Why do some students write poorly?!
Mubarak Abdessalami
Why do some students write poorly?
By: M. Abdessalami
INTRODUCTION:
Apart from the complex nature of writing, we all know why most students today shun writing the maximum. For them writing is a true scary experience; however, when they have to do it, they do it very poorly; and this is due to several diverse causes. This paper will try to look for these causes and try to find remedies to stop students from producing those “junk” writings believing that what they write is good as far there are piles of words and signs on the paper. Before thinking of remedial classes, first we have to fetch for the pests behind this attitude towards writing, and then manage an efficacious curative process to root those pests out, and pave the way for the learners to get familiar with this crucial skill for their future life.
To write or not to write, that’s no longer the question.
The students write, no doubt. They are sending messages and e-mails. They are also busy writing when they chat with each other. However, is this sort of writing that we need them to master? We should rather ponder on the question why the students hate writing first of all. As for the question why the students write poorly is not actually “a big deal” because it is easy to explain.
When the students are forced to write during an exam, for instance, they write very mediocre compositions. That’s actually the backbone question for both parents and teachers to deal with seriously. Some would say that school doesn’t assign them enough writing to do at home. Some other would say that teachers don’t give teaching writing the time and effort it deserves. The students simply argue that writing is a very tough task without mentioning the fact that they don’t read enough to surmount its toughness. Some others would say that writing is no longer needed as far as the culture of the era is based greatly on the visual, that’s why most students use slang, abbreviations, acronyms and more importantly emoticons to express themselves in their chat rooms.
Apart from the ravaging influence of the new fabricated language, the teens are used to in chatting with each other on the internet nowadays; there are various other serious causes which impede the students, even the most brilliant among them, from writing correctly, accurately, cohesively and coherently. Take what the learners say about the impediments to write well -academically speaking-, and see to what extent they represent the real causes
1. We have to write about imposed topics we don’t feel like discussing.
2. We are never allowed enough time to do the task as required.
3. Our only audience is the teacher who doesn’t see but only mistakes and errors.
4. We have no choice to express ourselves free from anxiety.
5. We believe formal language is outdated. The essential is to be understood despite the means. We succeed in communicating our thoughts in chat rooms without the frustrating grammar rules or punctuation.
6. Since writing is always a test or an assignment, it’s already despised.
Who is responsible for this?
Who bears the most part of the responsibility in this awkward situation? Some would say that they are the students themselves who are not willing to read to be able to write. Some others blame the teachers for not forcing the students to write and be corrected. A third party would accuse mass media such as, television and internet, for participating in the deterioration of the expressive language, and the deviation of the students from the path they have to stick to as learners.
☺ If our kids cannot write naturally, why should they go to school in the first place?
☺ If school cannot help them write properly, why is there a school in the first place?
☺ If we cannot solve this tough problem, what the hell are we doing?
It is quite a vicious circle in which everybody is being trapped. It seems to me that there are no answers to such questions no matter how long we keep asking.
What writing are you talking about?
Most students are afraid of writing because they have no idea what it is like, and how to deal with it. Or at least, they have disagreeable thoughts about it. They make an ogre of it before even trying to approach it. They don’t know which writing type they have to focus upon until they can do it in the least detail. This ignorance of the nature of this skill is due to the blurring conception of writing they encounter in their textbooks. Worse than that, teachers, as well, are torn apart between teaching the basics and processes of writing and the multitude of genres the students are required to master during one single academic year
- DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
- STORY TELLING
- REPORT WRITING
- APPLICATION LETTER
- BOOK REVIEW
- PERSONAL LETTER
- APPLICATION FORM FILLING
- FORMAL E-MAIL
- PARAGRAPH WRITING
- FOR AND AGAINST
Besides, writing is not the only skill the students have to care about. There are lots of other skills and sub-skills in more than ten other school subjects.
Did you check the textbooks?
If you want to know exactly why the students hate writing assignments, and if you want to know the cause behind the poor English the students use in writing, just have a look at their textbooks. Look at the texts they are forced to study and the topics they are exposed to. The textbook is completely content based, that is the students should learn the language via a specific context each time. Hello, Language is communication, but it is not necessary to make a student able to talk about the role of civil society, sustainable development, family code, dropping out of school, brain drain or the formal and informal education whereas he is unable to introduce himself and express his feelings.
Studying such topics in other school subjects such as geography, civic education, history and others, is quite normal. All the same, teaching English as a language for communication in its first stages is quite hard for both teachers and the learners. The students, this way, are expected to be politicians or civil society activists. They cannot use the language outside this frame of rigid topics. This is said, the students need to know everything about the topics above, but in a very advanced level, I mean when they have enough ability to use the language properly.
Our textbooks want the students to write
☺ Letters
☺ E-mails
☺ Reports
☺ Reviews
☺ Book reviews
☺ Essays
☺ etc
You see! All these are rigid and stern topics that need rigid or inflexible and technical lingo. The students are needed to use some jargon language void of life and splendour. Topics like
☺ Writing an application letter
☺ Filling a form
☺ Writing a report
☺ Writing a book review
☺ etc
With such a curriculum, teachers are somehow combating functional illiteracy; they are not teaching the language. English in Morocco is a foreign language so it is senseless to use it in contexts when in real life the English language is completely impracticable. Sometimes it looks like a joke when, for instance, you teach the students how to write a letter applying for a grant from the local municipality. This is not true to life. Other school subjects are more suitable for this sort of tasks. I don’t mean that these things should not be taught, but to give them that utmost importance as if they are the only issues the students have to learn is exceptionally exaggeratedly illogical.
The students have to be taught about
☺ Human rights
☺ Civic Education
☺ Citizenship
☺ Common good
☺ Global warming
☺ Technology
☺ N.G.Os
☺ Genetic engineering
☺ Brain Drain
☺ etc
The English language as a language is inexistent in these themes because the students concentrate more on the ideas more than the syntactic and semantic structure of the English utterances. No doubt these life related topics are extremely vital but not on the expense of the beauty and suppleness of language. I mean the literary one used in poetry, prose, stories, lyrics etc. Worse than that, the students are required to write e-mails on sheets of paper. Has anyone ever written an e-mail using a pen and a paper?! The e-mail as a form of communication is purely electronic. It needs a computer and Internet connections, otherwise we are just kidding. As for the content, the students can use samples of ready made e-mails for all types of purposes. Technology is their field of action, and they know how to get to what they really need easily. School has just to strengthen their language competency so as to use it when necessary. Suppose the students who were taught English through the above mentioned topics were asked to tell a story or to engage in a usual conversation, how do you expect them to react?! They’ll surely use inappropriate language and make a jerk of themselves.
Do you call that language?
We should not bombard our students’ little brains with inert words that are lifeless and can not be recycled. Take the words, “repudiation”, “deforestation” and “dominance” for instance. How often do you think a student would use them in day to day dealings or even in life time span? The words can be used in very limited contexts, so it’s better not to give it so much weight alone. The students need words that are practical and usable in different contexts and topics such as adjectives and adverbs. Tell me how many texts in our textbooks employ the emotionally significant words that are really impressive and even have the charming power as to make the students love to learn the language. Some students may believe that to learn English is to have to know words such as,
☺ Legal
☺ powerful
☺ vigorous
☺ audacious
☺ extroverted
☺ enthusiastic
☺ innovative
☺ and alike
Their textbooks are full of words like these. Such words are extremely frustrating for students who are used to live in ARE (Acronym-Rich Environment). What they need to learn, however, are soft words such as, lovable, beautifully, elegance, serene, smart, poetic and so on in order that they might like to study the language, otherwise, they’d rather take refuge in their tranquil ARE. The above terms make English learning twice harder, and this leads to a total refute and dislike on the part of most students.
This way, we surely render learning the language dull and indigestible while the English language is far from being barren or dull. What is missing then?
Show me how, and I’ll gladly do it.
If the students are taught the way language through stories, dialogues and poems, lots of real expressive words will entice them to look for more to enrich their lexical repertoire and make them receptive, motivated, involved and enthusiastic to engage in writing. We should never forget that we are teaching language not through or about language. Language is mostly learned when it is presented in beautifully chosen and designed expressions, not in the outlandish jargon the learners still cannot accept and assimilate instantaneously
Many “real” words are awfully missing in our syllabus, and this has a negative effect on the students’ productivity. They can replace “divorce” by “repudiation”, but they cannot replace the word “very” in a sentence like, “The scene was very admirable”. Whereas, there is a multitude of adverbs that can do the job perfectly well and make the message more natural, eloquent and elegant. It is simply because we are not teaching them the language; on the contrary, we are teaching them topics where ideas and common sense precedes any stylisation or rich vocabulary expression. Let’s go back to the word “very”; very few students only have crossed alternatives like,
☺ absolutely,
☺ completely,
☺ enormously,
☺ excessively,
☺ fully,
☺ greatly,
☺ highly,
☺ hugely,
☺ immensely,
☺ infinitely
☺ intensely,
☺ profoundly,
☺ totally,
☺ tremendously,
☺ utterly
Without such words in mind, it is extremely hard to feel like writing. All that the students know are “dry” words such as “governance”, “management”, “partnership” and so on. These words are not really profitable for learners of English as a foreign language unless they are studying it for specific purposes. Language is a variety of diction and styles; yet learners are exposed to a language which is void of flexibility and smoothness.
In addition to that; the way the writing skill is introduced to the students is frustratingly ambiguous and confusing in the way it is dealt with in the textbooks. It is not inspiring at all because simply the variety of writing genres, presented and imposed on the students, makes it ungraspable by the majority of learners. This way, writing is not alluring, motivating or engaging at all. Therefore, do textbook designers know for sure what the students need. I doubt that. They don’t look serious enough to start brainstorming. The first question that should be put is what do we want our students to be able to do after they study the textbook fully?
Are we trying to make of our students writer-projects for the future? Therefore we should train them on
☺ Fiction
☺ Faction
☺ Narration
☺ Romance
☺ Mystery
☺ Fantasy
☺ Description
☺ Poetry
☺ hybrid genre
☺ etc
Or are we guiding them into owning a tool necessary to make them successful in the labour market? In this case we should show them how to write
☺ Letters of application
☺ Formal e-mails
☺ Reports
☺ Presentations
☺ Speeches
☺ etc
These are actually the key brainstorming questions we should ask before starting designing the writing course. In fact, what we do is imposing all the writing genres on the learners, and this creates indistinctness and confuses them badly to finally learn nothing about what writing really is.
Outstanding writers were not made in schools. It is a gift and the way to improve it is by free writings not by guided writing. I suggest that writing should start from the necessary basics, and then only each student interest will lead them to improve those basics to make them appropriate for the genre they’d prefer to excel at. We should take it for granted that imposing is killing creativity.
There is no evidence this is the best method. What we are actually doing is disturbing them with so much genres that they could stick to none. Preparing them to excel at all writing genres at once is absolutely a deadly error.
Do just put me on the way
I am totally confident that the sort of writing the students need to excel at today should be based essentially on argumentation. If the students could just be able to prove their ideas and points of view correct, that’s the ultimate goal from teaching them how to write not what to write. The most needed writing genre in a variety of careers is what textbooks should focus on, but in a very flexible way to let the learners fell they are freer to express themselves. Believe it or not, the students won’t do well if the topic doesn’t motivate them no matter how good they are. It’s a big mistake for the students to be given the same topic to elaborate on. Some students like to write about pollution for instance, but others have no idea what to write, but they’d write a good writing on smoking. Both topics stem from the same source. Don’t they?
This flexibility in choosing the most appropriate topic to write on is what makes writing enjoyable for the students. That’s why argumentative essays look more suitable. To defend one’s ideas and beliefs is a motivating factor by itself. In their higher specialised or professional education, the students will surely be asked to present a project or an idea and try to defend it giving tangible proofs to support it. How could they do that if they are not to be systematic and decisive about an issue? Expect them to be asked to write on topics connected to their personal values,
☺ Give me three reasons why I should trust you?
☺ Provide us with tangible reasons why we should hire you?
☺ Give enough reasons why this should be done that way?
☺ Write a paragraph about the best …… for you.
☺ etc
How many of our students could answer why they go to school, apart of course from the usual reasons people used to repeat decades ago.
☺ To lean new things
☺ To have a good job
☺ To be a respectful citizen
Not bad, but what about unexpected answers such as
☺ To please my parents
☺ To change the world
☺ To get enough skills to be an inventor.
☺ To learn how to learn.
☺ To keep myself busy for a while
☺ etc.
Poor or not, that’s all I have.
The student belonging to the generation Y is permanently hooked up to his keyboard most of the time. He is either AFK (Away from keyboard) or BAK (Back at the keyboard), to finally discover that a PEBCAK (Problem exists between chair and keyboard). I didn’t invent these acronyms myself, they are the lingo this generation employs when communicating with each other, in addition of course to abbreviations, shorthand or slang terms.
The point is that in order to befriend this generation with writing assignments in the way writing should be carried out; we have to provide them with the necessary equipment they need to pave their own ways towards achievement in writing as well as in other skills. Let’s not just chase them away with our rigid language terminology which is not actually valid for all of them. May be some of them would be interested in those topical themes which their textbooks abound with, but the majority need the beautiful attempting language which allows them to appreciate learning it. That’s why simplified stories and poetry will do the task quite perfectly well. When they get the charm of the language and they get acquainted with it, they may opt for the best means to adapt to their needs later on.
All the four skills are intermingled, and one skill leads to the other almost arbitrarily. As listening leads to speaking, so does reading to writing. To make the learners capable of writing, we should involve them first with adequate appealing reading texts where comprehension doesn’t need too much schemata. Take the sustainable development theme, for instance, lots of acronyms pop up every now and then, like NGOs which stands for “Non-Governmental Organizations”, SDI, ”Sustainable Development Index” and HDI, “Human Development Index”. Despite the context, this generation cannot see but the HDI which they know best, namely “High Definition Images, High Definition Internet, or High Definition Interface”. However, if they are introduced to the world of marvels the English language depicts beautifully, they would forcibly take learning English seriously because they will see a different style where at least there are no acronyms or abbreviations.
“The stunning, exciting and enchanting paradisiacal nature is our magnificent home. It is so diversified a sightseeing destination that we almost always forget about time and place contemplating its lovely green landscapes, proudly standing lofty huge trees, splendid water springs, impressive waterfalls, gracefully running rivers, mesmerizing colourful chanting birds, and the clean fresh air embracing us from all directions as if trying to protect us from extinction. Alas man greedily devastates this paradise, and one day this glamorous world of beauty turns a mere waste land and a heap of ashes. Therefore, we should all work harmoniously to preserve this gift to eventually protect ourselves and the generations to come from trying times.”
That sounds English.
This refined passage is also about Sustainable development, isn’t it? However, it is presented in a more alluring style. I bet, the students, once used to this, will like to learn the language to enjoy its eloquence and richness, and to understand exactly what their duty towards the world around them, and to communicate their feelings and ideas about topics of common interest. After reading and understanding this passage fully, the learners will willingly accept to do the writing about how to preserve this wonderful world of fauna and flora.
All in all, the difficulty is not that hard to alleviate. It needs commitment, good intention and some radical changes in the English Language curricula. Let’s just once forget about the theoretical and initiate reasonable practices which might encourage the learners to reconcile with writing assignments and with school and education at large.
So what?!
The worst of all strategies is postponing urgent actions. To start writing, the students should not wait until the day they can do it perfectly well, for that day will never come. They need to take risks writing whatever crosses their minds; otherwise; everything will stall, and they are totally lost in complete hesitation and helplessness. Let’s provide them with various sample writings at the beginning to get them acquainted with the skill. First, they will read to know what writing looks like. It is very simple but effective. Second, they start varying words and changing expressions to finally find out that writing is no more than a game that needs some vocabulary to play with like nouns, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns among others. When they discover the secret, they will look for more words and expressions to make use of, and they will finally feel that they have achieved something, and that they have already gone a long distance towards the ultimate goal which is to write something properly theirs. This actually needs engagement, seriousness, involvement and awareness of the importance of being able to express emotions, ideas and speak one’s mind freely. The corner stone in the whole process is an unconditional commitment from the part of the learners.
CONCLUSION
There are several other efficacious means which will make the students reconsider their attitude towards learning in general and writing in particular. However; they are all hard to implement. We all know why. The students argue that it is needless to learn to write when they can easily get as many ready made sample writings for all purposes as they like thanks to the internet. They are used to blocking their minds by the easy actions of clicking and copy-pasting unthinkingly. And this is actually the biggest obstacle the learners establish in the way of their driving force to do the writing by themselves. Even though some of them strive to work on writing seriously, others can just get good scores by cheating and bootlegging. Owing to the internet, the students are so content that they will always have solutions to almost every single problem in their study life. Don’t just say they are wrong; let’s first see what’s wrong with the way we assign and assess their work. I can see now that serious changes should be undertaken to stop students from shunning writing or doing it poorly.