Role of Model Essays in Developing Students Writing Skills in Malaysian Schools: A Review of Literature

Abstract

This study explored teachers’ beliefs and their experiences about language writing teaching in the context of Malaysian schools. More specifically, the paper discuses different perspectives that how model essay as a technique can be used to develop students’ writing skills effectively. Studies reveal that students in Malaysian classrooms have poor writing skills. The problem is that teaching of writing has been largely based on productive method which produces negative results for the Malaysian graduates. In recent times, a paradigm shift has occurred in language teaching and learning and teachers are turning towards process techniques for teaching writing skills. Despite this new motivation, research shows that teachers in Malaysian school resort to the traditional product approach. The main aim of this paper is to investigate into this phenomena that why teachers still follow the product approach for writing instruction. To investigate into this problem, the paper used systematic review of literature as a technique. The findings revealed that teachers in Malaysian schools use the product method. The research discovered several reasons behind this practice: more number of classes, motivation to cover the syllabus on time and teachers find it easier to provide feedback to students as it saves their time. On the basis of this review, the paper recommends that for effective writing, teachers must provide students with new strategies such as creative writing, self-evaluation and critical analysis practices. To achieve this goal, the use paper recommends the use of model essays as starting point to learn how to write.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s1p56