Investigating difficulties in elementary school students’ written expression.

Abstract

Developing literacy in students is the goal of most bilingual school language teachers at elementary levels. However, the ability to read fluently and communicate ideas accurately both orally and written, especially the latter, does not seem to develop as fast and easily as one would expect in certain kids who, though mentally able and smart, reach the upper elementary school levels with serious difficulties to express their ideas appropriately in writing. This concern guided this research at a bilingual school in Barranquilla, in order to investigate the causes of the difficulties in the 5th grade elementary students’ written expression. Action Research in its ethnographic stage was chosen for this investigation since it involved gathering and analyzing data from the studied context in order to find out the sources of students’ difficulties in writing. The results obtained with this investigation involve categories addressing the students, the teachers, and the institution itself. The conclusions reached point to aspects that must be considered by the institution in order to improve the writing teaching/learning process.