Analysis of the tasks for the development of writing skills in workbooks for teaching English as a foreign language to the fourth and fifth graders

Poučevanje angleščine kot tujega jezika poteka celostno in z namenom razvijanja sporazumevalne zmožnosti. Ena izmed štirih sporazumevalnih dejavnosti je pisanje, pri katerem gre za zahteven proces, sploh če gre za pisanje v tujem jeziku, ko še ni popolnoma usvojeno niti v maternem jeziku. Zaradi globalizacije in hitrega tehnološkega napredka je danes potreba po pisnem sporočanju in sporazumevanju vedno večja, spreminja pa se tudi način komuniciranja, in sicer stremimo k temu, da bi čim hitreje na kratko zapisali čim več. Pri poučevanju angleščine kot tujega jezika pri nas glede na pogostost uporabe prednjačita učbenik in delovni zvezek. V letnem poročilu o izvedbi nacionalnega preverjanja znanja iz angleščine za šolsko leto 2017/18 (2018) je pri rezultatih zabeleženo, da imajo učenci ob koncu 6. razreda težave pri reševanju nalog za preverjanje pisne zmožnosti. Nimajo težav pri priklicu besed zunaj sobesedila, ne znajo pa jih ustrezno in pravopisno pravilno uporabiti v sobesedilu. Večletni nizki rezultati so zaskrbljujoči in ker največ nalog za razvijanje pisnega sporočanja in sporazumevanja najdemo v delovnih zvezkih, smo analizirali naloge iz dvanajstih delovnih zvezkov, in sicer šestih za poučevanje angleščine v 4. in šestih za poučevanje v 5. razredu osnovne šole. Zanimala nas je zastopanost teh nalog v delovnih zvezkih v primerjavi z nalogami za razvijanje drugih sporazumevalnih dejavnosti in vidik miselnih procesov, ki jih te naloge spodbujajo (po Bloomovi taksonomiji). Slednje smo primerjali tudi glede na razred poučevanja. Rezultati so pokazali neenakomerno porazdelitev nalog glede na štiri sporazumevalne dejavnosti, in sicer je v vseh dvanajstih delovnih zvezkih več kot četrtina (pri nekaterih tudi več kot polovica) nalog namenjena razvijanju pisanja. Po Bloomovi taksonomiji prevladujejo naloge poznavanja, razumevanja in uporabe, zelo malo pa jih preverja analizo in sintezo ter nobena vrednotenje. Primerjava delovnih zvezkov za 4. in 5. razred je pokazala, da se tako v 4. kot v 5. razredu v delovnih zvezkih pojavlja največ nalog za preverjanje najnižje Bloomove stopnje, torej poznavanja, sledijo naloge razumevanja in uporabe, malo pa je nalog, ki preverjajo analizo in sintezo oziroma nič, ki bi preverjale analizo. Raziskava omogoča konkreten vpogled na vsebino izbranih delovnih zvezkov in ponuja učiteljem tujega jezika argumente za kritično vrednotenje učnih gradiv za pomoč pri poučevanju.Teaching English as a foreign language is a comprehensive process and its goal is to develop communicative competences. One of the four communicative skills is writing, which is a complex process, especially in a foreign language if one does not yet entirely master their mother tongue. Due to globalisation and rapid technological development, the need for written communication is increasingmoreover, the means of communication are changing as well—we are inclined to write in a short manner, quickly and as much as possible. The use of textbooks and workbooks prevails in Slovenia in teaching English as a foreign language. The results of the yearly report on the execution of the National Assessment of Knowledge of English for the year 2017/2018 (2018) show that the pupils finishing 6th grade face problems with exercises testing writing skills. They have no problems recalling words outside of context, but their use of words in a certain context is inappropriate and grammatically incorrect. What is more, the results were very low in several consecutive years. Since the majority of exercises for the development of written communication can be found in textbooks, we analysed exercises in 12 textbooks, 6 of which are used for teaching English in 4th grade and 6 for teaching English in 5th grade of primary school. We were interested in how common these exercises are in the workbooks compared to the exercises for the development of other communicate skills and the aspect of cognitive processes encouraged by these exercises (according to the Bloom\u27s taxonomy). The latter was compared regarding which grade the pupils were in as well. The results show that the distribution of the exercises in regard to the four communicative skills is unequalin all 12 workbooks, more than a quarter of the exercises (in some cases, more than a half) is dedicated to the development of writing skills. According to Bloom\u27s taxonomy, the exercises testing knowledge, comprehension and application are predominant whereas very few exercises test analysis and synthesissurprisingly, there are no exercises testing evaluation. We came to similar conclusions when comparing the exercises from the textbooks for 4th and 5th grade. Most of the exercises in the textbooks for both 4th and 5th grade are testing knowledge, comprehension and application, only a few test analysis and synthesis and not one exercise in any of the textbooks tests evaluation. The research ensures a concrete insight into the content of the chosen workbooks and provides teachers of foreign languages arguments for critical evaluation of teaching materials