Berufsrelevante L2-Schreibkompetenz fördern durch Fordern

This article outlines approaches on how to support writing skills and text competence when teaching German as a foreign language. The main question is whether and how dealing in detail with one’s own mistakes and actively analysing one’s own writing process can contribute to improving writing skills in teaching German as a foreign language. Reflections which were written down during the 2013/14 winter and 2016 summer semester at the University of Graz by students studying German as a foreign language, level C1, serve as basis for this article. These reflections refer to texts gathered within one semester respectively. They address subjects relevant to the daily life of a translator in training, such as economics, law, culture, medicine and technology. During this period of reflection, students addressed the question of whether their approach to writing texts has changed in the course of one semester. In addition, they were asked to focus on which mistakes were made repeatedly and to which error category they belonged. Furthermore, they examined the areas in which they feel that they have personally improved and see their strengths. This article aims to demonstrate to what extent this teaching approach succeeded.

IMPROVING WRITING SKILL THROUGH THINK-PAIR-SHARE ON DESCRIPTIVE TEXT IN THE SECOND GRADERS OF MTs. NURUL ISLAM SLATRI , BREBES

Writing is assumed as the most difficult skill among other skills. Meanwhile, explaining all the materials until the end of the class is still used in the teaching process of descriptive text. This research is generally to answer whether or not think-pair-share can improve students’ writing skill on descriptive text and specifically to know: (1) the teacher’s activities, (2) the students’ activities, and (3) the students’ responses during the implementation of think-pair-share on writing class of descriptive text. The subjects are 16 students of the second graders of MTs Nurul Islam Slatri in the academic year of 2013/2014. The data were obtained from the observations and writing test. The students’ writing skill improved after the implementation of Think-Pair-Share that could be seen in the improvement of mean score, from 68.4 and 72.5 in cycle one to 73.4 and 77.2 in cycle two. The percentage of students who passed the minimum mastery criteria also improved, from 62.5 % and 69 % in cycle one to 75 % and 100 % in cycle two. In conclusion, think-pair-share can improve students’ writing skill on descriptive text.

The Comparative Effect of Dynamic and Negotiated Assessment on EFL learners’ Writing Complexity and Fluency

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the comparative effect of dynamic and negotiated assessment on EFL learners’ writing complexity and fluency. To this end, 72 female intermediate EFL participants, selected from a larger group of 103 learners based on their performances on a piloted PET, in Tak language institute in Dezfoul, Iran participated in the present study and received either dynamic assessment, negotiated assessment, or traditional instruction during a term. Both of the experiments were process-oriented; however, in the dynamic assessment, the negotiation was done through teacher’s provision of feedback wherein the negotiated assessment group peer-negotiation was encouraged. The participants’ writing complexity and fluency were measured both before and after the instruction through essay writing pre-treatment test and posttest in accordance with Larsen-Freeman’s (2006) T-Unit protocol. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was run on the posttest scores to test the null hypotheses of the study, the results of which indicated that while dynamic assessment was significantly effective in improving writing complexity (p = 0.007 < 0.05), negotiated assessment yielded significantly better results in boosting writing fluency compared to the results obtained from both control (p = 0.000 < 0.05) and dynamic assessment groups (p = 0.042 < 0.05). Nevertheless, dynamic assessment did not show significantly better results in comparison to negotiated assessment in improving writing complexity (p = 0.084 > 0.05). Learners, teachers, and syllabus designers who are engaged in the process of language pedagogy may use these results. Depending on the focus of their learning, i.e., fluency or complexity, they may choose the optimal choice between these two types of assessment.

The Efficacy of Think Talk Write Strategy in Improving Writing Skill for Teeneagers at Batu Walenrang Palopo

This research about the efficacy of think talk write strategy in improving writing skill for teenagers at Batu Walenrang Palopo. The purpose of this research is to find out whether or not the use of think talk write strategy is effective in improving writing skill for teenagers (16th-17th) at Batu Walenrang Palopo. This research applied the pre-experimental method, the research is carried out in one class, the population of this research is teenagers at Batu Walenrang Palopo. The sample of this research are nine teenagers (16th-17th) at Batu Walenrang Palopo. The sampling technique in this research is the total sampling technique. The instrument of this research is writing test. The researcher gives pretest and post-test to the teenagers. the data are analyzed using Spss 20. The result of this research shows that the use of think talk write strategy is effective in writing. It could be proved from the result of the calculation that students score in the post-test is higher than students score in the pre-test. The mean score in Post-test is higher than the mean score of the pre-test P=0.003>0.005. It means that is the use of think talk write strategy is effective in improving writing skill for teenagers (16th-17th) at Batu Walenrang Palopo. The implementation of this research as an alternative for educators in developing students' understanding in learning.