Using Experiential Learning Approach in Enriching Academic Writing Skills of Grade 11 Students of Pinagbayanan integrated National High School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Communicative competence creates the foundation of modern life which is advantageous for a developing country. Writing is an academic skill showing a person's language competence, concept development and abstraction (Saladino, C. M. 2009). It is a complicated process which makes students struggle in doing written tasks. Researchers, Pablo, J.C.I. et.al. disclosed that there are Senior High School (SHS) students who failed in writing academic essays. In this school-based research, using the experiential learning (EL) approach in teaching Grade 11 students attempts to enrich academic writing skills.

METHODS

Data gathering, analysis and evaluation were done with credibility, validity and confidentiality. The items on survey instrument were direct points of view of the respondents through pre-survey using the Likert Scale. The descriptive method was utilized to achieve the purpose. A baseline analysis was used to articulate the difficulties experienced and encountered by the respondents. Discussion was used to elaborate the results. The respondents answered the questionnaire to evaluate their writing skills, difficulties and needs.

RESULTS

Sixty-three Grade 11 students showed Very High level of Vocabulary development and most of the items scored below average were related to limited vocabulary. Only 29% of the respondents got average level. Insufficient knowledge is the most common difficulty in writing, thus, brainstorming has the highest score. Low quality of the students' academic essay was due to writings without citation, as observed by 70% of the class. Limited vocabulary, poor sentence structures, and errors in grammar for formality and objectivity which is using first and second person pronouns; poor sentence structures were spotted in 57% of the class.

DISCUSSIONS

Majority of the respondents have experienced difficulties in academic writing: content and ideas, vocabulary, language use, formality and objectivity, referencing and overall quality. Suggested interventions will maximize the use of EL approach in enriching the academic writing skills of the students. Digital technologies will help them become participative in task-based learning to address individual growth and needs (Moon, 2004). Teaching through learners' interest and learning by doing will bring out their best to prove their worth. EL offers a dynamic theory based on a learning cycle as a result of the research conducted (Kolb 2011). Further studies on EL approach could be conducted for the students' success.