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I teach English in grades 5 to 9 (11-16-year-olds) in a specialized secondary school located in Mingbulak, Namangan.

There are on average 12 students in my classes. They pass a special exam to attend the school and have a profound learning of Math, English and Science. They are very active, curious and do their best to complete the tasks they are given.

My classroom is equipped with an interactive board and internet connection, so there are plenty of opportunities to make the lessons fun and engaging.

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I’m teaching two groups of 6th graders this year , and we’re using the Prepare series — the coursebook adopted by our education system. Their level is strong elementary, and each unit includes reading, grammar, vocabulary, listening, speaking, and writing tasks.

My students handle most of the activities really well, but writing is where we hit a wall. They often struggle with sentence structure and grammar. For example, they sometimes forget to add -s/-es for the third person singular or use words incorrectly because they translate directly from their mother tongue.

Since writing is an important part of their future exams, I really wanted to help them feel more confident in this skill.

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1. What do I know about teaching writing to teenage students? (When I say "writing", I mean writing a short paragraph)

2. What do my students think about the writing activities I use in the classroom?

3. What do my colleagues think about the writing activities I use in the classroom?

4. How do my students engage with writing activities in the classroom?

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4.Data Collection Tools for Exploratory Phase

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4.Data Collection Tools for Exploratory Phase

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I decided to use the following tools:

1. Other people's written ideas on the topic

2. Reflective writing by students

3. A critical friend's notes

4. My students' written work

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Other people's written ideas:

1. "How to Teach English" by Jeremy Harmer, page 112.

2. "5 things I wish I’d known about teaching teens writing" blog post article by Angela Piedrola Ortiz at www.cambridge.org.

3. "The TKT Course. Modules 1, 2, 3" by Mary Spratt, Alan Pulverness and Melanie Williams, page 37.

My findings: Writing a paragraph is a process which involves planning what we are going to write, drafting, reviewing and editing what we have written and then producing a final (satisfactory) version.  Before I just used to follow the instructions from the Teacher’s Book.

Reflective writing by my students revealed:

Students struggle most with grammar errors and choosing the right words.

Students often report improvement after rewriting, especially noticing spelling or grammar mistakes.

Many students prefer interactive or creative writing (e.g., “writing games”, “projects”).

A ctirical friend's notes:

One colleague noted that I mainly relied on direct explanation, providing information explicitly rather than guiding students to discover rules independently.

My students' written work:

The majority of mistakes were in grammar, which means grammatical accuracy remains the main challenge for students.

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I decided that my action stage will include the following:

Change my approach to teaching writing by involving students in the stages of the writing process.

Introduce more game-like activities into my lessons, such as Dictogloss, Gallery Walk, or collaborative writing tasks.

Give regular feedback on students' writing.

Instead of simply correcting their work, I will involve them in noticing and discussing their errors with me and their peers (peer assessment). Students will rewrite after feedback.

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7. Data Collection Tools for the Action Stage

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7. Data Collection Tools for the Action Stage

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I used the same data collection tools for this stage:

A critical friend's notes

Students' reflections

Students' written work

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After implementing the changes that I planned I noticed considerable improvements in my students' writing. I conducted two writing lessons following planning, drafting, reviewing and editing stages. One of the lessons was observed by two fellow teachers. They gave positive feedback on the lesson overall.

Student reflections showed that most students enjoyed the lesson, found planning and peer assessment helpful, and reported that they noticed their mistakes after rewriting.

Analysis of students’ written work showed that the number of mistakes reduced noticeably.

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Although I have solid experience in teaching English to secondary school students, this EAR showed that there is still room for improvement. I was surprised that the problem I worked with was very common in my colleagues' classrooms as well. I also enriched my teaching tool box with a few effective writing activities and discovered that peer assessment makes the writing process engaging. So here are some important conclusions I made:

1. Teaching writing is not a one-time activity, it is a process and I should involve my students in every stage of the process, not just in producing a final text.

2. Instead of simply pointing out to mistakes I should guide them, that is help them notice their mistakes through questioning or encouraging them to analyze their own writing.

3. In order to help students to write successfully, I should make writing activities an essential part of my classes.