Does training in ‘formal grammar’ improve a child’s ability to write? At onepoint of time it was assumed that the answer was a yes, so children were taught grammatical analysis as a part of the effort to improve their writing. However, when educational researchers sought evidence for the expected effects, the results were negative.

Whether you’re teaching elementary students or adults who learn English as a second language, grammar instruction can be difficult and boring. Finding creative ways to introduce the subject can seem like an impossible task

Good writing in one discipline need not be necessarily good writing in another. Indeed, effective writing for a specific task (e.g., a grant proposal) is not essentially effective for another specific task (e.g., a journal article or article in the popular press) or even within the same discipline.

Students may have reasonable, good writing skills, yet not be conversant with the writing conventions in your discipline. Moreover, even though students may have read papers or books exemplifying the writing style of your discipline, this does not guarantee that they can reproduce it in their own writing. Research has shown this phenomenon holds generally: it is easier to comprehend new information or a new style of presentation than to generate it.

Students may bring with them habits from other disciplines that are not appropriate in yours. For example, students familiar with expressive styles of writing (from English or creative writing) may bring these habits into scientific or engineering contexts where writing concisely is more appropriate. A subtler example arises in a discipline such as anthropology where many pieces of writing do not follow the argument/evidence format used in history writing or the persuasive style of a political piece of writing, but rather a description/interpretation framework.

While international students often encounter linguistic and cultural difficulties with written assignments, there are problems that can affect local students from different cultural and educational backgrounds as well. Fortunately, many of the strategies instructors use, to address these issues are valuable for both categories of students.

Students may not have the necessary English language skills to cope with writing assignments. They may have difficulty in understanding or keeping up with the reading skill, on which written assignments are based. They may also precisely have trouble with grammar, syntax, spelling, and vocabulary.

Even students who possess the necessary language skills may be unfamiliar with the kinds of writing assignments they are asked to do in college classes. In many international high schools, students are asked to write papers emphasizing personal expression: to state and defend an opinion or engage in creative problem-solving for which there is no right/wrong answer.

Writing is a complex task involving many component skills, some of which students may lack completely; some of which they may have partially mastered. These skills involve, among the other things,

• Reading comprehension
• Analytical skills
• Writing skills, including:
  • Writing mechanics: grammar, sentence structure, spelling, etc.
  • planning a writing strategy
  • communicating ideas clearly and concisely
  • constructing a reasoned, demonstrable argument
  • effectively marshalling evidence and using sources appropriately
  • organizing ideas effectively

When students lack skills in these areas, their writing may be unsatisfactory in multiple ways—from poor grammar and syntax to unclear organization and weak reasoning of arguments. Complicating matter is that the students often lack the meta-cognitive skills to recognize the areas in which their previous knowledge and skills are insufficient—and thus these are the skills to be improved upon.

Moreover, students may have learned bad habits in high school that they need to un-learn. For example, some students were taught in high school to avoid the first person in formal writing, and thus may use awkward grammatical constructions to avoid it.

E-Kids has introduced innovative E-Activity Based Learning to overcome children’s fear and hatred towards grammar, with the unique product called WRITTEN E-KIDS ENGLISH. With a multitude of ideas whichwe implement in your teaching, it makes your lessons fun and memorable.

The program centredaround a craft-based approach, to creative writing, uses a combination of traditional studio workshops, lectures, seminars, and literary study to help students acquire the tools of good writing, and it allows them to develop their individual voices within the long conversation that is the literary tradition. E-Kids International provides lots of innovative ideas to children to bring the best outcome.

• Proven E-Kids Skill Development Method
• Innovative & Fun filled
• Being implemented in more than 100 schools in India & Abroad as a regular curriculum
• Computer based E-Activity Based Learning (EABL)
• Comprehensive Testing Methodology
• Learn & Practice Grammar in a Fun filled way
• Learn, Understand & Practice Idioms
• Individual Poem Writing Skill
• Individual Story Writing Skill
• Individual Comic Writing Skill
• Individual Letter / Email Writing Skill
• Individual Essay & News Writing Skill
• Individual Story Board with dialog scripting Writing Skill
• Consistency & Result oriented