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Implications for the Present Study of Teaching and Testing Writing

1.5  Implications for the present study
The above discussions indicate that the teaching and testing techniques used in the secondary schools at present are inadequate to develop the various skills of writing.   Though a lot of research has been carried out in many parts of the world to teach and test written expression more effectively, not much work has been done in Gujarat to find such methods which are suited to the learners of Gujarat.  This study seeks to devise techniques and materials to help the learners attain proficiency in written communication.

The following implications are kept in mind while making the plan for this study :
a) According to the structural approach followed in India, composition work is usually done to consolidate the vocabulary and structural items learnt.  Writing should go far beyond this.  A study of what writing actually is needs to be carried out as part of the review and this will be the basis for devising new techniques and materials.

b) The main drawback of the present way of teaching is the lack of information gap.  The learners are writing with the teacher as the audience.  The questions are given by the teacher.  The answers are orally practiced.  The learners know exactly what the teacher expects them to do.  So some of the ways of creating the information gap need to be thought of.

c) Most of the examinations are merely tests of memory.  Learners are not aware that a particular message can be written in a number of different ways and what is appropriate to one situation and one particular audience may not be suitable for all times and all situations.  Actual use of language is not mechanical and predictable.  Different ways of activating the use of language items taught, by creating such situations wherein there is a genuine need to communicate are to be thought of.

d) Learners are at present involved in writing activities which make very little sense to them.  They should be given a chance to express their own ideas and feelings.  There is a need to find ways of making the activity more meaningful to the learners by relating it to their personal lives.  They should be given a chance to make their own selection of topics.

e) In actual classroom observation it was found that mistakes they make in their class – work were not given any thought by the learners.  They only care to notice how much they have scored.  Such pair or group activities need to be thought of, as would encourage learners to check each other’s mistakes, and help each other in the editing and revision of the written works.

f) Apart from informal class tests, there is a need to have objective tests to measure accurately learners’ ability to communicate through writing.  An attempt needs to be made to prepare such objective tests.
According to the needs analysis, learners need to learn to write well in English for a number of specific purposes.  They need to be able to communicate through the medium of writing.  But the analysis of classroom practices indicates that there is a lack of fit between the needs of the learners and the teaching and testing of written English as it is undertaken now in Schools.  Hence this study takes up the problem of devising effective techniques and materials to teach and test writing.