KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.

9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS THROUGH THE USE OF GUIDED WRITING

____________________________

A College Action Research

Which was presented to the school of
KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
_______________________________

In response

to the Requirements for the Degree

BACHELOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

MAJOR IN ENGLISH
_______________________________

By:

JOVELYN C. AMIGLEO
CHINEE B. ARCIDE
MICHEALA ROSHELL BOGNOS
MAY V. CENTINO
MELJUN ART B. TURQUEZA

November, 2024
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS OF THE GRADE 9-JOY STUDENTS THROUGH

THE USE OF GUIDED WRITING

I. Introduction

“Writing is more than putting spoken language into written form”. (Brookes and
Grundy 2000)

Writing is important because it’s used extensively in higher education and in the
workplace. If students don’t know how to express themselves in writing, they won’t be
able to communicate well with professors, employers, peers, or just about anyone else.
Much of professional communication is done in writing: proposals, memos, reports,
applications, preliminary interviews, e-mails, and more are part of the daily life of a
college student or successful graduate. (Walsh 2010)

According to Ilmiah et al. (2017) Writing ability is part of the language in writing to
convey/express ideas to readers. Writing means trying and producing or reproducing a
written message; it must also have something meaningful to convey. To make a
message that can be understood, the writer should apply several writing strategies.

Writing ability is a person’s ability to express ideas, thoughts, knowledge,

knowledge, and life experiences in a written language, which is easy to read understood
by others. (Marwoto (as cited in Mahmud, 2019)

Researcher Hartanti (2011) states that guided writing is useful for a range of
teaching purposes. It allows students to consider audience, purpose, topic, selection of
text type, when planning their writing. It allows writers to focus on conventions such as
spelling, punctuation, standard usage, and handwriting. It also may be used to
encourage students to revise and edit their writing. The focus for each session could be
on one of the 'authorial' aspects of writing, such as clarifying and extending ideas or
organizing and planning the structure of a text.
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

Dyan (2010) also states that guided writing is a writing process guided by the
teacher limited to structuring sentences, direct answers to questions and language-
based exercises which concentrated on vocabulary building, reading comprehension,
grammar, and even oral skills that culminates in a piece of writing to build students’
writing skill.

Therefore, to master writing skills, people often have to train themselves to write
as much as possible. To have good and successful writing, people have to practice
writing not only in school but also outside the classroom. Besides, writing is a view that
human communication works by transferring ideas, opinions, and feelings to other
parties through written language (Hyland, 2019).

Out of 25 Grade 9 – Joy students, 9 students had been identified by the teacher
as having difficulty with reading comprehension.

According to the National Commission on Writing, (2004). Writing skills are

considered to be critical for academic and professional success However, a large
number of students are not writing well. According to National Assessment of
Educational Progress (2002), 69% of 9th graders and 77% of 12th graders have only
basic writing skills. Moreover, 50% of college students cannot produce texts that are
relatively free of errors (ICAS, 2002). This unfortunate situation also permeates
government and industry sectors. State government employees are found to have weak
writing skills (NCW, 2004). Salaried employees in major US firms also lack writing skills
(NCW, 2004).
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9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

Table 1. Score of Grade 9 – Joy students on Pre test

Students Score Students Score

1 3 16 1
2 3 17 1
3 3 18 1
4 3 19 1
5 3 20 1
6 2 21 1
7 2 22 1
8 2 23 1
9 2 24 1
10 1 25 1
11 1 26 AB
12 1 27 AB

13 1 28 AB
14 1 29 AB
15 1 30 AB
AB- Absent

On August 8, 2024, the student researchers conducted a pre-test on the Grade 9 – Joy
students. The total number of students in the class is 29; however, only 25 students
participated on that day due to absences. The perfect score is 5 and the lowest score is
1. Out of the 25 respondents, 6 achieved higher-than-average scores, while the
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

remaining 16 students received lower scores. This indicates that 67% of the students
did not pass and were unable to create and structure their own excuse letters.

II. Situation

Every time we conducted observations in the Grade 9 class, some students

arrived late. Our cooperating teacher required them to present their handbook along
with a letter signed by the principal or director of the school. However, the cooperating
teacher has complained that most of her students are unable to create an excuse letter
appropriately.

Writing is such a complex skill, thus, an individual needs necessary

competencies to effective writing to come up with an acceptable output. Basics to
writing are adherence to the ‘writing mechanics’, including writing form, spelling,
punctuation, and writing conventions. The said basics of writing will serve as an
important foundation for learners in effective written communication. (Badayos, 2008);

Writing has become a significant factor in evaluating one’s language proficiency.

Dong Yafen (2003) states that writing can help learners consolidate the newly gained
language input, promote the internalization of language knowledge and cultivates one’s
ability of language accuracy. Writing, as an ingredient of learner’s language skills, is an
overt manifestation of learner’s ability to analyze, organize and express. Therefore, it’s
essential to cultivate students’ writing ability by adapting various teaching methods and
strategies.

According to Nurasiah, (2023).Writing excuse letters allows students to engage

in guided writing practice, which can enhance their overall communication skills. This
practice encourages students to articulate their thoughts clearly, a skill that is beneficial
in various academic and professional contexts.
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

III. Problem
The Grade 9– Joy English Learners have difficulty in writing skills specifically in
creating a formal writing which is an excuse letter.

Writing in early ages involves socialization into becoming a writer. Within a social
cognitive tradition, Graham (2018) proposes a revised writer(s)-within-a-community
(WWC) model of writing, where he defines writing as a social activity that is shaped and
constrained by the cognitive abilities of and differences between the individuals who
engage in that activity as well as by the characteristics of the community in which writing
occurs. In this line of thought, school classrooms are seen as writing communities
where writing takes place and—it is to be hoped—develops. Transitioning from novice
to becoming a proficient writer is a complex process that normally requires formal
instruction, plenty of experiences and practice, and many years to develop (Bereiter and
Scardamalia, 1987; Bazerman et al., 2017; Alves, 2019)

According to Yıldız (2018), the main purpose of writing training is to provide the
expression of ideas, thoughts, emotions, and experiences. For this, students should be
aware of why do they write, for who do they write

As the writing skills improve, students can transmit knowledge better, edit and
review their thoughts more efficiently and this situation provides the production of
writings with a higher level and in which genre they should write. (Akyol, 2013).,
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

IV. Possible Causes

Factors where the problems could be attributed;

1.1 Sentence structure Difficulty

1.2 Insufficient Vocabulary
1.3 Lack of interest in writing
1.4 Correct punctuations
1.5 Lack of writing practice

1.1 Sentence structure Difficulty

Sentence structure governs how various segments of a sentence are placed
together from punctuation to word order. In addition to upholding simple word order
guidelines, there are several other factors to consider when writing accurately and
precisely constructed sentences (Malaca-Sistoza, 2016).

Several attempts have been made to study sentence structure. Ningling (2015)
highlighted the excellence of information reflected in Chinese universities’ EFL writing's
argumentative sentence structure. The result revealed that native language codes
influenced the sentence structure since students’ argumentative writing lacked active
sentences and linked verb sentences as the most frequently used and passive
sentences as the less popular sentences. Besides, other researchers conducted a study
by Qian, Lee, Lu, & Garnsey (2018) reported that L1-Mandarin students of L2-English
use verb bias and complement cues to process ambiguous English phrases as native
speakers use it temporarily. The findings indicate that the analysis found that L1-
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

mandarin students of L2-English have used verb bias and complement cues to
understand the direct object or sentence phrases.

According to Bryson (2020), short sentence structuring decides how the

significant components are placed together, from punctuation to word order, while still
adhering to simple word order laws. There are several other considerations to address
when writing correctly constructed sentences. Moreover, Bryson went on to say that
there have been two common grammar and sentence structure mistakes: a) Once
incorrect punctuation is used to link different portions of a sentence, run-on sentences
happen. b) Sentence fragments are sentences that have no elements needed to
establish a comprehensive sentence that makes sense.

1.2 Insufficient Vocabulary

Vocabulary is an important aspect of language. A person’s knowledge depends

on the bulk of English vocabulary he possesses. The success of an individual is
governed by his vocabulary. It develops one’s command over the language and this
gives him confidence. Lack of stock of words or inability to recall the correct words
makes one inefficient in expression, be it oral or written (Sundari, 2006).

According to Sundari, E.M. (2006). Acquisition of English Vocabulary. Discovery

Publishing House.New Delhi , Some studies have revealed that vocabulary mastery has
some effects and relationships with the writing ability; the students who have high level
of mastery in vocabulary may learn and practise to write English well (Muslikh, 2014).
Hedge (1990: 5) asserts that “effective writing requires a number of things; a careful
choice of vocabulary, grammatical patterns, and sentence structures to create a style
which is appropriate to the subject matter and the readers.”At any level, written
communication is more effective when a depth of vocabulary and command of language
is evident" (Cited in Brynildssen, S.2000).
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

1.3 Lack of interest in writing

Student interest in writing is important because students who are interested are
more likely to develop a sophisticated understanding of writing, set writing goals, make
use of strategies, and seek feedback from their writing.

In learning creative writing, the students are independent in choosing their genre
based on their interests. If the students are interested in a topic, they can write the story
creatively. The students wrote and created ideas in their writing. Previous studies have
discussed the students' interests and writing abilities. The students have high interest
and will have good motivation and valuable abilities. Interest plays a massive role in
motivation and confidence; teachers and classroom practices can influence students'
interest in writing (Lipstein & Renninger, 2007).

In addition, Slameto (cited in Tri, 2014) stated that high-interest influences

students' activity that indicators of students' interest include attention, willingness,
needs, happiness, good attitude, and participation. If the students are interested in the
subject, they pay attention. At the same time, as the teacher explains the material, the
students do the task, learn the materials, enjoy doing the assignments, have the proper
motivation, and deliver an appropriate response to the teacher.

1.4 Correct Punctuations

According to Saenger (1997), Punctuation has existed since the creation of

writing, but not in its modern form. Researchers offer various opinions on the origins of
punctuation marks and why they were first employed., punctuation marks were originally
employed to indicate when the reader needed to halt.
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
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Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2018). Written language is an encoding of spoken

language, including characteristics that have evolved to express various concepts.
Printed symbols encode the phonemes of a language in an alphabet, but the prosodic
characteristics of spoken language are primarily encoded through Punctuation.

Hutauruk (2016) stated that, commonly, English learners demonstrate their ability
in writing form by communicating experience and knowledge. It may be demonstrated
that there are flaws to be found in the selection of acceptable words, grammar, and
punctuation usage in writing.

Grünke & Coeppicus (2017) examined the percentage of correctly used

punctuation marks in free writing tasks. The experimental data showed an incredibly
easy contingency contracting intervention to aid students who have difficulty writing
while producing a text to enhance punctuation performance.

1.5 Insufficient of Writing practices

For developing writers, learning to write and task execution are often inextricably
linked. Simultaneously, students have to learn how to write and produce texts
(Rijlaarsdam & Couzijn, 2000). However, because text production is so cognitively
demanding for developing writers, this instructional approach often results in students
having minimal attentional capacity left to learn from their writing experiences
(Rijlaarsdam & Couzijn, 2000). Thus, to optimize the way writing is taught, it is important
to carefully consider the format and sequence of instruction.

One way to separate task performance from learning is to provide opportunities

for observation (Zimmerman & Risemberg, 1997).

According to Rijlaarsdam, (2005), stated that observing someone complete an

unfamiliar task is less demanding on working memory than having to actually perform
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
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Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

the task yourself. This is particularly true when the skill being learned is cognitively
complex—such as writing practice.

Observational learning was first described and studied by Bandura (1986) as part
of social cognitive learning theory. Within this framework, observation allows individuals
to gain insight into the usefulness and consequences of the behavior being modeled.
Behavior that is evaluated positively and considered useful will be retained (Schunk,
2012).
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

V. Conclusion

In conclusion, improving writing skills through the use of guided writing is

essential for enhancing various critical components of writing. The mastery of sentence
structure is fundamental to effective communication, and through guided writing,
individuals can develop a deeper understanding of constructing clear, concise, and
grammatically correct sentences. This not only improves the overall structure of their
writing but also enhances the readability and coherence of their work, thus elevating the
quality of their written expression.

Additionally, guided writing provides ample opportunities to explore and

incorporate new vocabulary, enabling writers to express themselves more precisely and
compellingly, thereby enriching the depth and impact of their writing. Moreover, by
engaging in guided writing practices, individuals cultivate a genuine interest in writing as
they become more confident and skilled in articulating their thoughts and ideas,
fostering a lifelong passion for effective written communication.

Furthermore, mastering correct punctuation is emphasized through guided

writing, ensuring that writers effectively convey their intended meaning without
ambiguity, thereby enhancing the clarity and effectiveness of their writing. Lastly,
consistent practice and guidance in writing lead to the refinement of writing skills,
enabling individuals to communicate effectively and persuasively, thus empowering
them to convey their messages with impact and conviction. Therefore, it is evident that
improving writing skills through the use of guided writing is a comprehensive and
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

transformative approach that addresses various components of writing, ultimately

leading to enhanced proficiency and fluency.

VI. Recommendations

To effectively improve writing skills through guided writing the researcher have the
following recommendations:

 Teacher provides structure and support with template of the letter, sentence
starters, and clear writing prompts.
 Focus on specific skills like paragraph and essay writing, and reinforce grammar
and mechanics through guided practice.
 Encourage collaboration and make writing fun and engaging by offering choices,
incorporating creative activities, and utilizing technology tools
 By writing excuse letters, students receive guided writing practice, which can
improve their ability to communicate effectively in various situations.
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

VII. IMPLEMENTATION

For the implementation of this action research the teacher should let the student
familiarize and master the content of a formal letter (excuse letter) like date, recipient’s
name and title, salutation, reason for absence, apology, closing and your name.

Make the template accessible by providing digital and printed copies, and then
introduce it to students by explaining its purpose and demonstrating how to fill it out.
The teacher must let the students practice filling out the template with hypothetical
scenarios, and establish clear procedures for submission and follow-up.
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

Here's a simple template for an excuse letter:

[Your Name]

[Your Address]

[City, State, ZIP Code]

[Email Address]

[Phone Number]

[Date]

[Teacher's Name or Administrator’s Name]

[School’s Name]

[School’s Address]

[City, State, ZIP Code]

Dear [Teacher's Name or Administrator’s Name],

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to formally excuse my child, [Child's Name], a student in
[Grade/Class Name], from school on [Date(s)] due to [reason for absence, e.g., illness, family emergency, etc.].

During their absence, [Child's Name] [may have missed/has missed] important lessons and assignments. We are
committed to ensuring they catch up on any missed work and responsibilities.

Thank you for your understanding. Please let us know if there are any specific assignments or tasks that need to be
completed.

Sincerely,
 KING’S COLLEGE OF MARBEL, INC.
9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
PHILIPPINES
Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

[Your Name]

[Your Signature (if sending a hard copy)]

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9506 Brgy. Morales, City of Koronadal, South Cotabato
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Tel. No.: 083-228-1922

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