The teaching and learning of writing skills at an independent school in Malta

Abstract

This study sought to discover the beliefs and practices with respects to the teaching and learning of writing skills at an independent school in Malta. The responses of three groups of stakeholders namely, teachers, students, and parents were examined. The study used a mixed methods approach incorporating classroom observation, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires, the responses from which created a picture of the beliefs and practices of the three groups of stakeholders. On the basis of a review of existing literature a variety of issues related to the teaching and learning of writing - including process, product, and genre approaches, pre-writing activities, communication, collaborative writing, the connection between reading and writing, the teacher’s influence, assessment, and feedback - were explored in this research project. The main findings appeared to be the lack of time that teachers felt could be dedicated to the teaching of writing and the belief in the importance of overt teaching of language skills as opposed to dedicating time to pre-writing activities. The findings also highlighted the participants’ beliefs and practices with respect to collaborative writing and feedback as well as the connection between reading and writing.