Incorporating Attitudes to Knowledge & Learning Approaches in Lessons for L2 Learners
Reviewing Genre
It would therefore be helpful to students if the teacher establishes a routine of devoting at least 10 minutes at the beginning of each writing task reviewing key features of the genre and going over the grading rubrics of it. The review can initially be done as a class, in groups or eventually, individually, but making it a routine sends a clear reminder to pupils to break down the task requirements, structure etc.and then write with that in mind.
This helps students to 'conserve knowledge' by reinforcing the structure and features of that text type they are required to 'reproduce'.
Well-rounded Rubrics
As language teachers, we cannot dismiss the importance of language proficiency in good writing. However, teachers should be careful that their rubrics are not skewed to focus solely on the language mastery of the writer, especially for genres like expository writing where the content (what is being said) is equally, if not more, important than language (how it is being said). They can do this by giving equal weightage to content as well as language in the marking scheme and awarding marks/grades according to that break-down so that it is clear to students where their strength and weaknesses lie.
This will also elevate the standard and expectations of that writing task so that students will not only understand the importance of 'critiquing knowledge' but also be more motivated to use a learning approach in their essays.
Outline What Is & Is NOT Expected
In the beginning, teachers could provide an explicit guide of what is and is not expected in the particular genre. The scaffolding supports the learning of students who are younger, less proficient or even L2 learners more comfortable with greater guidance from the teacher. While many teachers are already in the habit of stating what is expected, most neglect addressing what is not required in the writing task. This will also help students understand which learning approaches to apply in their writing.
For example, where expository writing for the topic on capital punishment is concerned, it is expected that teachers would make clear a need for balanced and opposing viewpoints but not so much to tell students that a detailed explanation of what capital punishment is, its history and background information etc. are simply not required. This type of information could prove especially helpful to students unfamiliar with such genres of writing.
Doing this will also allow students to focus on which attitude to knowledge and learning approach is most applicable to the task at hand.
Encourage Pro-active Teacher Consultation
While the above implications (1 and 3) are useful, explicit instruction may not always help students, especially in the long run as assignment guidelines are broader in tertiary institutions. Each genre has its own conventional structure but it is also important that students eventually understand that that there isn’t a set of practices or standard to follow (Prior, Zamel and Spack, 1998). So, students might benefit more from learning to asking for clarification from the teacher. This can be instilled by exposing students to a range of task types, and in reviewing the requirements (as in implication 1), guiding them to reflect on what else they need to know to complete the task well and encouraging them to seek your counsel to clarify. This is time consuming and takes greater effort but imparts a valuable lesson students will appreciate after leaving secondary school.
This gives students an opportunity to apply more 'speculative' approaches to learning by leaving the task requirements broad in order to inspire creativity originality and new approaches that will ultimately work towards 'extending knowledge'.
Reflect on Differences Between L1 and L2
Second language writing patterns explained on the basis of cultural differences have also emerged in recent years. Teachers however, must therefore be very careful that in being sensitive to the cultural differences of their students, they do not generalise the difficulties of L2 learners and make culturally prejudiced judgements. Teachers should therefore be attuned to the stylistic choices of their students so that they are better able to distinguish between mistakes in adhering to writing structures and conventions or deliberate flouting of conventions for creative effect.
According to Mary Lea (1994), L2 learners also often grapple with decoding the ‘rules of the game’ when faced with writing in their L2. Both issues can be addressed by getting L2 learners to reflect on what kinds of texts they wrote in their L1, how were they expected to write, what did they find difficult about it, how much help did they receive from their teachers etc. then comparing this with writing in their L2.
The effectiveness of this strategy however is questionable if the students themselves lack awareness of their ability and what they struggle with. This might therefore only be suitable to older students (Sec 2 and up).
The feedback received from this will enable teachers to understand exactly how to go about providing scaffolding for the learning tasks influenced by the different 'attitudes to knowledge' and 'learning approaches'.
Talk Then Write
The profile of our Singaporean classrooms can be said to be made up of a majority of Generation 1.5 learners. Taking into consideration that 1.5 learners’ speaking skills are more advanced than their writing skills (Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow, 2009) and that research has also surfaced to show the social dimension of the L2 writer as integral to their learning of writing (Zare-ee, 2011), teachers should encourage students to talk about their ideas/views in pairs of small groups before being tasked to write the essays. This will help them crystallise their ideas and in articulating them to another, transferring it to the written medium becomes much easier.
This step will free students being cognitively occupied with 'reproductive' tasks and hence enable them to focus more attention and effort on generating ideas (speculative approach) and anlaysing content (analytical approach).
It would therefore be helpful to students if the teacher establishes a routine of devoting at least 10 minutes at the beginning of each writing task reviewing key features of the genre and going over the grading rubrics of it. The review can initially be done as a class, in groups or eventually, individually, but making it a routine sends a clear reminder to pupils to break down the task requirements, structure etc.and then write with that in mind.
This helps students to 'conserve knowledge' by reinforcing the structure and features of that text type they are required to 'reproduce'.
Well-rounded Rubrics
As language teachers, we cannot dismiss the importance of language proficiency in good writing. However, teachers should be careful that their rubrics are not skewed to focus solely on the language mastery of the writer, especially for genres like expository writing where the content (what is being said) is equally, if not more, important than language (how it is being said). They can do this by giving equal weightage to content as well as language in the marking scheme and awarding marks/grades according to that break-down so that it is clear to students where their strength and weaknesses lie.
This will also elevate the standard and expectations of that writing task so that students will not only understand the importance of 'critiquing knowledge' but also be more motivated to use a learning approach in their essays.
Outline What Is & Is NOT Expected
In the beginning, teachers could provide an explicit guide of what is and is not expected in the particular genre. The scaffolding supports the learning of students who are younger, less proficient or even L2 learners more comfortable with greater guidance from the teacher. While many teachers are already in the habit of stating what is expected, most neglect addressing what is not required in the writing task. This will also help students understand which learning approaches to apply in their writing.
For example, where expository writing for the topic on capital punishment is concerned, it is expected that teachers would make clear a need for balanced and opposing viewpoints but not so much to tell students that a detailed explanation of what capital punishment is, its history and background information etc. are simply not required. This type of information could prove especially helpful to students unfamiliar with such genres of writing.
Doing this will also allow students to focus on which attitude to knowledge and learning approach is most applicable to the task at hand.
Encourage Pro-active Teacher Consultation
While the above implications (1 and 3) are useful, explicit instruction may not always help students, especially in the long run as assignment guidelines are broader in tertiary institutions. Each genre has its own conventional structure but it is also important that students eventually understand that that there isn’t a set of practices or standard to follow (Prior, Zamel and Spack, 1998). So, students might benefit more from learning to asking for clarification from the teacher. This can be instilled by exposing students to a range of task types, and in reviewing the requirements (as in implication 1), guiding them to reflect on what else they need to know to complete the task well and encouraging them to seek your counsel to clarify. This is time consuming and takes greater effort but imparts a valuable lesson students will appreciate after leaving secondary school.
This gives students an opportunity to apply more 'speculative' approaches to learning by leaving the task requirements broad in order to inspire creativity originality and new approaches that will ultimately work towards 'extending knowledge'.
Reflect on Differences Between L1 and L2
Second language writing patterns explained on the basis of cultural differences have also emerged in recent years. Teachers however, must therefore be very careful that in being sensitive to the cultural differences of their students, they do not generalise the difficulties of L2 learners and make culturally prejudiced judgements. Teachers should therefore be attuned to the stylistic choices of their students so that they are better able to distinguish between mistakes in adhering to writing structures and conventions or deliberate flouting of conventions for creative effect.
According to Mary Lea (1994), L2 learners also often grapple with decoding the ‘rules of the game’ when faced with writing in their L2. Both issues can be addressed by getting L2 learners to reflect on what kinds of texts they wrote in their L1, how were they expected to write, what did they find difficult about it, how much help did they receive from their teachers etc. then comparing this with writing in their L2.
The effectiveness of this strategy however is questionable if the students themselves lack awareness of their ability and what they struggle with. This might therefore only be suitable to older students (Sec 2 and up).
The feedback received from this will enable teachers to understand exactly how to go about providing scaffolding for the learning tasks influenced by the different 'attitudes to knowledge' and 'learning approaches'.
Talk Then Write
The profile of our Singaporean classrooms can be said to be made up of a majority of Generation 1.5 learners. Taking into consideration that 1.5 learners’ speaking skills are more advanced than their writing skills (Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow, 2009) and that research has also surfaced to show the social dimension of the L2 writer as integral to their learning of writing (Zare-ee, 2011), teachers should encourage students to talk about their ideas/views in pairs of small groups before being tasked to write the essays. This will help them crystallise their ideas and in articulating them to another, transferring it to the written medium becomes much easier.
This step will free students being cognitively occupied with 'reproductive' tasks and hence enable them to focus more attention and effort on generating ideas (speculative approach) and anlaysing content (analytical approach).