Transcript Text-type

DESIGNING LEARNING AND TEACHING
ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ WRITING
SKILLS AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY LEVEL
30 April 2014 (Wed)
14:00 – 17:00
English Language Education Section
Curriculum Development Institute
Education Bureau
Today’s programme
Part 1
Holistic planning of the school-based writing programme at the
senior secondary level
Part 2
Design of learning and teaching activities for a writing module
Part 3
Exploring effective strategies for enhancing the learning and
teaching of English writing skills
Part 4
Promoting self-directed learning in writing
By the end of the workshop, you will have
• a better understanding of the key considerations in planning for
the progressive development of writing skills at the senior
secondary level; and
• explored some effective strategies for helping students to
formulate, develop, elaborate on, organise and present ideas in
their writing.
PART 1
HOLISTIC PLANNING FOR A
WRITING PROGRAMME
What do I expect
students to achieve at
the end of a three-year
writing programme?
What teaching strategies
should I adopt when
teaching writing?
Teachers’ Concerns
What skills and learning
strategies should students
acquire in order to
approach writing tasks
with greater confidence?
Activity 1
Discuss with your partner:
1. What are your concerns in teaching writing?
2. How is the writing programme for S4-S6 planned at your school?
3. What do you expect your students to have mastered in writing
upon the completion of S6?
Comment on the following senior secondary writing programme of
School A:
S4
S5
S6
Purpose
Descriptive
Imaginative
Discussion
Expository
Problem solving
Argumentative
Persuasive
Text-type
Personal letter
Story
Essay
Formal letter
Speech
Proposal
Debate speech
Editorial
Feature articles
Examples of text-types
Diaries /
Journals
Editorials
Emails
Debate
Brochures
Short
Stories
Writing topic
Write a proposal to persuade the
Principal to purchase 40 IPads for
students to use in English lessons.
Formal
Letters
Postcards
Plays
Feature
Articles
Proposals
Posters
Book / Film
Reviews / Reports
Leaflets
Newspaper
Articles
Personal
Letters
Informational
Reports
Memoranda
Speeches /
Presentations
Examples of text-types
Diaries /
Journals
Editorials
Feature
Articles
Proposals
Emails
Short
Stories
Leaflets
Newspaper
Articles
Writing topic
Debate
Brochures
Write a letter to the Principal to
explain how a fight over a basketball
match began, plead for leniency and
suggest an alternate form of
punishment.
Formal
Letters
Postcards
Plays
Posters
Book / Film
Reviews / Reports
Personal
Letters
Informational
Reports
Memoranda
Speeches /
Presentations
Diagrammatic Representation of the
English Language Curriculum Framework
The English Language Curriculum
Strands
9 Generic Skills
Knowledge
Experience
Learning Objectives: Forms and Functions
Skills and Strategies
Attitudes
Flexible and Diversified Modes of
Curriculum Planning
+
Effective Learning, Teaching and Assessment
Overall Aims and Learning Targets of
English Language
9
Values and Attitudes
Interpersonal
Public Examinations for English Language
HKCEE (Before 2007)
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•
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•
•
•
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Assessing contextual
meaning of words and
phrases
Contexts provided in all
tasks
Comprehension assessed
through MC questions
Grammar explicitly
assessed
Limited text-types
Assessing content and
language
Syllabus A and Syllabus B
to cater for learner
diversity
HKCEE (2007-2011)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Assessing contextual
meaning of words and
phrases
Contexts of some tasks
thematically linked
Assessment of a range of
reading skills
Grammar assessed in
context
Coverage of a range of
text-types
Assessing content,
language & style and
organisation
Inclusion of SBA to
promote assessment for
learning
HKDSE Exam (2012 onwards)
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Assessing contextual
meaning of words and
phrases
Contexts of some tasks
thematically linked
Assessment of a wide range
of reading skills
Grammar assessed in
context
Coverage of a wide range of
text-types
Assessing content, language
& style and organisation
Graded Approach and a
wider choice of questions to
cater for learner diversity
Inclusion of SBA to promote
assessment for learning
Alignment between the Senior Secondary EL Curriculum
and the HKDSE Examination for English Language
Learning Objectives for Writing Skills
Assessment Objectives
To develop students’ ability to present information,
To assess the ability of candidates to:
ideas, views, attitudes and feelings clearly, coherently
 plan and produce coherent and
and appropriately in a variety of written texts, for
structured texts with ideas
example:
effectively presented and
 plan and produce coherent and structured texts
developed
 present and elaborate on main ideas and
 write texts for different contexts,
supporting details through exemplifications,
audiences and purposes with
paraphrases, explanations, etc.
relevant content and adequate
 use appropriate linguistic and structural devices, a
supporting details
variety of structures and an appropriate range of
 convey meaning using varied
vocabulary to achieve desired purposes
vocabulary, linguistic devices and
 use appropriate style and register in writing
language patterns appropriately
 draft, revise and edit a piece of writing
and accurately
 organise and integrate information and ideas ,
 write texts using appropriate tone,
and write texts appropriate to the context,
style and register and the salient
purpose and audience
features of different genres
 present different views and arguments clearly and
 draft and revise written texts
logically
 use appropriate discourse markers
Writing questions in public exams
Many young couples these days are choosing not to have children. What do you
think of this choice? Write an essay on this topic, stating your personal view
and giving reasons for your opinions.
(HKALE AS UE 2002)
As part of the ‘Creative Writing Week’ at your school, your teacher has asked
you to complete a diary entry that begins with the sentence ‘I woke up this
morning and discovered I was eight feet tall.’
Write the diary entry, describing what the day was like for you.
(HKCEE Eng Lang Syll B 2006)
You have decided to enter an Essay Writing Competition. Say whether you
agree or disagree with the statement and give reasons for your view.
It is better to travel alone than to join a tour group.
(HKCEE Eng Lang 2011)
You are a human resources assistant. Your boss has observed that
many people are leaving the office very late. He has asked you to
write an article for the company newsletter describing the situation
and discussing the negative effects. You have also been asked to give
two suggestions to improve the situation. Provide a suitable title for
your article.
(HKDSE Exam Eng Lang 2012)
Suggested key considerations for planning a writing
programme:
To develop students’ writing skills at the SS level, it is important to:
• gauge students’ writing proficiency;
• provide opportunities for writing on different topics and
producing a good range of content (i.e. information, ideas,
personal experiences and opinions);
• cover a variety of writing purposes (text features); and
• expose students to a wide range of text-types (text structures).
PART 2
DESIGN OF LEARNING AND
TEACHING ACTIVITIES FOR A
WRITING MODULE
Activity 2
In groups:
1. Study the exemplar module on argumentative writing.
2. Identify the learning objectives and the language skills involved in
the learning activities in each part.
Genre: Argumentative Writing
Text-type: Letter to the Editor
Theme: The Internet
Time needed: 5 hours 20 minutes
Suggested number of lessons: 9 (40-minute lessons)
Suggested target level: S4 (less advanced students)
Suggested key considerations for planning a writing
module:
When designing learning and teaching activities, it is important to:
• adopt a task-based approach;
• choose materials which are at an appropriate level;
• include multi-modal input;
• provide adequate support to students in content, language & style
and organisation; and
• integrate the writing activities with other language skills.
PART 3
EXPLORING EFFECTIVE
STRATEGIES FOR
ENHANCING THE LEARNING
AND TEACHING OF ENGLISH
WRITING SKILLS
Helping students to develop effective
learning strategies to enhance their
writing performance
Steps
Deconstructing and understanding the
writing topic
Analysing the task requirements and
establishing success criteria
Devising a writing plan
Reviewing and editing one’s writing
Teacher’s role
Identifying the strengths and weaknesses in
one’s writing based on the feedback from
teachers and setting appropriate goals for
the improvement of writing skills
(1) Deconstructing & understanding
the writing topic
Pre-writing: Identifying key elements in the writing topic:
• Who am I?
• Who am I writing to?
• What is the purpose of writing?
• What is the text-type?
• How formal should the writing be?
• What is the context/topic?
Strategy:
Highlighting keywords (the 4 Ws)
What?
(Text-type)
Why?
(Purposes)
(Your role + Audience)
When? (Tenses)
Who?
Pre-writing: Highlighting keywords
Some experts in education have observed that Hong Kong teenagers
are too pampered and spoilt by their parents, resulting in their lack of
self-management and problem-solving skills. One proposed solution to
this problem is requiring students to undertake 50 hours of community
service, in addition to the community services organised by the schools
for the Other Learning Experiences (OLE), before they are allowed to
graduate from secondary school. Write an article to the school
newspaper to express whether you agree with this proposal and give at
least three reasons for your view.
Topic of the article
Pre-writing: Highlighting keywords
Some experts in education have observed that Hong Kong teenagers
are too pampered and spoilt by their parents, resulting in their lack of
self-management and problem-solving skills. One proposed solution to
this problem is requiring students to undertake 50 hours of community
service, in addition to the community services organised by the schools
for the Other Learning Experiences (OLE), before they are allowed to
graduate from secondary school. Write an article to the school
newspaper to express whether you agree with this proposal and give at
least three reasons for your view.
Writer’s role &
Target readers
Text-type
The purpose of the article
Understanding the topic
Topic
Text-type
Role of the Writer
Target Readers
Purposes
Tone & Register
Compulsory community service
An article for the school magazine
A student
Students and teachers in a school
To express and justify views, to
persuade
Semi-formal
(2) Analysing the task requirements &
establishing success criteria
Pre-writing: Establishing success criteria with reference to the question
Some experts in education have observed that Hong Kong teenagers
are too pampered and spoilt by their parents, resulting in their lack of
self-management and problem-solving skills. One proposed solution to
this problem is requiring students to undertake 50 hours of community
service, in addition to the community services organised by the schools
for the Other Learning Experiences (OLE), before they are allowed to
graduate from secondary school. Write an article to the school
newspaper to express whether you agree with this proposal and give at
least three reasons for your view.
Activity 3
1.
(Feedforward)
What are the task requirements?
2. What am I expected to demonstrate in the following aspects of my
writing to successfully complete the task?
Content
Language & Style
Organisation
Detailed analysis of the task requirements (Y.1)
Designing a task-specific assessment form (Y.2)
(3) Devising a writing plan
Pre-writing: Questions to consider
• Have I read/viewed any texts relevant to this topic? Can I recall
any useful information and ideas worth including in my writing?
• How many paragraphs should I write?
• How should I start my writing?
• What is the focus and main idea of each paragraph?
• What supporting details (e.g. personal experiences, examples)
can I think of for each body paragraph
• How should I end my writing?
Activity 4
In groups, with reference to the topic provided,
devise a writing plan that presents the following
clearly:
• The overall structure of the writing
• How you would open and end the writing
• The focus and main idea of each paragraph
• The supporting details (e.g. personal experiences,
examples) for each paragraph
You may present your plan in any form (e.g. bullet
points, a table, a graphic organiser)
Group 1:
2014 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q1
Learning English through Sports Communication
A local fitness centre is being renovated. As the chairperson of
your school’s Sports Club, write a letter to ask the fitness centre to
donate some of their old equipment to your school. In your letter,
describe how the donation could benefit your school and the
fitness centre.
Group 2:
2013 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q6
Learning English through Workplace Communication
The Hong Kong Daily is asking students to submit an article about
their summer job experiences. You were employed as a costumed
character performer in on of the local theme parks last year. In
your article, write about your typical working day, the good things
and bad things about your job. Write the article.
Group 3:
2014 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q7
Learning English through Short Stories
You are taking a creative writing workshop and you have to submit
the following assignment:
Imagine you are a university student living in a student hall. Your roommate
has suddenly decided to leave. Write a short story describing the events that
led up to your roommate’s sudden departure.
Group 4:
2013 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q8
Learning English through Poems and Songs
You are the President of Students’ Union. You are giving a speech
to the graduating classes. The inspiration for the speech comes
from the following popular song about how time can slip away of
you don’t make good use of it.
Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman’s face
Hours are like diamonds, don’t let them waste
Time waits for no one, no favours has he
Time waits for no one, and he won’t wait for me
Write your speech.
Support for students in the planning stage
Suggested strategies:
(1) Exposing students’ to a range of multi-modal input
(2) Providing rich learning experiences involving the
integrative use of different language skills
(3) Using concept maps and graphic organisers
(4) Modelling on good sample work
(5) Introducing different ways of opening and closing
(6) Introducing different ways to add supporting details and
elaborate on ideas
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(4) Reviewing and Editing One’s Writing
Post-writing: Questions to consider
• Have I used a wide range of vocabulary on the topic? Have I used
the same verbs (e.g. said, asked) /adjectives (e.g. happy, excited,
afraid) repeatedly?
• Have I used a variety of sentence patterns and some complex
sentence structures?
• Is the tone and register appropriate?
• Have I made any grammatical mistakes?
• Have I used any rhetorical strategies (e.g. rhetorical questions,
emphatic sentences) or stylistic features (e.g. simile, metaphor,
exaggeration) to enhance the effect of my writing?
Support for students in the planning stage
Suggested strategies:
(1) Making use of various tools / resources / reference
materials (e.g. thesaurus, collocations dictionary,
concordancer)
(2) Selecting appropriate language areas for students to focus
on (e.g. comma splices, passive voice, agreement)
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Enhancing Students’ Metacognitive skills
Engaging students in the reflection / selfmonitoring process
Helping students become more aware
of the expected learning outcomes
Helping students become more
aware of the use of learning
strategies through explicit teaching
of learning strategies
Teacher’s role
Creating criteria of good practice with
the students to provide reference
points for the learning outcomes
Providing constructive feedback to
students as they learn
PART 4
PROMOTING SELFDIRECTED LEARNING
IN WRITING
Purpose
Key Assessor
Assessment as
Learning
Self-monitoring & selfcorrection or
adjustment
Student
Assessment for
Learning
Information for
teachers’ instructional
decisions, attainment
Teacher / Students
Assessment of
Learning
Judgments about
placement, promotion,
attainment
Teacher
Adapted from Lorna (2003) Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximise
Student Learning. Thousand Oaks, Ca, Corwin Press.
Learner Independence
PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT
What is Assessment as Learning (AaL)?
The Process of Metacognition
Relating to
prior knowledge
• Assessment as
Learning (AaL)
focusses on students
and emphasises
assessment as a
process of
metacognition.
(Earl & Katz, 2006)
Self-reflection/
Making
Adjustment to
learning
strategies,
goals, etc.
monitoring process
Evaluating
the
performance
Considering
a range of
strategies
Engaging Students in Goal-Setting & On-going Review (G3-4)
Developing Good Writing Habits Self-reflection &
Self-monitoring (G.5)
Providing Constructive Feedback
Providing Constructive Feedback (Y.6-7)
Engaging Students in Self-Reflection (Y.9)
LEARNING AND TEACHING RESOURCES
• Resources from the EDB
• One-stop Portal
(Writing assessment tasks)
• Graphic organisers
• http://www.teacherfiles.com/resources_organizers.htm
• http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
• http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm
One-stop Portal
English Language Education
Assessment Tasks Bank
One-stop Portal
Search by ‘KS4’ and
‘Reading’
Login with HKEdCity
login ID
Thank you
Example of providing multi-modal input and
rich prior learning experience
• Topic: Write an article on compensated dating, commenting on the
trend, analysing the causes and consequences and suggest
solutions to the problem (B.1-7)
Types of input
Activity
Viewing &
Reading
Students view the clip “Dating for Quick Cash”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRYZxMAc0Ko
Students read two newspaper articles:
(1) “Girls Sell Sex in Hong Kong to Earn Shopping Money”
(2) “The Cost of Dating”
Students identify stakeholders involved in the issue and
their views on it.
Speaking &
Listening
Students brainstorm solutions to the problem from different
stakeholders’ perspectives and conduct a forum.
Examples of graphic organisers useful for
planning and generation of ideas
Topic: Write a story about a day that went totally wrong
Examples of graphic organisers useful for
planning and generation of ideas
Topic: Write an article on different parties’ roles in tackling a social
problem (e.g. global warming)
Classification
Process (cyclical)
Description
Causes & Effects
Comparison &
Plot Diagram
Sequence
Examples of graphic organisers useful for
planning and generation of ideas
Topic: Write the causes and effects of a social issue (e.g.
compensated dating)
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Modelling on good sample work (Y.4-5)
• Topic: Write an article on different parties’ roles in tackling a social
problem (e.g. global warming)
Examples of different ways of opening
For expository/argumentative writing: (B.8-9)
• Using rhetorical questions to involve the readers
• Building a scenario to show the importance of the issue (e.g.
using dialogue and vivid description)
• Citing current news or recent findings to provide
background information
For stories: (P.1-2)
• Flashback
• Dialogue
• Starting with a surprise
• Description and introduction of a character
• Description of the setting (e.g. place, time, weather)
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Examples of different ways of closing
For expository/argumentative writing: (B.10-11)
• Recapturing or summarising the key points made
• Suggesting solutions and appealing for action
• Expressing a wish
• Making reference to the opening
For stories: (P.3-4)
• Ending with a surprise, i.e. twist
• Ending the story on a positive note (e.g. offering hope)
• Ending with a question
• Dialogue
• Reflections
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Examples of different supporting details
For expository/argumentative writing: (B. 11-12)
• Examples, anecdotes and cases
• Statistics
• Expert opinions
• Details, explanation and description
For stories: (P. 5-6)
• Sensory descriptions (of characters and the setting)
• Use of dialogue
• Figurative language
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