A comparative and exploratory study of teaching strategies in writing classrooms between Malaysian and the UK primary schools

Abstract

In view of the Malaysian aspiration to look for international best practices in English Language Education, this thesis is framed by the Malaysian governmental intention to shift the teaching and learning of writing from a local to a global pedagogy. This study presents an exploration of how writing is taught in two national contexts - England and Malaysia - with a particular focus on teachers’ pedagogical approaches to the teaching of writing. These strategies were explored and compared using a multimodal theoretical framework. This project draws on case studies of writing classrooms in Malaysia and England, where a range of qualitative data was synthesised to present a multifaceted analysis of pedagogy. The case studies were represented through participation of 4 teachers from one school in England and 6 teachers across 2 schools in Malaysia, all of whom were teaching children aged between 5 and 9 years old. Data in the form of curriculum materials, classroom observations, and interviews with teachers were collected, in order to investigate the modes, media and semiotic resources they utilised to allow children to design texts. Thematic coding was used to look across the data sets to create individual case studies, which were then compared to reveal patterns of similarity and difference. The analysis demonstrates similar linguistic emphases in both contexts through the learning of phonics, vocabulary, grammar, and genre, but different approaches particularly with regards to ‘talk and write’ (England) and ‘copy and correction’ (Malaysia). It signals the importance of a shift from linguistic writing to multimodal composition; and suggests that there is a need for a change in the Malaysian strategies to teaching writing from word to sentence to whole-text level writing. The findings also highlight the need to include ESL writers’ voices in the development of a multimodal theoretical framework which might support writing pedagogy in ESL contexts. In addition, the study also revealed the Malaysian MoE approach to literacy which focuses on proficiency and mastery of listening, speaking, reading, and writing through strict completion of the curriculum content in modules, work on textbooks and workbooks thus limiting teachers’ ability to plan approaches to teaching writing that enable children to design whole texts.