Essay Writing: Between Practice and Reality

Just to share an action research I did in class today :)

BACKGROUND:

We've spent 10 weeks exploring different approaches to essay writing and practicing writing each essay types.

Students have been exposed to 7 different approaches to essay writing namely chronological order, spatial order, topical order, problem solution, cause and effect, comparison and contrast.

Students have been practicing writing each essay type based on the organized note and received feedbacks on their written essay practice.

Today (Thursday, March 27, 2008) the students are tested on their writing essay skill in class (8:30 - 9:40 a.m.). They have to choose one of the two topics and write a 300-word essay based on an unorganised note provided.

After the test, the students are in so involved in discussion. They are saying how they have so many things (ideas) rushing to their minds based on the notes provided in the test that they need more time to write. They have an hour to write the essay. From my initial impression of the answer booklet, I find that the length of the essay is more than 2 pages long and more than half of the students needed extra time to complete their writing.

PURPOSE:

1) Do the students make use of the strategies or approaches to essay writing they have learned?


PROCEDURES:

14 students, 11 female and 3 male of MLT group at UDM kampus Kota were involved in a this survey. They were asked these two questions after they submitted the answer booklet for the test.

The TWO questions asked:

1) How many students actually thought about which approaches to use for writing the particular topic that they have chosen?

2) How many of them actually prepare a diagram or flow chart to organise the ideas that were rushing to their head when they see the notes provided in the test questions?

RESULT:

NONE thought about the approaches or strategies or way or what ever when they read the test questions.

NONE prepare any sort of diagram or flow chart to help organise their ideas and present those ideas in a proper essay write-up.


CONCLUSION

The students do not make use of the strategies or approaches to essay writing they have learned during the test. There maybe several probabilities why the students do not make use of these strategies when they are sitting for the test. One of the possibility, as some of them mentioned was that they don't even relate to what they have learned when they begin to write the essay. Their focus was just to write down all those ideas that come to mind when they get the test question.


RECOMMENDATION

Thus, as a teacher, probably we should consider making the directions or instructions in the test question more explicit. Perhaps it would serve as a cue to the students that they should consider those before begin to write the essay.

An illustration of this is...

The original direction in the test was "Choose ONE of the two topics and write an essay in about 300 words". Now consider the new and improved direction: "Choose ONE of the two topics below and write an essay in about 300 words based on the unorganised note provided by making use of appropriate strategy." I'm sure that the new and improved version of the instruction is more precise.

Your two cents worth of thought on the matter please?

Anything wrong with these sentences grammatically?..Error Analysis

i. The interview was done by almost 4 English teachers from Sekolah Kebangsaan Ladang and Sekolah Kebangsaan Maras. The respondents were asked about 11 questions regarding their English teaching and learning process in school.

ii. The Al Mukhtar Library in UDM and Terengganu Public Library are the main source of the research. Other materials are also own by the researchers or borrowed from lecturers or colleagues or from Internet.

iii. Answer the questionnaires and interview given.

iv. The interview has been done to 4 teachers who have been in the teaching English profession in about 8- 17 years.

v. The teachers of Sekolah Kebangsaan Ladang said that the students of Sekolah Kebangsaan Ladang is lack of vocabulary, no self confident, shy to speak English because they not read a lot and do not have English background at home. While teachers of Sekolah Kebangsaan Maras stated that the students gave a good co- operation but it was using their mother tongue.

vi. One of the teachers at Sekolah Kebangsaan Ladang stated that rural area students did not have English background and they more rely on teachers.

Writing in ENGLISH...but thinking in MALAY

As the world is now entering the era of globalization, English is now part and parcel of T&L in Higher Education in Malaysia including UTM. Not all educators specifically lecturers posses an acceptable level of english writing compentency...indeed many of the lecturers are practising writing in English but thinking in Malay. I believe that this is not a problem to Malaysian students since Malaysian are belong to more than two speech communities...the only thing that really matters is when that particular piece of writing going into global english...what do you think?

Process or product approach?

Malaysian educational system has always been too exam-oriented thus posing constraints to writing instructors in completing their syllabus within certain frame of time. It's quite questionable on how much process approach is implemented in writing classrooms, meaning how much time is spent on the organization, planning and generating stages of writing. I am not very sure on any statisical research done on the use of process aproach among Malaysian writing instructors in classrooms but somehow I believe that quite a vast number of instructors still apply the very conventional route of teaching writing: pose writing topics and instructions, wait for the end product and give marks.

Common Redundancy Among Malaysians

Discuss about
Repeat again
Return back

Malaysian English Vocabulary

Malaysian English words exists among Malaysians due to the multiracial realm of the Malaysian society.

These words are used either in writing or orally.
This list is not intended to be comprehensive. Please note that many, if not most words listed are very localised or almost obsolete today.

A
ABC - Air Batu Campur (ice blended with melted sugar,beans,corn and chendol
Aci - elderly Indian woman
Ah Long/Along - loan shark.
aiyoo/aiyah - to express frustration. The former's from Indian, the latter Chinese.
amoi/amoy - Chinese girlfriend.
apa - what.
apartment - a medium-cost and high-cost flat with veranda/balcony.
apek - elderly Chinese man
aqua - Derogatory term for transexuals
ATM - automated teller machine.
awek - Malay girlfriend.
aisey man - "I'll say, man." Used to express frustration.
angau - lovesick, in love

B
blue - a brawl or heated argument (for example "they were having a blue"), similar to the British word "barney", offensive ("blue language"), porn reference ("blue movie", "layan blue").
balak - Malay boyfriend
bapok - transvestite, sissy
botak- bald-headed
blur - confused/slow-thinking.
bodoh - stupid.
bohsia - young female slut, literally means 'no sound' ("boh" - No "sia" - Sound) from Hokkien
brinjal - eggplant.
bungalow - a villa.

C
cantik - beautiful.
ceti haram - loan shark (Indian)
chao/chow - goodbye/see you.
cilok - weaving through traffic.
Cik - Miss (a Malay title used to address unmarried women).
cincai - informal, sloppy
chop - to stamp (with a rubber stamp), as well as the stamp itself.
condominium - a high-rise flat typically high-cost with veranda and other facilities.
comot - messy
cut (other vehicles) - to overtake

D
dang - damn.
deco - decoration.
DeepaRaya - a portmanteau denoting the Deepavali and Hari Raya Aidilfitri festival
demo - demonstration.
depa - they, generally used in Kedah, Perlis and Pulau Pinang.
driver - someone who drives, chauffeur.

E
encik - mister.

F
flat - a low-cost high-rise flat typically without veranda.
follow - to accompany.

G
gwai loh - Derogatory term for white person. From Cantonese 鬼佬
gostan - derived from "go astern", reverse
geng - powerful, From Cantonese

H
having-in - eat-in at a restaurant.
hailat - In a deadly situation. From the Cantonese profanity term 閪甩 .
haprak- useless, rubbish
hampeh-useless, meaningles, rubbish
hang- you, generally used in Kedah, Perlis and Pulau Pinang. Used only to address good friends.
horn - (used as verb) to sound the vehicle horn.
HP - acronym of handphone, mobile phone or cellphone.

J
jack (someone) - to praise other people to gain interests of favour
jangan - don't.
jom- let's go

K
kampung - village, hometown (used as a possessive noun, for example my kampung which means my hometown)
kapchai/kapcai - underbone motorcycle
kaki/kakilang - friend, company (literally means 'leg'. e.g. "I can't go, I have no kaki.")
kantoi - get caught in trouble.
kautim - to finish a task. From Cantonese term 搞掂
kay poh chee/kepoh - busy body (for example "why are you so kay poh chee?")
keep - to put away or store, to retain as one's own.
kong already - dead or non-functional
kongmong - confused
Kongsi Raya - a portmanteau, denoting the Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Eid ul-Fitr) festivals
kuih - small cakes eaten before or after meals.

L
lady's fingers - Malaysian/British English term for Okra.
lawak - funny.
lepak - loiter.
leng lui - Pretty girl. From Cantonese 靚女
leng zai - Handsome guy.

M
Malacca - Melaka.
makan - eat.
mau - want (eg "Mau makan?" ; "Want to eat?").
MC - abbreviation for medical certificate, or sick note in British English
McD (pronounciation "Mac-D", no "s" sound) - McDonald's restaurant.
mee - noodles.
megi - instant noodles, adopted from the Maggi brand instant noodle.
member - also means a friend.
Mat Motor - generic term for Malaysian bikers.
Mat Rempit - illegal motorbike racer (male).
Maple'- roadside hawkers
mata - police (literally: eye)
Mat Salleh - a white person or Caucasian
Milo - generic term for hot chocolate or any chocolate drink, adopted from the Milo brand chocolate drink.
momantai - no problem (from Cantonese)
malu - shy/embarrassed

N
nah - here (used when giving something to another person. e.g: "Nah, kotak!" ; "Here, a box!").
NS/KN - National Service/Khidmat Negara
Negri Sembilan - Negeri Sembilan.

O
off / close (an electric appliance) - to turn off the switch of an electrical appliance
on / open (an electric appliance) - to turn on the switch of an electrical appliance
ong - Having good luck. From the Hokkien word 旺
outstation - out of town/overseas.
otai-chief,leader, (Old timer)
otek- Police

P
padan muka - serves you right.
pass up - to hand in (for example "pass up your assignments").
pass motion - defecate.
pat - see kay poh chee. (from Cantonese)
pei hai - someone who feel numb.
Penang - Pulau Pinang.
pokai - being broke. penniless.
pondan - a derogatory term for shemales and transexuals.
Puan - Mrs. (a Malay title used to address married women).
pulun - doing something in a massive scale (for example "pulun download" means downloading in massive scale).

R
ragut- to snatch
raya - festive (usually referring to Eid).
remisier - stockbroker.
rembat- to steal
rubber - meaning eraser (for example "can I borrow your rubber?").

S
sambal - traditional sauce.
send - to take somebody to somewhere (for example "I'll send you to the airport.").
seow - from the Hokkein term meaning crazy.
sirap/syrup - rose syrup beverage.
sky juice - plain water.
slippers - Japanese sandals; as in US and UK "flip-flops", Australia "thongs".
SMS - text message.
SPG - Abbreviation for Sarong Party Girl. Degoratory term to describe an Asian woman who exclusively dates white men.
stylo - stylish. Stylo-mylo is occasionally used.
suey/sueh - having bad luck. From Cantonese and Hokkien word 衰

T
take-away - food purchased at a restaurant but eaten elsewhere.
tapau/tarpau-ed - See take away, To defeat an opponent in games, Similar usage to the term pwned
thrice - three times.
tin - can, especially for processed foods. (for example "give us a tin of beans.") Can is usually reserved for soft drinks or beer/cider.
tani - drinking spree

U
U - university.

W
warung - Malay food stall
wikang - endo (stoppie) or reverse wheelie

(Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_English_vocabulary)
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The list above may be very familiar to some Malaysians, and may not be to some, depending on their geographical locations. However, most of the west coast populations do make use of the words in their every day conversation.

There are two issues here:

i. Does the above set of words belong to the Malaysian English vocabulary, or does it belong to the Malaysian Colloquial English category, which is also famously known as Manglish or street english?

ii. With the evolvement of such language in writing and conversational practice, should the ESL instructors ignore them and rate them as 'grammatically correct'? Or if the use is to be controlled, then to what extent?

Increase Vocabulary? What! Memorise the Dictionary?

Struggling to find an appropriate word in writing is like fumbling for keys in a darkness. At times, we are in despair to break the stumbling block. Thus, writer with limited words is at disadvantage. One of the illogical practices in widening vocabulary is to learn the dictionary by heart. It really makes sense, isn't it? Or it is?