Using "Big Writing" Strategy for Developing Writing Ability: A Study

Abstract

Writing in English effectively has become mandatory for academic success at secondary and tertiary levels. Student are assessed, evaluated and graded only by their written work, which signifies the importance of writing skills. Developing writing skills is invariably one of the responsibilities of teachers of English. Hence, it is the need of the hour for teachers of English to find out various strategies to improve the writing skills of students. 'Big Writing' is a strategy used by many primary schools in the UK to develop the writing skills of primary students. Having identified the challenges faced by high school students during writing tasks, the researchers used the 'Big Writing' strategy as an experimental method to explore its significance in developing the writing skills of high school students. The participants were 14-year old high school students, who were at an intermediate level of language proficiency. They took a pre-test on a paragraph writing task before the 'Big Writing' strategy was used and a post-test after taking 'Big Writing' classes. The results indicated a significant difference in their writing ability.