The Role of Essay Writing Course, Given along with Comprehension-based Instruction, on the Writing Skill Development of High School Students

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the effect of Essay Writing Course, given as specific writing skill instruction along with comprehension-based instruction, on the writing skill development of high school students. The paper is based on a quantitative study conducted in true experimental design. According to the Comprehension Hypothesis (Krashen, 1994, 2003), a comprehension-based instruction with an emphasis on reading and listening practice as receptive skills, will eventually lead to students’ improvement in writing and speaking as productive skills, and to their overall language development. Besides, specific writing skill instruction and effective writing practices have a proven record of success in enhancing students’ writing (Graham, 2018). Within the scope of this study, to determine if there is a meaningful difference in between the writing skill development of the students who take Essay Writing Course and of those who do not take any rhetorical course, apart from the comprehension-based instruction, the first and final writing exam scores and achievement levels of two groups of students are compared by a series of paired sample and independent t-tests, analyzed in SPSS and discussed in the scope of the study. It can be concluded from the results of the analysis that the experimental group, given the Essay Writing Course as writing skill instruction is significantly more successful than the control group, not given any writing skill instruction apart from comprehension oriented instruction. Within the analysis, done in the study, it can be also claimed that Essay Writing Course has a positive impact over the writing skill development of high school students. 

Keywords

• Writing skill
• comprehension-based instruction
• writing skill instruction

Kaynakça

1. A Guide to Effective Instruction in Writing, Ontario Education, Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2005, 12-13. Beglar, D., Hunt, A., & Kite, Y. (2011). The effect of pleasure reading on Japanese university EFL learners’ reading rates. Language Learning, 62(2), 1–39.
2. Berninger, V. (2000). Development of language by hand and its connections to language by ear, mouth and eye. Topics in Language Disorders, 20, 65-84.
3. Boscolo, P., & Ascorti, K. (2004). Effects of collaborative revision on children’s ability to write understandable narrative texts. In L. Allal, L. Chanquoy, & P. Largy (Eds.), Revision: Cognitive and instructional processes (157-170). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
4. Bozorgian, H. (2012). The Relationship between listening and other language skills in International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Theory and Practice in Language Studies,2 (4), 657-663.
5. De La Paz, S. (2005). Teaching historical reasoning and argumentative writing in culturally and academically diverse middle school classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 139–158.
6. Deniz, K. (2000). Yazılı anlatım becerileri yönünden köy ve kent beşinci sınıf öğrencilerinin durumu (Basılmamıs Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Çanakkale Onsekizmart Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Çanakkale.
7. Fearn, L., & Farnan, N. (2005). An investigation of the influence of teaching grammar in writing to accomplish an influence on writing. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada.
8. Fountas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S. (2001). Guiding readers and writers, Grades 3–6. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

9. Glaser, C. (2005). Improving the fourth-grade students’ composition skills: Effects of strategy instruction and self-regulatory procedures (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pottsburg, Germany.
10. Gradman, H. L., & Hanania, E., (1991). Language learning background factors and ESL proficiency. The Modern Language Journal, 75(1) 39-51.
11. Graham S, (2008). Effective writing instruction for all students, for renaissance learning. Vanderbilt University, Wisconsin Rapids USA.
12. Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2011). Writing-to-read: A meta-analysis of the impact of writing and writing instruction on reading. Harvard Educational Review, 81, 710-744.
13. Gökalp, G., & Gonca, A., (2001). Derslikten günlük yasama edebiyat egitimi. Türkbilig 2000/I- Türkoloji Arastırmaları, 185-202.
14. İnal, S. (2006). Ingilizce yazılı anlatım dersinin sorunları üzerine bir inceleme. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 2(2).
15. Hitosugi, C. I., & Day, R. (2004). Extensive reading in Japanese. Reading in a Foreign Language, 16(1).
16. Krashen, S. (1994). The input hypothesis and its rivals. In N. Ellis (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (45-77). London, England: Academic Press.
17. Krashen, S. (2003). Explorations in language acquisition and use: The Taipei lectures. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
18. Mason, B. (2006). Free voluntary reading and autonomy in second language acquisition: Improving TOEFL scores from reading alone. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 2(1), 2–5.
19. Pantier, T. F. (1999). A comparison of writing performance of fifth grade students using the process writing approach and the Shurley Method (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.
20. Paribakht, T. S., & Wesche, M.B., (1993). Reading comprehension and second language development in a comprehension-based ESL program. TESL Canada Journal, 11(1),9-12.
21. Reeves, D, (2000). Accountability in action. Denver, CO: Advanced Learning Press.
22. National Center for Education Statistics. (1997). Reading and Writing Habits of Students, The Condition of Education.
23. Reimer, M. (2001). The effect of a traditional, a process writing and a combined talking and writing instructional approach on the quality of secondary English students’ written response (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Manitoba, Canada.
24. Saddler, B., & Graham, S. (2005). The effects of peer-assisted sentence-combining instruction on the writing performance of more and less skilled young writers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 43–54.
25. Shanahan, T. (2006). Relations among oral language, reading and writing development. In A. C. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald, Handbook of writing research. The Guidford Press.
26. Smith, F. (2003). Understanding reading: A psycho- linguistic analysis of reading and learning to read. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
27. Smart, G. (2008). Writing and the social formation of economy. In. C. Bazerman (Ed.), Handbook of research on writing: History, society, school, individual, text (p. 103-112). NA.
28. Snow, C. E., & Biancarosa, G. (2003). Adolescent literacy and the achievement gap: What do we know and where do we go from here? New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.
29. Trelease, J. (2013), Sustained Silent Reading, The New Read-Aloud Handbook. New York: Penguin Books Publishing.
30. Troia, G, (2014) Evidence-based practices for writing instruction, Michigan State University, September 2014, CEEDAR Document No. IC-5.
31. Truscott, J. (2004). Evidence and conjecture on the effects of error correction: A response to Chandler. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13, 337–343.
32. Truscott, J. (2005). The continuing problems of oral grammar correction. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 1(2), 17–22.
33. Troia, G., & Graham, S. (2002). The effectiveness of a highly explicit, teacher-directed strategy instruction routine: Changing the writing performance of students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35, 290–305.
34. Walser, T. M. (2000). Teaching self-management of writing strategies to promote transfer (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Utah State University, Logan, UT.
35. Yarrow, F., & Topping, K. J. (2001). Collaborative writing: The effects of metacognitive prompting and structured peer interaction. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 261–282.