Delta Module 3 assignment

Gulmira S. Viker

Delta Module 3 Assignment

EAP: EGAP Writing Course: Pre-

Intermediate EFL Emirati Students

Centre: AE 258

Candidate: 01

June 2015

Word Count: 4,449

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Review and key issues (EAP)

1.1 Why I chose EAP 1.2 Defining EAP and EGAP 1.3 EGAP Writing Definition and Approachesto Teaching 1.4 The Teacher’s Role

4-7

4467

2. Needs Analysis and Commentary

2.1 Class Profile 2.2 Needs Analysis Methodology 2.3 Needs Analysis Findings 2.4 Diagnostic Test Methodology and Findings 2.5 Priorities

8-11

8991011

3. Course Proposal

3.1 Learning Aims and Objectives Overview 3.2 Course Contents 3.3 Teaching Approach 3.4 Course Material

11-16

11121315

4. Assessment and Evaluation

4.1 The Difference between Assessment and

16-20

16Gulmira S. Viker EAP: EGAP Writing Course for Pre-intermediate EFL Emirati Students

Evaluation 4.2 The Purpose of Assessment 4.3 Formative Assessment 4.4 Summative Assessment 4.5 Evaluation

17171920

5. Conclusion

5.1 Application of Principals 5.2 Course Benefits 5.3 Course Limitations and Constraints

20-22

202121

6. Bibliography

7. Appendix 1: Course Proposal

8. Appendix 2: Needs Analysis and DT Results

2.1 Needs Analysis Findings 2.2 The VARK Questionnaire Findings 2.3 Diagnostic Test Analysis

22-24

25-37

38-42

384142

9. Appendix 3: Samples of students’ completed needs analysis, VARK, and diagnostic test.

3.1 Completed Needs Analysis Form 3.2 Completed VARK 3.3 Completed Diagnostic Test

10. Appendix 4: Samples of Course Material

11. Appendix 5: Samples of Assessment Tools

5.1 Diagnostic Test 5.2 Self-and Peer Editing Checklist 5.3 Final Writing Test 5.4 Writing Scoring Rubric

12. Appendix 6: Course Evaluation Survey

45-52

45-4748-5051

52-56

57-67

57586061

62

Gulmira S. Viker EAP: EGAP Writing Course for Pre-intermediate EFL Emirati Students

English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP)Writing Course: Pre-Intermediate EFL Emirati

studentsPART 1: Introduction

Word Count: 1,021

1.1 Why I chose EAP

I have selected to pursue English for Academic Purposes

(EAP) because it is relevant to my current teaching context. I am

teaching Level 2 (CEFR A2) in a foundation English program where

I am expected to prepare my students for Level 3 (CEFR B1) and

enable them to obtain IELTS Band 5 in order to continue their


education on a Bachelor program. One of the goals set by the

program includes learning to write short descriptive, narrative

and opinion paragraphs. Therefore, I decided to further my

knowledge of and competence in teaching academic writing skills

to pre- intermediate EFL Emirati students.

1.2 Defining EAP and EGAP

The term EAP was first recorded in use in 1974 and defined

by ETIC (English Teaching Information Center) in 1975 as a branch

of English language teaching that refers to communication skills

English language learners need to study in Anglophone formal

education systems (Jordan, 1997). Prior to entering a tertiary

institution students are mainly taught General English; however,

in order to be successful at higher education they should master

EAP. The main differences between EAP and General English

Learning include the following (Alexander, Argent, & Spencer,

2008), (Jordan, 1997):

• EAP is needs driven while General English is level driven,

which means that in EAP classroom, the teaching and learning


content emphasizes academic discourse, lexis, and discourse

features. General English prepares learners for a variety of

general communicative situations. Moreover, reading and

writing are given more importance in EAP, while General

English focuses predominantly on speaking and listening.

• General English is relatively flexible. In an EAP classroom

learners are learning a language to be successful in their

academic careers; therefore, time is crucial.

• In General English classroom the final outcome is generally

going a level up and / or a feeling of personal achievement.

EAP learners are more interested either in entering or

finishing university study. Failing to do so is not cost and

time effective.

• It is imperative for EAP learners to carefully consider

readership of their paper, which requires awareness and

proper use of the genre, formal registers, hedging, and

formal lexis.


• EAP is an educational approach where a set of beliefs begins

with the learner and the situation, while General English

starts with the language (Hamp-Lyons, 2001).

EAP may be subdivided into English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

which focuses on the English language needed for a specific

academic subject (for instance, medicine) and English for General

Academic Purposes (EGAP) which focuses on developing the language

skills needed for performing successfully in the English-speaking

academic context at higher education institutions (Blue, 1988),

(Jordan, 1997). For instance, teaching students how to properly

write an effective paragraph or an essay falls under EGAP since

it deals with teaching them academic English writing without

referring to their future professional interest. The main focus

is on endowing them with the skills needed to prepare to continue

their higher education at tertiary institutions.

1.3 EGAP Writing Definition and Approaches to Teaching


EGAP writing enables students with limited English

proficiency to develop those language skills and forms that can

be transferred across disciplines in formal education systems

(Hyland, 2003). It is such a wide umbrella item that it employs

different approaches depending on various factors (Jordan,

1997) . These factors include the level of the students, the

purpose and the kind of writing, and sometimes even students’

personal preferences.

Overall, there are two major approaches to teaching academic

writing: product and process. The former mainly focuses on the

finished product- the text. Initially, the model text is

introduced and followed by a number of exercises with the goal of

analyzing the features and checking comprehension. As a final

stage, students are expected to produce a similar text. The

process approach focuses on the stages involved in writing and

views it as a creative act. The teacher acts as a facilitator who

guides the students through the writing process with the main

focus on the drafting, editing, and refining ideas rather than

the form (Hyland, 2003). These two approaches to teaching


writing skills are not mutually exclusive; moreover, it is not

advisable to adopt a single approach. Students should be aware of

both the processes (brainstorming, planning, drafting, editing,

re-drafting) involved in enhancing their writing skills and of

the final product (Alexander, Argent, & Spencer, 2008) (Jordan,

1997). The product approach provides learners with examples of

genre, their associated rhetorical functions, and discourse

structure. This knowledge attributes to their awareness of the

complexities of academic language which enables them to become

independent learners. The process writing develops their

planning, reviewing their own writings, and redrafting skills

which are crucial for developing an ability to self-evaluate and

reflect.

1.4 The Teacher’s Role

One of the teacher’s roles is to have their students be

aware of the stages involved in a writing process and to enable

them to acquire the necessary language resources needed for each

stage of writing. Being aware of these stages will enable them to

develop learner autonomy which is crucial for the students’


ability “to continue their EAP learning without EAP teachers

after they have moved on to their specialist studies.’’ (Jordan,

1997, p. 116). It includes providing specific guidance to

facilitate learners to obtain knowledge on how to revise their

writing (Jordan, 1997). One of the ways to do it effectively is

to provide learners with a proper set of correction symbols for

drawing attention to grammatical features (White & Arndt, 1991).

For instance, it can be as simple as:

S = subject missing

V= verb form error

This will encourage students to actively engage in self-

correction which is more effective compared to the errors

corrected by the teacher. However, as Penny Ur states “too much

of correcting mistakes can be discouraging and demoralizing” (Ur,

2003). Thus, the emphasis should be on those errors that are

repeated and hinder communication. (Jordan, 1997)

To create an effective EGAP writing course a course designer

should consider including both process and product approaches,


create a balance between the target language situation and what

is practically possible, and provide various opportunities for

learners to develop learner autonomy.

PART 2: Needs Analysis and Commentary

Word Count: 818

2.1 Class Profile

These students are part of a 17-week Level 2 English course

in an English Foundation program. They meet Sunday through

Thursday for two hour sessions. All of them are female and in

their late teens. They also share the same cultural and lingual

background. They are very similar in their learning background

prior college i.e. they have completed secondary school

education. Their reason for learning English is to enter a

Bachelor Program. Most of the learners have a level roughly

equivalent to CEFR A2. Their ultimate goal is to obtain a Band 5

level in the IELTS which is an entry requirement of a Bachelor

Program.


2.2 Needs Analysis Methodology

Needs Analysis (NA) is the initial and essential stage in

developing an appropriate specialized syllabus. (Graves, 2000)

(Hyland, 2003) (Alexander, Argent, & Spencer, 2008) (Jordan,

1997). I used the following analysis tools:

I requested the learners to complete a needs analysis survey

(see Appendix 3.1) (Jordan, 1997). The rationale behind my

choice was its time effectiveness to gather information

since it took approximately 15 minutes to complete. I

distributed it via paper at the beginning of the fifty

minute lesson. Another reason for choosing a survey was to

give the learners an opportunity to focus on their responses

in a safe environment without being intimidated by a

teacher.

In order to identify learning preferences I conducted the

VARK (Visual – Aural- Read/Write – Kinesthetic)

questionnaire (Appendix 3.2). Knowing their preferred

learning style might be beneficial for learners if they act

on it and learn how and when they learn. Nunan mentions


achieving “degrees of autonomy” which range from making

students aware of the learning goals and materials, to

making links between the content of classroom learning and

the outside world (Nunan, 1997).

2.3 Needs Analysis Findings

Motivation is one of the important factors in learning.

Harmer views it as “some kind of internal drive which pushes

someone to do things to achieve something” (Harmer, 2007).

Motivation can be extrinsic (outside factors) and intrinsic

(comes from within the individual). Three out of six students

have extrinsic motivation since the main goal is either to enter

a Bachelor program or get a well-paying job (Table 2, Appendix

2.1). Four students are also intrinsically motivated because they

mentioned that they are learning the target language in order to

be able to communicate with people from different countries. All

six of them find writing difficult due to a lack of lexis. The

VARK results (Table 3, Appendix 2.2) indicated that the learners’

preferred styles are kinesthetic and aural (Fleming & Baume)

meaning that they learn through working movement and hearing


things. Activities where they are required to participate in

group discussions or tactile-kinesthetic activities would be

highly beneficial for them. Table 1 (Appendix 2.1) shows that all

six students are not familiar with narrative paragraphs. All of

them recognize that they can write a short letter/ email to a

friend. Three students can write a descriptive paragraph.

2.4 Diagnostic Test Methodology and Findings

The main purposes of a diagnostic test are

• To identify strengths and weaknesses in a learner’s use of

language. (Alexander, Argent, & Spencer, 2008)

• To provide feedback that can be acted upon. (Anderson, 2004)

Diagnostic tests are a part of formative assessment whose goal

is to use its findings to improve teaching. (Brindley, 2001). I

asked the students to write a short (100 to 150 words) narrative

paragraph for the following reasons (Appendix 5.1)

• It has content and face validity i.e. the test is

constructed in a way that is clear for students to follow


and it measures what it intends to measure: writing skills.

(Alderson, Clapham, & Wall, 1995) (Hughes, 2003)

• It has content and face validity because it is at their

level.

• It is integrative (i.e. provides information about more than

one point) (Davies, 1990)

The skills demonstrated in the written test are consistent

with the stated level. It displayed several weaknesses that

should be addressed (Appendix 2.3) during the course:

Vocabula

ry

Frequent spelling mistakes Limited range of general vocabulary

Coherenc

e

Limited use of cohesive devices to join ideas

Grammar Poor knowledge of past forms of irregular verbs Using present tense to talk about past

Cohesion repeating subjects subject-verb concord a lack of variety of sentence structure

Punctuat

ion

Missing full stops and commas Capitalization

Appendix 2.3 shows two students’ written answers with their

strengths and weaknesses analysis. Finally, while monitoring the


learners during the diagnostic assessment, I observed that they

ignored certain stages of the writing process such as planning

and proofreading their writing.

2.5 Priorities

In summary, the course needs:

introducing and reinforcing stages of process and product

writing procedures;

clear understanding what a paragraph is (topic sentence,

supporting sentences, concluding sentence);

activities that will promote learner autonomy;

a focus on writing micro-skills such as punctuation, correctgrammar structures, cohesive devices;

enlargement of general vocabulary related to describing

events in the past

PART 3: Course Proposal

Word Count: 1112

3.1 Learning Aims and Objectives Overview


This pre-intermediate writing course focuses on the

fundamentals of sentence structure, vocabulary and paragraph

development. Students will be asked to write paragraphs from

personal experience and from readings. Grammar is taught in the

context of the readings and student generated writing. The

suggested course is the second 21 hours of a longer course of 128

hours, which would last approximately 16 weeks.

Course Aim:

Upon completion of this 21 hour course each learner should have developed an

ability to write effective narrative paragraphs.

Course Objectives:

In order to succeed in achieving this aim, I have divided it

into objectives, smaller units of learning that provide a

foundation for the organization of teaching activities and

describe learning in terms of observable behavior. (Richards,

2001) They are based on the priorities from the needs analysis as


one of the stages of the course design (Graves, 2000) and

diagnostic test.

Upon the completion of this course, students should be able to:

Code Objectives

V1 Improve their knowledge, range and use of vocabulary

W1 Recognize, use, and punctuate dependent and

independent clauses correctly.

W2 Be an autonomous learner

W3 Produce the three basic sentence types, using an

academic style.

W4 Use correct punctuation and capitalization in their

writing.

W5 Use pre-writing strategies as a first step to writing

a paragraph with a clear topic sentence, supporting

sentences, and a concluding sentence.

W6 Write a unified and coherent narrative paragraph.

W7 Use adequate grammar in their writing.


W8 Self-edit their writing and peer-edit their

classmates’ writing.

3.2 Course Contents

The course is a combination of skills-based and structural

syllabi as the students’ needs analysis and diagnostic test

results indicated they need to learn to write effective narrative

paragraphs and to produce longer sentences with adequate grammar

and lexis. Furthermore, both process-oriented and product-

oriented approaches to teaching writing are adopted in this

course. For instance, while working on writing their

autobiographies the students will be engaged in brainstorming and

organizing ideas as initial stages of process (Harmer, 2007) .

Then they will be given a sample autobiography to analyze. It

will help them to raise their awareness of the conventions of a

narrative paragraph. This course is founded on the principle of

scaffolding which means building from the known to the unknown as

Kathleen Graves states “from the simple to the complex.” (Graves,

1996, p. 28). Therefore, before the students start practicing


writing narrative paragraphs, they will first work on the

relevant grammar (Appendix 1: Session 1) and punctuation (Lessons

3 and 4). In order to practice writing-for writing (Harmer, 2007)

to develop writing fluency I will introduce Timed-Writing

Activity (Mathair, 2005) (Appendix 1: Session 2).

3.3 Teaching Approach

A learner-centered approach will be adopted for this course

where I will act as a facilitator rather than an information

giver. The reason for encouraging a learner-centered environment

is to increase learner autonomy. In order to accomplish this,

students will be asked to keep a vocabulary log through

MyWordBook2 App (interactive vocabulary notebook from the British

Council for language learners), do self and peer editing, and do

their homework assignments in a timely manner. Homework

assignments will also consolidate the classwork and encourage

learner independence (Burgess & Head, 2005). By having my

students to peer-edit their writings I hope to enable them to

gain a better understanding of the audience and take a more

active role in their learning process (Hyland, 2003). From my


previous experience of working with Emirati students I learned

they are new to peer-editing; therefore a training session and

basic guidelines will be introduced at the beginning of the

course and reinforced throughout the course. Every student will

be provided with a copy of basic guidelines (Appendix 5.2) to

consult before a self and peer-editing session during the course.

Another strategy to enable learners to develop learner autonomy

is using a TTT lesson format. Test-Teach-Test approach creates a

collaborative environment which is conducive to learning because

it contains elements of discovery and problem-solving. Learners

work either in pairs or groups trying to complete an assignment.

They are not given direct answers but have to work them out

together using the given material and prior knowledge. The

teacher addresses the problems that arise and provides learners

with a new assignment to use the new language.

As the NA findings indicated, most students are kinesthetic

learners; therefore, in order to accommodate their learning style

I will include a running dictation activity (Appendix 1: Session

6) and a dictogloss activity (Appendix 1: Session 7). Another


factor to consider is while teaching this course whether the

students are expected “to write-to-learn” or “write-to-write”

(Harmer, 2007). For instance, if learners are asked to write an

opinion paragraph or essay, they are involved in writing-for-

writing. When learners are expected to write three sentences to

describe what they did last week, writing-for-learning. As the

goal of the course is to improve their academic writing skills,

most tasks will fall under “writing-for-writing”.

3.4 Course Material

I will combine a range of textbooks with my own material to

personalize the material and to adapt it to my students’ specific

study needs. In his 1991 article Block (Block, 1991) states that

teacher-produced material adds a personal touch to teaching and

increases motivation and student engagement. The varieties of

published resources that I am planning to use include the

following:

• Writing to Communicate (Cynthia A. Boardsman & Jia Frydenberg)

• First Steps in Academic Writing (Ann Hogue)


• Effective Academic Writing 1: The Paragraph (Alice Savage & Masoud

Shafiei)

I chose these textbooks because they have relevant information on

specific areas that need to be covered during the course:

paragraph composition, punctuation, sentence structure. They also

contain learner-centered materials, reference material, and

teacher friendly instructions.

This eclectic approach to course material will allow

students to have access to different kinds of input from which

they can generate output. Examples of these resources are shown

in Appendix 4: Samples of Course Materials. The institution where

I work requires all the students to use iPads as the main

learning device, so most material including homework assignments

will be delivered to my students through Dropbox App (a free file

hosting service). They will be expected to finish their grammar

homework either in NewAnnotate App (a paid application that

allows to read and annotate pdf documents) or Adobe Reader App (a

free application that allows to read and annotate pdf documents).

Students are also expected to write most of their drafts in


writing portfolios with the final writing in Pages App, a word

processor developed exclusively for iPads, iPods, and iPhones.

Each classroom is equipped with an interactive white board and

desktop on the teacher’s desk.

PART 4: Assessment and Evaluation

Word Count: 1099

4.1 The difference between assessment and evaluation

These two terms are sometimes used as synonyms, however they

relate to two different concepts (Williams, 2003), (Harris &

Paul, 1994), (Baxter, 1997). Assessment refers to measuring

students’ performance and their progress while evaluation

includes analysis of all the factors that are part of the

learning process such as course goals and design, materials,

teaching methods, and assessment.

4.2 The purpose of assessment

According to Hyland (Hylland, 2006), main purposes of assessment

are as follows:


To identify learners’ strengths and weaknesses in order to

collect data for designing an appropriate course (diagnostic

test). Diagnostic tests can be also proficiency or

achievement tests (Baxter, 1997). I conducted a diagnostic

test before I designed the course.

To assist learners to show progress they have achieved in a

course (achievement test). Final exams are a good example of

achievement tests to examine whether learners can do what

they have been taught during the course.

To describe students’ ability to perform target academic

task (performance test). The diagnostic test I used falls

under this category since the main idea was “to examine

general standard ability regardless of the teaching

programme” (Baxter, 1997, p. 8).

To check general language competence (proficiency test).

IELTS and TOEFL can serve as examples. They are not based on

any specific curriculum. This group of students is expected

to take the IELTS test at the end of the semester.


4.3 Formative Assessment

The formative assessment’s purpose is to give learners

ongoing informal feedback that defines and modifies their

learning (Alexander, Argent, & Spenser, 2008) (Tummons, 2008).

It also supplies a teacher with ongoing feedback on whether the

teaching is effective and course design is appropriate, thus

giving a chance to refine the course as it unfolds (Hedge, 2000).

It can be carried out either formally with diagnostic and

progress tests or informally through teacher’s in-class feedback

and homework assignments. I chose formative assessment for the

following course objectives:

Objecti

ves

Assessment

V1 The students keep vocabulary logs that are

checked on a weekly basis. They should enter

words along with their meanings and examples.

W 1, W

3, W 4,

I incorporate short editing tasks which

require the students to identify grammar

errors, sentence structure errors, and


W 7 punctuation mistakes and correct them. These

fall under indirect testing of the underlying

skills (Baxter, 1997)

W 8 I supply the students with checklists so that

they could check their own written work and

peer-edit each other’s. (Appendix 5.2)

W 2 The students are given homework assignments

which will be briefly reviewed in class and/or

marked by the teacher with some constructive

feedback to improve their writing skills.

These way learners are motivated to become

better writers. (Alexander, Argent, & Spenser,

2008)

W 5 The students are asked to submit their

brainstorming along with their drafts written

in the writing portfolios.

4.4 Summative Assessment


Summative assessment aims to measure or summarize what

students have learned and is usually administered at the end of

the course (Thornbury, 2006). To ensure content validity the test

should require students to perform all the relevant writing tasks

(Nation & Macalister, 2010) and assess only ability to write and

students’ creativity or imagination (Hughes, 2003). I will ask

the learners to write a narrative paragraph (Appendix 5.3) for

the final writing test. The diagnostic test is also a narrative

paragraph composition. The rationale is that I want to have a

reference point that will allow me to compare the students’ test

results before and after the course. This test also has face

validity (Williams, 2003) for the students since it is a writing

test. In order to grade this assessment, I use my current

institution scoring rubric (Appendix 5.4) to ensure that the

students meet the requirements of the English Foundations program

that are in line with the aims and overall goal of the suggested

course syllabus. It will also enable the markers to avoid the

inherent unreliability in a paragraph marking due to its banding

system, “a brief description of the various grades of achievement


expected to be attained by the class” (Heaton, 1988, p. 145).

Additionally, this test is also practical since it does not take

a lot of time or involve any special equipment or resources apart

from a piece of paper and a pencil /pen. This test falls under

subjective tests category (Harris & Paul, 1994). Subjective tests

are the ones that involve testers’ personal evaluation of a

learner performance that might be a main constraint on this type

of assessment because some test markers might interpret the

rubrics differently from another; however they can provide a

deeper and more global test of learners’ ability. In order to

objectivize this test and ensure test reliability, a band

description should be set and teachers must be trained in using

these criteria. As can be seen from the suggested course

description and daily lesson plan (Appendix 1) both forms of

assessment are employed; however, formative assessment happens

more frequently throughout the course to ensure beneficial

washback, the effect of test’s influence on learning and teaching

(Harris & Paul, 1994). This course is a part of a longer course,

so the summative test results will be discussed with each student


in order to feed them into learning which will also contribute to

positive washback.

4.5 Evaluation

“Evaluation requires looking both at the results of the course,

and the planning and running of the course.” (Nation &

Macalister, 2010, p. 123). In other words, evaluation is checking

whether the course is effective and where it needs improvements.

As well as assessment, evaluation can be formative and summative.

The purpose of formative evaluation is to identify the weaknesses

of the course design and use them to redesign the course. For

instance, some lessons in the course will have a review section

at the beginning to measure student retention of the material

covered. This information along with marking homework assignments

will allow me to retain effective aspects of the course and

change or remove ineffective ones while the process of teaching

(Graves, 2000). Moreover, at the end of each session I will ask

the students directly whether the lesson is helpful, what they

find useful and what they would change given an opportunity.

Turning to summative evaluation, the main purpose of it is to


evaluate the course to make a decision whether the course is

worth of continuing. I devised an end-of –course feedback form

(Appendix 6) for the students to share their input on the course

strengths as well as areas that they think should be either

deleted or modified.

Part 5 Conclusion

Word Count: 399

5.1 Application of Principles

As was discussed in Part 1 both approaches to teaching

writing, product and process, have been implemented in the course

proposal. The needs analysis identified the key weaknesses that

have been addressed throughout the course. Writing-for-writing as

a crucial part of any writing course was also included in the

instruction. Regarding the syllabus design, a combination of

skills-based and structural syllabi was used.

5.2 Course benefits


The students’ needs and their target language situation

(Jordan, 1997) identified in Part 2 were the foundation for the

course. By the end of the course, the learners should gain a

better understanding and awareness of what writing narratives

include. Furthermore, due to continuous training in and

practicing to self- and peer-edit, they will enable themselves to

become more autonomous learners. They will also expand their

lexis through reading samples and home assignments. Overall, by

mastering writing effective paragraphs they will prepare

themselves to learn other types of academic writing such as

reports and longer essays.

5.3 Course Limitations and Constraints

The first two issues are its limited time (21 hours) and

intensive nature. The learners may not have enough time to

internalize everything they have learned. However, since it is

the second 21 hours of a longer course, the instructor will have

opportunities to recycle activities and address these issues

later in the course. Another way to overcome these two

constraints is to “provide self-study options for work to be done


outside of class time” (Nation & Macalister, 2010). The fourth

problem is the use of technology. Although the students have used

iPads for learning before, they might need more practice with

working in Pages App. Moreover, some instructors might need more

training with the apps that are used.

Due to intensive nature of the course (two –hour long

classes 5 days a week), one of the most worrying aspects is

keeping the students motivated. That can be achieved by careful

monitoring the students’ performance in class and varying

activity types as necessary. Personalizing some of the teaching

material suiting the context and needs will also be beneficial.

Another limitation is having students to stick to the deadlines

for homework submissions. Not being able to address other

structural problems that may arise when the students attempt to

fulfil the tasks might be another limitation; however, they can

be taken care of during the remainder of the longer course.


Bibliography

Alderson, C., Clapham, C., & Wall, D. (1995). Language Test

Construction and Evaluation. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Alexander, O., Argent, S., & Spencer, J. (2008). EAP Essentials: a

teacher's guide to principles and practice. Reading, UK: Garnet.

Baxter, A. (1997). Evaluating Your Students. London: Richmond

Publishing.

Block, D. (1991). Some Thoughts on DIY Material Design. ELT Journal,

45 (3), 211-217.

Blue, G. (1988). Individualising academic writing tuition. In P.

Robinson, Academic writing: Process and product (ELT Documents 129) (pp.

95-99). London: Modern English Publications.

Brindley, G. (2001). Assessment. In R. Carter, & D. Nunan,

Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Burgess, S., & Head, K. (2005). How to Teach for Exams. Harlow:

Longman.

Davies, A. (1990). Principles of Language Testing. Oxford, UK: B.

Blackwell.

Fleming, N., & Baume, D. (n.d.). Learning Styles Again:VARKing up

the right tree! Educational Developments(7-4), 4-7.

Graves, K. (1996). Teachers as Course Developers. Cambridge University

Press.

Graves, K. (2000). Designing language courses: a guide for teachers. Boston:

Heinle & Heinle.

Hamp-Lyons, L. (2001). English forAcademic Purposes. In D. Nunad,

& R. Carter, The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other

Languages (pp. 126-130). Cambridge : Cambridge University

Press.

Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching (4th ed.).

Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.

Harris, M., & Paul, M. (1994). Assessment. Oxford: Heinemann.

Heaton, J. (1988). Writing English Language Tests. New York: Longman.


Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford:

OUP.

Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for Language Teachers (2nd ed.). Cambridge:

CUP.

Hyland, K. (2003). Second Language Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Hylland, K. (2006). English for Academic Purposes: An Advanced Resource Book.

London: Routledge.

Jordan, R. (1997). English for academic purposes: a guide and resource book for

teachers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Mathair, A. (2005). Non-stop Writing. An Ungraded Classroom

Activity. English Teaching Forum 3, 43, pp. 40-41.

Nation, I., & Macalister, J. (2010). Language Curriculum Design. New

York: Routledge.

Nunan, D. (1997). Designing and adapting materials to encourage

learner autonomy. In P. Benson, & P. Voller, Autonomy and

Independence in Language Learning (pp. 192-203). Harlow: Addison

Wesley Longman Ltd.


Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum Development in Language Teaching.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan.

Tummons, J. (2008). Assessing Learning in the Lifelong Sector . Exeter:

Learning Matters Ltd.

Ur, P. (2003). A Course in English Language Teaching. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

White, R., & Arndt, V. (1991). Process Writing. London: Longman.

Williams, J. (2003). Preparing to Teach Writing: Research, Theory, and Practice

(3rd ed.). Manwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Resource/Course Books and Materials

Boardman, C., & Frydenberg, J. (2002). Writing to communicate:

Paragraphs and essays (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.

Hogue, A. (1996). First steps in academic writing. White Plains, NY:

Longman.

Savage, A., & Shafiei, M. (2012). Effective academic writing (2nd ed.).

New York: Oxford University Press.


Appendix 1: Course Proposal

ENGLISH FOR GENERAL ACADEMIC PURPOSES WRITING COURSE PLAN:

PRE-INTERMEDIATE EFL ARABIC STUDENTS

Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

1 Introduction to

Narrative Paragraphs

(V1, W2, W6, W7)

A.Teacher explains the

course requirements

for the next two

weeks, course

objectives, and

remind that homework

assignments will be

distributed via

Dropbox App

(smartphones, iPads,

Power Point

Presentation

Boardsman,

Writing to

OM

Worksheet to

practice regular

and irregular

verbs


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

laptops)

B.Activating schemata:

class discussion

“What is a narrative

paragraph?”

C.Students read a

narrative paragraph

samples individually

and answer

comprehension

questions.

D.Students review past

forms of regular and

irregular verbs.

(T-T-T: they are given

a list of most

Communicate,

page 4

Boardsman,

Writing to

Communicate,

page 5

OM


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

frequent verbs. Their

task is to sort them

out into regular and

irregular and provide

the past forms. Check

the performance and if

necessary, explain the

rules.) On completion

of this task, the

students in pairs

change sentences from

present to past.

2 Focusing on a

sentence structure

(simple and compound

sentences)

A.Go over their

homework. Answer

questions if arise.

B.Students working in

Hogue, First

Steps in

Retype the

proofread

paragraph in

Pages App, save


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

Developing writing

fluency, self and

peer editing skills.

(W2, W3, W6, W7, W8)

pairs look through

groups of words to

determine whether

they are a sentence

or not. Go over

their answers.

C.Timed -writing

practice: Teacher

puts a topic on the

board. Students have

2 minutes to think

about it; then they

have 10 minutes to

write about this

topic. During this

time they should not

Academic

Writing. pp. 18-

23

Butler,

Fundamentals of

Academic

Writing. pp 81-

82; 103-105; 143

-146. Appendix K

(rules) pp. 219-

220.

OM

it as a pdf file

in the

designated

folder in

Dropbox App.


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

stop writing. If

they do not know

what to write, they

should write “I

don’t know what to

write” until they

come up with

something on the

topic. Then they

have about 2 minutes

to go through their

paragraph and cross

out all “I don’t

know what to write.”

Then they swap their

paragraphs and peer-


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

edit each other’s

writing. They are

provided with a

proofreading

guidelines sheet.

3 Punctuation

Parts of a Narrative

Paragraph

(W4, W5, W3)

A. Students work in

pairs. They are

given sentences with

missing punctuation

(capital letters,

end marks). Their

task is to correct

the sentences. Then

bring them in groups

of four and have

them compare their

OM

Alice Savage &

Hogue, First

Steps in

Academic

Writing, pages

13-15

Regular and

Irregular Verbs

exercise (OM)


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

answers. Show the

correct ones and

answer questions if

they arise.

B. Students work in

groups of 4. They

are given a

narrative paragraph

cut out into

sentences. They

should read the

sentences and put

them together the

way they think they

come together in a

paragraph. Then the

Masoud Shafiei,

Effective

Academic

Writing. pp 5-11


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

teacher shows them

an original

paragraph.

C. Using this

paragraph, engage

the students in to a

discussion of what a

topic sentence,

supporting sentences

and concluding

sentences are.

D. Practice writing 2-3

supporting sentences

for a topic sentence

given by the teacher

(pair work). Go over


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

their answers.

4. Punctuation

Focusing on types of

sentences (Complex

sentences with before

after, when)

(W1, W3, W4)

A. Check homework.

B. Students work in

pairs. They are given

sentences with missing

punctuation (commas).

Their task is to

correct the sentences.

Then bring them in

groups of four and

have them compare

their answers. Show

the correct ones and

answer questions if

they arise.

OM

Brainstorming

and PPT slides.

Butler,

Fundamentals of

Academic

Writing. pp 171-

175

OM (Combine

simple sentences

into compound

and complex)


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

C. Activate schemata

by asking what types

of sentences they

know. Explain why it

is important to use a

variety of sentences

in their writing.

Continue with the

slides and exercises.

5. Paragraph Writing

Practice

(V1, W 2, W 5, W 6,

W8)

A. Choose one student

and ask the other

students to share what

they know about her.

Elicit

“Biography/autobiograp

Brainstorming

OM

Finish their

autobiographies

and type them in

Pages App. Save

as a pdf file

and put them in


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

hy”

B. Each student works

with the worksheet

answering the question

about themselves

involving their

biographical

information and

important dates in

their lives.

C. Provide them with

the sample paragraph

on your biography.

Have them read the

paragraph. Check

comprehension with the

OM

the designated

folder in

Dropbox App.


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

concept questions.

D. TIMED WRITING (30

minutes) Have them

write their own

biographies using a

sample paragraph as a

guide and the

worksheet with

important dates

completed earlier.

They write in the

writing portfolio in

pencil.

C. Peer-editing. Have

them swap their papers

and proofread them


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

using the Proofreading

Guidelines.

D. Students work

individually fixing

their errors.

6. Developing writing

fluency, self and

peer editing skills.

(V1, W6, W7, W8)

A. Error-correction:

Students working in

pairs read and find 10

errors in a narrative

paragraphs

(capitalization,

punctuation (end marks

and commas, grammar).

Go over their answers.

B. Running Dictation.

Divide the students

OM

OM


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

into 2 groups of 3

people. Hang 2 copies

of a paragraph color

coded for each group

(for instance light

blue and yellow).

Explain the task: copy

the text from the wall

to the paper by

memorizing the

sentences. One student

in each group remains

at the desk and is a

writer. The other two

take turns and go to

the color


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

corresponding text on

the wall. A student

reads the text and

tries to remember a

sentence. Then she

goes back to her group

and dictates what she

remembers while the

other student is

reading at the text.

The student that is

dictating a sentence

is not supposed to

write anything. Once

they are finished,

give them the original


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

text and have them

compare their copy

with it.

7 Grammar Focus: Simple

Past and Past

Continuous

(W7)

A. Dictogloss Activity

Divide the students

into 2 groups of 3.

Pre-teach the

vocabulary you think

the students might be

unfamiliar with.

Explain the task: the

students listen to you

read the paragraph.

Read the text twice.

First time the

students keep pencils

OM Worksheet to

practice Past

Simple and Past

Continuous


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

down. The second time

they are allowed to

write down only key

words. Have them

reconstruct the text

from memory using the

information they write

down.

B. Give them the

original text and have

them compare with what

they have come up

with.

C. Draw their

attention to the

sentences in Past

OM


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

Simple and Past

Continuous. Elicit the

differences in the

form. Put them on the

board.

D. Discuss the

differences in the

meaning.

E. Students work in

pairs on completing

sentences using Past

Simple or Past

Continuous.

8 Consolidation of the

covered material.

(W5,W6, W7, W8)

Students work on the

exercises provided in

the unit.

Alice Savage &

Masoud Shafiei.

Effective

Past Simple and

Past Continuous

Worksheet


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

Academic

Writing. Unit 5.

pp 109 – 124.

9 Narrative Paragraph

Writing Practice

(W5, W6, W7, W8)

A. Hand out the

worksheet with the

topic and

brainstorming

questions. Have them

work individually on

it.

B. Students are

writing their

paragraphs in their

writing portfolios

using the worksheet.

(30 minutes)

OM Retype the

proofread

paragraph in

Pages App, save

it as a pdf file

in the

designated

folder in

Dropbox App.


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

C. Once they are

finished, have them

swap their paragraphs

for peer-editing.

D. Students make the

corrections and start

typing their

paragraphs in Pages

App.

10 Consolidation of the

covered material

(V1, W8)

A. Students work in

pairs on fixing the

sentences.

B. Writing From

Memory:

Explain the students

that you show a

A. Teacher

created

worksheet based

on the most

typical errors

from students’

paragraphs


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

paragraph on PPT

slides but sentence by

sentence. They have 30

seconds to read a

sentence and memorize

it. They are not

allowed to write

anything. Once the

teacher signals, they

try to write down what

they have remembered.

Once they are finished

they put down a

pencil/pen to signal

the teacher that they

are done.

including errors

in grammar,

punctuation,

sentence

structure.

B. A narrative

paragraph in a

Power Point

Presentation

(one sentence

per slide)


Sessi

on

Context/

Topic/Objectives

Skills Focus/

Activities

Materials Homework

C. Put them in pairs,

have them compare

their answers and

correct mistakes. Each

pair must agree on

their version.

D. Show them the

original paragraph and

have them compare

their paragraphs.

11 Final Test


Appendix 2 Needs Analysis and Diagnostic Test Findings :

2.1 Needs Analysis:

1.Questions 1-5 collected demographic information including names, age, gender and nationality.

2.Questions -8 gathered information about their English language learning background:

• All six students studied English at school for 12 years and one semester in an English foundational program at Higher Colleges of Technology.

• None of them sat an IELTS exam.• All of them have completed one semester at a college. 3.Question 9 asks them to identify which genres they are

familiar with

Table 1

4.Question 10 is “why are you learning English?” and the results are as follows:


Table 2

5.Questions 11 asks them to express their feelings about whether they find writing difficult or easy and give a reason:

1 (it’s very difficult) 1

2 1

3 4

4 1

5 (it’s very easy) 0

Why:

Alya: “because I don’t understand some word and I don’t know how to write it.”


Ameirah: “because I don’t understand some words and most tittel very difficult so when I write I feel difficulties in writing”

Ashwaq: “I am understand when people talking but I can’t talk with them. I can talk some sentens but not to much. I want special word because I want talk fast.”

Bashyer: “I can’t translate words. Some times I forget the meanings of words. I can’t understand parts of speech.

Reem: “because it is not my language. I’m having trouble in vocab.”

Shouq: “because we have some word I can’t understand.”

1.How often do you practice writing in English outside class?

Never Once a week

Two-threetimes a week

Every day Once a week

Writing

emails

1 3 1 1

Writing for

work/study

4 2

Writing

things on the

internet

(Facebook,

Twitter,

Instagram)

1 2 2 1


2.By the end of this course what would you like to learn to write?

a.I want to be able to

write effective ( عال ف��) short simple sentences.

2

a.I want to be able to write long sentences.

3

a.I want to be able to write an effective descriptive paragraph todescribe a person, place, or a thing.

6

a.I want to be able to write an effective narrative paragraph.

4

a.I want to be able to write an effective opinion paragraph.

4

a.I want to know when I should capitalize words.

1

a.I want to know how to use full stops (.), question marks (?), commas (,), apostrophes (‘), and colons (:) correctly.

3


2.2 The VARK Questionnaire Findings

From Table 3, it may be concluded that the students’ learning

preferences are multi-modal, i.e. they use different modes to

fully understand something. However, most of them are mainly

kinesthetic and aural learners.

Table 3: The VARK Questionnaire Findings

2.3 Diagnostic Test Analysis

Student: Bashyer Mohmmad


Strengths Weaknesses

1. Grammatical Cohesion:

On the whole, the paragraph is

cohesive through the use of

basic cohesive devices which

help the reader follow the

content:

After that (line 8)

so (line 11)

1. Accuracy of grammar:

Using present simple instead of

past simple:

I want to play (line 11)

then he take the food and

sit (lines 13-14)

2. A good range of lexis

amazing (line 3)

sibling (line 9)

delectable (line 18)

2. Accuracy of lexis:

Makes frequent mistakes in

spelling:

trevil (line 1)

shoping (line 4)

restrant (line 12)

villega (line 24)

3. Grammatical Cohesion:

Use of anaphoric reference

3. Sentence structure:

Although the student attempted



They —the other sibling

(line 7)

he - my brother (line 12)

to use a variety of sentences,

she failed to punctuate and use

proper conjunctions in compound

and complex sentence:

Line 1

Lines 12-15

Lines 16-18

Student: Alya


1. The Task Achievement

The student answered the question. She was asked towrite about her last trip,so she talked about her journey to India.

1. Grammatical Cohesion

Although the text is intelligible, grammar is faulty because of a number of mistakes throughout the paragraph:

Using wrong past form of irregular verbs (beyd – line 13)

subject-verb concord (Thereare many garden – line 7; we



was -5) repeating subjects (last trip

it –line 1)

2. Sentence structure

Although there are some run-on sentences, but the student is aware of a fixed word order in an English sentence. Most of the sentences follow Subject + Verb +Object +Adverbial Modifier pattern.

I went to the India –line 1 there are many malls and shopes

in Bombai.

2. Accuracy of lexis:

Some words are unrecognizable:

plean (line 6) denason (line 7)

Makes frequent mistakes in spelling:

cenima (line 4) taiger.., geraf (line 9) finaly (line 13)

3. Accuracy of language

Accuracy of grammar:

Reasonable control of past verbforms:

Went, was, visited, missed

3. Punctuation and Capitalization:

Capitalization of the first word of a sentence

Line 11 Line 13

Missing full stops

Line 3 Line 8 Line 10 Line 12


Delta Module 3 assignment

Documents

Transcript of Delta Module 3 assignment