Using Writing Templates as Materials to Improve Writing Skills in EFL Classes : An Experimental Study

In this study it was aimed at revealing the findings of an experimental study in which writing templates were used as writing materials to improve writing skills in intermediate (B1) EFL classes as well as reviewing the concepts writing skills, second language writing and writing templates. The study was conducted with 50 students, aged 20-23, of a public university in Turkey. In Writing and Speaking in English II class writing templates were used as writing materials during 12 weeks. The students were asked to fulfil tasks asking them to use some basic writing types for B1 level such as formal and informal letter writing, CV writing, writing business e-mails etc. before and after the study. It was concluded that writing templates can be used as writing materials to improve intermediate (B1) EFL classes.


Introduction
As being one of the crucial productive skills, writing in a second language has a key role in individuals' professional lives regarding the challenges of contemporary professional and academic life.It is possible to say that writing must be developed as a skill or a habit but sometimes it may be too late for second language learners.It is undoubtedly a great challenge to select the best approaches, methods and techniques to be used in EFL classes.
Writing teachers have a dual challenge: Not only must they help the most reticent and timid writers overcome a potentially crippling writing phobia, but they must also instil in their students the confidence needed to translate their thoughts into correct and acceptable English.Even though the writing product is an expression of one's individuality and personality, it is important to remember that writing is also an endeavour, a way of communicating with others, inform them, persuading them, and debating with them.
As a technique, using writing templates in EFL writing classes is suggested to be an effective way of teaching how to write.In the simplest way, templates can be defined as models.Specifically, writing templates are skeletal syntactic frameworks-parts of sentences or paragraphs with blanks to fill in with words of learner's choice.
In this study it was aimed at revealing the findings of an experimental study in which writing templates were used as writing materials to improve writing skills in intermediate (B1) EFL classes as well as reviewing the concepts " Writing Skills", "Second Language Writing" and "Writing Templates".
Since templates allow for creative expressions while giving a beginner writer the tools to write a successful paper, the question of whether they have that remarkable effect on writing process rose in the researchers' mind.They aimed to examine these templates efficiency and reveal their contribution into writing in EFL setting.
Writing, a challenging area both for language learners and teachers, has been the main focus of a wide range of studies, however, the related literature lacks the studies referring writing templates despite their frequent usage in almost every writing related material, which substantially makes the current study remarkable.This study is also marked in terms of being the first experimental study mentioning about the writing templates and their application in EFL settings although some blog writings and comments, suggestions, tips for EFL teachers on using them as effective materials can be encountered on various websites.

Second language writing
About distinguishing writing from other language skills and identifying the place of writing skill in language learning, some fundamental aspects of writing, approaches to writing skill and to the methodology of developing writing skill need to be addressed.The notion of writing has been defined and identified by various scholars in view of various approaches (Kroll, 2001;Lightbown & Spada, 2006;McDonough & Shaw, 2003;Nation, 2009).However, whichever meaning and understanding we adopt, we need to know about writing, as well as writing itself.The word 'writing' may be used to mean orthography, written discourse, the act of writing, or literature (Silva & Matsuda, 2002, p. 251).
Any discussion of L2 students' writing needs must first take into account the wide diversity among L2 learners as distinct groups each with its own uses of, and needs for, writing.Students in EFL contexts will need English writing skills ranging from simple paragraph writing and summary skills to the ability to write essays and professional articles.
In ESL contexts the range of written needs is equally diverse, although the needs will, for the most part, be more academically oriented.There are a number of factors relating to the theory and practice of writing instruction in second language which go well beyond the concerns and issues central to writing practices in L1 contexts.

Writing Templates as writing materials
Most simply stated, templates are models.In other words, they are tools to help you with all of your different kinds of writing tasks.More specifically, writing templates are skeletal syntactic frameworks-parts of sentences or paragraphs with blanks to fill in words of your choice.King (2007) considers templates valuable because of the fact that they are highly beneficial for the reader to understand better what you are trying to say.They help you, the writer, with organization, and they help you to develop the kinds of sentence, paragraph, and paper structure that strong writers display.
The use of writing templates is one of the best ways to cope with the difficulties while writing in a professional manner (Sumerset, 2008).According to Sumerset (2008) writing process starts with a blank document, then the task gets harder when students try to find the starting point.Whether it is a short informal note or a professional correspondence text, any writing is an arduous task in the first few lines.As Sumerset (2008) indicates, writing templates help overcome the initial frustration caused by lack of advanced competences in writing skill.Apart from their time-saving feature, writing templates provide a basic outline and help students fulfil various writing tasks with fewer mistakes.Some of the most commonly used writing templates are: It is also possible to find templates to write reports, term papers, scholarly papers or even college admissions essays.The literature on the development and use of writing templates is rather restricted.Supatranont (2012) suggested using writing templates for research article abstracts.Using a corpus-based method, she developed a writing template which can be used by academics to write research article abstracts.

Teaching writing at independent levels (B1-B2)
Besides its roots date back to 1971, the Common European Framework of reference for language learning, teaching and assessment (CEF) started to provide a common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, textbooks, etc. across Europe (Council of Europe, 2001).
One of the main objectives of CEF is to describe thoroughly what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively.As well as many radical and effective changes CEF, also aimed to describe the levels of proficiency required by existing standards, tests and examinations so as to facilitate comparisons between different systems of qualifications.For this purpose the Descriptive Scheme and the Common Reference Levels have been developed.These reference levels is composed of six broad levels, which are respectively higher and lower interpretations of the classic division into basic, intermediate and advanced.
This study aimed at revealing the findings of an experimental study in which writing templates were used as writing materials to improve writing skills in intermediate (B1 The proficiency level of a B1 learner in writing and global scale is described as mentioned above when the CEF taken into consideration as a reference.On the other hand it will be beneficial to review how the intermediate level is characterized in terms of writing skills.Grabe and Kaplan (1996) point out that as the students get more experienced in writing they move into educational contexts with more demanding learning tasks, writing instruction takes on new dimensions.Basic fluencies and abilities remain important components of writing instruction, yet additional abilities which must be developed and many resources for writing which must be invoked are included in intermediate level of writing instruction.Grabe and Kaplan (1996) describe the intermediate level student of writing as follows in detailed: "The intermediate student is one who is able to write on a basic level and now must use writing to learn a wide range of other academic information; someone who uses writing to learn about history, science, literature, social studies, mathematics, arts, and foreign languages.Students at this level must learn how to read from multiple sources and write from these sources.At the same time, intermediate students are continually gaining control over additionally vocabulary and more complex sentence structure while also gaining a greater degree of stylistic maturity, a reflection of a growing sense of purpose and audience in their writing".
Intermediate writers could be classified in two major groups to improve their writing for academic purposes.For the student in the public school context, the intermediate writer is seen as the secondary school student, roughly grades 6-11 (ages 12-17).These students presumably have mastered the basic skills for composing simple messages and mechanics of writing.The second well-defined group of intermediate students is the international ESL students who seek to enter an English speaking tertiary-level academic institution but has only an intermediate level of English language skills.These students have typically mastered the mechanics of writing in English, and have developed basic fluency in writing through practice.A third possible group, adult literacy students, often do not beyond basic literary abilities in their class work.For this reason they do not represent a major group of students requiring intermediatelevel writing instruction.

Method
The researchers gathered data about the writing templates and prepared a syllabus and course materials that would fit the course Writing and Speaking in English II.The pursuance of the current study, which depends on writing approach, was also designed by the researchers.

Participants
The participants of the study, who were randomly picked on, were the two groups of students, aged between 20 and 23, enrolling in Writing and Speaking in English II, of International Relations Department at Atatürk University.
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Data Collection Tools
The students were asked to fulfil tasks asking them to use some basic writing types for B1 level such as formal and informal letter writing, CV writing, writing business e-mails etc. before and after the study.A writing Pre-test was administered to both groups in order to test their proficiency level in writing, which indicated no statistically significant difference in terms of their mean scores.These writing templates were used as writing materials for 12 weeks.Both groups were asked to get the writing post-test, which was exactly the same as the pre-test at the end of 12-week-educational season.After comparing the mean scores the final examinations, the researchers graded the all the tests and used t-test so as to analyse them.

Data Analysis
The researchers of the study preferred to implement an experimental design, which divides the participants randomly into two groups, the experimental group and the control group, and then introduce a change to the experimental group and not the control group.The change of this study was the using writing templates in writing courses for the experiment group rather than the control one.The control group, on the other hand, had a traditional teaching.A writing quiz (Writing Quiz 1) was administered to both groups during the mid-term examination and the researchers compared the mean scores of them.The same procedure was repeated twice: one in the middle of treatment and the second in the final examination via another writing quiz (Writing Quiz 2 and Writing Quiz 3), whose mean scores were compared as well.Both groups were asked to get the writing post-test, which was exactly the same as the pre-test at the end of 12-week-educational season.After comparing the mean scores the final examinations, the researchers graded the all the tests and used t-test so as to analyse them.The interrater reliability of study was also ensured, which assured that the generated results meet the accepted criteria defining reliability, by quantitatively defining the degree of agreement between two or more observers.Before this study was initiated, a group of students was requested to write on a topic and those papers helped the researchers measure the reliability of rating.In the end, the raters were fairly consistent in their overall ratings since they used the holistic scoring rubrics and ESL Composition Criterion in order to be as objective as possible.

Analysis and findings
This part is devoted to the presentation of quantitative analyses and findings of the study.Pretest and post-test results of the groups are shown in Table 1.The mean scores of pre-test for the experiment group and the control group are respectively 64.74 and 66.96.As it can be seen from Table 1, the Standard Deviations (SD) are 7.07 for the experiment group and 8.34 for the control group.The mean scores of post-test for the experiment group and the control group are respectively 66.92 and 63.04.As it can be seen from the table, the Standard Deviations (SD) for the groups are 8.96 for the experiment group and 7.14 for the control group.
Based on writing quiz applications in three phases, the development of writing performances of the groups are shown in Table 2. significant difference of the two groups' performance: Writing Quiz 2, 2.30; Writing Quiz 3, 3.10 and on the 2.08;(p<0.05).
All these analyses conclude that the experiment group outperformed the control group in their writing ability as well as pointing out that the students selected as the experiment group and had the treatment gained the ability to write.

Conclusion
The findings of the study reveal that teaching with writing templates creates higher mean scores in writing tests as well as in post-test.Those students in control group, who were taught with traditional teaching techniques, gained lower scores compared to experiment group.Undoubtedly, the main reason of the difference between the two groups is the use of writing templates to teach writing.Mechanics, language structures, grammar and feedback are among the unique characteristics of the treatment conducted in the current study.As the grammar and structure recedes, students have the opportunity to focus on the message they would like to convey.Feedback activities, in which teacher has a role of coaching students' writings, students can write and rewrite to reach the final draft.The effect of this kind of feedback can be seen through the scores of Writing Quiz 2, Writing Quiz 3 and the post-test.Current study shows that the difference between the two groups is statistically significant only after a process of treatment.This is an apparent evidence for the need of feedback.
All in all, main findings of the study show that the use writing templates can be a vital tool for writing classes who suffer from the deficiencies of traditional teaching methods.It should be noted that both the concept itself and the classroom applications of writing templates are relatively novel.More empirical data is needed to validate the positive effect of using writing templates to improve writing in various classroom settings.
) EFL classes.According to CEF Reference Levels a language learner in B1 level is supposed to achieve the following items in writing skills.I can write simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest.I can write personal letters describing experiences and impressions (Self-Assessment