30 April 2014 (Wed) 14:00 – 17:00 English Language Education Section

1. DESIGNINGLEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY LEVEL 30 April 2014 (Wed) 14:00 – 17:00 English Language Education Section Curriculum Development Institute Education Bureau

2. Today’s programme Part 1 Holistic planning of the school-based writing programme at the senior secondary level Part 2 Design of learning and teaching activities for a writing module Part 3 Exploring effective strategies for enhancing the learning and teaching of English writing skills Part 4 Promoting self-directed learning in writing

3. By the end of the workshop, you will have • a better understanding of the key considerations in planning for the progressive development of writing skills at the senior secondary level; and • explored some effective strategies for helping students to formulate, develop, elaborate on, organise and present ideas in their writing.

4. PART 1HOLISTIC PLANNING FOR A WRITING PROGRAMME

5. What do I expect students to achieve at the end of a three-year writing programme? What teaching strategies should I adopt when teaching writing? What skills and learning strategies should students acquire in order to approach writing tasks with greater confidence? Teachers’ Concerns

6. Activity 1 Discuss with your partner: • What are your concerns in teaching writing? • How is the writing programmefor S4-S6 planned at your school? • What do you expect your students to have mastered in writing upon the completion of S6? Comment on the following senior secondary writing programme of School A:

7. Examples of text-types Feature Articles Proposals Diaries / Journals Leaflets Short Stories Emails Editorials Newspaper Articles Writing topic Write a proposal to persuade the Principal to purchase 40 IPads for students to use in English lessons. Debate Personal Letters Brochures Informational Reports FormalLetters Posters Memoranda Postcards Speeches / Presentations Plays Book / Film Reviews / Reports

8. Examples of text-types Feature Articles Proposals Diaries / Journals Leaflets Short Stories Emails Editorials Newspaper Articles Writing topic Write a letter to the Principal to explain how a fight over a basketball match began, plead for leniency and suggest an alternate form of punishment. Debate Personal Letters Brochures Informational Reports FormalLetters Posters Memoranda Postcards Speeches / Presentations Plays Book / Film Reviews / Reports

9. Diagrammatic Representation of the English Language Curriculum Framework The English Language Curriculum Strands Knowledge Experience Interpersonal Learning Objectives: Forms and Functions Skills and Strategies Attitudes 9 Generic Skills Values and Attitudes Flexible and Diversified Modes of Curriculum Planning + Effective Learning, Teaching and Assessment Overall Aims and Learning Targets of English Language

10. Public Examinations for English Language HKCEE (Before 2007) HKCEE (2007-2011) HKDSE Exam (2012 onwards) • Assessing contextual meaning of words and phrases • Contexts of some tasks thematically linked • Assessment of a wide range of reading skills • Grammar assessed in context • Coverage of a wide range of text-types • Assessing content, language & style and organisation • Graded Approach and a wider choice of questions to cater for learner diversity • Inclusion of SBA to promote assessment for learning • Assessing contextual meaning of words and phrases • Contexts provided in all tasks • Comprehension assessed through MC questions • Grammar explicitly assessed • Limited text-types • Assessing content and language • Syllabus A and Syllabus B to cater for learner diversity • Assessing contextual meaning of words and phrases • Contexts of some tasks thematically linked • Assessment of a range of reading skills • Grammar assessed in context • Coverage of a range of text-types • Assessing content, language & style and organisation • Inclusion of SBA to promote assessment for learning

11. Alignment between the Senior Secondary EL Curriculumand the HKDSE Examination for English Language

12. Writing questions in public exams Many young couples these days are choosing not to have children. What do you think of this choice? Write an essayon this topic, stating your personal view and giving reasons for your opinions. (HKALE AS UE 2002) As part of the ‘Creative Writing Week’ at your school, your teacher has asked you to complete a diary entry that begins with the sentence ‘I woke up this morning and discovered I was eight feet tall.’ Write the diary entry, describing what the day was like for you. (HKCEE Eng Lang Syll B 2006) You have decided to enter an Essay Writing Competition. Say whether you agree or disagree with the statement and give reasons for your view. It is better to travel alone than to join a tour group. (HKCEE Eng Lang 2011)

13. You are a human resources assistant. Your boss has observed that many people are leaving the office very late. He has asked you to write an article for the company newsletter describing the situation and discussing the negative effects. You have also been asked to give two suggestions to improve the situation. Provide a suitable title for your article. (HKDSE Exam Eng Lang 2012)

14. Suggested key considerations for planning a writing programme: • To develop students’ writing skills at the SS level, it is important to: • gauge students’ writing proficiency; • provide opportunities for writing on different topics and producing a good range of content (i.e. information, ideas, personal experiences and opinions); • cover a variety of writing purposes (text features); and • expose students to a wide range of text-types (text structures).

15. part 2Design of learning and teaching activities for a writing module

16. Activity 2 In groups: • Study the exemplar module on argumentative writing. • Identify the learning objectives and the language skills involved in the learning activities in each part. Genre: Argumentative Writing Text-type: Letter to the Editor Theme: The Internet Time needed: 5 hours 20 minutes Suggested number of lessons: 9 (40-minute lessons) Suggested target level: S4 (less advanced students)

17. Suggested key considerations for planning a writing module: • When designing learning and teaching activities, it is important to: • adopt a task-based approach; • choose materials which are at an appropriate level; • include multi-modal input; • provide adequate support to students in content, language & style and organisation; and • integrate the writing activities with other language skills.

18. PART 3EXPLORING EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING THE LEARNING AND TEACHING OF ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS

19. Helping students to develop effective learning strategies to enhance their writing performance Deconstructing and understanding the writing topic Steps Analysing the task requirements and establishing success criteria Devising a writing plan Reviewing and editing one’s writing Teacher’s role Identifying the strengths and weaknesses in one’s writing based on the feedback from teachers and setting appropriate goals for the improvement of writing skills

20. (1) Deconstructing &understanding the writing topic What? (Text-type) Why? (Purposes) • Pre-writing: Identifying key elements in the writing topic: • Who am I? • Who am I writing to? • What is the purpose of writing? • What is the text-type? • How formal should the writing be? • What is the context/topic? (Your role + Audience) Who? (Tenses) When? Strategy: Highlighting keywords (the 4 Ws)

21. Pre-writing: Highlighting keywords Some experts in education have observed that Hong Kong teenagers are too pampered and spoilt by their parents, resulting in their lack of self-management and problem-solving skills. One proposed solution to this problem is requiring students to undertake 50 hours of community service, in addition to the community services organised by the schools for the Other Learning Experiences (OLE), before they are allowed to graduate from secondary school. Write an article to the school newspaper to express whether you agree with this proposal and give at least three reasons for your view.

22. Topic of the article Pre-writing: Highlighting keywords Some experts in education have observed that Hong Kong teenagers are too pampered and spoilt by their parents, resulting in their lack of self-management and problem-solving skills. One proposed solution to this problem is requiring students to undertake 50 hours of community service, in addition to the community services organised by the schools for the Other Learning Experiences (OLE), before they are allowed to graduate from secondary school. Write an article to the school newspaper to express whether you agreewith this proposal and give at least three reasons for your view. Writer’s role & Target readers Text-type The purpose of the article

23. Understanding the topic

24. (2) Analysing the task requirements & establishing success criteria Pre-writing: Establishing success criteria with reference to the question Some experts in education have observed that Hong Kong teenagers are too pampered and spoilt by their parents, resulting in their lack of self-management and problem-solving skills. One proposed solution to this problem is requiring students to undertake 50 hours of community service, in addition to the community services organised by the schools for the Other Learning Experiences (OLE), before they are allowed to graduate from secondary school. Write an article to the school newspaper to express whether you agree with this proposal and give at least three reasons for your view.

25. Activity 3 (Feedforward) What are the task requirements? What am I expected to demonstrate in the following aspects of my writing to successfully complete the task?

26. Detailed analysis of the task requirements (Y.1)

27. Designing a task-specific assessment form (Y.2)

28. (3) Devising a writing plan • Pre-writing: Questions to consider • Have I read/viewed any texts relevant to this topic? Can I recall any useful information and ideas worth including in my writing? • How many paragraphs should I write? • How should I start my writing? • What is the focus and main idea of each paragraph? • What supporting details (e.g. personal experiences, examples) can I think of for each body paragraph • How should I end my writing?

29. Activity 4 In groups, with reference to the topic provided, devise a writing plan that presents the following clearly: • The overall structure of the writing • How you would open and end the writing • The focus and main idea of each paragraph • The supporting details (e.g. personal experiences, examples) for each paragraph You may present your plan in any form (e.g. bullet points, a table, a graphic organiser)

30. Group 1: 2014 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q1 Learning English through Sports Communication A local fitness centre is being renovated. As the chairperson of your school’s Sports Club, write a letter to ask the fitness centre to donate some of their old equipment to your school. In your letter, describe how the donation could benefit your school and the fitness centre.

31. Group 2: 2013 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q6 Learning English through Workplace Communication The Hong Kong Daily is asking students to submit an article about their summer job experiences. You were employed as a costumed character performer in on of the local theme parks last year. In your article, write about your typical working day, the good things and bad things about your job. Write the article.

32. Group 3: 2014 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q7 Learning English through Short Stories You are taking a creative writing workshop and you have to submit the following assignment:

33. Group 4: 2013 HKDSE Writing Paper: Part B Q8 Learning English through Poems and Songs You are the President of Students’ Union. You are giving a speech to the graduating classes. The inspiration for the speech comes from the following popular song about how time can slip away of you don’t make good use of it. Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman’s face Hours are like diamonds, don’t let them waste Time waits for no one, no favours has he Time waits for no one, and he won’t wait for me Write your speech.

34. Support for students in the planning stage Suggested strategies: • Exposing students’ to a range of multi-modal input • Providing rich learning experiences involving the integrative use of different language skills • Using concept maps and graphic organisers • Modelling on good sample work • Introducing different ways of opening and closing • Introducing different ways to add supporting details and elaborate on ideas

35. (4) Reviewing and Editing One’s Writing • Post-writing: Questions to consider • Have I used a wide range of vocabulary on the topic? Have I used the same verbs (e.g. said, asked) /adjectives (e.g. happy, excited, afraid) repeatedly? • Have I used a variety of sentence patterns and some complex sentence structures? • Is the tone and register appropriate? • Have I made any grammatical mistakes? • Have I used any rhetorical strategies (e.g. rhetorical questions, emphatic sentences) or stylistic features (e.g. simile, metaphor, exaggeration) to enhance the effect of my writing?

36. Support for students in the planning stage Suggested strategies: • Making use of various tools / resources / reference materials (e.g. thesaurus, collocations dictionary, concordancer) • Selecting appropriate language areas for students to focus on (e.g. comma splices, passive voice, agreement)

37. Enhancing Students’ Metacognitive skills Engaging students in the reflection / self-monitoring process Helping students become more aware of the expected learning outcomes Helping students become more aware of the use of learning strategies through explicit teaching of learning strategies Creating criteria of good practice with the students to provide reference points for the learning outcomes Teacher’s role Providing constructive feedback to students as they learn

38. PART 4PROMOTING SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING IN WRITING

39. Purposes ofAssessment Learner Independence Adapted from Lorna (2003) Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to MaximiseStudent Learning. Thousand Oaks, Ca, Corwin Press.

40. Evaluating the performance What is Assessment as Learning (AaL)? The Process of Metacognition Relating to prior knowledge • Assessment as Learning (AaL) focusses on students and emphasises assessment as a process of metacognition. • (Earl & Katz, 2006) Self-reflection/ monitoring process Making Adjustment to learning strategies, goals, etc. Considering a range of strategies

41. Engaging Students in Goal-Setting & On-going Review (G3-4)

42. Developing Good Writing Habits Self-reflection & Self-monitoring (G.5)

43. Providing Constructive Feedback

44. Providing Constructive Feedback (Y.6-7)

45. Engaging Students in Self-Reflection (Y.9)

46. LEARNING AND TEACHING RESOURCES • Resources from the EDB • One-stop Portal (Writing assessment tasks) • Graphic organisers • http://www.teacherfiles.com/resources_organizers.htm • http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ • http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm

47. English Language Education One-stop Portal Assessment Tasks Bank

48. Login with HKEdCity login ID One-stop Portal Search by ‘KS4’ and ‘Reading’

49. Thank you

50. Example of providing multi-modal input and rich prior learning experience • Topic: Write an article on compensated dating, commenting on the trend, analysing the causes and consequences and suggest solutions to the problem (B.1-7)