

Viewpoints about reading-writing relations have changed a lot in at least in research and in L1 domain. Unfortunately practitioners, especially teachers in EFL settings, might not have an opportunity to be exposed to the viewpoints suggested by research studies in the field. Among them is the belief that writing developments mean “mastery of spelling conventions; with mastery of skills and subskills” (p. 29). I don’t mean here that these skills should not be taught in school. Rather, I want to warn against the tendency to delay teaching other aspects of writing until students master these skills and to be reluctant to provide students with plenty of opportunities to be engaged in meaningful literacy experiences.

Even advanced writers can make mistakes in various forms. That students got a bad grade in grammar test does not necessarily mean that they cannot be engaged in meaningful literacy practices. In EFL setting where students have limited access to input of target language, students’ exposure to a target language is usually through textbooks with grammar drills and short instructional stories which are very limited both in the types of genres and the amount of reading. It is vital to help students read a various genres extensively in and out of EFL classrooms.