문법중심 문장쓰기 학습지를 활용한 쓰기 학습이 중학생의 쓰기 능력에 미치는 영향

Abstract

This study was designed to reveal the importance of teaching writing and to examine the effect of writing instruction using grammar-based sentence writing worksheets on writing ability and interest of middle school students compared with teaching in the normal way using English text books and the current curriculum. The participants in this study were one hundred forty middle school students in the first grade in Busan. They were divided into one experimental group and one control group, and each group was further divided into high proficiency and low proficiency group based on their writing test scores. While the control group was instructed according to the curriculums of the textbook, the experimental group took writing instruction using grammar-based sentence writing worksheets once a week for about ten weeks. The following research questions guided the current study. First, does writing instruction using grammar-based sentence writing worksheets have an effect on middle school students' writing ability? Second, is there any difference in the effects of writing instruction using grammar-based sentence writing worksheets on students according to their proficiency? Third, does writing instruction using grammar-based sentence writing worksheets have an effect on students' interest and attitudes? In order to answer these research questions, all of the groups were asked to take a pretest, an immediate post test, and a delayed post test. Also, they were asked to take pre and post questionnaires on students' interest and attitudes toward writing. The findings were as follows: First, the result of the statistical analyses showed that the treatment had positive influence on students' writing ability. Not only the experimental group but also the control group significantly improved in the immediate post-test. The reason is that both group learned the target language items after pre-test. However, the score of the experimental group is higher than that of the control group in the delayed post-test as well as the immediate post-test. The result proved that the treatment worked effectively on students' writing. Second, the effect of writing instruction using the worksheets on high proficiency group and low proficiency group did not differ. That is, both high group and low group improved in their post-test scores. Third, according to the result of pre and post-test questionnaires, the survey results showed that a lot of students feel difficulty in writing and students' self-confidence decreased as time passed. The reason is that sentences get more difficult and more complex as the curriculum processed. However, the result of the post questionnaire showed that students thought writing instruction was very useful and the instruction influenced them positively. These results suggest that writing instruction using grammar-based sentence writing worksheets can be effectively employed in Korean EFL classes. Learning and practicing sentence structure in their writing may be helpful especially for middle school students to improve their writing.