However, apart from the fact that the students in this study needed to learn to write in English as a desired academic skill, it cannot be denied that the main purpose of writing is still first and foremost, for communication. Even when a text has been written for oneself, there is still likelihood for it to be read or communicated to others. Even when the writing is personal and private, it could still be argued that the writer himself or herself serves as a reader, and thus, the writing still holds its communicative value or purpose (Kaplan, 1996).

Now comes the basic question, “What then is the most effective way to teach second language students to write in English?” In this study, reading a story served as a stimulus for the writing activities in class. This is based heavily on Krashen’s (1984) idea that exposing children to pleasure reading and shifting focus from form to meaning in extensive reading helps learners acquire writing ability in any language (cited in Scott, 1996).

Another idea that seems to support the notion of using reading to teach writing in the classroom comes from Lightbown and Spada (1999). According to them, research show that learners can learn a great deal of those not taught to them explicitly .They are able to use their own learning strategies to find out the underlying systems that govern the language they are learning. So the more varied and interesting their learning experiences are, the more opportunities they will have to learn more about the language.

What better way to motivate students to read, and thus, learn more, than using literature texts? There is a genuine feel to literature texts that cannot be found in other materials, particularly those which emphasize pedagogy over experience (Duff and Maley, 1990). Also, literature texts offer learners a wide range of styles, registers and text types at different levels of difficulty. They touch on themes that offer opportunities for learners to react based on their own life experiences.

As mentioned in Vacca, Vacca and Gove ( 1991), suggestion to use a literature base in the classroom reappeared in reading instruction journals in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The rationale for it was, reading should be made an important part of classroom life: “reading literature that makes children wonder, weep, laugh, shiver and gasp.”

“Pieces of literature are used as springboards for writing.” (Vacca,Vacca and Gove, 1991:42). Some of the activities students do in class include writing different endings to stories they read about that are reflected in their own conflicts in life, looking at structures in stories such as the repetitive structure and write stories using the same structure, and encouraging students to gain insights into their own lives using the conflicts between the characters they read about.

Furthermore, “Young children learn writing through exploration. The key to early learning development is not found in a child’s motor development, but in the opportunities he or she has to explore print” (Vacca, Vacca and Gove, 1991:127-128). Reading literature, and then writing about it, offers students situations where they analyze and appreciate aesthetic quality. But of utmost importance is when, students relate literature to their own lives (Oster, 1989), cited from Reid, 1993.

These categories are narration, exposition, persuasion, and description.

A. Traditional Approaches

Narration – The writer relates, or “narrates”, events in sequence. In literature, this means the writer tells a story.

Exposition – The author exposes information or ideas. Its primary purpose is not to tell a story, but rather to explain, e.g., to describe how a computer works.

Persuasion – The author attempts to convince or persuade you of something, to think as she or he does, often trying to change your mind. This is often found in essays and editorials, and requires critical thinking.

Description – This type of writing is generally used as a supporting device for any of the other types of writing. It is most helpful in creating a word picture of something concrete, such as a scene, a person, or a new technology.

Harris (1993), in “Introducing Writing”, has also written about these four types. He categorized them under the traditional approach, otherwise known as classical rhetoric. According to him, many school curriculums have been shaped following these traditional approaches to the teaching of writing. As such, many students are skillful at English composition and at writing historical essays. However, these do not actually have a real place in society. “They still carry the hallmark of an elitist culture”, according to Harris (1993:16). These forms belong to a time when literacy was available only to a select few.

Harris (1993: 18-24) has gone further by classifying writing under two other approaches, namely Purpose, Form and Audience and Readership.

B. Purpose, Form and Audience

Purpose refers to the intentions of the writer and/or the expectations of the reader. Here, purpose will be discussed in two facets: purpose as perceived by the writer and purpose as perceived by the teacher.

1. Purpose

1.a. Purposes of Writing as Perceived by Writer

• Writing is a means of communicating and sharing experiences.
• It is a means of constructing meanings through ways of thinking not usually available through speaking.
• It is a means of discovering and clarifying thoughts.
• It provides a record of ideas, facts and experiences in a form that allows them to be worked on, organized, referred back to and developed subsequently.

1.b. Purposes of Writing as Perceived by the Teacher

Writing as an Imposed Topic

In this model, it is fortunate if the topic chosen by the teacher corresponds to some students’ interest, but often, it is unlikely to appeal to all the class.

Writing as the End-Point of Learning

This model may come in the form of having to write about an activity or a visit and this is often the only kind of writing that students experience.

Writing as Integral to Learning

In this model, learning seems to take on a more valuable part than writing. Writing in this model “may be an aid to a discussion or to a graphic presentation, for instance” (Harris, 1993).

Writing as an Aesthetic Artifact

In this model, playing with words and word patterns such as rhymes and jingles, with forms and structures such as repetitive stories and many types of jokes provides continuity with the world of literature.

2. Form

Harris takes form to mean the type and nature of the text such as posters, brochures, pamphlets, letters, recipes, sets of instructions, lists, labels, stories, reports, poems, essays, play scripts, and so on.

Form, by itself, poses many problems according to Harris. Take the letter, for instance. Usually, it indicates the sender, then the greeting which could be formalized or personalized depending on the use of the addressee’s name. Example, Dear Sir/Madam or Dear [name]. Finally, we finish a letter by the conventional signing off – Yours sincerely, – or one of its many other variations.

3. Audience

The concept of audience was considered an important aspect of the curriculum, according to Harris (1993), during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. A greater diversity of audiences was proposed in order to provide more flexibility and reality to the writing context in the classroom.

a.  Self

Child or adolescent to self

b.   Teacher

Child to trusted adult
Pupil to teacher, general (teacher-learner dialogue)
Pupil to teacher, particular relationship
Pupil to examiner

c.    Wider audience (known)

Expert to known laymen
Child to peer group
Group member to working group (known audience, which may include teacher)

d.    Unknown audience

Writer to his readers (or his public)

e.    Additional categories

Virtual named audience
No discernible audience

According to Harris (1993), there seems to be a problem with this kind of classifying writing compositions. Even when there is an improvement over the traditional approaches, there is still the question of a pseudo-audience when the teacher, seen as the audience, happens to be the assessor of the writing product as well.

4. Readership

Factors that need to be taken into account in terms of readership:

• The formality or informality of the relationship between reader and writer.
• The expertise of the readership – what degree of prior knowledge and understanding can be assumed?
• Cultural assumptions – how far is it likely that the readers will share a common cultural background with each other and with the writer?
• Attitudinal assumptions – are the readers likely to hold attitudes in common with the writer or has the writer to explain and justify his or her attitudes?

Harris (1993) points out that the success of a written piece depends on how well the writer judges or makes assumptions about the readership. According to him, it is more realistic and helpful to make students aware of the above factors rather than postulate pseudo-audiences. It seems rather pointless to gear classroom writing towards genuine audiences other than the teacher.

The students involved in this research are more likely to be engaged in writing activities where they have to narrate or tell a story, describe a picture or a real object being studied, or explain what triggers a volcano to erupt or the life cycle of a frog, for instance. However, they will have very few opportunities where they will have to persuade an audience. Perhaps a teacher would ask them to compose a letter of persuasion, but that is likely the extent of such a writing activity.

The idea of writing for a particular audience itself would, as Harris puts it, seem unrealistic in terms of classroom practice. It is an ideal to be “sought after and utilized to the full” (Harris, 1993:24). It is more helpful to build students’ awareness of the factors mentioned so they take them into account in their writing endeavors.

Harris (1993:81) is also of the same belief as Hedge when he wrote in his book, “Introducing Writing”, that “reading and the consideration of written texts should form an important part of the teaching of writing.” He explains that writing cannot be taken as a different entity from other aspects of language use. He says writing requires attention to reading and to talking, for these are the two means by which writing skill can be learned or acquired.

According to Eisterhood (1990:88) traditionally, the answer to the question of   “what constitutes the relevant language input that would pave the way so second language learners develop hypotheses of writing in English” has been reading.

The reason for this perhaps, is because reading is believed to provide “models from which writing skills can be learned, or at least inferred. Reading in the writing classroom is understood as the appropriate input for acquisition of writing skills” (Eisterhood, 1990).

This link between reading and writing is perhaps akin to Krashen’s (1984, as quoted in Eisterhood, 1990) theory on language acquisition. According to him, reading for interest or pleasure paves the way to developing writing competence. He claims that “the development of writing ability and of second language proficiency occurs in the same way: via comprehensible input with low affective filter”. He goes further by saying, “It is reading that gives the reader the ‘feel’ for the look and texture of reader-based prose” (Krashen, 1984:20).

Stotsky (1983) and Shanahan (1988), did a survey of first language correlational studies, and here are the results they found as mentioned in the book, Reading and Learning to Read, by Vacca, Vacca and Gove (1991:137-138):

• Reading and writing processes are correlated, good readers are good writers and vice versa.

• Students who write well tend to read more books than those who are less capable as writers.

• Wide reading may be as effective in improving writing as actual practice in writing.

These results suggest that the two skills, reading and writing, are interrelated. “Both are language based and experience based, both require active involvement for language learners, and both must be viewed as acts of making meaning for communication.” (Vacca, Vacca and Gove, 1991:138).

Writing seems to have taken on different definitions for different groups of people in order to suit their different needs and purposes for writing. Even for professionals involved in the field of English Language Teaching, not one definition of writing could satisfy everyone.

For the process oriented professionals and researchers, writing is a product of a person’s search for meaning. Zamel (1982) points out that writers go through the process where meaning is created because writers seem to start off the process not knowing what they are going to say at all.

Grabe and Kaplan (1996), in their book “Theory and Practice of Writing”, explore the meaning of writing in terms of the rhetorical triangle in writing. And such triangle consists of the reader, the recipient of the final product of the writing process; the writer, the originator of the message; and the subject matter and text itself. Both the writer and the reader have to consider all these aspects when writing and reading, respectively, for each one plays a significant role in the journey towards meaning.

According to Klein (1985), writing is the ability to put pen and paper to express ideas through symbols. This way, representations on the paper will have meaning and content that could be communicated to other people by the writer.

The definition, which seems to have of most relevance to this study is the one involving creative writing.  This kind of writing seems to emphasize the role of the discovery of self, in some ways akin to the discovery of meaning, in process writing. It is quite different from that which emphasizes audience, writer and text because it is focused more on getting ideas written down on paper, without burdening oneself especially with the thought of who is going to read the final product of one’s writing. It is also one which is closest in definition to writing done by children, which is focused more towards the expression of oneself, without much regard to how the reader would view the writing product or text.

Campbell, in her book “Teaching Second Language Writing” (1998:37) says, “One of life’s greatest releases is to express oneself in writing.”  She goes further by quoting one of her students as saying that writing, as a form of creative release in a second or foreign language is “Freedom!” So this is the definition more suited to this study of writing among elementary school children in an international setting – their discovery of self, their way of self expression and the teaching of life and about growing up as children engage in writing activities.

B. Writing, Why a Need to Learn It?

As Harris (1993) has pointed out, writing is a complex activity. In the ESL context, the teaching of such a skill is confounded by the fact that L2 writers are faced with differences between the conventions of writing in their first language and English, which cause confusion on the L2 learner (Hedge, 1988). But still, this aspect of language learning – writing – has been a neglected area according to Hedge (1988). She further explains that it is only recently that research into writing has produced results that offer insights as to what good writers do.

These ideas, according to Hedge (1988), have implications for teachers who want to help their students become good writers. Without a well-established or highly-recognized model of writing, teachers tend to have different  ideas about its role in the classroom, what is involved in the teaching of writing, and the possible roles teachers and students play in developing activities to practice it (Hedge, 1988).

Writing is of fundamental importance to learning, to development of the person in each learner, and to success in the educational system. As teachers, we need to work continually to aid our students in their search for fulfillment as writers (Harris, 1993).

In an international setting, ESL students are required to produce written work in all their core subjects namely; Science, Math, Social Studies and most especially, Language Arts. They are required to hand in reports, narrative and descriptive essays, biographies, as well as other forms of writing needed in their various class and homework assignments. Therefore, there is an important need for them to be instructed and provided with practice activities to develop their writing skill in order to ensure their success in their school life.

In this study, writing will be explored and discussed in the context of  ESL, particularly in an international school environment. Reference will also be made to studies and issues that affect first language writing since quite many of the theories that govern second language writing are also derived, based or influenced by first language theories on writing.

Writing, unlike the other skills of reading, listening and speaking seems to be of a more complex nature, especially in the context of second language use. In Britain, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, emphasis was placed more on reading than on writing. The basis of which was the notion that it was more desirable for people to be able to read than write. That way, they can be educated and/or instructed into a particular belief or ideology.

Writing also involves the giving of instructions, but instead of enabling learners to simply react to a range of social demands and instructions, it can lead to a more proactive role. It can lead to “the formation of views about society” (Foggart, 1993:6).And that aspect of writing, perhaps more aptly identified with the concept of empowerment, is a potential threat to the status quo in society.

This study will not be concerned much with the teaching of writing in order to produce learners who play proactive roles in society or in a political sense. Rather, the writing that will be discussed here is more on the expression of ideas and experiences, and the discovery of self which could come about as children engage in the writing process.

It can not be denied that the teaching of writing plays a significant role on the kinds of individuals students become once they have acquired mastery of the English language, and have reached adulthood.

Proficiency in this particular skill could open the way so students, in the future, would have access to certain social roles which would have remained closed to them if there was failure to give appropriate input or instruction today.

As countries become more industrialized and as the language becomes  more and more the language of choice in many business, political and social interactions, having the skill to write in the English language would give one an edge in the international community

(Tribble,1996).

There are many social and business activities that require proficiency in writing. The students in this study will not be involved in activities ranging from inviting a business contact to dinner to making a law. They will instead be more likely to be participating in writing in journals and diaries as a school assignment or personal activity, writing a descriptive or narrative essay on a topic assigned to them in school, writing a friendly letterto family, writing a story, or writing a response to literature read in thelassroom. Nevertheless, they still have to learn, practice and master the skill of writing. And being second language learners, this is a more difficult task than others.

Looking at the Values classes I teach this year, I believe I have found my answers…

Ija, in Grade 8, wrote the following about a goal he worked on to achieve as part of his Values project: “I think that I have reached my goal, and I think I will continue doing this everyday, because my parents at home say that I have a lot of changes this week, and they are all in a positive way.”

In Grade 10, many students are choosing to wake up and sleep early as part of their goals in their personal action plans. Many have identified social networking, online gaming and talking on the phone as culprits they have to manage, in order to achieve the goals they have set for themselves for the second quarter.

Boa, Grade 12, explores the myriad reasons behind cases of rape after hearing a talk on “Human Trafficking and Violence Against Women”. He is now writing a newsletter article on the ways young girls could protect themselves from the risks of rape.

And Pla, in Grade 11, is drafting a letter to the government of Moldova in Eastern Europe. Her aim is to contribute to the efforts of Amnesty International, an organization that helps in the release of prisoners of conscience – people whose only crime is to express their thoughts and opinions, practice their religion or support equality and freedom . This year, Pla is learning that in many parts of the world, hundreds of people do not enjoy the same rights she has. And one small way she could contribute to a worthy cause, is to write letters.

All these – making plans to manage one’s life as a student or discussing issues that plague society – are but small and simple acts, which could very well lead to the students becoming better people. And in an age where our kids get exposed to new and more complicated challenges, they need all the support and help parents and the school could give them.

A generation or two ago, young people only have to choose between television and homework. Nowadays, young people’s choices are made complicated by the existence of a myriad of distractions. There is cyber networking in the form of Hi5, Facebook, or Mixi, which my Japanese students are so fond of. There are numerous online games, the most famous (and one of the most violent) of which perhaps, is Counter Strike. Then there is the advent of phone messaging or texting. All of them compete for our young people’s time – and in most instances, all at the same time.

The Values classes provide an avenue to teach students skills necessary for them to gain control of their time, their lives and their selves. Skills in organization, goal setting and planning, as well as discussions on health, social and community issues, ought to be at the forefront of a school’s Values program. And all these, for the purpose of supporting student learning and student success.

On the Literacy end, what more authentic activities could students engage in, than the ones mentioned in this article?

And so we come again to those very important questions: is Values still an integral part of our education system, or has it just become a thing whose existence we just have to tolerate? How can our Values program in schools support Literacy? I believe I have found my answer… and I do hope that with this article, my students have also helped you find yours.

The program I use with them is broken up into two parts: two days in a row for 90 minutes each, I teach Reading Strategies. The book I use is called Reading in The Content Areas. I use book levels C and D. I like using this coursebook for two reasons.

1. The texts/stories are highly interesting for my set of learners. It includes the stories of Gloria Estefan, Jaime Escalante, the Star Wars movie and China’s Cultural Revolution, to name a few. Gloria Estefan, is a famous singer whose career nearly ended with a bus crash. The story outlines her long struggle to regain health and to be able to sing onstage again. There’s Jaime Escalante’s story, which was featured in the movie, “Stand and Deliver”. It highlights Escalante’s dedication as a teacher and how he was able to turn a group of students around from ones predicted to fail in life to a group of dedicated young people who beat all odds and passed the AP Calculus exam. Their passing the exam helped save their school’s accreditation and earned them credits in College, paving a much brighter future than what their other teachers predicted they would have.

Apart from the varied and interesting stories, the texts lends itself to so many different interpretations and it easily encourages exhange of opinions and ideas among students.

2. The reading strategies the coursebook teaches are very useful and effective, and the organization of the book itself makes it easy for students to follow the steps they have to do to finish assignments.

The second part of my program is a 90-minute session further divided up into four parts: Words Work, Read, Share and Journaling.

The students choose a book of their own to read in the beginning of the program. Then once every 4 days, for 90 minutes they work in small reading groups of three or four. Each group decides at what order they will do the 4 parts of the program.

For Words Work, they choose 7 new words from the story. They find the meaning of each one and write sentences for each. For Read, they simply spend the time reading quietly on their own. Journaling means they reflect on their reading and write a journal entry related to it.And in Share, they simply share what they want to share withthe rest of the group. It could be the reflections they wrote in their journal, the characters in the story and whtehre they agree withthe characters’ action or not, lessons they are learning from the story, etc.

After about 2 months now, I hear a lot of positive comments from students about the class and how it impacts them as learners, especially as readers. Because of the nature of the activities where they are expected and encouraged to do all four skills; reading, writing, listening and speaking, they feel more confident about their English.

They also say they are able to use the skills in reading strategies in their other classes, especially research. The skills they have learned and practiced in my class have been useful for them to summarize their readings and most especially, to have a better understading of their readings.

One important reason for this, I believe is the pleasure principle. I believe that one can never learn in an environment that’s threatening and anxiety-laden. I think this is more especially true when you have adults just learning to get better at their English.

Because there is less pressure and no emphasis on the quantity, but rather on the quality of their reading, they are free to explore, to think deeper and most of all, to enjoy what they are reading. And because there is room for everyone’s opinion, and there is no ONE right answer, everyone feels free to share his/her thoughts, and so, they practice their English.

And so it is therefore important, that reading becomes an enjoyable activity for learners, that the texts/stories they are reading are highly interesting, and that they are given opportunities to share without fear of ridicule of correction when they are working in groups.

Hedda has been living and teaching in Thailand the last twelve years. She has taught in a Thai private school, several language institutes, a government school and currently, is teaching in an international school in Bangkok. Beside a degree in Nursing, she holds a Master of Arts degree in English Language Teaching.

He says for every lifelong reader, there is that one book or one reading experience that started it all. And it could happen at any age. This homerun experience is so special or distinct that many readers could still remember the title, or the author, or the characters of the first story/book that ever got them started on reading. It’s the one book/story that they could hardly put down, that they were most probably not ‘told’ to read, and one they definitely read up to the very end.

In my adult reading program, I asked students what their homerun books were. Not surprisingly, those who can identify their homerun books are the strong readers. And so it occurred to me… if you wish to improve your reading, and actually, improve your overall language abilities, find your homerun book!

It doesn’t have to be a novel the likes John Grisham writes. It could be your Sweet Valley High series, or The Hardy Boys. It can even be Captain Underpants, Scooby-Doo or Archie’s Digest/Betty and Veronica. The catch is, you have to really want to read it; you can hardly put it down to go relieve yourself in the restroom. You find it so exciting you can hardly wait to know what happens next.

That’s the kind of anticipation that builds reading interest. And so, if you wish for your learners to become lifelong readers, or you have children of your own whom you want to motivate to read, or you yourself wish to BE a reader, then find that homerun book today!

Discuss more about this article click here.

Chances are, you enjoyed the experience so much that you probably did not notice the time. You felt you had all the time in the world to immerse yourself in the words of the book. Most probably, the experience was so vivid in your memory that you could still remember the stories, the authors, the book series, even characters’ names, and more.

Would you say that those moments were meaningful? Rewarding, even?

If so, then why do we have to reward learners of English when they read? When by doing so, it has been said (Krashen in Bangkok, September 20, 2008), we send out the notion that reading is NOT an enjoyable activity?

I  subbed for another teacher once and her reading program involved giving students stickers everytime they finish reading a story. For those students who were really keen on the stickers, they mostly chose books that didn’t have many words in it, and to them, reading was like a race. They would sit down on the rug in class, read through the pages as fast as they could, and then came to me for the stickers. I thought it was a very sad affair.

The children, on the other hand, who did not pay so much attention to the stickers would take time to read each page. They would be looking at the pictures, talking to their friends about what’s happening in the story, and laughing here and there when they see something funny. And when you start asking them questions about the story, they could tell you a lot of details about it, and would even have an opinion or two about what they are reading. They also like the stickers, but to them, it didn’t seem like a consequence of them reading. They simply enjoyed reading more than getting the stickers.

From a teacher’s point of view, there is no doubt in my mind that the second group of learners will develop into lifelong readers, and would improve in their language skills so much faster than the first group.

And so while it is great to reward effort in reading, care should be taken to ensure that learners derive pleasure from reading itself, but not do it to get a reward. The enjoyment they get from their reading, is in itself, THE reward.

I refer heavily to materials and discussions from Ken O’ Connor’s workshop on “Classroom Assessment FOR Student Learning” held at an international school in Bangkok last few years in this article. The principles discussed in that workshop are strong affirmations of what I live by as an educator for years. And this material I present here are a testimony as to what research looks like in actual classroom practice and how the principles have shaped the assessment programs I have set up for my own students.

By ‘assessment’, we mean “the process of gathering information about students or program”. And by ‘assessment FOR learning’, we refer to formative assessment, which is “designed to provide direction for improvement and/or adjustment to a program for individual students or for a whole class”. The following material therefore, are for teachers who want to know what are the ways to gather information about students’ learning and how best to communicate such information to students so they improve and achieve success in learning.

1. Know your students well and how they interpret errors.

For instance, “For Americans, errors tend to be interpreted as an indication of failure in learning the lesson. For Chinese and Japanese, they are an index of what still needs to be learned.”(Stigler and Stevenson, American Educator, Spring 1991).

Such different interpretations result in a variety of reactions to the display of errors, which in turn have implications on how teachers use errors as effective means of instruction.

Since my learners are all Asian, I find that they respond positively to error correction. The attitude they generally exhibit is on of quiet acceptance of their mistakes and a willingness to do better next time. And if given a chance to modify, add on or take out errors from assignments, my Japanese students would willingly do so 100% of the time. Based on observation, they also exhibit a better understanding of the material modified, added on or changed. Proof that in this case, such kind of feedback contributes to their learning, and it is not merely seen as a way to improve on grade.

2. Be clear with your expectations, whether they are products, performance or any other evidence of learning.

The use of rubrics to define tasks and to communicate learning outcomes to students, is something I have come to rely on heavily in the classroom over the years. From experience, I find it an objective means to assess students’ work.

Along the course of a task or a project, the rubric becomes a tool to guide and direct a student’s progress. It gives a clear picture of what ‘success’ looks like. And if changes have to be made along the way, it specifies which area/s to work on, thus contributing to student confidence and motivation to work harder towards achievement of the task or project.

Another positive aspect of using rubrics is as a means of communication of expectations between school and home. At the start of a project/task, I ask students to show the rubrics to their parents and have it signed by them. This way, accountability rests on all three: the teacher, the students and the parents.

3. Involve students in the assessment process.

According to Covington (1992), “the process of engaging in self-assessment increases students’ commitment to achieving educational goals.” And as to how to do this, Rick Stiggins has the contention that they should be involved in all three processes in assessment, namely;

a. in the construction of assessment and in the development of the criteria for success.

b. in the keeping of records of their own growth and achievement through such strategies as portfolios.

c. in communicating their achievement through such vehicles as student-involved parent conferences.

In my Writing for College class, students were asked, in small groups, to come up with what “good writing” looks like. Their work was then put up in posters in the classroom, and constantly referred to while working on tasks, or during the design and development of a rubric.

4. Be a motivator.

Stiggins (Student-Involved Classroom Assessment, 2001) contends, “those (students) who experience success gain the confidence needed to risk trying… (while those) who experience failure lose confidence in themselves, stop trying and… fail even more frequently. Confidence therefore, is the key to student success in all learning situations.”

By motivation here, we mean intrinsic motivation – one that comes as a result of students gaining confidence in themselves by knowing what is expected of them, what evidence/s is/are required to show success and what kind of activities and/tasks will get them there.

In order for all these to happen, the teacher has yet another responsibility. And that is…

5. Give effective feedback. Praise less and describe expected results more.

Just recently, a discussion from a former student shed more light as to what “quality” feedback means. She could not have emphasized its value in learning more than when she said that she wished she was back in my class, where she was told ways to improve her skills. She said she gets tons of work now, but the teacher does not give feedback as to which area she needs to improve on, and how.

Butler and Neuman (1995), Cameron and Pierce (1994) and Kluger and deNisi (1996) make a case for the use of descriptive, criterion-based feedback as opposed to scoring or letter grades
without clear criteria.

Cameron, Pierce, Kluger and deNisi further add that “feedback that cues the individual to direct attention to self (praise, effort, etc) rather than to the quality of the task appear to have a negative effect on learning. Many studies speak to effective teachers praising less than average.”

6. Use triangulation of evidence to base feedback on.

“There are three general sources of assessment evidence gathered in classrooms: observations of learning, products students create, and conversations – discussing with students.

When evidence is collected from three different sources of time, trends, patterns and become apparent…This process is called triangulation” Davies, Anne (Making Classroom Assessment Work, 2000).

7. Be a reflective practitioner who is involved in professional dialogue.

There are two important opportunities I find helpful to improve my practice on assessment at my school. One involves a chance to “grade” students’ writing with other language teachers. The purpose of which was to assess our students using the 6+1 Traits rubric and see where we teachers needed to work more on to improve students’ writing skills.

As it involves teachers comparing the grades we give to the same written piece on each trait, it gives me a chance to adjust the way I grade (where necessary), based on discussions with other teachers’ perspectives. This happens when there are big differences to the grades we assign any particular trait.

The other opportunity I have to improve on assessment practice is the chance to present an assessment task to a small group of colleagues at school. Other teachers get a chance to “work” on the task and give feedback afterwards on the following areas: whether the students were properly prepared for the task or not, given the language skills and assumed prior knowledge of the target group; were directions clear; whether the task addressed the standards and benchmarks it was designed for or not, etc.

From these discussions, I have the chance to make changes to the task where necessary. It also allows for an avenue to see other teachers’ perspective on things without fear of ridicule, focusing only on how to make assessment better for students.

According to Schmoker, 2001, as quoted from Ken O’ Connor, “When teachers collaboratively review assessment data for the purpose of improving practice to reach measurable achievement goals, something magical happens.”