Round Robin: Innovative Teaching Writing
Strategy for EFL Students
Introduction
Writing has been seen as one of the fostering tool
for teaching grammar and vocabulary since a long time ago. The significance of
writing skills lately has been proved by many trainers and methodologists as it
is one of the important language skills which deserves attention. (Štefanovičová,
2011).
As what has been claimed by Harmer in (Štefanovičová, 2011) that “Being able to
write is a vital skill for speaker of a foreign language as much as for
everyone using their own first language”, it could be said that writing is
totally necessary for foreign language learner. Not to mention that many exams
are taken in written form and consequently students are evaluated according
their written performance.
One of the necessity of teaching writing is that
writing is the way communicate with other people without being interrupted as
what Jules Renard says in (Ddeubel, 2009). However, there’s more other reasons of
teaching writing which support the opinion of Raimes in Štefanovičová (2011) that writing is an important part of each language.
Firstly, when students write, they revise and clarify the use of grammatical structures,
idioms and vocabulary in much deeper way. Secondly, writing enables students to
be adventurous with the language. It gives them opportunity to be creative,
make up their own stories and therefore to act risky in using the language. (Štefanovičová, 2011)
According
to Raimes in (Štefanovičová, 2011), the last point
which can be provided as a reason for writing, is the fact that when students
write they are involuntary forced to become engaged with the language.
Consequently, they have to find the proper way to express themselves in a clear
way. Since they use brain, eyes and hand simultaneously they intensify the
process of learning.
Ddeubel (2009) also mentioned that
writing is a vital skill that opens up a world of possibilities for any
student. Written communication in whatever language, even with the advent of
the internet, is still a necessity. Writing allows communication, controlled
and deliberate powerful, communication.
However writing is not a skill acquired
spontaneously and has to be taught, therefore there are many difficulties which
can occur in the student’s learning process. (Štefanovičová, 2011). In addition,
according to (Martin,
n.d.)
writing is disliked and avoided because it is frustrating. According to him,
writing is frustrating because it is unnatural.
“Speaking is
natural and not frustrating; when we speak, we open our mouths and words flow
out easily. We do not think about the grammatical correctness of the
utterances, nor do we think about mechanics. We do not repeat utterances over
and over again to check for correctness or appropriateness. Speech takes place
very quickly; the words are spoken and soon lost forever. Most writing, on the
contrary, does not flow out smoothly. We write a few lines, reread them,
scribble out one of the lines and move on. We are constantly checking for
correctness.” (Martin, n.d.)
Byrne in (Štefanovičová, 2011) suggests that some
writing problems happen in the psychological, linguistic and cognitive area.
Among the linguistic problems can be mentioned the
absence of items used in the spoken discourse, e.g. repetition, backtracks,
ungrammatical utterances, dependence on the reaction of the other people.
Consequently the writer has to run the conversation only by himself or herself
and has to be careful in the choice and order of sentences to make the text
clear.
Cognitive
problems are very simple to be identified. In spite of the fact that speaking
is natural to us, writing has to be taught. Students have to be aware of structures
used in the written discourse even if they are not used in the spoken one.
Another
problem might be the organization of text which has to be clear and highly explicit
in order to understand the meaning; therefore the writer has to explain herself
or himself to the reader. (Byrne, 1991:4) in (Štefanovičová, 2011). On the other side,
teacher also has challenge in teaching writing such as mixed ability classes.
After
all it can be concluded that writing is not easy. It is proved by Colorin Colorado
(an Educational Website providing information for educators which receives
major funding from the American Federation of Teachers) that writing is the
last skill to emerge because writing requires a lot more processing of language
in order to produce a message. So in this case, educators have a big task to
differentiate the instruction with effective writing activity. They need to
make successful differentiation of instruction, successful grouping strategies,
creating well-structured cooperative activities and integrating meaningful
content.
One
way to scaffold instruction for English language learners is to differentiate
learning tasks and materials and provide a variety of verbal and academic
supports, from both teacher and more proficient peers, so that students are
able to meaningfully engage in content area learning and acquire the necessary
language and academic skills necessary for independent learning. Successful
scaffolding includes a variety of components: First, teachers must provide
continuity in the classroom. In this way teachers present tasks that are
repeated throughout instructional sequences with variations and that are
interconnected to each other and the curriculum. Secondly, teachers must
also provide support from context. Students should be encouraged to explore
topics in a risk free learning environment and be provided with a variety of
ways to meet learning goals and objectives. Finally, teachers must create
learning contexts where learners increase their autonomy as their skills and confidence
increase. Continuity of tasks will facilitate learners in being able to take
over portions of the task and become independent learners.
Content
Lately,
cooperative learning is widely use to teach writing skills. Cooperative
learning according to (Pocupec, 2011) is defined as a method by which
students learn in teams through structured interaction, whereby they do not
only acquire knowledge, but develop highly valued social and personal skills.
The underlying principles of cooperative learning, which are also the basic
principles that differentiate cooperative learning from standard group work
activities, are popularly called PIES, an acronym that stands for positive
interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation and
simultaneous interaction. Round Robin is one of the strategy of cooperative
learning. It is one of the way in differentiating writing learning instruction.
It relies on a process of building off consecutive contributions by each
participants, conducted in either written or verbal variations. In this paper,
Round Robin strategy will be more exposed as teaching writing strategy using Round
Robin variation. In this Round Robin strategy, students will write as a team.
Round Robin Strategy
According
to William (2010), writing
is kind of like a football team in which every "play" that a football
team makes is intended to advance that team toward the end zone and a score.
That is kind of true as with
writing, every sentence, and every paragraph, should work together, like a team
of words. Fun Round Robin team writing show how students could "carry the
ball" over the goal line and bring the reader to the conclusion and main
point of the story or paper. (William, 2010)
Round robin writing is a quick-paced
cooperative writing activity that generates a lot of written material and
plenty of laughs (Fisk). Using this
activity, students will work in cooperative writing groups to
develop a variety of possible stories around a single prompt.
Benefits
The imagination is like a muscle: The
more you use it, the better it performs and the quicker you get ideas of higher
caliber.-Dean Koontz in (Underwood, 2013)
“And
the more you use your writing muscles,” says Jane Underwood, “the more you tone
and strengthen them. It means the more students write will improve and
developed their writing skills more and more. It is because to be able to
write, they have to write. This is one of the reason why teachers should Round
Robin strategy for their writing class. The difference between Round Robin and
other writing activity is that it is a lot more fun and the students can
participate equally. It will be different from traditional forms of instruction
in the classroom, such as frontal instruction or non-structured group work activities,
where there are usually several students who complete the tasks or do all the
work and the rest of them being unmotivated, disinterested and usually poorly
graded. (Pocupec, 2011).
Round Robin’ers aim to do three things: 1) write regularly,
2) enjoy and explore the process of writing freely and playfully (discovering
what you have to say in the act of saying it) and 3) “partner” on a rotating
basis with classmates. (Underwood, 2013)
According to Underwood, in Round Robin the focus will be on
finding the inspiration, motivation and self-discipline to keep writing and to
keep generating raw material that students may eventually choose to rewrite,
revise, polish and publish. It will also be about learning to recognize and
appreciate the strength of the students.
Round Robin is used to surface the ideas and
pre-existing knowledge and experiences of a group, which builds on the
collective knowledge of a group of persons. Besides, it can also be used to
analyze and “recompose” a situation/ issue/ problem/ domain of common interest,
i.e. generate and consolidate an aggregated picture of it. It is also worth
mentioning that in Round Robin, students will learn about how the knowledge of
other group members complements theirs.
Procedure
There are some steps in round robin based on Fisk (n.d.) and an article of Suspenseful
Round Robin Writing as follows:
1. Prepare
small pieces of paper with a variety of writing prompts.
2. Describe
the process of round robin writing to the students. Tell the kids we will be
setting a timer, giving everybody two minutes to write to their group's prompt.
Explain that when the time is up, each student must immediately pass his
written work to the person seated to his left and that you will then reset the
timer. Tell your students that they should quickly read what their neighbor
wrote and continue writing where their fellow student left off. Point out that
they will continue this process of writing and passing their work to the left
until each group generates five complete unique stories.
3. Divide
the class into groups of five. Instruct the students to rearrange their desks
and bring a pencil and plenty of lined paper as they gather into their assigned
groups.
4. Present
a single writing prompt for all the groups to use or allow one student from
each group to choose a prompt from the collection you prepared before class.
Give students several minutes to think about their topics before proceeding.
5. Set
your timer and instruct the children to begin writing.
6. When
time begins, each student will write the prompt they have chosen on the first
line of their paper and continue with the story by building and adding to the
prompt.
7. At
the end of the 2 minutes, students stop writing and put their pencils down.
They must stop, even if they are in a middle of a sentence. They pass their
paper to the person on their left. They will also receive a paper from the
person on their right.
8. This
time you give them 3 minutes. During that time, they must read what the
previous author has written and continue that story. At the end of the 3 minute
segment, they again stop and pass their papers. The third writer has 4 minutes
to write, the fourth writer has 5 minutes, and the fifth writer has 6 minutes.
The final writing session should return the paper to its original owner for 7
minutes, where the story is ended.
9. The
stories are then shared within the small groups. After they read them, each
group may select one version to share with the class.
Additional Ideas
1.
Each
group may collaborate to combine, revise, and edit a final version of the story
using the best plot, images, and details from all their stories. Remind
students to review the elements of suspense stories, and to incorporate this
framework into their finished piece. (Suspenseful Round Robin Writing, 2011)
2. Have
students illustrate their stories and post them on a bulletin board for all to
share and enjoy. (Suspenseful Round Robin Writing,
2011)
Conclusion
Round
Robin is one of the way for teachers in differentiating writing instruction as
well as the classroom management. It is one of the variation of collaborative
writing strategy that encourages students to work together as a team and
participate equally in class writing activity
Rerferences
_________(n.d).Improving
Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joy of Writing. (2011). Retrieved from Colorin Colorado.
_________
(n.d.). Round Robin. Retrieved from
Sharing Knowledge: http://www.knowledgesharing_tools and methods_toolkit -
Round Robin.html
_________(n.d).
Suspenseful Round Robin Writing.
(2011, January Saturday). Retrieved from
www.owlteacher.com/support-files/suspensearound.pdf
Ddeubel. (2009, September Tuesday). Teaching
Writing – Activities and Ideas. Retrieved from EFL 2.0 Teacher Talk:
ddeubel.edublogs.org/2009/09/22/teaching-writing-activities-and-ideas/
Fisk, J. (n.d.). How to Start ROund Robin Writing.
Retrieved from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/how_10009058_start-round-robin-writing.html
Martin, D. (n.d.). How to be an Effective EFL
Teacher. Retrieved from EFL Press: Learner and Teacher Friendly Materials
for Japan: http://www.google.com/eflpress/how_to_be_an_fffective_EFL_teacher.html
Pocupec, M. (2011, January). EFL: Cooperative
Learning . Retrieved from Proz.com Tanslation Article Knowledgebase:
http://www.proz.com/doc/3170
Štefanovičová, M. (2011). Teaching Writing in EFL
Classes and the Possible Use Of Dialogue Journal.
Underwood, J. (2013, October Sunday). Jane
Underwood: Daily Write “Round Robin” – Commitment, Community, Creativity.
Retrieved from The Writing Salon:
www.writingsalons.com/class-descriptions/roundrobin/
William, S. D. (2010). Writing: Sentences &
Paragraphs. Retrieved from Grammar Granny Writing Coach:
http://www.aterschooltreats.com/writing/round_robin_writing_as_a_team.html
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