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IMPROVING READING AND WRITING ABILITIES
Sevil Gurban Aliyeva
PhD in Philology, associate professor Azerbaijan State Oil And Industry University
Baku, Azerbaijan
Abstract
The article deals with one of the main problems that teaching English as a second language has been facing during recent years. This article studies reading and writing abilities of students learning Academic English in Azerbaijan Universities. One of the main problems existing within academic reading and writing being lack of knowledge about the process has been investigated. As writing is an intricate and complex task; it is the most difficult of all the language abilities to acquire for second language learners. Skills and strategies for academic reading and writing, as well as common mistakes the teachers face while teaching have been analyzed. Since traditional methodologies do not help a lot, the teacher should create an interest in the minds of the learners and highly motivate them trying new mixed types of learning methods and strategies to achieve the desired results.
Keywords: academic reading, teaching writing, skills, reading strategies, academic text, main ideas.
Introduction: Because of the business-environment revolution and ongoing advances in technology English is used by most universities as the main language to educate the students all over the world. As English plays an important role in education, students are expected to use it effectively for academic purposes. While teaching English writing to our learners, foreign language teachers face many challenges. Many students are able to understand the language while reading, but most of them face the problem of writing their ideas effectively. The main problem can be the lack of adequate vocabulary, not having enough knowledge about academic writing process, and creativity in writing. However, if students could be able to gain the outcomes set by the discipline they benefit a lot from the innovative teaching techniques adopted by the teachers they would achieve high results in learning academic writing.
Results. Because of being interconnected process, we need to teach academic reading and writing together. In case students can set clear ideas using the knowledge gained from reading part, their writing is likely become more unity and coherent. Investigating the process of learning reading and writing in the English language, it should be mentioned that teaching academic reading and writing together we may achieve more success than to do it separately. It is better to compare the students' learning reading and writing in the second language with the same process in their mother
tongue. This process may help teachers to find out their students' weak points easily.
Students do not write very often in the second language. Encouraging student participation in writing exercises, at the same time expanding writing skills, requires a certain pragmatic approach. The teacher should be clear on what skills he/she is trying to develop. Next, the teacher needs to decide on which means or type of exercise can facilitate learning of the target area. Once the target skill areas and means of implementation are defined, the teacher can then proceed to focus on what topic can be employed to ensure student participation. By pragmatically combining these objectives, the teacher can expect both enthusiasm and effective learning.
Therefore, teachers are aware the fact that individual differences may affect the student's learning of academic reading and writing in English. It should be taken into consideration that students within a certain class may have varying linguistic skills and vocabulary knowledge. Having little or extensive experience with academic language also plays a great role for learners at this stage. Here, their knowledge of academic writing in their first language can have impact on their learning of academic writing in English. In addition, students may have different cultural expectations and attitudes toward reading and writing varying from culture to culture influenced by their families or society. In the learning process of reading and writing and using various
strategies to approach the reading task, motivation plays an essential role. All the above mentioned factors greatly influence students' approach reading and writing and instructors need to concentrate on them in the class while they teach.
Another important information that teachers need to gather from students is their reading strategies. Most readers are aware of their own reading strategies. So, they can adjust them when they come across any difficulties when reading a text, because academic reading differs from other kinds of reading. Knowing their reading strategies can provide enormous benefits and help students read academic texts successfully. In order to be able to develop academic readers we can directly teach effective reading strategies and make discussion about how successful readers achieve their goals. It can serve as modeling tools. Second, the students need to understand the strategies they already use. Students could read a short passage, keep it in their thoughts as they read, and answer the questions about the read topic.
The reading skill tasks are designed to develop strategies before reading, while reading, and after reading. The pre-reading tasks such as skimming for main ideas, teach students strategies they can employ to facilitate their first reading of the text. Some pre-reading activities introduce students to new vocabulary; some teach students to get an overall idea of the content by surveying the text for headings, graphic material, and others have students recall their prior knowledge of the topic and their personal experiences to help them assimilate the material that they are about to encounter in the reading.
Besides pre-reading tasks that included for each text, teachers should supplement these tasks with additional pre-reading activities. In this case, students will become exposed to more pre-reading strategies. After having practiced the skill of examining graphic material, previewing headings, and skimming for main ideas, students should ideally carry out these operations every time they approach a new reading.
The second important step being while reading is providing structure during the reading process to ensure that students read for the right purposes. Students can have different purposes in their reading; including obtaining information: facts, data, etc.; understanding ideas or theories; discovering authors' viewpoints; and seeking evidence for their own point of view all of which may be needed for writing their essays. A common way to help students focus on a text's purpose is to create a graphic organizer. In teaching process, graphic organizers are used to help students make sense of the texts they read, keep them engaged in reading, and help them remember what they read. They can also help students understand the text and develop original opinions about an idea or ideas in the text. To support students' reading of source-based texts, instructors adapt this organizer to help them in examining short texts or evaluating longer texts that include many sources, such as research reports or academic essays. The main point is that students learn to read for a purpose by learning new information, determining the author's viewpoint, and processing new ideas.
Post-reading tasks, such as identifying main ideas and reading critically give students the tool to gain the deepest understanding of the text.
At the end of each chapter, after reading exercises, students are taught about aspects of academic writing and given writing assignments. Step-by step scaffolding is provided to ensure that students draw on the content, skills, and language they studied in the unit; and can successfully complete the writing assignments.
There are two types of writing skills used in teaching second language academic writing. One may be described as reading for writing skills. Here, students are asked to notice features of the text that they have been learning in order to gain insight into how writers construct their texts. The other is writing development skills which instruct students how to write academic texts, how to support main ideas, and how to avoid plagiarism.
Writing is the most difficult language skill for our English language learners to master. The English language learners face several challenges in learning to write in English. It is obvious that students' first language affects learning writing in the target language. For this reason, students make certain mistakes and repeat them. Here are some of the common mistakes the teachers face while teaching writing:
a) Run on sentences: Run on sentences are accepted in several languages. They write endless sentences with no punctuation marks, and that is not accepted when writing academic English.
b) mother tongue: When the students translate from Azeri into English they sometimes use words causing misunderstanding and confusion.
c) Punctuation: Several English language learners with Azeri background have challenges with punctuation since our language has few limitations in the use of commas and periods than English. Because of the lack of knowledge where to use, the semi-colon, and the exclamation marks are not very commonly used in students' writings.
d) Writing Organization: The circular structure in the English essay with the topic sentence of the same idea in the conclusion is foreign to Azeri essay. So, academic writing seems to be the most challenging skill in learning English.
Students' weak qualification in English is related to the lack of motivation. Many learners use their mother tongue because of the isolated culture. Yet, methods of teaching English included the medium of instructions, using the first language in English classes, writing done in mother tongue, and lack of writing practice in educational institutions cause writing problems. More important, English language learners have limited vocabulary. Therefore, students end up repeating the same words. As a result, English language learners don't use invented spelling and their written texts are restricted to words which they know.
By choosing a topic that involves the students, the teacher is providing a context within which effective learning on the target area can be undertaken.
One way to teach students academic writing is to provide both effective and ineffective models of academic texts. Model academic texts can give students a
better understanding of a text's main elements and purpose. For instance, if students are learning to write an essay, they can examine model essays and learn their structure by evaluating the purpose of the text and intended audience, analyzing its construction and language use, and discussing how the text is related to other academic texts. Students can also examine how grammar, vocabulary, and language are used in the text. By providing and examining model texts, academic texts become salient to students and help them learn how to construct their own texts.
Conclusion. There are two main goals of academic reading and writing books. The first is to give students the skills and confidence to approach an academic text, to read it efficiently and critically, and take notes to extract main ideas and key details. The second is to enable students to display the knowledge that has been gained from reading in a writing assignment. Since instructors emphasize communication skills that encouraged students to share ideas and opinions; at the end of the course, the students will be able to communicate clearly and correctly using mechanism of writing as a result of reviewing written, spoken, visual media appropriate to the activity and students' needs. The teachers should emphasize group effectiveness skills
using technology, to teach students to demonstrate interpersonal skills by writing effectively, and supporting rapport between students.
REFERENCES:
1. Reading and Writing Academic Texts. English for Academic Purposes. Chapter 4.
2. Dana Adas, Ayda Bakir. Writing Difficulties and New Solutions: Blended Learning as an Approach to Improve Writing Abilities. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 9; May 2013, pp.254-266
3. English for Academic Purposes A Guide and Resource Book for Teachers, pp. 143 - 148
4. Academic Writing Guide Part 1// Academic writing, UTS Library, February 2013, University of Technology, Sydney
5. Alister Cumming. Learning to Write in a Second Language: Two Decades of Research //International Journal of English Studies. Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia. vol. 1 (2), 2001. 1-23 pp
6. Miroslawa Mohite. (2014). An Investigation into the English Language Writing Strategies. used by Polish EFL Secondary School Learners. Degree programme: MA TESOL & Applied Linguistics. London Metropolitan University. - 114 pp.
STUDYING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUTUBE AS A LEARNING TOOL AMONG HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KAZAKHSTAN
Zheniskhankyzy A.,
Master student of Kazakh-American Free University, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan Gersonskaya V. Scientific supervisor Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan
Abstract
YouTube is not just a platform where individuals share, upload and comment on videos. This study is designed to study how active and influential YouTube can be in the educational process and how it is beneficial for language teachers to improve students' skills. The study shows various theoretical framework conditions that address the use of technology to improve the learning / teaching process. It draws on the strategies of Berk (2009) for the use of multimedia media, especially video clips, to develop the skills of teachers for the use of technology in classrooms. To achieve the goal of the study, the researchers are developing a questionnaire and applying it to students in the fourth year of Baghdad University to provide evidence and demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology in the academic field. The paper examines classes in which computers can be used, and also reveals the challenges that teachers and educators face in relation to this application. The researchers conclude that YouTube is an essential tool in classrooms, as it attracts the attention of students and develops their mentality and creativity. It also helps to comprehensively cover the materials, especially the language. YouTube brings the fun element into the classroom, which thus corresponds to the interests of the students. Such findings have a significant impact on the learning process, as students find the educational environment more encouraging and exciting. In addition, you will find that the presented material is worth studying, and in this way you would appreciate the efforts to explain the information. The research is intended to be of value for teachers for the use of technology and for students to better understand the materials presented.
Keywords: E-learning, social media, YouTube, questionnaire, flipped classroom, EFL students.
Introduction
Burgess and Green (2009, p.1) state that "YouTube is a video repository founded in February 2005 by three former employees of the e-commerce
company PayPal, where users can upload, publish and watch videos via streaming." (Portugal, Arruda & Meneghello, 2018). Users can download, view and share video clips to a variety of content. Such content
