Motivation is the basic factor for ESL students to excel in the writing class; therefore the role of the teachers is pivotal in writing process. Teachers have to work a lot to raise the level of motivation of the class and sustain it throughout the lesson, as motivated learners work with more interest and intensity. This initiative of teachers and learners can lead to enhancement of writing skills.
ABSTRACT:
Motivation is the basic factor for ESL students to excel in the writing class; therefore the role of the teachers is pivotal in writing process. Teachers have to work a lot to raise the level of motivation of the class and sustain it throughout the lesson, as motivated learners work with more interest and intensity. This initiative of teachers and learners can lead to enhancement of writing skills.
INTRODUCTION
Motivation is an essential element of successful language acquisition and is a dynamic process subject to continuous flux (Do¨rnyei, 2001). The word motivation is derived from the word ‘motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. According to Pintrich & Schunk, (1996) and Williams (1997), motivation, based on the Latin verb for “move,” is the force that makes one do something. It is a process that involves goals, physical or mental activity, and is both instigated and sustained.
This paper aims to emphasize on the perennial impact of motivation on ESL learners in the writing class. Firstly, the paper addresses the basic question, what hinders second language learner in writing process and then proposes the strategies that will facilitate the teachers to foster writing motivation in ESL students and refine their written expression.
The suggested approaches will facilitate the teachers to transform the attitude of the unwilling writers to a great extent and remove writer’s block. Furthermore, the incorporation of writing prompts, use of music and variety in teaching methodologies will also be discussed. The paper then proceeds to highlight the necessity of modelling, safe writing practice and writing for real purpose to enhance students’ writing motivation. Mentors can apply some of the suggested strategies, adapting them in accordance to their own class climate, motivating their students up to optimal level.
RESEARCH:
A survey was conducted in which thirty mixed ability learners of various educational institutes, aged 12 to 16 filled a questionnaire (Appendix 1) that was related to writing composition. The responses highlighted ESLs’ unwillingness towards writing task and results’ analyses revealed that the students are not fully satisfied with their performance as 67% students find writing a pain staking and laborious process.
Almost 57% writers plans a composition before writing yet 50% encounter difficulty in accumulation of ideas and beginning a composition it is also an intricate task for them to find appropriate words to express their thoughts, consequently their composition lacks relevance to the topic and could not stimulate & sustain reader’s interest all the time.
It was noticed that 77% of these writers prefer to work independently and have no or very less exposure to variety of interaction types (whole class, group work, pair work). 60% of pupils seem to be confident about variation of sentence structure and development of proper links among paragraphs and sentences to maintain a flow (73%). In addition, their work of (57%) displays accuracy of spellings and punctuations; they meet the given word limit (53%) too and conclude the composition aptly (57%). Nonetheless, they are required to emphasis on tenses consistency (50%), usage of speech of figures (33%) to develop vivid imagery and development of reading habit (30%) to get through the barriers in writing.
The students showed their concern about writing classes and suggest that introduction of some activities in composition writing can make the task easier and interesting for them.
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Fig.1 Analysis of Data attained through Questionnaire
DISCUSSION:
With great concern it is observed that when teachers initiate a writing task, ESLs show reluctance to write and consider it an ordeal. Here the question arises that why the learners are unmotivated to write and could not show any improvement in their writing skills.
The first reason for being unmotivated is lack of planning. As soon as the teacher announces the topic, students tend to start writing the composition. Planning is the primary stage to gather and organise ideas; however, most of the students skip this step to save time.
Secondly, learners’ experience writer’s block in the beginning or middle of a composition. Consequently ESLs deviate from the topic and even conclude their compositions abruptly. This often happens because of lack of reading and writing practice which limits students’ vocabulary and results in scarcity of appropriate words to express their thoughts freely. Somehow ESLs try to meet the prescribed word count, nonetheless their write ups fail to evoke and maintain readers’ interest.
Above all, the monotonous methods to teach writing and working in isolation ebb away learners’ interest to such an extent that writing task becomes a reprimand for them. There is a dire need of change of strategies and collaboration for providing a safe and conducive environment to these writers.
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- Quote paper
- Saima Abedi (Author), 2013, Motivating ESL Learners to Refine Writing Skills, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/208234
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