Instructional Challenges and Effective Methods: Spelling, Grammar, and Writing

Seminar 5March 10, 2008

Jeannette Mancilla-MartinezGutman 303

Seminar 1:Educating L2 Learners

in the U.S.

Seminar 2:Pedagogical Models

Seminar 3:Reading Words &

Comprehending Text

Seminar 4:Vocabulary &

Academic Language

Seminar 5:Spelling, Grammar, &

Writing

Seminar 6:Disability vs. Exposure

5th Grade Word Generation ClassroomMs. Ross’ 5th grade class of 24 students 100% former English Language Learners Ms. Ross teaches all five days = 100

minutes/week of instructional time devoted to Word Generation

Monday/Tuesday: informal assessment, theories of word meaning, reading of passage, talk about topic, scanning of text/annotation

Tuesday/Wednesday: informal assessment, group work relating words to world

Friday: essay writing

Wednesday/Thursday: debate

Research on the Writing Development of LM learners

Largely centered on college EFL students (Silva and Matsuda, 2001)

Language acquisition issues have been the focus- viewed as the “problem” for ELLs (August & Shanahan, 2006)

Defining Writing

International study of written composition found it impossible to develop an agreed upon definition of writing quality across countries and cultures

Purves, 1992

9

12

15

What’s so difficult about writing?

Multidimensional process- must simultaneously coordinate a variety of skills and types of knowledge- phonological, orthographic, semantic, syntactic, discourse rule systems (Berninger, 1999; Dyson & Freedman, 1991; Graham &

Harris, 2002; Hooper et al., 1994)

Decontextualized- unable to use context, such as prosody or body language (Cameron, Hunt, & Linton, 1996; Cummins, 1994; DeTemple, Wu, & Snow, 1991; Snow, 1989)

A huge cognitive challenge for all, especially LM learners

Why does it matter?

Over 85% of the world’s population writes (Swedlow, 1999)

It’s a tool for communication, learning, and self-expression (Graham, 1992)

It’s related to both oral language and reading (Chall & Jacobs, 1983; Juel, 1989)

It’s important for academic and occupational successPrimary means by which students demonstrate knowledge across disciplines

Gatekeeper to college entrance (SAT writing)

Threshold skill for hiring and promotion

Predictors of Writing Achievement

Spelling

Vocabulary

Grammar/syntax

Written conventions

Attitude toward writing

Practice/writing opportunities

Poor readers tend to become poor writers (Chall & Jacobs, 1983; Juel, 1988)

Writing and Spelling

Related to essay quality (Graham, Harris, & Fink Chorzempa, 2002; Juel, Griffith, & Gough, 1986)

May affect writing quality- focus less on content (Berninger, 1999; Graham & Harris, 2000)

Or, spelling knowledge related to depth of conceptual understanding, and therefore related to quality

Writing and Vocabulary

Vocabulary size correlates highly with global assessment of writing quality (Bachman &

Palmer, 1996)

Direct influence upon theDescriptiveness

Accuracy

Overall quality of the writing

Writing and MotivationGenerally focused on the study of:

Attitudes about writing, self-efficacy, interest, writing apprehension, and attributes for writing success (Brunning & Horn, 2000; Hidi & Boscolo, in press; Pajares, 2003)

Mixed evidence supporting contention that motivation helps shape writing development (Bandura, 1995; Graham et la., 1993; Shell, Colvin, & Brunning, 1995)

Individual differences in motivation seem to predict individual differences in writing

Lack of research on role of motivation instruction in writing performance

Sample NAEP Writing Prompt PROMPT:Your school is sponsoring a voter registration drive for 18-year-old high school students. You and three of your friends are talking about the project. Your friends say the following, Friend 1:"I'm working on the young voters' registration drive. Are you going to come to it and register? You're all 18, so you can do it. We're trying to help increase the number of young people who vote and it shouldn't be too hard — I read that the percentage of 18- to 20-year-olds who vote increased in recent years. We want that percentage to keep going up."Friend 2:"I'll be there. People should vote as soon as they turn 18. It's one of the responsibilities of living in a democracy."Friend 3:"I don't know if people should even bother to register. One vote in an election isn't going to change anything."

Do you agree with friend 2 or 3? Write a response to your friends in which you explain whether you will or will not register to vote. Be sure to explain why and support your position with examples from your reading or experience. Try to convince the friend with whom you disagree that your position is the right one.    

From http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls/itemdisplay.asp

NAEP Persuasive WritingPersuasive writing emphasizes the reader. Its primary aim is to influence others to take some action or to bring about change. Persuasive writing may contain much information - facts, details, examples, comparisons, statistics, or anecdotes. Its main purpose, however, is not simply to inform but to persuade. This type of writing involves a clear awareness of what arguments might most affect the audience being addressed. Writing persuasively also requires the use of critical thinking skills such as analysis, inference, synthesis, and evaluation.

Persuasive writing is called for in a variety of situations. It may involve responding to a request for advice by giving an opinion and providing sound reasons to support it. It may also involve presenting an argument in such a way that a particular audience will find it convincing. When there is opposition, persuasive writing may entail refuting arguments that are contrary to the writer's point of view.

In all persuasive writing, authors must choose the approach they will use. They may, for instance, use emotional or logical appeals or an accommodating or demanding tone. Regardless of the situation or approach, persuasive writers must be concerned with having a particular desired effect upon their readers, beyond merely adding to knowledge of the topic presented.

1998 National Performance Results

Score % of StudentsUnsatisfactory 7

Insufficient 24

Uneven 29

Sufficient 29

Skillful 9

Excellent 2

Small Group Work

Rating student writing

Middle School Writing Study

Grammatical and Syntactical Errors

Background

Predominantly Latino, urban middle school

About 80% ELLs

Teachers concerned about the writing errors that seemed to be rooted in students’ ELL experiences

112 students grades 6-8

Research Questions

What, if any, patterns of grammatical/syntactic errors are evident in the writing of these middle school students?

Do patterns of errors appear to be related to students’ oral language backgrounds? If so, how?

Method

Collected writing samples on a single day in the spring of 2005 by presenting a written prompt (read aloud to them).Instructed students that they would have the full 90 minute ELA period to brainstorm, write, and revise their essays. Students who had not finished at least the first draft of their essays were allowed to complete them during another class period.

Writing Prompt Using public landA wealthy person has bought an old building in your neighborhood and is giving it to the city. The building will be torn down, and the city is looking for recommendations on how to use the land. The most popular suggestions are to build low-cost housing for city’s poor, a community garden and playground, or a community center with day-care and health clinic facilities. What do you think? Write an essay that will convince the city leaders to use the land in a way that you think will most benefit your community. Make sure to explain your opinion and to support it with evidence and examples.

Coding

Essays were transcribed by sentence before coding began using CLAN.

1st wave: locating and labeling errors and unusual uses of language

2nd wave: classifying errors as caused by second language or oral language interference or another cause

3rd wave: focused on finite number of errors after meeting with teachers

Coding (cont’d)

Six targeted errors:1) conjunction (We should help the poor because since they are

needy)

2) noun number inflection (A bunch of kid would agree)

3) part of speech (He runs really slow)

4) preposition (We sat in the couch)

5) Number agreement (verb, adjective, article) (We have too many of these person)

6) Verb (tense, conjugation, required element missing,

idiomatic) (They need to pay their houses)

Direct Translations

Hope they will…

vs.

I hope they will…

The childs should…

vs.

The child should…

Interference

There are a lot people

vs.

There are a lot of people

…much more friends

vs.

many more friends

Oral Standard English

Less people

vs.

fewer people

It would be way better…

vs.

It would be better…

Oral Non-Standard English

That how…

vs.

That is how…

People always complaining

vs.

People are always complaining

ResultsProportion of Error Types

Noun-article agreement

19%

Noun-verb agreement

11%

Noun-adjective agreement

2%

Noun number inflection

3%

Part of speech2%

Illegal conjugation15%

Missing element10%

Conditional tense5%

Idiomatic2%

Conjunction6%

Preposition25%

What does this mean?

Wide variation in error types

Many errors appear related to use of grammatical structures appropriate in oral, but not written, English

Other errors may relate to interference with Spanish (e.g., incorrect grammatical structures), but not direct translations

What does this mean for ELLs?

Wrote fewer sentences per essay than monolingual English counterparts- opportunities to write needed

Made more interference/inter-language errors, suggesting they were in the process of developing control over English grammar

Implications

Need to collaborate with teachers to discuss the errors they deem most important and resistant to instruction

Grammar seems to be an important area of study and it seems all students could benefit from targeted intervention in this area

Overall Considerations for ELLsWriting is a complex process and thus difficult to assess (confounded with language development)May have content knowledge, but their writing may suggest otherwiseKnowledge of idioms, vocabulary, word order, spelling, written conventions pose challengesNeed opportunities to explain their writing so they can be aided in expressing their knowledgeInteractive writing essential (scaffolding)Focus on the content