Background

Language is a medium of communication. It can be either in speaking or

writing. Writing is the fourth important language skill in language teaching and
learning. It is an act of transmitting thoughts, feelings and ideas on paper.

In other words, writing conveys meaning through the use of graphic

symbols that represent a language. It is productive and expressive skill of a
language.

It has been observed that the students, even after years of learning, cannot
express their feelings and ideas appropriately, correctly and easily. It is known to
us that the students get enough time to think before they start writing. In spite of
this; the students can’t produce appropriate sentences. There is no doubt that
writing is the most difficult skill for the learners to master. Students learning at
secondary level feel difficult not only in generating and organizing ideas but also
in translating those ideas into readable texts. Because of their poor background in
writing, the students can‘t secure marks in the exam as they expected. That’s
why, it is important to carry out an action research on writing skill to find out why
students learning at secondary level have poor background in writing.

Initiation/Problem Identification

Teaching profession is a noble as well as challenging job. Everybody can’t enjoy

this profession. Teachers face a lot of problems in course of teaching learning
process. We, teachers, are always in the risk of being out dated. We have to
update our knowledge regularly to be adjusted with the changing phenomenon.
All the skills of a language have equally importance. We try to give equal focus on
each skill whileteaching. Writing skill is as difficult as other skills of the language.

Reading and writing skills are emphasized during teaching learning process but
our SLC results shows that the students from public schools fail in English as they
are poor in writing skill. Until and unless they are competent in this skill, the pass
percentage of students in English cannot be increased. The present situation of
students of public schools inspired me to carry out an action research on writing
skill.

Objectives
The research had the following objectives:

a. To find out the causes why students are weak in writing skill.
b. To suggest some tips to help students with their writing.

Preliminary investigation
To find out students’ level of writing skill , I spent some time collecting baseline
data through observation and recording classroom interaction.Similarly,students
were asked to write essays on various topics and paragraphs about themselves .
Mistakes committed by them were analyzed and interpreted from various
perspectives and the data were as follows.

E.g. pupils of tenth graders – writing

Correct sentences- 10%

Incorrect sentences-90%

Hypothesis

After a careful study of the collected data, I was determined to change the usual
methods of teaching techniques and formulated new hypothesis to bring the
changes in the existing condition. My hypothesis was to provide essential
structures required to improve their writing skills.

Intervention

In this study, I devised a number of strategies for improving the students’ writing
and changing the existing situation. The students were taught using new
strategies in accordance with formulated hypothesis. I gave new treatment to the
students. A lot of structures in terms of improving their writing skills provided
them and made them practise and use in their day to day work.
Evaluation
After several weeks of use of new strategies in teaching learning process, I
recorded and collected some data of their writing skills. The collected data were
tabulated, analyzed and interpreted from different angles and perspectives. I
found out whether the students have improved writing skills or not. The data
analysis showed that they improved their writing skills.

E.g. now their correct sentences were 40% not 10%

It was the result of implementation of new strategies in teaching

Result of the plan

After the implementation of new strategies in the actual classroom situation, I
found some improvements in the students’ writing skills. I found out the causes
why they were weak in writing skill. I gave students a new treatment providing a
lot of structures which were likely to be applicable in their day to day writing
exercises. They were provided exercises with context. The following result was
found after the new techniques were effectively implemented in the class room.

1. The students of class 10 were able to write more than 40% correct sentences.

2 .The flawless in writing on the part of students had increased.

Background
Articles have an important place in English grammar. Articles are considered
inherently difficult items not only the second language learners but also for the
native speakers. Even the educated people make mistakes while using articles.

Students reading at public schools have difficulty in using both definite and
indefinite articles .we assumethat regarding the use of indefinite articles at
primary level the students might have been taught to use ‘an’ before the words
beginning with a,e,I,o,u alphabets. Consequently, though they are in secondary
level, they are always likely to use ‘an’ article before the words starting with
aforementioned letters. Students don’t know that the use of ‘a’ and ‘an’ depends
on how the initial letter of the words is pronounced. It is known to us that words
starting with a, e, I, o, u may have both consonant and vowel sounds.

It is the teachers’ duty to make the students familiar with the pronunciation
of words providing them a lot of words having both consonant and vowel sound
so that they may not get confused in the use of indefinite articles. Because of the
importance of articles and their difficulty in use , it is thought to be decent to
carry out a project work on ‘articles’ in order to find out students’ problems in
using them.

Objectives
The project work had the following objectives

1 to find out the students’ problem in terms of using articles.

2 to make the students capable in the use of articles in the days to come.

Rationale

It is widely accepted that students learning English cannot use articles

appropriately even if they have learnt the use of articles for years. The use of
articles is difficult even for the native speakers. Articles hold an important place in
English language. As the students are not familiar with pronunciation of some
English words, they happen to commit error while using indefinite articles. If the
students are made to be acquainted with the pronunciation of the certain words
providing them words beginning with consonant and vowel sounds, errors in
using articles on the part of learners can be minimized.

Methodology and implementation

To find out the students’ weakness in terms of using indefinite articles, I held
group as well as individual discussion with the students of class 9. After the
discussion, I came to know that the students were taught to use articles on the
basis of English alphabets not on the basis of sound. It is known to us that the
choice between ‘a’ or ‘an’ is determined by the sound not by the beginning of
letters. After knowing the reasons why the students got confused in the use of
articles, I made some plans and strategies to minimize students’ problems in the
use of articles.

Before teaching indefinite articles, I made a long list of countable and

uncountable nouns .I also encouraged the students to add some countable and
uncountable nouns in my list .I made the students clear about possibility of using
indefinite articles before uncountable nouns by giving them some examples.

Uncountable countable

× Bread a piece of bread

Loaf of bread
× Cake a piece of cake
slice of cake

× Chalk a piece of chalk

stick of chalk
× Grass a bit of grass
blade of grass

× Water a glass of water

× Petrol a litre of petrol

When the students became capable of distinguishing countable and
uncountable nouns and using the indefinite articles in above like situations,
I provided them a list of words starting with both consonant and vowel
sounds so that they may not get confused in the use of them.
The list of words was as follows:
The ‘h’pronounced with a silent ‘h’

A horse an hour
A hill an heir
A hotel an heiress
A helicopter an honorarium
A husband an honest man
A human being an honorable man
A humorous writer an hourly report
A historical event
A humble man

Similarly,I presented adrawing paper having other words which may

confuse the learners.

A ewe A yellow pen

A union A unique thing
A uniform A united team
A eulogy A usual feature
A unit A universal appeal
A useful book A university professor
A useless car A U.K.plane
A European A USSR ship
A one- rupee note
A one –legged man
A U.N. spokes man
A youth
A young man
I taught the learners regarding the use of definite articles ‘the’ by
providing them a lot of examples too.

Findings
The students involved in my project work were asked to go through all
the listed examples and told them to generalize the rules and made
them do more exercises regarding the use of both indefinite and definite
articles being based on the given examples. After the implementation of
aforementioned strategies,the students seemed to have gained the
following generalizing ability.
 Students of class 9 became able to distinguish countable and
uncountable nouns.
 The choice between ‘a’ or ‘an’ is determined by the sound not by
the beginning of letters.
 Indefinite articles ‘a’ is used before a singular countable noun or
noun phrase beginning with the consonant sound though the
beginning letter is vowel.
 Indefinite articles ‘an’ is used before a singular countable nounor
noun phrase beginning with a vowel sound.
 About 50% students of class 9 were capable of using both definite
and indefinite articles.
 The use of ‘the’ with a noun or noun phrase makes it definite.

Evaluation
After the implementation of above mention strategies in teaching, I
found some changes in my students. They seemed to be very interested
in learning process .They got familiar with the pronunciation of some
English words which made them puzzled .To some extent,they were able
to use indefinite articles being based on how the initial letters of words
were pronounced . In the same way, they developed the habit of looking
up the words in the dictionary for pronunciation.

An Action Research
on

Writing Skill

Submitted to

Education Development and Co-ordination Unit Hatuada,

Makwanpur

Prepared by:
Nir Bahadur Khadka
Janapriya Model Secondary School
Hetauda-16 Makwanpur