Pedagogy: Secondary Schools

Starting with Self-Awareness: Basic Experiences in Foreign Language Writing

Salem High School, Salem NH

The importance of self-awareness combines with the need to communicate thoughts and feelings when acquiring a foreign language. The very experience of taking «first steps» in another language makes turning inward and releasing feelings necessary, but how can that expression take place? Fearful of mistakes and limited by class size and time, the student can not always speak. If a teacher encourages writing for expression early in a course, the learner can write what he/she thinks and feels and simultaneously reinforce the basics. The student «talks» to himself, through writing. He/she links needs to knowledge, language to feelings, and strengths to a new experience.

Any new experience requires drawing on internal strengths in order to take risks without being overwhelmed. Delving into the realm of a new language, full of sounds, spellings, patterns, and vocabulary never known before, encourages the student to examine needs, attitudes, and sentiments in very basic ways. Depth of expression comes much later, as does «word-perfect» copy for editing. Early language learning combines the strong need to communicate with the acquisition of new skills.

To diagram the natural communicative needs of a learner beginning the study of a second (or a third) language, imagine a circle labeled «I» in the center of a piece of paper. Place a series of concentric circles around «I» marked with the categories «family», «friends», «classroom», «daily activities», «physical needs», «fears and hopes», «interests», and «experiences». These circles increase in number as the inner circle grows stronger and more secure. If we acknowledge the learner as the center of his universe, one aspect of a process approach to writing stands out: audience (Fulwiler, Chap. 4). The most successful language learning acknowledges the insecurities of the pupil, gives definite tools as a means of expression, and encourages students to expand their expression. Topics introduced in the classroom liberate rather than limit by adding possibilities and generating new ideas through writing.

Mi coche no es BMW (My car is not a BMW), wrote Marc. The oral story of his flat tire that morning, making him late for the in-class writing session, made the teacher say, «You could write about that! Your car trouble is really on your mind right now». His preoccupation generated a new topic, another circle of experience.

Consider the power of the writer as his own audience (Fulwiler, p. 68). Besides reinforcing foreign language learning, the writer can read his own work with pride, realizing the amount that he has learned. Name, physical description, age, family, residence, and interests demand vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. When a writer chooses yo, a seemingly simple theme for the second year of a high School language class, the result is «curriculum compacting». A teacher can make students aware of their progress. It is important to point out to students what they have accomplished, not just to zero in on errors.

Student autobiographies are simple and fun. They appeal to a student «audience» of readers, fulfill the need to «start with self», and expand circles that introduce topics. A sensitive instructor will make easily available vocabulary for the

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blended family (stepbrother, divorced) and allow for omission of details that the writer does not wish to shape. Including a poster board with captioned photos adds to comprehension, attracting attention to the writer and his writing. Small group orals based on the autobiographies grow as a natural source of feedback for the efforts of the writer. Common interests overlap between writer and reader, encouragement occurs, and the «audience» widens as a feeling of community builds. Formal questions posed by the audience provide interaction and serve as a resource for feedback to improve writing (Fulwiler, pp. 66, 67).

Expanding from the idea of the student as his own audience to writing for other audiences adds dimension to writing. Producing résumés is an excellent way for advanced students to write about themselves and their interests, later learning to revise, upgrade, and provide different emphasis. The résumé provides a great introduction for students to think of themselves as entities with skills and ambitions. The résumés bring out a need to revise as the situation warrants, not simply for form, but for communication.

When writing to learn (Fulwiler, p. 68), the student interacts first with himself, taming the new ideas in any text, and making them his own. Since writing in the margins of school district textbooks is not allowed, a student notebook serves as a substitute. Notebooks can take the shape of reactions and vocabulary notes. Page numbers are listed as references or sheets are divided into two columns, one for questions and the other for answers determined from discussions. «Post-ette» notes allow for temporary marking of textbooks so that ideas are not lost. The audience here is the students. They make the reading selections their own through active reading, taking note of their questions and jotting down personal comments as they go. This technique provides a quick review of the text later, capturing the thoughts of the moment.

Encouraging students in each stage of their efforts makes them feel comfortable in taking risks with their writing. The risks need to be rewarded. Students can receive points on graded writing for including new vocabulary, writing in more than one tense, or upgrading their vocabulary. The teacher must guide the students, often showing how writing can be changed and «upgraded» to a more advanced level. Delineating sub-topics in an assigned autobiography for Spanish III can imply risk taking. «Mi nacimiento», «Mi familia», «Un evento importante», and «Mi mejor amigo» provide the framework for expansion. A teacher may limit, for example, the frequency use of ser and estar to encourage the use of action verbs.

«We live in a society that teaches us to see our failures, our shortcomings», wrote Donna Qualley, a University of New Hampshire Write Connection instructor. «I tend not to remember my successes», a teacher enrolled in the writing course had expressed. The later is even more evident to the less experienced student. Do not stop the flow of writing with corrections, but rather save them for later editing. Correcting all mistakes before «listening» for content puts the thought process out of order, inhibits the writer, and places too much of a burden on the teacher. Fulwiler makes a good point concerning student anxiety as to how their work will be read and graded: «...anxiety increases as sincerity decreases» (p. 49). «This is literature!» beamed Darren as he worked on his one-page rendition of El cumpleaños de Darren. He wrote of bring born on Thanksgiving Day, «un regalo para mi mamá», and celebrating the holiday and his birthday this year. He laughed as he read, but he read with pride. An immediate focus on errors would have cut into that pride.

Grammar or formal introduction of material in the target language is not eliminated. All of Spanish is new to most of our students, and they need the artificial reality of the classroom for a gently guided approach to learning another language. The idea is to gain from them as much of a commitment to learning as the teacher has to teaching. Reading his writing entitled El fin de semana, Allan self-corrected, suddenly noticing his own error. «Oh, I see. Wait a minute. This trabajo should be trabajé. I see now why we learned this preterit stuff». Just enough time had elapsed between the first draft, the grammar explanation, and the rewrite for all of it to come together in his mind.

Since rapport increases with understanding,

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writing for the teacher as an audience promotes that understanding and mutual support. It encourages teachers to listen to the student «voice» in the paper as they read, listening for content first, dealing with form later. Each piece of writing reveals more about character, personality, learning, style, and imagination. When a teacher sits down to write at the same time as the students and then shares his/her writing (Atwell, Qualley), the understanding and rapport become mutual. «I didn't know you grew up in Detroit... lived in Mexico during the Olympic games... could talk about cars» the students said. Students are surprised that their teacher can feel rushed, or have trouble organizing a paper.

Ultimately writing improves with practice. Directed writing and lots of free writing can influence student confidence and prepare students to compose during the essay portion of the Advanced Placement Spanish Language Examination. These are our students who exist, think, and feel. And they write. They start with themselves and they express themselves. And as they write more, they get better at writing.

Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/ Cook Publishers, 1987.

Fulwiler, Toby. Teaching with Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 1987.

Hispania [Publicaciones periódicas]. Volume 75, Number 2, May 1992