Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
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
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.
employs the communicative approach ( Ranalli , 2002), since Omanis are required to work out
rules individually and reflect upon their personal opinions.
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
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.
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
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).
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.
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
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