Teaching writing to low proficiency

EFL students
Arthur Firkins, Gail Forey, and Sima Sengupta

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This article describes a genre-based literacy pedagogy which can be used with
English language learners. The pedagogy discussed involves a combination of two
explicit teaching methodologies, a genre-based and activity-based pedagogical
approach. The pedagogy was introduced in an English Club at a local Hong Kong
school, as part of a collaborative research project. In this article, we discuss the
approach used and present examples of the students’ work. The findings are
particularly suitable for educational contexts where the students are low
proficiency English as a foreign language (E F L) learners.

Introduction Teaching low proficiency EFL students to write whole texts is often
fraught with difficulties (Cumming 1989). The student writer has to create
a text that is both rhetorically and linguistically appropriate. Often, the
teaching of English to low proficiency E F L students tends to be taught in
a way that focuses on the sentence level and these learners often have
minimal, if any, awareness at the level of complete texts. In order to
provide students with the ability to recognize textual and linguistic
features that are used to construct and shape whole texts, there has been
a move towards explicit teaching of genres in many contexts. Australia has
led the way by introducing genre-based pedagogy in to the school
system and other teaching environments (Christie 1999; Macken-
Horarik 2001; Rothery 1996). Genre-based pedagogy views language as an
open dynamic system, and suggests that knowledge about language should
be taught in an explicit manner. Genres (types of texts) are seen as the
starting point for modelling, deconstructing, and understanding language
(Martin 1992). In this article, we briefly describe the theory of genre-based
pedagogy and show how it was used to inform a very practical activity-
based approach used as the basis of teaching plan for E F L students with
a learning disability.
The teaching plan was developed around the introduction of two specific
written genres—procedure and information report (see Macken-Horarik
op. cit.: 21–3). First, we outline the activity/genre-based approach that was
applied to the teaching of writing procedural texts. Then we evaluate the
approach and discuss how it was revised to provide students with the
essential linguistic tools to support their learning of information report
genres.

E LT Journal Volume 61/4 October 2007; doi:10.1093/elt/ccm052 341

ª The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
 The genre-based approach has been tried and tested in a number of different
contexts, including contexts where children were identified as being
disadvantaged. (See Christie 1999.) However, very few studies discuss the
practical details of how the model could be introduced by a teacher in a low
proficiency E F L context. In this article, we attempt to show that this
approach is rich enough to be modified to suit low proficiency EF L learners.

Students with The pedagogy described was introduced to students with learning
learning disabilities disabilities (LD). Learning disability can be seen as a problem which affects
(LD) most areas of literacy. Students with LD typically produce writing samples
that are shorter, less coherent, and less refined. They have difficulty

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organizing texts, generating ideas, and applying meta-cognitive skills
(McAlister et al. 1999).
These difficulties were experienced by the students in our study1 and were
identified by English teachers at the school in initial interviews. E F L
teachers frequently express similar concerns in relation to low proficiency
L2 students (Cumming 1989; Sasaki and Hirose 1996). Such difficulties
compel the teacher to find ways to reshape learning environments and
instructional strategies. This is a complex task for the English teacher given
the fundamental problems low proficiency students have due to a lack of
linguistic and rhetorical awareness.

The study The study took place in a secondary college, which specializes in the
education of students 11–18 years with LD. (For more details, see Firkins
2004.) The research team comprised two English teachers from the school
(one a native English speaker, who is a co-author of this article, the other
a Hong Kong, Chinese English teacher), a research associate (RA) and two
assistant professors from a nearby university (also co-authors).
Initial interviews were conducted with the principal, four English teachers
and a focus group of eight parents, and writing was identified as a particular
area of difficulty. The interviewees reported that students demonstrated
consistent difficulties with both the mechanics and organization of
writing. In addition, the interviewees reported that students obtained poorer
results on writing tasks than their peers from the wider community in Hong
Kong. Thus, the research team decided to focus on strategies that
would enhance the student’s English language writing.

Participants All students were in the normal range of intelligence and met the definition
of learning disability provided in D S M IV (American Psychiatric
Association 2000). Students were selected using the following criteria.
Firstly, all students were diagnosed by a professional (usually a psychologist
or paediatrician) as having a learning disability and were thus placed in
this special school. However, it should be noted, that we were not using
a deficit model of disability and limited information was available from the
school records about the exact nature of each student’s disability. Secondly,
all students demonstrated consistent low performance in English and
Chinese as judged by the class teacher. Thirdly, no participating students
had behaviour problems or an intellectual disability, i.e. students with
autism, dyslexia, and other intellectual disabilities were not included. Finally
all participating students volunteered to take part. Due to the limitation on

342 Arthur Firkins et al.

 the number of participating students, students were selected through file
reviews and teacher recommendations.
In total, thirty-two secondary students were selected from seventy students
who expressed an interest in taking part in the project. The students who
were not accepted were informed that they would have an opportunity to
participate at a later date. There were two groups of eleven students in the
first semester and one group of ten in the second semester. The students
and the parents were provided with information (in both English and
Chinese) about the project and the consent of the teachers, students, and the
parents of students involved were sought. Regular interviews with all

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parties, classroom observations, and close examination of documents such
as teaching materials and students’ work provide the data for this article.

The genre-based Following the decision to focus on strategies to enhance student writing, the
approach genre-based approach was selected as language was seen in context and was
presented to the learners as part of a complete text and not as unrelated
sentences. The approach offered a teaching methodology enabling teachers
to present explicit instruction in a highly systematic and logical manner,
which were factors we believed would assist students with the cognitive
organization of information.
A genre-based approach is based on a systemic functional theory of
language developed by Halliday (1978, 1994), and elaborated by Martin (op.
cit.), Christie (op. cit.) and Macken-Horarik (op. cit.) among others. This
model of teaching writing has been successful with students from
disadvantaged backgrounds (Christie ibid.; Macken-Horarik ibid.; Rothery
op. cit.). The approach is based on a teaching-learning cycle where strategies
such as modelling texts and joint construction are promoted. The approach
is based on ‘learning through guidance and interaction’ (Painter 1986, cited
in Macken-Horarik op. cit.:26). The learning-teaching cycle as shown in
Figure 1, involves three stages:
1 modelling a text,
2 joint construction of a text, and
3 independent construction of a text.
Teaching can start at any one of these stages, and whichever stage is
introduced first the teacher should offer maximum assistance to the
students. The aim is that there is a shift of responsibility from teacher
support to learners taking responsibility for their own learning. In our case
where students were learning a foreign language we tended to offer greater
support in the modelling of a text and joint construction. These two stages
were repeated a number of times using a range of texts and tasks
incorporating activities which modelled the target genre.

Contextual reshaping The genre-based approach aids the student’s organizational skills, and we
of the genre-based found it beneficial to combine this method with other explicit teaching
approach methodologies as part of an overall approach to writing instruction. To
augment this method we decided to utilize an activity-based approach where
language is developed by the students physically modelling the genres
through a range of different activities. The types of activities used involved:

Writing and low proficiency students 343

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figure 1 n developing contextual and metacognative awareness (schema building),
Teaching and learning i.e. drawing on the student’s existing background knowledge;
cycle (from Rothery n using authentic texts as a model, a number of which would be familiar to
1996: 102)
Pearson students in their daily lives (although perhaps familiar to them in their
Education Ltd.
first language);
Reproduced with
permission. n introducing and reiterating a metadiscourse i.e. providing students with
a language they could use to talk about language; and
n linking texts (intertextuality) by explicitly discussing similarities found in
a genre, e.g. the types of lexico-grammatical features which were
commonly found in procedural texts.
In our study, modelling involved students in role plays and physical
activities where the genre was produced in a physical environment. This was
relatively easy for procedural genres and again did not prove difficult for
information report genres. This complemented the focus of the Hong Kong
secondary curriculum, which promotes a task-based mastery of learning
(Hong Kong Department of Education 2002). We focused on the procedural
genre and planned activities that were linked around a particular topic,
Halloween. Halloween was familiar to the students and was topical for the
time of year. The topic was explored through a number of related activities,
each repeating the genre through a text and providing opportunities to
reiterate, develop, and practise vocabulary, metadiscoural and lexico-
grammatical features.

344 Arthur Firkins et al.

 In addition, we also kept the language of instruction tight and consistent,
utilizing an approach associated with direct instruction (Engelman and
Carnine 1982). The instruction involved a high degree of redundancy, we
repeated relevant vocabulary, reviewed generic structure of the text, and
reinforced lexico-grammatical patterns in each session. Macken-Horarik
argues that students frequently fail as ‘many students are thrown back onto
their own resources too early and thus fail to produce texts that are both
contextually adequate and educationally valued’ (op. cit.: 27). In addition to
reviewing and reinforcing another emphasis of instruction was on ‘doing’
i.e. understanding the texts within the context of the topic through
experiencing the language by physically being involved in activities. So the

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students, through the different learning experiences were ‘living the text’.
Twelve 35-minute sessions were held, concentrating on one activity per
session related to writing procedural texts. All sessions were logically linked
to previous sessions, providing a high level of reiteration to maximize the
students’ opportunities to practise particular skills. Links were provided
through the consistent use and reiteration of instructional and
metadiscoursal language. Macken-Horarik (op. cit.: 22) presents the generic
structure of procedural texts as {Goal ^ Step 1 –n ^ (results)}; results are an
optional element (indicated by use of brackets) and ‘^’ represents ‘followed
by’. In each lesson we modelled the genre and presented the stages of
a procedural text with reference to the ‘goal’, ‘steps’, and ‘materials’.
For example, in making a Halloween mask, the ‘goal’ was to make a mask to
wear to a Halloween party, the steps were the ‘steps’ involved and the
‘materials’ were the tools and resources needed to make the mask. These
terms became familiar to the students in both English and Cantonese. In the
task, the students were asked to identify and thus become familiar with the
usage and terms of some lexico-grammatical features, such as imperatives.
The students recognized that imperatives were a key feature in procedural
texts. As activities were presented in similar ways and there was a reiteration
of linguistic choices, students were also able to generalize from one activity
to the next.
The range of procedural texts used for the activities are illustrated in Figure 2.
The entry point into each teaching session was a particular activity, which
had at its core a procedural text. The instructional sequence utilized for each
activity is illustrated in Figure 3.

The learning- The learning-teaching cycle applied (see Figure 1) is outlined below with
teaching cycle reference to one instructional sequence.
n Modelling a text A model text was selected and an overall plan for the
activities was developed. The students engaged in the activity of
deconstructing and modelling the text to appreciate how the text achieved
its functions. We situated each activity by getting students to recognize
how the text functions in real life, i.e. the social purposes of the text were
related to the context. For example, using the procedural text of making
a mask, sessions one and two concentrated on making a Halloween mask,
i.e. the students participated in physically constructing a mask by
following the procedure, as shown in Figure 4. Students modelled the text

Writing and low proficiency students 345

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Arthur Firkins et al.

figure 2

figure 3

346
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figure 4
Students’ masks

by firstly discussing vocabulary, through the action of making the mask.

Thus, the students were able to understand how the procedural text
functions in context.
n Joint construction The students jointly constructed a procedural text and
revised vocabulary and language patterns. The teacher led discussions of
how the mask was made and remodelled the written procedural genre, by
asking students to recall and discuss each step. In doing this we developed
with the students a metalanguage to describe the process, familiarity with
intertextuality, and lexico-grammatical features of the genre. Both
modelling and joint construction were repeated before independent
construction was introduced.
n Independent construction On completion of several activities, we asked
students to independently construct a procedural written text attempting
to ensure that the three elements ‘goal’, ‘steps’ and, ‘materials’ are
understood. The students wrote their own instructions on how to make
a mask; an example of a student text is shown in Appendix 1.
In subsequent sessions, students focused on different activities such as
making Halloween decorations, planning a Halloween party, following
recipes for Halloween party food, making a drink and making directions for
the party, all tasks and activities again focusing on procedural genres. For
each activity the modelling and joint construction were repeated.

Revising the An evaluation of the first semester indicated that students were able to
approach understand and produce the key generic stages of procedural texts. We
continued with a genre approach in the second semester and this time
focused on the information report genre. Information report genres are key
educational genre across the curriculum (Macken-Horarik op. cit.). The
generic stages of an information report text are {General statement
Description of Aspects Description of Activities}, (Macken-Horarik ibid.:
21). Information report genres are found in a variety of texts across the
curriculum and are relevant for locating information on a topic. As a key part
of information report genres is description, activities related to vocabulary
building tasks were incorporated into the instruction. Figure 5 shows how
the first and second levels were modified.

Writing and low proficiency students 347

figure 5 When introducing the information report genre, we addressed the students’
The instructional difficulties identified in the first phase. In working with procedural texts we

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strategy found that although the students were able to grasp the generic structure of
the text and eventually produce a text following the generic pattern, they
were frustrated by the limitations posed by available vocabulary. In the
information report genre we built up vocabulary along side the activity
approach, using vocabulary cards containing words to describe particular
areas of description. Our topic centred on describing sensing, touching,
smelling and hearing.
The first part of instruction concentrated on building vocabulary, through
a direct manipulation of an object. For example, smelling involved students
smelling a range of real life examples and selecting vocabulary which
described the smell. Tasting involved the sampling of different foods,
touching involved the touching of a range of objects with different texture.
Directly after each session, students wrote a sentence to describe each
experience. In systematically addressing the area of vocabulary, we were able
to quickly move to joint and independent construction of a text.
These smaller activities were integrated into a larger information report
writing activity. An actual pizza was ordered so that the students could
utilize each of the senses, including the sound of people eating. For
example, students wrote a text to describe their favourite pizza, using both
the new vocabulary and generic structure of an information report. Thus the
activity-based genre approach was further enriched with explicit teaching of
vocabulary through the clustering of smaller concrete activities.

What did the There were a number of positive learning experiences noted in the study,
students learn? related to texts, genres, lexico-grammatical features, metadiscourse and the
overall enjoyment expressed in the learning experience. The activity-based
genre approach appears to have merit in explicitly providing students with
the cognitive awareness that language is part of a complete text that occurs
within an identifiable context. At a text level, students were able to move
beyond the sentence and understand that texts are related to real world
contexts. Students were able to identify and, discuss the generic stages of
both procedural {Goal Steps 1-n (results)} and information report texts
{General statement Description of Aspects Description of Activities} and
to construct these texts. These are key cognitive skills, which aid the
planning, and organization of a text, an identified difficulty experienced by
students with learning disability.
Furthermore, at the end of the twenty-four sessions students were able to
identify certain lexico-grammatical features and patterns within the two

348 Arthur Firkins et al.

figure 6 genres. For example, in deconstructing the procedural texts students
The macro sequence for discussed processes (e.g. ‘stir’, ‘pour’), temporal conjunctions (e.g. ‘first’,

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descriptive texts ‘then’), tense, modality (e.g. ‘should’, ‘could’) and the nouns required of each
text and the mood (imperative, declarative, and interrogative).

An evaluation of the We have demonstrated above how the genre approach was made applicable
approach for a group of E F L students with learning disability and we believe that such
an approach could be modified for other classes. However, in applying the
approach within any new context, there is a need to reshape it to the needs of
students and the educational situation. During the study, one limitation
identified was time. We found that the students needed more time to
practise language skills and establish vocabulary. Given more time and
more teaching sessions, we felt that the students would have further
developed the flexibility to independently construct a variety of procedural
and information report texts.
We endeavoured to combine the genre approach with other explicit
methodologies, in assisting students to organize their writing. We then
combined these basic principles with the current educational philosophy
within our context by planning an activity-based approach of ‘living’ and
creating the text rather that merely writing sentences. We found that
students engaged with each text in the context of the activity, making it
both motivating and relevant.
We also had to take into account our specific micro context. Although the
genre approach provides an explicit teaching methodology suitable for
students with LD or students with low English proficiency, we believe it is
more successful if it is supported by other methodologies. For students with
LD it needs to be paired with teaching methodologies utilized within special
education (Wheldall and Glynn 1989). Two key instructional strategies
typical of special education are, we believe, effective with students
struggling to write in L2:
1 modelling, demonstrating, prompting and praising, and
2 direct instructional language.
However, we realized that direct instructional approaches involve more than
the use of carefully structured and tightly sequenced teaching materials
presented in standardized formats (Wheldall and Glynn op. cit.: 143). There
also needs to be a continued emphasis on developing the sub-skills of
writing and the building of field knowledge and vocabulary, so the students
have the resources to construct and deconstruct the text. We had expected
that these building blocks would be naturally occurring as we went through

Writing and low proficiency students 349

 each activity as well as explained and discussed at each step. In retrospect,
we realized that the approach needed to be further enhanced with
focused work on building the schemata essential to ‘live’ the text type
in focus.
In addition, as it was possible to look at the approach in great detail with
a range of data available from classroom videos as well as all the work
produced by students, we realized that the use of ‘code-switching’ (the
teacher would switch to Cantonese to explain difficult terms and
instructions) was a particularly useful strategy to efficiently explain concepts
which students displayed difficulty in grasping (Celik 2003). On these

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occasions, students requested clarification by framing their questions in
Cantonese and directing them to the bi-lingual teacher, who responded in
both Chinese and English. Code-switching between English and Cantonese
was used in a positive manner to reinforce the instructions for activities and
to bridge difficult concepts. This method of bridging concepts through code-
switching was used as a resource throughout the project.
Finally and most importantly, the approach was seen to be positive by all the
English teachers and has been included as part of the writing programme in
the general English curriculum, making it possible to develop the above
ideas and results.

Conclusion This article has described an activity-based genre approach to teaching

writing to students with learning disabilities, an approach we found to be
suitable to deal with low English proficiency that is typically found in this
population. The genre approach, paired with a sequenced and well-
structured teaching methodology, within a motivating theme of activities,
can be an effective way to teach writing to students. The approach clearly
assists students to organize their writing and understand the nature of a text
within an activity based context. Texts were seen in context and were
deconstructed and reconstructed using concrete examples.
Teaching low proficiency as well as LD students to write by developing
rhetorical awareness will remain a significant challenge within E S L and E F L
contexts. We need to build what could be described as ‘hybrid pedagogies’,
drawing from the relevant research in both English language teaching
and special education and marrying approaches together to provide
teachers with a battery of strategies to utilize in the classroom. In this
article we demonstrate how we combined, modified, and applied a positive
learning environment for students who are generally stereotyped as
underachievers. We hope teachers who read this article will be
encouraged to do the same.
Final revised version received April 2005

Note
1 This project was funded by a Departmental
Research Grant (G-T800) from the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University.
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The authors
Arthur Firkins is a research associate at the Centre for
Language in Social Life, Macquarie University-
Sydney and an English teacher at T W GH Mr and
Mrs Kwong Sik Kwan College, Hong Kong.
Email: afirkins@yahoo.com
Gail Forey is an assistant professor in the
Department of English at the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. Her research interests are
critical discourse analysis, English for specific
purposes, and systemic functional linguistics. She
has taught and researched in England, Australia,
Japan, and Hong Kong.
Email: eggail@polyu.edu.hk
Sima Sengupta has a background in teaching
English for academic and specific purposes,
media English, research methods and research
writing. Her recent research and publications
focus on literacy development across a broad
spectrum with special reference to advanced
academic literacy and the pedagogy of
rhetorical consciousness.
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Arthur Firkins et al.

Student worksheet
Appendix 1.

352