teaching strategies to improve the writing skills for grade 8 and 9 learners in english first additional

181 Pages·2014·2.43 MB·English

TEACHING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE WRITING SKILLS FOR GRADE 8 AND
9 LEARNERS IN ENGLISH FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE: A CASE STUDY OF
FOUR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE CRADOCK EDUCATION DISTRICT.

BY
ZIMKHITHA KALIPA

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of

MASTER OF EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE

SUPERVISOR: DR N. PYLMAN

January 2014
DECLARATION

Student number: 201013162
I declare that:

TEACHING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE WRITING SKILLS FOR GRADE 8 AND
9 LEARNERS IN ENGLISH FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE: A CASE STUDY OF
FOUR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE CRADOCK EDUCATION DISTRICT.

Is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated
and acknowledged by means of complete references.

Z.KALIPA DATE
________________ ________________

(i)
DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my family especially my loving mother Linda, my sister
Apelele, my son Hlumisa, siblings, friends and my colleagues for their unwavering
support and encouragement.

(ii)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am thankful to God for giving me tremendous strength to carry out this study.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr. N. Pylman, for
providing me with the assistance and guidance in this study. Thank you for your
kindness, your patience and for being there every step of the way. Without your
encouragement and constant assistance, this dissertation would not have been
possible.

I owe my deepest gratitude and love to my mom for her belief in me, caring for my son
during this period and for her support in this study. Thank you for your love and support.

I acknowledge with thanks the assistance of the following people:
 The Principals and the teachers involved in this study for their cooperation.
 My friends for their support, Sibongiseni Dwenga and Isabella Mafuna.
 My colleague, Fiola Mnqathu for her words of encouragement and inspiration.
 My sister, Apelele Kalipa for her support.
 My aunt, Evelyn Tobbie Kalipa for being there for me throughout this journey.
 Mpumelelo Speelman for his motivation and support.

(iii)
ABSTRACT
Writing skills is are an essential requirement to lifelong learner success yet the way
teachers teach and provide feedback to their learners on writing is quite challenging.
This study sought to explore the teaching strategies to improve writing skills as an
essential requirement for effective learning in schools for grade 8 and 9 learners in
English First Additional Language. For people living in the townships and rural areas in
South Africa, exposure to English is limited, because the majority of people
communicate with each other in local languages. With teachers and learners residing in
the townships where communication occurs mostly in isiXhosa, problems in language
proficiency, in particular writing in English First Additional Language, are often
encountered not only by the learners, but by educators as well.

This was a case study of four high schools in the Cradock Education District. In-depth
interviews were conducted with eight participants in the four schools.

There were eight main findings, which are as follows: Lack of support for teachers, lack
of a culture of learning amongst learners, and lack of competence in English for both
learners and parents, which need to be addressed; and strategies proposed to improve
writing skills are: the importance of creative writing; regular feedback and the
importance of drafts.

(iv)
KEYWORDS: Teaching strategies, writing skills, English First Additional Language,
process approach model, product approach model and genre approach model.

(v)
ACRONYMS

CAPS Curriculum and assessment Policy Statement
EFL English First Language
FAL First Additional Language
FL Foreign Language
GET General Education and Training
HoD Head of Department
LOLT Language of learning and teaching
L1 First Language
L2 Second Language
SL Second Language
T1 Teacher One
T2 Teacher Two
T3 Teacher Three
T4 Teacher Four
T5 Teacher Five
T6 Teacher Six
T7 Teacher Seven
T8 Teacher Eight
(vi)
LIST OF TABLES PAGES

Table 4.1 Respondents in relation to gender 81
Table 4.2 Presentation in relation to teaching experience 82
Table 4.3 Respondents in relation to qualifications 83
Table 4.4 Profile of respondents in relation to age 84

(vii)
FIGURES PAGES
Figure 2.1 A model of writing (diagram of process writing) 18

Figure 2.2 Wheel model of genre literacy 22

(Viii)
APPENDICES

A. Letter from the Department of Education granting permission to carry out the
research in the sampled schools
B. Interview schedule
C. Informed consent for the participants
D. Transcribed interviews of the participants

(ix)