Nishtha Kamboj Chopra & Vanita Chopra
Abstract
This Exploratory Action Research report involved 35 seventh-grade students (aged 12-13) at a private school in urban North-West Delhi, India. The teacher-researcher found that even though her learners had been studying English from the beginning of their schooling, they were unable to express themselves in writing and often resorted to copying from each other. In the exploratory phase of the study, a variety of data gathering tools were used to find out why learners preferred to submit neatly laid out and apparently error-free work without displaying much of their own thinking and understanding. The analysis of the data showed that the learners were concerned about the judgements of the school administration, the teachers and their parents, and felt more secure when they resorted to regurgitating prefabricated answers. The intervention phase involved various writing strategies as well as detailed and constructive teacher feedback. Almost four-fifths of the learners showed improvement in writing creatively and their feedback confirmed the usefulness of the new-style writing tasks. The report also provides a detailed account of the contribution that mentors of classroom-based research can play when they provide consistent support to teacher-researchers by carefully guiding them through each and every step of Exploratory Action Research.
Keywords
Exploratory Action Research, writing tasks, improving written expression, process writing, feedback on written work
Citation
Chopra, N. K., & Chopra, V. (2024). Developing writing skills using innovative activities and enhanced teacher feedback. ELT Classroom Research Journal, 1(1), 93-112.
Link
https://eltcrj.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/ELTCRJ_v1i1-Chopra-Chopra.pdf
