The Use of Corrective Shadows Towards the Development of Students’ Writing Skills

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

In an ESL class, teachers must aim to enhance students’ potential to write and to express their thoughts and feelings in English. Teachers are finding ways how to correct students' written work that will encourage them to write more. The key question for the teachers is what the students learn from correcting their essays, poems, anecdotes or formal themes they have made. This study assessed the effectiveness of the corrective shadows towards the development of students’ writing skills.

METHODS

The descriptive and experimental method of research was used in this study. The respondents were given pre-test; they wrote an essay with a corresponding topic. After that the researcher taught the techniques, they proceeded to the post-test. Same rubrics was used in checking the pre-test and post-test.

RESULTS

The level of corrective shadows in terms of repetition, cloze test, and reference was very high. Students' writing skills as to grammar, graphical skills, spelling and punctuation, and direct translations showed a satisfactory rating in the pre-test and very satisfactory in post-test. There is a significant difference in the level of students' writing skills in terms of grammar, graphical skill, spelling and punctuation, and direct translation. Hence, the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the pre-test and post test results of students writing performance was rejected.

DISCUSSIONS

Based on the results, it is recommended that Teachers use the corrective shadows or correction techniques to improve the students’ written skills. School heads and teachers could provide more activities and more projects in enhancing students' ability to spell words. Teachers could initiate more group activities and English Immersions for students' vocabulary development. English teachers can use repetition strategy always as it was proven to be very effective for many students. Teachers in the early grades could emphasize the importance of punctuation marks before students start every written activity. Everyday interventions will be more effective than a few days on work to students.