A comparative study of guided and free writing instruction
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Date
2005
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UMT, Lahore
Abstract
Writing is the productive skill in the written mode. It, too, is more complicated than it seems at first, and often seems to be the hardest of the skills, even for native speakers of the language, since it involves not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way. It is a network of skills that can be taught, practiced, and mastered. The present research is a comparative study of two writing techniques "guided and free writing" in the Punjab School, Lahore. Free writing is a beneficial technique for students of English despite some of the obvious difficulties for learners of English. In the framework of a department for the studies of foreign languages, creative writing can create substantial benefits in three areas. It is an effective means for advanced language practice which is innovative, challenging, affective and learner - centered; secondly, it creates academic benefits in terms of text analysis and comprehension, both for content and form, and finally it provides a creative and emotional counterbalance to the rather cerebral nature of academic study. The researcher then proposes that by assessing two different techniques of teaching writing, will be helpful in diagnosing specific applicable technique, leading to targeted professional development to improve teachers' teaching practices and student's achievements in the area of writing. So the purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of free writing technique of fourth-grade students. Using a pretest posttest control group design, it was found that after four months the students (n=15) who were treated with free writing technique achieved similar scores than the students (n=15) who were treated with guided writing technique. It is concluded that the writing technique emphasizing free writing technique was not that effective in promoting and improving the writing capability of the students