Abstract:

Nowadays, there is a prevalent need among educators to find effective techniques for developing and improving writing skills at primary school pupils. At this level of education, literacy is a high-priority goal, and writing, as a co-dependent skill, is directly linked to its achievement. This goal is even more challenging when it comes to developing writing skills in foreign language (FL) classes.

In this context, our study reports on a quantitative research investigation of writing skills development among 9-year-old pupils during English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes in six European countries, namely Romania, Greece, Serbia, Poland, Lithuania and Iceland. Specifically, it examines the correlation between theory (what EFL teachers should do) and practice (what they actually do) in teaching writing skills to young learners. To that end, an anonymous self-administered questionnaire consisting of 55 questions and addressing issues ranging from the status of EFL in primary education to EFL writing activities was distributed to a total of 100 teachers from the participant countries. The structure of the questionnaire follows the dichotomy theory-practice and dwells on important issues regarding the implementation of adequate methodological strategies and varied techniques in classroom practice (Barkaoui, 2007, Cole&Fang, 2015). We used a 5-level Likert scale with pre-coded responses targeting both cognitive and affective components of the teacher’s attitude towards writing. Additionally, we used a 4-level Likert frequency scale aimed at finding out the teacher’s behaviour in writing classes and implementation of the theoretical aspects in the classroom practice.

Our preliminary findings indicate on the one hand that if we consider the informants as an overall group, the status, objectives and methodology of EFL are well-known in all participant countries, but teachers fail to put them into practice. On the other hand, the answers provided at the level of the national sub-group show that there is an irregular distribution of the correlation between theory and practice which could be explained by taking into consideration the specificity of each national educational context.

References:
[1] Cole, J., & Feng, J. (2015). Effective strategies for improving writing skills of elementary English language learners. Paper presented at the Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association Annual Conference, April 15-16, 2015 in Chicago, IL.
[2] Barkaoui, K. (2007). Teaching Writing to Second Language Learners: Insights from Theory and Research. TESL Reporter 40, 1, pp. 35-48.

Keywords:

Writing skills, young learners, educational strategies, methodology, quantitative research.