U sing M odels to C reate G ood W riters

1. Using Models to Create Good Writers Raya Al Risi Donald Sargeant

2. “The practice of reading model essays to learn writing skills can be traced to antiquity” (Smagorinsky, P. 1992)

3. Our Presentation • Why use models • Our stories • The materials • Raya’s story • Donald’s story • Our conclusion

4. Our Stories • Once upon a time in 2010 in far off Batinah North the Teacher trainers in the training centre were asked to run a language development course.

5. Writing Academic Essays • As part of the course we were asked to introduce FOUR writing seminars. • The topics were: • What makes a good teacher • A good language learner. Are you one? • Managing learners. Is it easy? • Continuing Professional Development: What can I do to develop my practice?”

6. Our problems • As soon as we began to teach our first courses, we realised we had several problems • Our participants disliked writing • They had little idea how to organize their writing • They made many mistakes

7. Our solutions • This presentation is mainly how we tackled the first and second of these problems: • Motivation to write essays • The organization of essays

8. Why use models • Reading and writing are connected. The more you read the better you will be as a writer. • Providing sample texts is seen as important by many writers. (Hyland, Strauch, Reid). • Encourages critical analysis of reading text. • So makes for integrated approach in teaching. • Illustrates mechanics, such as referencing. • “The ability to write is hypothesized to be the result of reading”. Krashen. 1984, p 23).

9. Dangers of Using Models • Students may follow it slavishly. • See it as a life raft • Discourage critical thinking. • May cause interference with students own rhetorical models in their L1 (Hirvela, 2004)

10. Ways to overcome this The literature • Offer multiple samples • Introduce models sooner rather than later • Use parts not wholes Our remedy • Provide plan first • Get participants to write first draft

11. The materials • Our attempted solutions has been mainly built around our materials. These were developed in stages: • The plan • The model essay • Sheet for analysing model essay • Sheet for analysing participants’ essays

12. The Plan • In our first programme we used brainstorming techniques, but then we realised that students needed a more rigorous plan • We then developed a plan for the first essay

13. Model Essay • Now we will show you the materials • Your package contains • Four plans • Four model essays • Three worksheets for essays. Now we will divide you into groups to look at the plans, essays and worksheets.

14. Implementing the materials

15. Raya’s Story • Pre-Intermediate English Language Course for Teachers 2010 • Pre- Intermediate English Language Course for Teachers 2011 • New English Teachers’ Course 2011 – 2012

17. Donald’s story • Intermediate English Language Course for Teachers 2010 • Intermediate English Language Course for Teachers 2011 • New English Teachers’ Course 2011 – 2012 • Cycle Two Course 2012 On going

18. Cycle 2 Course • This course is on going • The teachers on this course are highly motivated. • I have been keeping more detailed statistics on this course • Here are the results so far

19. The Good Teacher Draft 1 • 14 essays handed in out of 15 participants • 2 were plagiarised • 12 of the teachers had paragraphs for first draft after being given the plan. • All had introductions • 10 signposted the essay in the first paragraph • But only 6 reflected this in their paragraphs • 11 had a conclusion • 5 summarized the essay • 8 gave their own opinion in the conclusion • 5 had links between paragraphs • 6 had evidence to support arguments • 5 had evidence from experience • 3 had evidence from literature • Only I had references that were correct.

20. The Good Teacher Draft 2 • 10 returned (4 absent) • The 2 plagiarised are now in their own words • All 10 signpost in the introduction • All 10 reflect this in their paragraphs • 9 use some evidence to support arguments • 9 use some evidence from experience • 7 use evidence from literature • Only 2 have completely correct referencing, though 2 others have it partly correct. • All give their own opinion in the conclusion.

21. Evidence of links between paragraphs Participant 4 First Paragraph was on “Knowledge of subject”. Opening of second paragraph: “Knowledge is not enough.....” Participant 7 First Paragraph was on “Knowledge of subject” Opening of second paragraph “Good knowledge is not enough

22. And they all wrote happily ever after • The organization of nearly all participants improved • With improved organization correction of mistakes becomes easier • However: • Most still couldn’t do referencing • To most writing is still a drudge

23. Bibliography • Hirvela, A. (2004) Connecting Reading and Writing in Second Language Writing Instruction. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. • Hyland, K. (2002) Teaching and Researching Writing. Harlow: Longman. • Krashen, S. (1984) Writing: Research, theory and applications. Oxford: Pergamon. • Reid, J. M. ( (1993). Teaching ESL Writing. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. • Smagorinsky, P. (1992). ‘How reading model essays affects writers’. In Irwin, J. & Doyle, M. (Eds) Reading / writing connnections: Learning from research. (pp.160 – 176) Newark: DE: International Reading Association. • Strauch, A. O. (1998) Bridges to Academic Writing. Cambridge.: CUP.