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Developing the Writing Skills of Headway Elementary to Cope with Omani Academic Needs

Language teaching course design and Assessment 684

Assignment 33: Course Design and Syllabus Planning

Master of Arts Applied Linguistics

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Content

Introduction

The context

The Course book

Identifying and describing the problem

Literature Review

Teaching writing to Omani EFL learners

Theories of writing

Reflection and the Writing Process

Conclusion

The most suitable solution

Recommendation

References

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Introduction

This paper is devoted to presenting the academic writing problems of young Omanis using the

course book Headway Elementary, who study at Polyglot Institute in Oman. A few studies will

be highlighted in relation to Arabic writing problems and a comparison of various relevant

solutions will also be presented. The paper aims to provide the most suitable solution to

improve the way writing skills are presented in Headway Elementary according to Omani

linguistic level and needs.

The context

In Oman the course book, Headway Elementary, is aimed at High school Omani graduates who

need to improve their writing and communication skills in English as a foreign language. The

book has been used for more than twelve years in most of Omani public as well as private

Institutes and colleges like Polyglot Private Language Institute.

The majority of Omanis are Arabs with sizable minorities of Balooshi and Zanzibari

communities, along with foreign workers. Arabic is the official language of the land,

predominantly used for communication. However, there are some other people who speak

Bathari, Balooshi or Swahili because of their tribal and historical links with other regions. The

government has adopted English as the second language. Almost all signs in the country are

written both in Arabic and English.

Culturally, Oman is considered as multicultural which encourages cultural diversity and the

participation of women is increasing in national activities. Sultan Qaboos University, the most

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prestigious university in Oman, has made it a requirement for students of all majors, except

Arabic and Islamic studies, to enrol in a foundation year English program before starting their

major field of study. This has been quite a challenge as they often have trouble internalizing the

study skills necessary to make a decent showing in IELTS or TOEFL examination. Many Omanis

choose to take English course alongside their majors.

The aim of the course at Polyglot is to assist them to practise the four skills(reading, writing,

listening and speaking) accurately and fluently and to improve their writing skills to be able to

sit the IELTS exam.

The Course book

Headway Elementary is product-oriented syllabi, because its contents consist of a mixed or

multi stand syllabus. It contains grammatical and lexical components beside the synthetic

components such as the skills development (reading, speaking, listening and writing (Harmer,

2007).

Headway Elementary is a multi level course book suitable for Omani graduate adults and

young adults who want to learn and use English. All the four skills are systematically developed

beside a thorough grammatical explanation. (Liz & John Soars,1993). It combines both the

communicative teaching approach with the traditional methods of language teaching to

encourage Omanis to test their language skills.

The book concentrates on traditional approaches such as a clear focus on grammar with in-

depth analysis and clarification, through many exercises and reading material. Yet it also

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employs the communicative approach ( Ranalli , 2002), since Omanis are required to work out

rules individually and reflect upon their personal opinions.

Identifying and describing the problem

There are many differences between English and Arabic writing systems. Arabic texts are read

from right to left and written in a cursive script. There is no distinction between upper and

lower case, and the rules for punctuation are much looser than in English. Thus, there are no

similarities between Arabic and English writing systems. Arabic spelling is simple and virtually

phonetic within its own system. Letters stand directly for their sounds. Unsurprisingly, these

essential differences between the Arabic and English writing systems cause Arab learners

significant problems. They usually need much more time to read or write than their English-

learning peers from the Indo-European language families. (Jiyad, 2006).

Most Omanis have problems when writing in English. For example, they are unable to express

themselves and to organize their ideas because they have little opportunity to write in English.

Although Headway Elementary has some writing exercises, it is not enough for Omanis who

want to pass the IELTS exam. They want to develop their academic writing skills to cope with

their university course work which is in the medium of English.

Systematically, teaching writing is often about teaching grammar as a first step. The book can

provide the Omanis with some experience of paragraph and essay writing, but, in fact, they

often have quite poor writing skills in terms of sentence construction. Therefore, an explanation

of the basic sentence structure helps them to identify some grammatical errors and try to avoid

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them. Run-on and fragmented sentences can be very common among Arabic students learning

English until they can correct those errors.

Headway Elementary does not have enough academic topics which are useful for Omanis in

their university level studies. Most of the topics are either talking about daily situations, sports

or historical events etc. Thus, some of the topics need to be updated and concentrate more on

todays topics like internet, web sites and /or modern technology and encourage learners to

use the internet to improve their writing skills.

Literature Review

Teaching writing skills in Oman as in most Middle Eastern countries suffers from being

abstracted and product- oriented. To overcome this deficit this paper suggests that writing as a

process is suitable for promoting the skills of critical thinking and self reflection.

Teaching writing to Omani EFL learners

The writing tasks of Headway Elementary, for the Omani academic level and needs can be

described as guided composition at lower levels (Asiri, 2003). Omani learners, as most Arab

learners, have problems in self-reflection and in expressing themselves (Al-Hazmi, 1998; 2007).

This is probably due to the teacher centred approach which causes a negative impact on the

development of the writing of the learners (Liggett, 1983). Furthermore, in the Arab world,

English language is dominated by a traditional textbook-oriented approach and a teacher-led

methodology which prevents learners from introducing the skills of critical thinking. Modern

methodologies of teaching writing in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms

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concentrates on cooperative learning between learners and teachers and focus on giving the

learners more opportunity to express themselves (Asiri,2003:41).

Theories of writing

It is essential to summarize the three major writing theories proposed in the literature which

are product, process and genre; and a focus will be the notion of reflection and writing as a

process.

The product theory of writing emphasizes rhetorical drill ad focuses on form and syntax

(Silva,1990). This theory concentrates on the importance of a model for exploration of analysis

and imitation (Arndt, 1987). In fact, learners are required to concentrate on the model, form

and duplication (Jordan,1997). This means that learners need to study model text, practice

various exercises and then replicate them.

The genre- based approach focuses on analyzing communicative purposes of the text read by

the learners. It encourages the learners to write their own texts aiming to achieve very similar

communicative purposes by using appropriate expressive language means for this.

Furthermore, it values the construction of end- product as the main thing to be focused on

(rather than the process of writing itself), This approach helps learners to master the

conventions of a particular genre which is suitable to their specific situation (Tribble, 1996).

On the other hand, the process theory concentrates on how a text is written rather than its

final come out. It emphasizes the teaching methods of pre-writing, drafting, evaluating, revising

and editing because this theory concentrates on understanding the nature of writing and the

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method of teaching writing. Learners have to write many drafts of their writing before

submitting their final draft (Hyland, 2003).

According to this theory, editing and rewriting are the main procedures in teaching writing.

The brainstorming process in small groups helps the learners to think critically and to generate

ideas before writing them. After writing the first draft, they revise it through peer reviewing,

and finally it should be edited by the teacher to point out the all language errors. The only

disadvantage of this writing approach is that it takes time to brainstorm ideas, time to draft the

writing, and to review and edit it with the teacher. This, of course, can not be done in 20

minutes. The various stages may well involve research, discussion, self reflection, and

interaction between teacher and learners and between learners themselves (Tribble, 1996).

Reflection and the Writing Process

The idea of critical thinking is derived from cognitive and metacognitive processes (Hanley,

1995). The cognitive skills are responsible for the processing of data, which are isolated then

encoded, integrated, stored an retrieved. Metacognitive skills, on the other hand, are defined

as knowing about knowing; thus they are used in monitoring mental processes and knowledge

(King,1995: 16). This involves the conscious control of how to think and how to avoid errors.

So, any theory of critical thinking involving such as writing as an aspect of problem solving,

must be grounded in a more socially based view of knowledge and cognitive(Bernstein, 1995:23)

Writing is essential for development of critical thinking skills, as it promotes greater self-

inflection than oral expression does. Thus, proper written assignment tasks can stimulate

learners to enhance their active learning spontaneously ( Wade, 1995). By nature the process

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approach is a self critical one. It leads to introspection which involves the self-observation and

reporting of conscious inner thoughts, desires and sensations. This prompts the learner to

reflect on their understanding and to communicate their feelings about what they know , what

they are struggling with and how they are experiencing their learning (cf White & McGovern,

1994).

Conclusion

In summary, using Headway Elementary for teaching writing skills is a traditional teaching

method depending on product- oriented method. Such a method is abstracted and does not

promote critical thinking skills. Since it is the area of self expression where ideas can be

reviewed and refined. To reach this level of developing critical thinking a writing class of Arabic

learners of English should be a personal process and a continuous critical reflection of the

problem under consideration.

The most suitable solution

Reflection on the education process is important in development of the thinking skills for ESL

learners as well as teachers. Both, teachers and learners should implement critical- self

reflection. At the same time, the language and thinking abilities of Omani learners should also

be taken into consideration when applying the process method. It is more likely to make the

lesson a communicative event based on a common theme as Ur suggests (1996:90). This

would enable learners to engage with specific subject language and meaning in context. Even if

they can not achieve deep level of metacognition because of their limited means of self-

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expression, they still can reflect on the tasks and express their thoughts and feelings. It is

important to implement a prewriting activity for this method like encouraging learners to

discuss and talk about the subject which they intend to write about.

A detailed description and explanation about the writing process should be given. Learners

should also respond to open ended questions, the answers to which can be included by

learners in their essays. Such scenarios can claim success in making the classroom a scene of

discussion, interaction in terms of answering oral and written questions, comprehension and

recalling and of utilizing thinking skills about the problem (cf Bloom, 1956).

Recommendation

Furthermore, it is recommended to choose and take writing tasks from IELTS exams to

familiarize the learners with the exam. Some academic IELTS reading passages are

recommended for Omanis to read in order to be able to write about similar or nearly similar

academic subjects.

It is also recommended to add some academic reading texts in Headway Elementary and hence

to improve the receptive skills of the book. The changes and improvements to the reading tasks

(the receptive skills) can lead to improving the writing skills (the production skills). In addition

self- reflection and critical thinking skills which are important strategies which can learners in

the acquisition of new writing and language skills.

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The major recommendation of this essay is that teachers should give learners the opportunity

for introspection and communication. Similarly, encouraging reflection and teaching critical

thinking skills should be part of process of teaching writing.

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References

Al Hazmi, S. H. (2007). Current issues in English language education on Saudi Arabia. Journal of Modern Languages. Vol 17, pp.129-150

Al Hazmi, S. H. (1998). The Effect of Peer Feedback and self- assessment on the quality of Word- Processed ESL Compositions. Unpublished phD thesis. University of Essex.

Al-Arishi, A. Y. (1994). Practical Ways to Promote Reflection in the ESL/ FL classroom. Forum, Vol. 32 (2) April- June. Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http:// exchanges. gov/forum/vol 32/no.2 htm.

Arndt, A.(1987). Six Writers in Search of Texts: A protocol Based Study of L1 and L2 Writing. English Language Teaching Journals, 41(1): 257-67

Bernstein, D.A. (1995). A Negotiation Model for Teaching Critical Thinking. Teaching of Psychology. 22(1): pp22-24

Bloom, B. S. (1056). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Hnadbook 1. The Cognitive domain. New York: McKay.

Byram, M. and Esarte-Sarriers U., 1991, Investigating cultural studies in foreign language teaching, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters 62.

De Jong, W., 1996, Open Frontiers. Teaching English in an intercultural context, Heinemann

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Hayley, G. L. (1995). Teaching Critical Thinking: Focusing on Metacognitive skills and Problem solving. Teaching of Psychology. Vol 22(1): PP. 68-71

Hyland, K.(2003). Genre Based Pedagogies: A Social Response to Process. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12: 17-29.

Jordan, R.R. (1997). English for Academic Purposes. A Guid and Resource Book for Teachers [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Jiyad, Mohammed. (2006) A Short Reference for Arabic Syntactic, Morphological & Phonological Rules for Novice &Intermediate levels of Proficiency. The University Press

King, A. (1995). Designing the instructional process to enhance critical thinking across the curriculum. Teaching of Psychology, Vol 22(1): pp.13-16

Liggett, M. (1983). Teaching English to Arabic Speakers: Methodology Material Development nd Classroom Management. Cairo : American University Press.

Liz & John Soars.(1993) Headway Elementary. Students Book. Oxford University Press.

Ranalli, James(2002) An Evaluation Of New Headway Upper-intermediate . University of Birmingham, March (2002)

Scrivener, Jim. (2008). The Teacher Development Series. Learning Teaching a guidebook for English Language teachers. Macmillan Heinemann. English Language Teaching.

Silva, T. (1990). Second Language Composition Instruction. Developments, Issues and Directions in ESL. In B. Kroll (ed). Second Language Writing, 115-150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Spratt, Mary. Pulverness, Alan. Melanie, Williams. (2005). The TKT Teaching Knowledge Test Course. Oxford University Press ESOL Examinations.

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Wade, C. (1995). Using writing to develop and assess critical thinking. Teaching of Psychology, Vol. 22 (1): pp.24-28

White, R. and McGovern, D. (1994). Writing: a Students book. English for Academic Study series. Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire): Prentice Hall Europe.

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