Shared Writing in Arab Young Learner Classrooms Simon Etherton Training Consultant & Advisor Fawzia Al Zadjali Director of Studies & Curriculum Development Sultanate of Oman

What is shared writing? Shared writing is a technique that demonstrates how writers write by making the writing process visible and concrete to learners. It teaches learners the mechanics, conventions and process of writing.

Importance of Shared writing Models the thought process involved in writing. Models all aspects of the writing process. Demonstrates the conventions of writing for learners. Direct teaching of skills and concepts. Models the process of revising & editing. Builds up children’s confidence. Provides a scaffold towards independent writing.

How to do it! At any grade level At any time of the school year Regularly Different aspects of the writing process are explored. Topic, content, audience and purpose are highlighted. Different genres are explored. Texts are composed by both Teachers & Learners. Teacher acts as a scribe.

The implementation of Shared Writing in the curriculum in Oman Introduced in Grade 3 Twice a month 30 minutes Learners gather around the teacher on a mat. Teacher & children compose the text together. Children then compose a similar text individually.

Video of shared writing

Rationale for research? First time introduced in the Oman Curriculum. still new to the Arab World and many EFL contexts. Explore its effectiveness.

3 governorates [Muscat/ Dakhiliya/Batinah South] research Conducted over 4 months 3 governorates [Muscat/ Dakhiliya/Batinah South] Participants [23 teachers & 23 children] Data [Ts questionnaires, analysis of children’s writing &assessment documents]

Focus of Research Developing children's: fluency in writing accuracy in writing confidence in writing independence in writing

findings No of Ts Fluency: how fast can children write 10 Slow to start, but now has become much faster “They were slow at the beginning but later they became much faster with practice” “In the beginning they were very slow and needed two lessons to complete, but later they become faster especially when they learned to recognize their ideas and their writing became smoother and well organized” 6 More practice and more time needed 5 Different ability levels improve differently 3 Raises awareness of writing 2 Focus on accuracy, not fluency

Findings No of Ts Accuracy: Punctuation 17 Improvement in use of punctuation “It’s very useful because they start writing the punctuation and sometimes they remind me if I forget to put a full stop or capital letter” 3 Provided good practice More practice needed Some learners have improved and others have not 2 Still problems with punctuation Analysis of children’s writing: 1/2 children missed capital letters & full stops

Findings No of Ts Accuracy: Spelling 10 Accuracy in spelling has improved “The spelling skill improved a lot… The learners notice if there is a spelling mistake in the shared writing session” 7 Improvement in spelling some words “They can spell some words correctly. But they need more practice and support to spell other kinds of words” 5 Some learners have improved and others have not “Frankly, some of my students still facing (difficulty) in spelling words, but others got some improvement” 2 Helped with spelling aloud and sounds of letters 1 No real improvement Analysis of children’s writing: No spelling mistakes except for 1 child.

findings No of Ts Accuracy: Forming correct sentences 11 Improvement in forming correct sentences “The effect of shared writing on sentence formation is clear. Now learners know how to write well formed sentences like ‘I’ve got a pink scarf’. They know how to order sentences correctly, because in the shared writing session they learn how to form the sentences” 6 Some learners have improved, others still have problems 2 Able to write more complex and complete sentences Order words correctly Still don’t know how to form correct sentences Analysis of children’s writing: All sentences were formed correctly except for some misuse of: - the article “a” “a yellow shorts”. - singular/ plural “a big eyes”. - 1 incorrect sentence structure “she is like playing….”.

findings No of Ts Accuracy: Handwriting 14 Improvement in handwriting “Shared writing gave the students the chance to practice handwriting by using correct letter formation and helped to show how to join letters and to practice the spacing between words”. 10 More practice still needed in cursive script 4 More practice still needed in word spacing Some learners have improved and others not Analysis of children’s writing: 2 letter formation More spacing problems

findings No of Ts Confidence: Having a go at writing 8 Became more confident and creative “They become more confident as they good on writing more advance and using different voc and became creative. The average one follow me and write and the week still the same” 10 Some have a go, others still need more time/support/practice 3 Confidence in oral participation and discussions “Shared writing give most of them more confidence to say any words it's true or false” Difficulty at the start, improved later

findings No of Ts Confidence: Editing own work 11 Can edit own work “Yes of course they are able to edit their workwhile writing. When they had mistakes and come to me, I tell them look again at your work, and they are able to notice it”   8 Need more time/ practice/support “They edited their work with teachers’ help” 7 Some can edit their writing, others can’t “Some of them still have problems” 2 Can’t edit

findings No of Ts Independence: children’s ability to write independently 10 Can write independently “Yes, it helped them a lot to write independently” “This point was very important for the student. Ss like to write any thing for theirself” 9 Some are independent, others still need support 6 Can give ideas and sentences orally “In orally most of the students can give correct sentences, but they can't write it independently by themself in their book or exercise book – they still need help”

Challenges faced in the implementation of shared writing Time/ children take a long time/ 15 minutes are not enough! Number of children in class is big Not enough writing in earlier grades (vocabulary/ grammar/ punctuation knowledge/ spelling/ forming sentences) Lack of supplementary materials

In-service training & mentor support A 2 hour session for shared writing within a 3 day training course for Senior Ts & Supervisors. Cascade model Follow up from Senior Ts & Supervisors However, we believe that as a new concept ALL Ts need to be trained on how to think aloud More close follow up was needed

implications for practice and policy in the Arab educational context Introduction of shared writing is very helpful and key for a balanced literacy development in YL EFL classrooms. Ts need to model the thinking process while writing. More opportunities of shared writing are needed. Focused training of Ts, STs and supervisors and follow up in schools is also key. Children must be equipped with the basics prior to introducing shared writing of short texts such as - phonics knowledge - spelling of key content & high frequency words - key grammatical aspects [ capitalization/ full stops/ commas] - after reaching the sentence level.