STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING WRITING SKILLS

IN LARGE ESL CLASSES

BY
SHOLA TIMOTHY BABATUNDE
ABSTRACT
Changing trends and shifting perspectives in the world continue
to exert unmistakable influence on the language classroom.
Precisely, the renewed concern for the communicative tasks
learners actually need language for continue to call for a
progressive re-examination of matters relating to language
teaching and learning. Ultimately, there is now a transformation of
the language classroom from a dull, one-way traffic to an
interactive and interesting enterprise.
This paper takes an informed look at the 'USE' writing classroom
where the teachers are called upon to cope with extra-large
classes and at the same time ensure that the writing skills are
effectively taught. The paper thus proposes a teaching strategy
that effectively and systematically takes learners through the
stages involved in the teaching and learning of writing.

INTRODUCTION
Shifting perspectives in the practice of language teaching has continued
to emphasize the need for the teachers to always consider what the learners
would subsequently use language for. Thus, language teaching is exposing
learners to language use by inculcating in them the ability to use language
effectively to meaningfully express their feelings and understanding of the world.
This consideration for learners' use of language informs the emphasis on the
teaching of communicative competence. Communicative competence is thus
being taught to enhance communicative performance. In spite of the intractable
issue of defining what communicative competence is, there appears to be a
concensus that communicative language teaching involves inculcating such
relevant skills in the learner that will make him use language effectively in a

meaningful, communicative situation. Rea (1978) puts it as the ability to

communicate with ease and effect in specified sociolinguistic settings.
Thus, performance appears to be the aim or goal of the Use of Language
teaching. In this regard, the use of English (USE) teaching will not just be
teaching language as a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning, but
also as a vehicle for the performance of academic, occupational and social
functions. Following this perception, one realises that the teaching of language
skills should not just be a dull, one-way traffic in which the teacher demonstrates
his knowledge of language and his rhetorical skills; rather it should be an
interactive and pragmatic process, which will give students the opportunity to use
English language in the classroom. Students should be actively involved in the
teaching process.

THE PROBLEM
The ideal situation for an effective teaching of the Use of English in the
higher Institutions in Nigeria is to have classes of between 20 - 30 students, but
this is a far cry from reality. In most of the use of English classes in the
institutions in Nigeria, we have between 50 to 350 students. How does a teacher
then handle such a class to achieve the effective teaching of writing skills?; and,
effective teaching is having an interactive teaching and learning situation,
achieving effective practice of writing sub-skills, and evaluating learner's progress
and achievement effectively.
Researchers in the area of large language classes have outlined some of
the following suggestions (e.g. Coleman, 1987, Nolasco and Arthur, 1988)

Dividing the group into sub-groups.

Encouraging group cohesion by providing opportunities for frequent

interaction, etc.

Encouraging intergroup competitions.

Giving group assignments

presentations; etc.

and

encouraging

organized

group

Insightful as the suggestions are, the present writer still feels that specific
suggestions could be given for the teaching of writing skills. As such the problem
this paper intends to look into is how maximum efficiency and effectiveness could
be achieved in the teaching of writing skills to large groups.

WRITING SKILLS: Nature and Scope

Writing, according to Russo (1987:183). is "an interactive experience." It

is a productive skill in language use in which the writer attempts to concretize his
perception and understanding of the world. Through writing we verbalise our
apprehension of reality and the place of man in the scheme of things. The writer
is thus playing a mediating role between objective reality and the rest of mankind
that make up the audience. Through what has been written, the audience also
has an interesting insight into the personality of the writer and his perception of
the world.
Writing is seen as a process, and studies in the area have revealed that
four main activities are involved in the writing process. For instance, studies
carried out by Adegbija (1989) among others, reveal the following categories of
activities
(a)

Pre-writing

(b)

Writing

(c)

Post-writing

(d)

Rewriting.

A good writing course should take the students through all these
processes systematically, and this has a lot of implications for the teacher.
Adegbija (1989) emphasises the fact that the interesting activities earned out in
the classroom which make learners to be personally involved, will not only
stimulate the interest of students in writing, but will also arouse their awareness
into the what and how of communicating in writing, especially if 'the classroom
activities are made relevant to the specific disciplines of the students. Hedge's
(1988) Resource Book actually corroborates this. Hedge (1988: 5) proposes the
following as the basic requirements of effective writing:
a high degree of organization in the development of ideas and
information; a high degree of accuracy so that there is no
ambiguity of meaning: the use of complex grammatical devices
for focus and emphasis: a careful choice of vocabulary,
grammatical patterns, and sentence structures to create a style
which is appropriate to the subject matter and the eventual
readers.
As such, to effectively ascertain students' familiarity with the processes
involved in writing and the basic requirements of a good written work, the teacher
must personally supervise and assess the exercises given to the students during
the use of English lessons. It is not enough to give group exercises and assignments that will be assessed together in the classrooms because, first, much lime
is wasted on these assessments in the classrooms; and secondly, class

assessment of essays makes the teacher liable to over-looking some important

developmental errors of the learners. This thus underscores the need for the
teacher to personally assess the learners' works, so that he may have a direct
contact with the essays and personaly assess and evaluate learner's progress.
The organisation of the course content should reflect a proper integration
of the link between approach and method. Syllabus design has been seen as the
level of analysis at which the following are crucial considerations:
The method(s) to be used in line with the perceived objectives of the course;
The informed flexibility of the analysed needs of learners;
Insights provided by linguistics, especially as regards the content of language;
The duration of the course
Salient pedagogical considerations like classroom activities: teacher-learner roles
and interactions: instructional materials, etc.
Considering the above, it is advised that the 'USH'/EAP (English for
Academic Purposes) teacher should organise his course to suit the specific
context and the variables in operation in that context. I should think, however.
that course delivery should be made an interactive and integrative process in
which learners actually practise the writing skills in the classroom. In addition,
whatever emphasis would be placed on each category of the activities in the
classroom depends on the perceived needs of the specific learners involved.
It is also pertinent for us to emphasize here that an English writing
course should be seen as a continuous progression. This should be borne in
mind when scheming and grading the course content. This perception should
also inform course delivery by making it a systematic exposure of learners to the
various stages of the writing process. The practical considerations in this paper
are predicated upon this view of the writing course: that is. writing is a continuous
process requiring a practical and systematic teaching. The foregoing practical
suggestions are a product of years of teaching writing skills to 'USE' students at
the University of llorin.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
As mentioned above, we are here advocating for a method of teaching
writing that systematically exposes learners to the various stages involved in the
writing process and also effectively tests learners as the course progresses.
Again, a writing course should essentially be a practical one in which
learners are progressively made to perform writing skills. It will be impossible for

a teacher who has a minimum of eight to ten groups each containing about 60 to
100 students, to give a writing assignment or test each week and return same
after grading before the next class so that the errors could be discussed in the
classroom.
We shall hence illustrate our method using a typical writing course for
Economics and Business Administration students. The teaching aid to be used is
the table in the Appendix.

STEPS
Sensitize learners to the writing needs of Economics and Business Administration. Students could be asked to discuss their writing tasks. The various
contributions could then be properly moderated and straightened up b> the
teacher later. The motivation for this approach is that in tertiary institutions
we are dealing with more matured students who are likely to be positively
motivated if they are made aware of what the expected expertise is in
teaching and learning the writings course. This can be effectively discussed
during a one-hour lesson
During the next lesson, the table in the Appendix could be given to the learners.
They could be asked to discuss the content in groups of three to five, for
about two minutes. Each group would then be asked to give the oral
presentation of their discussions. This should take about ten minutes
depending on the size of the class.
Next, the groups can now be enlarged to contain between 5 and 8
members each, to allow for a broader perspective in facing the next task. After
the students have been asked to do an unguided brainstorming. a set of leading
questions on the table could be made available to the class. For instance, on the
table under consideration such hints as the following could be given; outline the
types of information supplied by the table; evaluate the influence of colonialism
on the economic products and trading relations; examine the prospects of these
countries in the near future; what aspects of the information contained in the
table are not relevant in writing a good essay on the table?; suggest a suitable
title for the table, etc.
This could go on for the rest of the time for that period; and at the end
each of the groups will give a report of their discussion in the form of an outline.
This report will be collected for assessment.
This lesson has been devoted to collecting information for an essay to be
written. At the beginning, information collection does not have to be orderly to

give room for a free flow of ideas.

The next lesson could then be devoted to organising our points according to
relative importance and relevance. The previous classwork would have been
assessed by now. It would then be given to the groups to work on. The class
could be given a topic which is an appropriate choice from al! the suggested
titles in the previous lesson. They would then write a good outline using the
previous classwork as the source of information. Two copies of this outline
can be produced by each group The teacher would collect a copy, while the
second copy remains with the group. The teacher could then call on any
member of the group to give oral justification for the outline done by the
group. Apart from encouraging interactive and integrated language teaching,
this step will ensure that everybody participates actively in group works.
During the next lesson, a different material could be given to the class to work
on. to allow for diversification and avoid monotony. The processes above on
information collection could be repeated, but this time it may be faster.
After this stage, each student could be asked to write a paragraph, which is
supposed to be part of the body of the essay on any of the outlined points.
This is to teach paragraph development. The paragraph should follow a
prescribed length, say about 50 words. This would be collected and
assesses by the teacher. The next lesson could be devoted to discussing
some of the shortcomings discovered in the assessed works. During this
discussion emphasis would be placed on the qualities of a good paragraph,
e.g. unity, coherence, completeness, emphasis etc. After this practical
teaching, another exercise similar to the pre-teaching test could be given to
the students. It could equally be collected for assessment.
The process above would be used for every stage of the teaching. For
instance, in teaching the writing of introduction, an exercise could first of all be
given. From here, a good introduction could be taught from the background of a
bad introduction. In this lesson, such salient aspects of introduction like
statement of discourse and topic sentence could be taught. At the end of the
course, it would be discovered that so much has been done, and the learners
would have been made involved in the practical teaching of writing skills.
The systematic exposure of learners to the various aspects of writing
through practice does not rule out die need for writing a complete essay. Indeed,
we are suggesting that towards the end of the course, an exercise should be
given to the learners which will help them write a continuous prose, in which they
will further demonstrate their competence of the skills required for writing good
essays-skills they are expected to have acquired in the process of course

delivery. (Hedge, 1988:5).

CONCLUDING REMARKS
The above approach has a number of advantages which include the
following:
The language teaching class becomes a lively class in which effective interaction
is enhanced among the students, and between the students and the teacher.
The goal of language teaching, that is, communicative competence, is achieved
through constant class participation and practice.
The language teacher is able to monitor the development of his students through
effective and efficient assessment of the regular exercises given.
Communicative skills are presented in an integrative manner, though the
emphasis appears to be the teaching of writing skills. As seen in this
approach, students are encouraged to read a given material, they will
discuss it among themselves, a summary of the discussion will be presented
orally to the whole class, while the presenter speaks, others will learn to
listen effectively, and finally, students will be asked to do the actual writing
task.
Teachers using this approach will, however, have to make sure that the
subgroups are not too large for effective monitoring, and to also ensure that all
the members of the sub-groups are participating effectively. In addition, giving
short but relevant group assignments will simplify the task of having to sit down
for a long time to assess students' regular essays. Teachers should equally
change the sub-groups constantly to ensure effective interaction among the
members of the class. If members stay too long within a specific group it
becomes monotonous and effective participating of all may dwindle.
In all an effective (language) teacher is one who is a master of teaching
skills and is able to adjust his approach and method to suit the needs of his
students.

REFERENCES
Adegbija, E.E. "Pre-writing Activities in English for Academic Purpose (EAP) in Nigerian
Universities" Paper presented at the University of Ilorin Communication Skills Project
(COMSKIP) workshop, 6th September, 1989.
Coleman, H. (1987) "Teaching spectacles and learning festivals" ELT Journal vol. 41.2.

pp. 97-103.
Freedman, A. et al (edited). 1988. Learning to Write: First Language/Second Language.
London and New York: Longman.
Hedge, Tricia (1988). Writing: Resource Books for Teachers Series. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Jordan, R.R. (1980). Academic Writing Course. London and Glasgow: Collins.
Nolasco, R. and Arthur, L. (1988) Large Classes: London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Russo, G.M. (1987) "Writing: an interactive experience" in Interactive Language Teaching
ed. Rivers W.M. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Sheal, Peter (1981).
Advanced Level Writing Skills for Colleges and Universities in Africa. Essex, U.K :
Longman.

APPENDIX: TRADING RELATIONS IN PERCENTAGE

FRANCE U.K

U.S.A

CANADA

NIGERIA

15

30

20

JAPAN
5

GERMANY
10

OTHER
15

GHANA

10

40

15

10

12

IVORY COAST

35

25

15

TOGO

30

25

18

10

GAMBIA

31

26

13

15

SENEGAL

33

15

20

10

14

SIERRA
LEONE

10

23

35

10

10

MALI

34

15

12

15

NIGER

36

13

14

10

18

REPUBLIC OF
BENIN

30

15

20

10

20

LIBERIA

10

30

25

15