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“Teaching How to Write Descriptive Text Using Descriptive Video”

“Teaching How to Write Descriptive Text Using Descriptive Video” Subject of Writing For Academic Purposes Lecturer H Cunong N SurajaWriter : Nurul Ulfah NPM : 07211210293 Semester VI B FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM UNIVERSITY OF IBN KHALDUN BOGOR 2009-2010- - 2INTRODUCTION Writing is one of skill which very important in English competence. Besides reading speaking and listening, writing skill is rather difficult mastered. The others skill is compounded in writing because the student who has good writing skill, he or she is good in others skill. Actually, writing cannot be opened done. It has the complex rules according with the kind of writing. Writing as a process to get product is influenced by some elements such as vocabularies, grammar, organization, spelling, and punctuation. In the writing English subject, students have to know and understand those elements. Students have been learned kinds of text in writing skill. They should produce written simple functional text in the recount text, narrative text, news items, procedures, and descriptive text. They can use right diction, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and organization. Based on the title of this paper, writer describes the writing of descriptive text using descriptive video. Descriptive text is difficult enough to learn by the students. Descriptive is a type of text function to describe particular person, place, or thing. The students can use simple present and adjective clause in writing descriptive text. The methods that are usually used to teach writing in the class are guided writing and individual writing. In guided writing method the students’ activity is to write out grammar exercise. This method is not affective to improve student’s writing ability. Whereas in writing the descriptive text using video is more effective and efficient because methods between guided writing and individual writing are compounded into a practice method. The use of descriptive video in teaching descriptive writing can help student to write easily and interesting. In addition, it can develop to assist student’s exercise in writing individually. Although descriptive video technology was developed to assist individuals with visual impairments, it can be used to help all students build their vocabulary, comprehension, writing ability and the generic structure of the text.- - 3THEORYTICAL BACKGROUND1. Definition of Descriptive TextDescriptive text is a text which say what a person or a thing is like. Its purpose or function is to describe and reveal a particular person, place, or thing. The content of text of course has a rule and formation called generic structure or text organization.. The generic structure of descriptive text are : Identification; identifying the phenomenon to be described. Description; describing the phenomenon in parts, qualities, or/and characteristicsDescriptive text also has the gramatical fitures and the significant characteristisc as gramatically. Significant grammatical structure as follows: focus on specific participants use of attributive and identifying processes frequent use of epithets and classifiers in nominal groups use of simple present tenseThe purpose from the text above that description is used in all forms of writing to create a vivid impression of a person, place, object or event e.g. to: Describe a special place and explain why it is special. Describe the most important person in your live. Describe the

animal’s habit in your report.Descriptive writing or text is usually also used to help writer develop an aspect of their work, e.g. to create a particular mood, atmosphere or describe a place so that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc. To complete our intention to, here are the characteristics based on descriptive writing or text, below;- - 4As a feature, description is a style of writing which can be useful for other variety of purposes as: To engage a reader’s attention To create characters To set a mood or create an atmosphere To being writing to lifeDescription is one of the genres taught in the eleventh year. It takes 8.77% of all texts found in the textbook. All description texts found in the textbook have good generic structures. They have completed all of their obligatory elements. To describe something is to mention certain details of it so that whoever reads or hears the words can imagine it in their own minds. Everybody can imagine and, as with any ability, with practice you get better. Descriptive language crops up everywhere – it is in fact a very vague term. Descriptions crop up in all kinds of writing,2. The influences of implementing technology in learning and teaching process Technology is one of most effective media in teaching and learning process. Along of developed word, technology has been growing up each era. It gives the influence into educational process, from methods, instrumens and learning media. How technological media has improved students' learning, helps teachers to think constructively and critically, and builds towards a practical methodology for the design, development and implementation of educational technologies. To explore students' learning, teacher has to use the suitable educational technology bases on subject individual teaching methods and media, including non-interactive media (lectures, print, audio, etc.), hypermedia (CD-ROM, etc.), and interactive media (simulations, modelling programs etc.); and discusses the design methodology, designing learning activities, setting up the learning context and maintaining quality.- - 5Basicly, technology has to be flexibly and creatively. It is able to size up a task, recognize how technology might help them to fulfill the task, and then use the technology to do so. Helping students learn to apply technology in learning is easier because the use of technology as daily media in teaching learning process. Students are learning to use technology as part of the information problem-solving process to perform better in classroom curriculum. When a teacher reflects on integrating technology skills into teaching and learning, it is not necessary to change the fundamentals of quality instruction or the information problem-solving perspective that is at the heart of the big skills approach. The implementation of technology through the big works in the following ways: ■Develops students’ problem-solving, complex thinking and information management abilities. ■ Enables students to become comfortable with technology and understand that the technologies are valuable tools to help them perform their work. ■ Focuses students’ attention on using technologies as tools to extend knowledge and to individualize learning. ■ develops an active participatory learning process in which students become self-directed learners. ■ Facilitates integrating technology across all grades and into all disciplines. ■ Assists teachers to change their roles from presenters of information to “learning coaches” who offer tools and advice. ■ Helps teachers introduce technology and have students use technologies even if the teachers aren’t experts themselves. Implementing technology within the big process is easy, direct, and powerful. It also encourages classroom teachers, library media specialists, and technology teachers to collaboratively design instruction that can intentionally create challenging and exciting learning experiences. Such opportunities expand the scope of new technology use by all students.

- - 63. Descriptive Video as implementation of technology in educationOne of teaching method which helps students improve their writing abilities and their attention to details while experiencing a new technology called Descriptive Video. Also known as described programming, Descriptive Video refers to programming with an additional audio track that narrates a film’s visual elements. Video is one of technology using as media for teaching and learning. Video uses visual and audiovisual. The video can be stored on videotapes, CD-Rom, DVD, or computer drives, and it can be used in either preservice or inservice teacher education/professional development programs. Kind of descriptive video in this writing is educated video such video of animal’s description, nature, etc.This additional audio track contains narration or description to explain the plot of film and the knowledge of the educated massage. Contributors explain the nature of the video they use in their teacher education programs or courses and talk about how they use it, focusing in particular on principles for: (1) making the videos (decisions about how and what to capture on video, the degree to which the teaching should be scripted, whether it should be shown uninterrupted or segmented and edited, and so on), and (2) principles for using the video in the teacher education program (why and how it is used at what points in the program, how viewings are structured and scaffolded by the teacher4. Teaching writing of descriptive text using descriptive VideoTeachers can use Descriptive Video technology to differentiate instruction. Described programming gives students models of highly descriptive writing. Some students are able to use these models and improve their writing with relative independence. Other students require greater scaffolding. Actually, the use of media technologies such video offer new literacies and that these literacies depend to some extent on using media technology to communicate effectively. In this paper, students will balance theory with practice, and the successful student will leave with technical, working knowledge of some New Media technology. She- - 7will also be familiar with what it means to think critically with and through these technologies.Student’s Descriptive Writing ProcessStudent’s writing process after watching video ; Describe from memory Take the topic or object that students are going to write base on the video that being watched and picture it in the mind. Imagine that students are close enough to touch and feel the object in the video. Look at it closely and identify its story.. Write every detail about the object that can be remembered. Sketch Student tries to draw a pictures of the object which attends in video. Visualize it in student’s mind and sketch from memory, or place studentsselvis comfortably near the object.. This sketch is just for helping students fully explore the details of the object. Sketching the object also gives a creative outlet for when student are struggling with putting pen to paper. Reviewing and pointing Students tries to remember the plot in descriptive video that has been watched and make the outlines by arranging the description of the object in that video. Compliting Student tries to give the more detail description of object bases on the outline formation.Teaching descriptive writing processSteps teaching writing using video: Always preview and evaluate the video even if you produced it yourself. It will help establish relevance in terms of the points or visuals you wish to emphasise during the viewing. Check the room’s lighting, seating, picture and sound quality to be sure that everyone can see and hear the video when it is played.- - 8Prepare student’s writing tools like book and pencil to darw the key point of video content. Prepare students by briefly reviewing previous related studies, or teach prerequisite skills in order to equalise students’ background. Brief them on the video’s

contents and list the key points to direct attention to specific aspects of the video relatinng with what will be wrote. For recapitulation or further discussion, re-play the video to consolidate information which was previously presented rapidly. This contributes to the overall learning experience as students will have the opportunity to see what they have missed in the first showing. Since watching a video is mostly a passive activity, you should introduce activities to motivate student participation, especially before and after the playback Conduct post-viewing discussions or quizzes to emphasise key issues or points. Redirect attention to new content or concepts, and help students to process complex information. Assign writing lists and project work and so on. teacher may identifys other activities that would help to reinforce student learningSteps teaching writing of descriptive text (After showing a video)Calkins’s Four Phases of the Writing Process. According to Calkins (1994), there are four distinct phases of the writing process: prewriting, writing, editing, and revising. Phase 1: PrewritingTeacher gives some questions to the student’s brainstorm a list of object; here writer use an example about animal. Examples of the questions: - What is the animal’s name? - What does the animal look like? - What kind of animal is it? - What is the animal’s habitat? - Is the animal nocturnal or diurnal? - What does the animal eat? Is it herbivore or Carnivore?- - 9- Tell an interesting fact about the animal. - What enemies does the animal have? From these questions directly show the formulation of descriptive text. This way is to give the direction how to arrange the descriptive text after watching a video to the students. Phase 2: WritingIn this phase, teacher takes an instruction to the students for making outline or mapping of the answering of these questions relate to the content of video. Example: [What is the animal’s name?] ------- The name of this animal is [name of animal]. It is a [mammal, bird, or reptile]. It lives in the forests of [continent or Country]. It can be made like a graphic or mapping before arranging into paragraphs. Other examples takes from Joseph’s completed graphic organizer:Here is Joseph’s draft report: Hedgehog The name of this animal is hedgehog. It is mammal. It lives in North America, Asia, and Europe. It lives in desert. Hedgehog eats insects, snails, snakes, bird eggs and grass. It is omnivore. It is nocturnal because it eats food at night. Something unusual about my animal is that spines come out when hedgehog is scared. It rolls into a ball. It has enemies like owl, fox, mongoose and wolf.HedgehogHedgehog eats snails, insects and plants? It is omnivore.Hedgehog is mammal.Hedgehog is nocturnal. It hunts for food at night.Hedgehog rolls in ball when hedgehog is scared.Hedgehog live in the forest of Europe, Asia, andNorth America.- - 10Phase 3: EditingMany teachers may ask their students to self-edit because they believe that students should be given the opportunity to self-correct their work. However, students will not be able to self-edit, as they will have trouble finding most of their mistakes and may be frustrated in the attempt. When students are fluent enough to discuss their written ideas and thoughts, the teacher should provide instruction on how to peer edit using think-aloud and modeling. For example, the teacher takes her text as model to edit step by steps, while from generic structures and the use of tense etc. Phase 4: RevisingIt is important to tie the type of revision that is possible for each learner. For example,

students in the early stages may not yet have developed the skills for describing possessives and tenses; they may only just be learning how to write nouns in the plural form and match them to the correct verb forms. When reviewing students’ papers, teachers tell specific details about what they are supposed to do during the revision process. Simply stating, “Add more information here” is too vague; a more appropriate comment would be “Mention something special that hedgehogs can do here.” If students are a part of the editing process, the revisions will be more meaningful to them. Giving a homework writingTeacher gives instruction to the student for rewrite descriptive text using descriptive video which is given to each student in a form of CD. Presenting a Finished DocumentTeachers should encourage students to share their writing with classmates and family. Students can display work in the classroom and hallway or “publish” classroom books.- - 11ANALYSIS 1. The efectiveness of using descriptive video in teaching descriptive text;PointThe efectiveness of using descriptive video for;Student in learning processTeacher in teaching processTimesStudent need the focus time and use the full efective times to analyse text by watching videoTeacher has the efective time in teaching when use the video need the enough time to be efective teaching. It must by appointing times in course plan.UnderstandingStudent will more understand about the description of their writing and they can easily appointing the plot of the video becomes generic structure of descriptive textTeacher will more understand about teaching technique how to match the content of video with steps of teaching instruction.SkillStudent can operate technology as the guided class-learning and self- learningTeacher can operate technology as the guided learning and teaching- - 122. Grafic of Teaching Learrning Process in Descriptive Writing using Descriptive Video Preparing for playing a video Giving an intruction to note some question Playing video Controling a watching process and guides it. Giving the model outlines of list scene Giving intruction to rewrite the content or scene of video Editing the writing togethers Giving task to rewrite the others video Publishing student’s writing preparing for watching Watching and pointing the main point of the scenes Making outlines and explenation of the scenes Arranging the outlines become a plot based on the videoTEACHERSTUDENTS- - 13 Editing it by looking at teacher’s intruction Review it at home3. Compression between Manual Writing and Automatic Writing. Manual writing is done

without instrument or technology as a media to get a source for making a text, while automatic writing is writing text by using technology as media and instrument for getting some descriptions about object. Steps to make manual writing are:1. Find and Explore a TopicBefore the writer can write an effective descriptive paragraph, the writer needs to do two things: find a good topic; study the topic carefully (a strategy that we call probing).For guidelines and examples, visit Discovery Strategy: Probing its Topic.2. Draft a Descriptive ParagraphOnce the writer has settled on a topic for its descriptive paragraph and collected some details, the writer ready to assemble those details in a rough draft that begins with a topic sentence. the writer will find a common model for organizing a description at Draft a Descriptive Paragraph.3. Revise a Descriptive ParagraphNow the writer will revise your descriptive paragraph, concentrating on its organization. That is, the writer will check to see that its sentences follow a clear and logical order, each detail related to the one that came before and leading to the one that follows. These two exercises will give you practice in revising effectively: Practice in Supporting a Topic Sentence with Specific Details Practice in Organizing a Descriptive Paragraph4. Revise, Edit, and Proofread- - 14It's now time to invite someone else (a classmate, for example, teacher) to read the writer’s descriptive paragraph and suggest ways to improve it. Taking the reader's comments into consideration, revise the paragraph one last time, using as a guide this Revision Checklist for a Descriptive Paragraph. For examples of the finished product, see Model Descriptive Paragraphs Example of descriptive text:The Blond GuitarBy Jeremy Burden My most valuable possession is an old, slightly warped blond guitar--the first instrument I taught myself how to play. It's nothing fancy, just a Madeira folk guitar, all scuffed and scratched and finger-printed. At the top is a bramble of copper-wound strings, each one hooked through the eye of a silver tuning key. The strings are stretched down a long, slim neck, its frets tarnished, the wood worn by years of fingers pressing chords and picking notes. The body of the Madeira is shaped like an enormous yellow pear, one that was slightly damaged in shipping. The blond wood has been chipped and gouged to gray, particularly where the pick guard fell off years ago. No, it's not a beautiful instrument, but it still lets me make music, and for that I will always treasure it. If the writer analyzes the steps of manual writing, it’s use self mind as much and exploring the individual study. This method is fare if it used for high student or Student University, but the automatic writing which use technology as media is special for senior and elementary student. Both of these methods of writing are good for each target.- - 15CONCLUSION Writing is part of English skill. Writing as a process to get product is influenced by some elements such as vocabularies, grammar, organization, spelling, and punctuation. However descriptive text tends to specify the described object Descriptive text commonly tries to reveal the image of certain person, place, animal, or thing,Text Descriptive text has structure as below: Identification; identifying the phenomenon to be described. And description; describing the phenomenon in parts, qualities, or/and characteristics. The language feature of descriptive text using attributive and identifying process. Using adjective and classifiers in nominal group. Using simple present tense Video is media or instrument to guide student in making descriptive text. This technology is effective if applaying to elementary and junior student. The use of video guides in making an topic and outline of the description text then student easy to arrange these

outlines become a text. There are two process of methods which have been explained in this paper, such follows: teaching descriptive writing using descriptive video and learning how to write descriptive text using descriptive video. Both of these process are more efective then manual writing which doesn’t use technology in teaching and learning.- - 16REFERENCES Berkowitz, R. & Michael B. E. (2000). “Teaching Information &Technology Skills: TheBig6™in Secondary Schools”, Ohio: Linworth Publishing. Bowkett, Steve (2010).” Countdown to non-fiction writing: step by step approach to writing”, New York : Routledge. DiPrince, Dawn (2005).” Twisting Arms Teaching Students How to Write to Persuade”, Colorado: Cottonwood Press Grenville, Kate. (2001).” Writing from start to finish: a six-step guide”, Sydney: Allen & Unwin Haynes Judie & Zacarian, Debie. (2010).” Teaching English language Learners across the Content areas”, Alexandria: ASCD. Nur Listyani, Heny (27th of July 2006). “Generic Structure; Analysis on Written Texts Found in the English Textbook for the Twelfth Year of Senior High School.” (Paper writing), Semarang

The Role Of Grammar In Improving Student's Writingby Beverly Ann ChinProfessor Of EnglishUniversity of Montana

Grammar is the sound, structure, and meaning system of language. All languages have grammar, and each language has its own grammar. People who speak the same language are able to communicate because they intuitively know the grammar system of that language—that is, the rules of making meaning. Students who are native speakers of English already know English grammar. They recognize the sounds of English words, the meanings of those words, and the different ways of putting words together to make meaningful sentences.

However, while students may be effective speakers of English, they need guidance to become effective writers. They need to learn how to transfer their knowledge of grammatical concepts from oral language to written language.

Effective grammar instruction begins with what students already know about grammar, and it helps them use this knowledge as they write. By connecting their knowledge of oral language to written language, teachers can demystify abstract grammatical terminology so that students can write—and read—with greater competence and confidence.

WHAT DOES RESEARCH SAY ABOUT GRAMMAR AND THE TEACHING OF WRITING?

Research strongly suggests that the most beneficial way of helping students improve their command of grammar in writing is to use students' writing as the basis for discussing grammatical concepts. Researchers agree that it is more effective to teach punctuation, sentence variety, and usage in the context of writing than to approach the topic by teaching isolated skills (Calkins, 1980; DiStefano and Killion, 1984; Harris, 1962).

As students revise and edit their writing, teachers can provide grammar instruction that guides students in their attempts to identify and correct problems in sentence structure and usage. For example, a teacher who sees that many students are writing sentences containing misplaced modifiers can present a minilesson on this concept, using examples from student writing.

The teacher can have students edit their own and one another's drafts for this problem.

Integrating grammar instruction into the revising and editing process helps students make immediate applications, thus allowing them to see the relevance of grammar to their own writing.

TO WHAT SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF WRITING DOES GRAMMAR CONTRIBUTE?

Because writing is a complex and challenging activity for many students, teachers should focus on the grammatical concepts that are essential for the clear communication of meaning.

Research conducted since the early 1960s shows that grammar instruction that is separate from writing instruction does not improve students' writing competence (Braddock and others, 1963; Hillocks, 1986). In addition, research indicates that the transfer of formal grammar instruction to writing is not applicable to larger elements of composition. Through detailed studies of students' writing, Shaughnessy (1977) concludes that the best grammar instruction is that which gives the greatest return for the least investment of time. Shaughnessy advocates four important grammatical concepts: the sentence, inflection, tense, and agreement. She recommends that teachers encourage students to examine grammatical errors in their own writing. She also cautions teachers not to overemphasize grammatical terminology to the detriment of students' ability to understand and apply the concepts.

Weaver (1998) proposes a similar approach to teaching grammar in the context of writing. She writes, "What all students need is guidance in understanding and applying those aspects of grammar that are most relevant to writing." Weaver proposes five grammatical concepts that enable writers to show improvement in sentence revision, style, and editing. (See chart below.)

A MINIMUM OF GRAMMARFOR MAXIMUM BENEFITS

1. Teaching concepts on subject, verb, sentence, clause, phrase, and related concepts for editing2. Teaching style though sentence combining and sentence generating3. Teaching sentence sense through the manipulation of syntactic elements4. Teaching both the power of dialects and the dialects of power5. Teaching punctuation and mechanics for convention, clarity, and style

Reprinted by permission of Constance Weaver: Lessons to Share on Teaching Grammar in Context (Boynton-Cook, A division of Reed Elsevier Inc., Portsmouth, NH, 1998).

Rather than strive to teach all grammatical concepts to all students, teachers should prioritize and provide instruction on the grammatical elements that most affect their students' ability to write effectively. Teachers should also be sensitive to individual students' readiness to learn and apply grammatical concepts.

HOW DOES SENTENCE COMBINING IMPROVE WRITING?

Sentence combining is the strategy of joining short sentences into longer, more complex sentences. As students engage in sentence-combining activities, they learn how to vary sentence structure in order to change meaning and style. Numerous studies (Mellon, 1969; O'Hare, 1973; Cooper,

1975; Shaughnessy, 1977; Hillocks, 1986; Strong, 1986) show that the use of sentence combining is an effective method for improving students' writing. The value of sentence combining is most evident as students recognize the effect of sentence variety (beginnings, lengths, complexities) in their own writing.

Hillocks (1986) states that "sentence combining practice provides writers with systematic knowledge of syntactic possibilities, the access to which allows them to sort through alternatives in their heads as well as on paper and to choose those which are most apt" (150). Research also shows that sentence combining is more effective than freewriting in enhancing the quality of student writing (Hillocks, 1986).

Hillocks and Smith (1991) show that systematic practice in sentence combining can increase students' knowledge of syntactic structures as well as improve the quality of their sentences, particularly when stylistic effects are discussed as well. Sentence-combining exercises can be either written or oral, structured or unstructured. Structured sentence-combining exercises give students more guidance in ways to create the new sentences; unstructured sentence-combining exercises allow for more variation, but they still require students to create logical, meaningful sentences. Hillocks (1986) reports that in many studies, sentence-combining exercises produce significant increases in students' sentence-writing maturity.

Given Noguchi's (1991) analysis that grammar choices affect writing style, sentence combining is an effective method for helping students develop fluency and variety in their own writing style. Students can explore sentence variety, length, parallelism, and other syntactic devices by comparing their sentences with sentences from other writers. They also discover the decisions writers make in revising for style and effect.

Teachers can design their own sentence-combining activities by using short sentences from student writing or other appropriate sources. For example, teachers who notice many choppy sentences in students' writing can place these sentences on an overhead for all their students to read. Teachers can then ask different students to combine orally the short sentences in a variety of ways.

By participating in oral and written sentence-combining activities, students better understand the ways in which sentence structure, usage, and punctuation affect meaning.

When presented as a revising strategy, sentence-combining activities help students identify short, choppy sentences in their own writing, leading them to combine their ideas in more fluid and sophisticated ways. As students generate more complex sentences from shorter ones, they discover how the arrangement of phrases and clauses, for example, affects meaning and its impact on their readers.

WHAT STRATEGIES CAN TEACHERS USE TO TEACH GRAMMAR IN THE CONTEXT OF WRITING?

Grammar instruction is most naturally integrated during the revising, editing, and proofreading phases of the writing process. After students have written their first drafts and feel comfortable with the ideas and organization of their writing, teachers may wish to employ various strategies to help students see grammatical concepts as language choices that can enhance their writing purpose. Students will soon grow more receptive to revising, editing, and proofreading their writing. In writing conferences, for example, teachers can

help students revise for effective word choices. As the teacher and student discuss the real audience(s) for the writing, the teacher can ask the student to consider how formal or informal the writing should be, and remind the student that all people adjust the level of formality in oral conversation, depending on their listeners and the speaking context. The teacher can then help the student identify words in his or her writing that change the level of formality of the writing.

To help students revise boring, monotonous sentences, teachers might ask students to read their writing aloud to partners. This strategy helps both the partner and the writer to recognize when, for example, too many sentences begin with "It is" or "There are." Both the partner and the writer can discuss ways to vary the sentence beginnings. After the writer revises the sentences, the partner can read the sentences aloud. Then both can discuss the effectiveness of the revision.

Teachers can help students edit from passive voice to active voice by presenting a minilesson. In editing groups, students can exchange papers and look for verbs that often signal the passive voice, such as was and been. When students find these verbs, they read the sentence aloud to their partners and discuss whether the voice is passive and, if so, whether an active voice verb might strengthen the sentence. The student writer can then decide which voice is most effective and appropriate for the writing purpose and audience.

Teachers can help students become better proofreaders through peer editing groups. Based on the writing abilities of their students, teachers can assign different proofreading tasks to specific individuals in each group. For example, one person in the group might proofread for spelling errors, another person for agreement errors, another person for fragments and run-ons, and another

person for punctuation errors. As students develop increasing skill in proofreading, they become responsible for more proofreading areas. Collaborating with classmates in peer editing groups helps students improve their own grammar skills as well as understand the importance of grammar as a tool for effective communication.

As teachers integrate grammar instruction with writing instruction, they should use the grammar terms that make sense to the students. By incorporating grammar terms

naturally into the processes of revising, editing, and proofreading, teachers help students understand and apply grammar purposefully to their own writing. Strategies such as writing conferences, partnership writing, grammar minilessons, and peer response groups are all valuable methods for integrating grammar into writing instruction.

HOW DOES THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR ADDRESS THE NATIONAL CONTENT STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS?

The National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association (1996) published Standards for the English Language Arts, which defines "what students should know and be able to do with language" (p. 1). The twelve content standards are closely intertwined and emphasize the complex interactions among language skills. Standards 4, 5, and 6 most directly address students' ability to write.

The national content standards for English language arts are based on

professional research and best classroom practices. While the standards acknowledge the importance of grammar concepts, they clearly recommend that students learn and apply grammar for the purpose of effective communication. By embedding grammar instruction in writing instruction, teachers can positively affect students' actual writing skills.

NATIONAL CONTENT STANDARDS

Standard 4: Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes (p. 3).

Standard 5: Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes (p. 3).

Standard 6: Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts (p. 3).

"By closely observing students' writing processes and carefully reading their work, teachers can see which aspects of language structure are giving students trouble and help them learn these concepts through direct instruction and practice. It is also important for students to discover that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are useful not only in the context of fixing problems or mistakes; they can be studied effectively in a workshop context in which students work together to expand their repertoire of syntactic and verbal styles. When students connect the study of grammar and language patterns to the wider purposes of communication and artistic development, they are considerably more likely to incorporate such study into their working knowledge" (p. 37).

References

Braddock, R., Lloyd-Jones, R., & Schoer, L. (1963). Research in Written Composition. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Calkins, L. M. (1980). "When Children Want to Punctuate." Language Arts, 57, 567Ð73.

Cooper, C. (1975). "Research Roundup: Oral and Written Composition." English Journal, 64, 72.

DiStefano, P. & Killion, J. (1984). "Assessing Writing Skills Through a Process Approach." English Education, 16 (4), 203Ð7.

Harris, R. J. (1962). "An Experimental Inquiry into the Functions and Value of Formal Grammar in the Teaching of Written English to Children Aged Twelve to Fourteen." Ph.D. dissertation. University of London.

Hillocks, G., Jr. (1986). "Research on Written Composition: New Directions for Teaching." Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills and the National Conference on Research in English.

Hillocks, G., Jr. & Smith, M. (1991). "Grammar and Usage." In J. Flood, J. M. Jensen, D. Lapp & J. R. Squire (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts. New York: Macmillan, 591Ð603.

Mellon, J. C. (1969). "Transformational Sentence-Combining: A Method for Enhancing the Development of Syntactic Fluency in English Composition." NCTE Research Report No. 10. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. (1996). Standards

for the English Language Arts. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Noguchi, R. R. (1991). Grammar and the Teaching of Writing: Limits and Possibilities. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

O'Hare, F. (1973). Sentence-Combining: Improving Student Writing Without Formal Grammar Instruction. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Shaughnessy, M. P. (1977). Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing. New York: Oxford University Press.

Strong, W. (1986). Creative Approaches to Sentence Combining. Urbana, IL: ERIC and the National Council of Teachers of English.

Weaver, C. (1998). Lessons to Share on Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

http://www.uwplatt.edu/~ciesield/graminwriting.htm

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/

By watching these videos you will:

a) Learn real English vocabulary, as spoken by real native speakers. You will learn English words and phrases that are used in real-life situations

b) Practice and improve your listening skills and comprehension skills

c) Learn proper pronunciation

d) Learn useful English language expressions as well as phrases for conversation

e) Feel that learning English can be fun!

Watching movies in Englishby Tomasz P. Szynalski© Tomasz P. Szynalski, Antimoon.com

English learners have a big advantage over learners of other languages: Hollywood is in America and it makes English-language movies. So, if you know English and you like movies, why don't you watch movies in English? You can have fun and, at the same time, learn a lot of English.

Why watch movies in English

If you are a fan of movies, you will notice that they are much better in the original. Watching a dubbed film will never be as good as watching the original version. Why? Because in the original version, the actor's voices are real. Everything is just like the director imagined.

Learning English by watching movies is learning by input. The learning process is similar. First you get lots of correct English sentences into your head. Then you can imitate them and you can make your own sentences. And isn't that why you are learning

English — to be able to make your own sentences? That is why watching movies (just like reading books) is such a great way to learn English.

(You can learn more about how getting correct sentences into your head improves your English in our introduction to input.)

Of course, there are important differences between movies and books. With books, you learn how native speakers write in English. With movies, you learn how they speak English.

You learn what words they use. When speaking, native speakers use words and phrases that you often won't find in a book. Spoken language is different from "book language". For example:

Book: The price of five dollars was acceptable, and I decided to purchase it.Spoken: It was, like, five bucks, so I was like "okay".

In many movies, the dialog is like real spoken English. Movies also let you learn informal and slang words which are not yet in English dictionaries. For example, in a movie you might hear Give me the freaking keys!, but you won't find the word freaking in a dictionary.

You learn how they say these words. Movies let you improve your pronunciation, not only grammar and vocabulary. If you listen to Americans or Britons speaking English, you can learn to speak like them.

You learn to understand spoken language. Movies are made for native speakers, not for learners of English. So the actors talk fast, just like native speakers talk in real life.

How to learn as much as possible

The difficulty of watching movies

You won't learn anything from the movie if you don't understand it. You probably won't enjoy it, either. :-(

This is one big problem with movies: They are much more difficult to understand than books. If you don't understand a word in a book, you can simply look it up in a dictionary, because the word is written there (you know its spelling). With a movie, you sometimes hear something, but you don't know what it is. Sometimes you don't even know if you've heard one word or two. There are other reasons why listening is more difficult than reading, and they all mean one thing: If you want to understand a movie, you have to know a lot of English words — and not only their spelling, but also their pronunciation.

You can greatly improve your vocabulary by reading books, looking up words in your dictionary, and repeating them with SuperMemo. But even if you read 200 books in English, you would still not understand everything! There will always be some words that you didn't know before. And some of the dialog will be spoken very quickly and unclearly. (You should know that sometimes even Americans can't understand some of the dialog.)

What to do when you don't understand something

If you are playing the movie from tape or DVD, you can stop it whenever you don't understand a sentence. You can then play the sentence many times and perhaps you'll be able to understand all the words in the sentence. If you still don't understand a word or two, you can try to look them up in a dictionary (which is not easy, because you have to guess their spelling!).

Most DVDs let you turn on subtitles. With subtitles, there is no problem with quick or unclear dialog — everything is just written on the screen. It is also easy to look up difficult words in your dictionary, because you know their spelling.

The problem with subtitles is that they make you lazy — you stop listening and concentrate on reading. This is not good if you want to exercise your listening skills. Therefore, you should probably try to watch movies without subtitles. Turn subtitles on only if you're having a hard time understanding the sentences in the movie, and it doesn't help when you listen to them repeatedly.

Movie guides

There is a great alternative to subtitles. ESLnotes.com is a website which has "guides" to popular movies. A guide is a list of over 100 difficult sentences from a movie with explanations. (Here is an example guide to The Graduate.)

Now the most important thing: You first read the explanations; then you watch the movie. So, when you're watching the film, you already know the necessary vocabulary!

We think this is the best strategy for watching movies, because:

It feels great to understand a movie in the original! It's very, very motivating when you learn a word, and then the knowledge of the word lets you enjoy the movie. It gives you a lot of pleasure — so you will want to learn more English vocabulary to understand even more.

You don't have to stop the movie. (Or you have to stop it less frequently.) You can simply watch it and enjoy it.

A guide doesn't explain all the difficult sentences in the movie. But the explanations in the guide should be enough to help you understand what's happening in the movie.

Learning techniques

What else can you do to learn from movies more effectively? The same things that you should do when reading books:

1. Pay attention to interesting things: new words, phrases, and grammar structures. 2. Use your dictionary to learn about these interesting things. You can stop the

movie to look up difficult words. You can also write down all the interesting sentences, and look them up later. But do use your dictionary!

3. Add these interesting things to SuperMemo. If there is an ESLnotes guide to the movie, you can add all the sentences in the guide to your SuperMemo collection

— before watching the film. Later, you can also add the words that you have written down when watching the movie.

Where to get movies in English?

Getting movies in English may be a problem if you are not in an English-speaking country. Most stores will have only movies dubbed in the local language. Dubbed movies help people who do not know English, but if you are an English learner, they are your greatest enemy. :-)

How can you get original versions of movies? Here are some ideas that you can try:

Your cable or satellite TV may have movie channels in English (for example, HBO is a popular channel which shows a lot of movies; unfortunately, it is not free).

You can buy DVDs or videotapes at Amazon.com. (Or Amazon.co.uk, if you are in Europe.) However, the prices may be a problem. You can buy your favorite movies on DVD or videotape. But you can't buy every film that you want to see.

In some countries, movie theaters (cinemas) show films with subtitles in the local language (and not dubbed movies). It is a good idea to watch them, especially if you can avoid reading the subtitles. :-)

http://www.antimoon.com/how/movies.htm