The perception of vocabulary knowledge in writing
To what extent does the Grade 6 student's perceived range of vocabulary skills relate to their outcome in writing activities in English?
General topic of interest
Metacognition
The culture of feedback
Language acquisition
Confidence in writing
Assessment
Examples of activities in which our topics of interest can be evident.
Participants
We counted on the support and participation of Grade 6 learners from Campus SP.
Data collecting approach
A group of teachers created different writing prompts for students. Then, after students completed the writing prompt, they were surveyed about their perceptions and experience. Grade 6 learners completed the survey in two different groups and they were given 30-40 minutes to finish writing their texts and then answer the questions.
In order to provide students with opportunities to be creative and focus on their task, we let them choose to write their texts in ink or pencil.
Data collecting example
First, we checked whether the texts had been carefully written so that their data would be valid for our research.
Then, we compiled the data on a spreadsheet by including:
students' names
grade
number of words written
a column for each question
a column for their grade in writing skills in their last Report Card.
Data compilation on the spreadsheet
Emerging results
QUESTIONS 1 AND 2: Almost 90% of students enjoyed doing the task and were satisfied with their productions, which showed us that this group demonstrates confidence in writing.
QUESTION 3: Around 70% thought they were creative when writing the task. It reflects their wonderment and confidence when doing the writing activity.
QUESTION 4: The average grade students gave themselves was 7. We used question 4 to validate the previous ones. In around 80% of the cases, the grades students gave themselves match the grades they had in their last Report Card.
QUESTIONS 5 AND 6: Even though 70% of students said they were able to use all the words they wanted, the majority thinks that they still need a wider range of vocabulary to write even better.
Bar graph with data analysis and findings
Reflections
By carrying out this research, we were better able to reflect on the importance of students' perception of vocabulary, which provides us with the necessary tools to design more meaningful activities that will boost their creativity and confidence.
We had the opportunity to extend these thoughts to a recent meaningful experience students had that contributed to their Festival of Learning presentations and Website.
When leading this Meaningful Experience task, we were able to identify some key factors to consider when designing a writing activity:
providing learners with meaningful topics
promoting previous reading and discussion
delivering pre-teaching vocabulary activities
providing learners with opportunities to be creative
In Practice: Extension of our research in a meaningful experience presented in our Festival of Learning
Next steps
Working on the STAR Project expanded our horizons when it comes to reflecting on our practices, observing students' creativity, and analyzing students' outcomes as an opportunity to make improvements.
We intend to keep using the abilities we have developed when planning and designing our lessons.
