DRAWING SOME CONCLUSIONS

Different outcomes about how students considered writing were provided from the analysis of the three implemented instruments, giving as a result the presentation of three categories: Dealing with writing, Managing language rules and The role of feedback.
Once these three categories were studied and evaluated, it could be noticed how they were just the support of each one. In the category ¨Dealing with writing¨, it was found out in the results that if we want to foster a writing process, our students really need a starting point on how to begin writing. When the teacher showed them the road towards a better writing, they were encouraged in order to dare themselves about their capacity to write, once they were illustrated about how to do something on writing, they started having the idea of what to put in writing.

Connecting the ¨Dealing with writing ¨ category with the second one ¨Managing language rules¨, it is noticed that from the initial moment the first category pushed them to do something about writing. They felt the need of having an idea not only about what process to follow in order to write (writing stages) but what kind of elements they needed in order to support the first category. In other words, the second category which was about language aspects was just an obvious support that students needed when they followed stages, since it was not about to know what to do but to have elements to start doing it.

Finally, the first and second category, as they had been briefly explained before, needed a very outstanding component that was about feedback. When it is talked about supportiveness ¨The role of feedback ¨ category contributed in this project to the process of fostering writing, then, it was very important to take it as the touch that shaped the way as students organized their writing (writing stages) and what they used to deal with it (rules).

Reflection: When you have developed you categories and you have answered the research question (s) you are ready to draw the final conclusions. Remember you need to remind the reader of your initial research objectives too, besides the purpose is to inform the reader rather than persuading and finally it is required to make a original contribution.

CATEGORIES

1. Dealing with writing

The name of this category was given from the expectations that the two writing activities rose up in students from the first to the last day of every writing activity. Firstly, this category addresses the main question of this project, since it analyzes the results of a writing process after applying two writing activities. It is shown how students tended to work better in the sense of organization, content and development text if they are led by a structured plan that shows them what to do and how to do it in order to write. Throughout the application of the writing activities, students followed the process of the stages proposed by Hamp & Heasley (1987) after being taught in class what has clear evidence in their documents, besides they also displayed how these stages supported them for fostering their productions. Below, it is displayed 2 excerpts from one same student showing his drafting and final paper respectively:

¨In our lifes, sometimes we can be in front of problems, for example, we could have problems in our houses, work or in the school. A problem can be presented in front of us in any moment. A very common problem could be with our family. It`d be because of us.¨ (S7)

¨ In the time we are living, we can be facing problems without knowing how to solve. These problems can be in our houses, in our work even in the university.¨ (S7).

The samples above illustrate how students had a better production at writing when they follow stages or steps and. It is because students started dealing with a kind of scheme that begun with a brain storming stage, where students stated main ideas they would like to talk about; a draft stage, students linked their ideas and tried to make them work together in order to communicate; re- writing stage, here writers re- thought and organized their written piece; revision stage, they started getting their productions almost done just with some details to work on; editing stage, it was just the final presentation of students’ written production.

Ending up with this first category, it can be concluded that students had to be led to write having a communicative purpose to do it or something that makes sense for them, not forgetting that we had to take advantage of what they want in order to make them write, since we can expect whatever from them, if inputs grant them ideas and consideration to foster their writing ability. As Harmer (1991) states, if we are working on solving communicative problems in this case writing, the management of structured activities focused on involving students in solving the given communicative problems will provide them models as a way to solve them.

In writing, it is crucial to plan a group of strategies about attitudes and contents to conduct them to write. The writing fact is not just to make others write but, to guide them about how they could write what will help writers foster their writing ability just by the practice of writing.

2. Managing language rules

The name of this category was given just from the need students felt about grammar issues, words selection and, paragraphs structures once they were asked to write. It was noticed how students did like writing but, they thought it was funny how grammar made them commit mistakes, and they felt embarrassed because, although they knew some rules, they did not understand why they went over and over mistakes. Every single question they got once more was just an expression or feeling they had in order to foster their writing. Although students had to follow certain stages to get a composition, another process became important at the same time, it was to follow rules on grammar, words selection or paragraph structure.

Throughout the development of the writing activities, students recognized how the grammar, words selection or paragraph structure turned into a fact to deal with. In the field notes, it is shown how they were asking about grammar issues, words selection or paragraph structure in writing such us: conjugation, number, right words, punctuation and tenses. All this information could be found at the field notes; here there are two examples from field notes:

Septemeber 23^rd, 2009

¨…Other group of students feel worried about the use of grammar in their writing productions, because they sometimes did not understand what was wrong in some parts.¨

September 28^th, 2009

¨… Interest towards raising awareness regarding grammar has been displayed by students… students ask explanation about word order or tense or verbs depending on their writings.¨

From these field notes it is clear to notice that, in spite of grammar issues, words selection or paragraph structure were not the focus, it was relevant how its rules are important at students’ writing productions for building up meaning about reality that surrounds them in language learning.

Although language issues provides convention that allow us to emit well done sentences, it is required to be aware of making rules works right; but rules are not enough without sagacity to make it mean whatever we want to Yule (1985). Finally, in language issues, teachers must lead students to recognize what a language means, but this fact must not be focused on just meaning since, students also need to learn what kind of grammar that language brings in and how it should be used Harmer (1991).

3. The role of feedback

This second category is titled The Role of Feedback, since it dealt with the importance that students gave to the comments provided by their teacher and the role of the contributions played in students’ documents.

As it was already stated, on writing is important to follow steps in order to reach a better composition. We also realized how language rules play an important part in students’ development, but it is also essential, the teacher´s support in the language performance of his/her students. In the taken students’ samples it is evident their improvements from the second stage (drafting) until the last one (editing), which means that it could not be completed if feedback was not timely and meaningfully offered by the teacher, having students accepting their mistakes and self reflect on them to be aware about the use of English as a foreign language. In addition, as stated by Brookhart (2008. p.9) ¨ good feedback should be part of a classroom assessment environment in which students see constructive criticism as a good thing and understand that learning cannot occur without practice¨.

During the process of feedback, the teacher always used an error analysis from Hedge (1988) to give feedback having students reflect on the kind of mistakes they made and, support them in the process of fostering this ability.

Finally, teachers need to continue searching for the best way to display writing activities appealing for students and have them understand that errors take part of their language process (Ellis, 1994). Hence, the duty as teachers, tutors and instructors in writing is to monitor what kind of writing process students are dealing with and, what their needs are, because from their needs it would be easier to let students know how to improve writing skills.

References

Brookhart, Susan M.( 2008). How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students. Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press.

Hamp, L. Heasley, B. (1987). Study Writing: A course in written English for academic and professional purposes. Cambridge University Press. Printed in the United Kingdom.

Harmer, J. (1991) . The practice of English Language Teaching. Longman Group. U.K limitated.

Hedge, Tricia. (1988). Writing. Oxford University.

Yule, G. (1985). The study of Language. An introduction. Cambridge University press.

Reflection: After arranging the repeating ideas and in order to arrive at this point, themes are now developed along with the theoretical constructs and narrative. I have to say that this information is under construction because to get a final version of the data analysis takes time. Interpretation is a key element for developing this section and at the same time guidance to have it ready.

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

The data collection instruments in this research project were: students’ documents, field notes and a semi structured interview. They were used in the sense of collecting data to identify the different categories. Then, bearing in mind the data provided by each one of the intruments, categories could be formed.



Chart 2. Triangulation of instruments

For this analysis, it was chosen the Grounded Theory approach, given that the purpose was to create categories based on the data collected. As asserted by Averbage & Silverstein (2003), this theory uses a procedure called coding to identify patterns based on the applied instruments which contribute to the construction of the theory (categories). the following are the stages provided by Averbage & Silverstein (2003)



As a final point, after analyzing the results provided from the already listed and explained instruments, these are the identified categories which are describe right ahead.



Chart 3. Categorization

Coming up, it is provided a short explanation of each one of the categories originated from the process students followed in order to foster their writing production and, how they are connected to one another.

Reflection: When doing the triangulation of the instruments used in the research, to get the categories, one feels scared because you get a lot of information and consequently many categories emerge but I consider it is just a matter of understanding in deep your research question along with the objectives, and ask yourself which categories answer the question and address the objectives. Although this process is time consuming, it is mandatory to do it because it makes your research project valid and reliable.

STARTING THE CYCLE OF REFLECTION

Action Research in the classroom



Jana Duganzic, Taryn Durrant, Leya Finau, Nicola Firth and Melissa Frank. (2009). Action Research in the Classroom Part 1 Retrieved on May 3, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDVH0u4tUWo&feature=related

Jana Duganzic, Taryn Durrant, Leya Finau, Nicola Firth and Melissa Frank. (2009). Action Research in the Classroom Part 2 Retrieved on May 3, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZHvpgU7pc8&feature=related

Research Design

Chart 1: Research design framework

This project followed the action research method. It is about a systematic reflection on pedagogical practices and, the purpose is to collect data on every day practices and analyzing it with the intention of making decisions that would suggest how our practices could make the pedagogical process fruitful and meaningful, (Wallace, 1998).

The main function of action research is to facilitate the ‘reflective-cycle’, and in this way provides an effective method for improving professional action”.



Action research cycle. [Online image]. Retrieved on March 12, 2001 from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/lwp/master-gfx/lwp-gfx/op2_diagram.gif

Reflection: I think teaching is a process which is shaped through successful or unsuccessful experiences. From these daily practice, it is necessary teachers reflect on the work they perform in the classroom to act and change a given situation; that way reviewing positive and negatives aspects ocurred during a lesson, one can foster the own job when planning what to change.