Writing is also crucial subject in English class

Writing is also crucial subject in English class

Simon Marcus Gower, Executive Principal, High/Scope Indonesia
Jakarta

Sitting in the late afternoon sun, in the shadow of an
attractive clock-tower (Bukitinggi's Jam Gadang), in West Sumatra
a young learner of English expressed her greatest concern. "It's
difficult for me to find native-speakers (of English) to speak to
and so I cannot practice my English as much as I want. My English
won't improve unless I can practice," she explained.

Practice is indeed a vital ingredient and there is no doubt
that the opportunity to use the language will help in learning.
Learning by doing is a tried and tested concept for practical
subjects. The practical application of, and exposure to, the
language has been widely acknowledged as a valuable asset in
language learning.

The American essayist and editor, Russell Lynes noted that,
"there is no better way to learn any language than by being
continually exposed to it." And this would seem to support that
young West Sumatran's concerns about practicing with a native
speaker. But in order to quell these learner's concerns a little,
an option was proposed -- namely that through writing exposure,
practice and use of the language can be achieved.

To accommodate this written exposure to the language postal
addresses were exchanged and correspondence (between Jakarta and
Padang, West Sumatra) was duly engaged in. This kind of exposure
and this kind of practice has a definite part to play in learning
any language. But writing is a sadly neglected skill and
opportunity to learn within the Indonesian classroom.

There may be a variety of reasons for this -- anything from
students finding it difficult and even boring to write through to
teachers do not feel sufficiently competent to handle it or
capable to manage the perceived extra workload it may create.

But a primary culprit may be the manner in which the learning
of English has largely been pushed towards the notion of learning
through a "communicative approach". Thus there is the potential
loophole that teachers and thus students will neglect writing.

In order to be communicatively competent the perception is
that students of English must practice speaking in the language.
But this kind of approach can create a degree of negligence and
even apathy with regards achieving grammatical accuracy. In
seeking to encourage students to speak in the language teachers
are targeting fluency but may often be overlooking accuracy,
which is dangerous.

It is, perhaps, a surprising reality for some to recognize
that a person may be able to communicate reasonably well orally
but experience difficulties when facing the written form of the
language. However, it is an observable fact that when a person
speaks they can make themselves understood, yet may consistently
be making grammatical mistakes.

In short, it is possible to state that the English language
may often have a different oral grammar that cannot be replicated
in written form. If it were, it would likely be looked upon as
bad English.

Consider the Indonesian teacher of English in a junior high
school. Proudly this teacher praised a student as being
"exceptional in English". However, this teacher was directed to
give this student and his classmates a writing assignment. The
teacher was shocked, almost horrified, at the results. This
"exceptional" student, when asked to write a brief letter,
surprised his grammatical errors that ran throughout the writing.

Here was a clear example of a student that would have been
deemed successful in meeting the needs of the "communicative
approach" because he could attain apparent oral fluency but
closer inspection, made possible through the assignment of a
writing challenge, showed that the student was not attaining
accuracy. Consequently a substantial part of his language was at
a disappointingly low level.

A critical factor in learning English is the use of context.
Using words in a context and appreciating how they work together
and off each other -- not learning words through memorization or
by rote. Similarly, that context should be the context of the
English sentences in which words are used.

It is not sufficient to constantly have students translate
words. Learning through translation is always likely to prove
dangerous as so often there are words that do not really have
equivalents in the second language and so words may defy exact
and accurate simple translation. There is simply no better way
for students to see, appreciate and understand word context than
seeing and using the written form of the language.

Challenging the students to produce their own writing directly
fosters this appreciation and encourages the students to learn by
doing and discovering for themselves, which is always likely to
be a far meaningful and lasting learning experience.

Within the current curriculum for English in Indonesian
schools there is some prescription of the need to target basic
writing tasks. These include the production of formal and
informal letters and writing of narration and descriptive pieces
but these are rudimentary outlines at best and clearly many
Indonesian teachers do not focus students on the skills of
writing.

This lack of focus on writing skills is unfortunate on two
levels. First, as highlighted, writing can be a useful tool in
practicing and learning about grammar. But, in addition, a
failure to look at writing does miss an opportunity to develop
thinking skills.

The kinds of organizational procedures and structuring of
ideas that students may learn from writing can, without question,
help them to develop as thinkers and, by definition then, improve
as learners. Results provide the best proof and validity of any
theory and so to conclude -- a word or two about that young
learner in Padang. When she first began writing her letters they
were blighted by so many mistakes that it made them difficult to
read and challenging to understand.

Little more than 12 months after she began writing the letters
had become lucid, fluent in their presentation of her ideas and
easy, even pleasurable, to read. She had got her practice and her
language had improved.