Literature Review

The article written by Alma Prima Nurlaila entitled The Use of Mind Mapping
Technique in Writing Descriptive Text is mainly about the mind mapping technique among
the students. The author stated that mind mapping is enjoyable and could help students to
improve their writing skills. She also mentioned in the article that mind mapping have been
discussed by several writers (McGriff, 2000; Buzan, 2007; Edward, 2011). They believe that
mind mapping can balancing the brain, help to organize thoughts, improve the creativity,
speed of learning and memory. As cited in Dawson et al. (2005) he state that mind mapping
is a type of prewriting method as the first stage of the writing process and as the point at to
discover and explore our initial ideas about a subject. In this research, the methods used are
quantitative and qualitative research. The results shown that the mind mapping technique
would seem to be particularly suited to help students in planning their writing as the approach
encourages students to reach for and adapt a deeper level of understanding of the writing
topics.

The article Investigating Malaysian ESL Students Writing Problems on

Conventions, Punctuations and Language Use at Secondary School Level" tells us about the
writing problems faced by Malaysian students, to be more specific at secondary school level.
The authors NedaGhabol, Mariann Edwina A/P Mariadass and Sayyed Hossein Kashef from
Universiti Sains Malaysia decided to do this research because of their responsibilities to
figure out what is the challenges in writing and try to come out with some solutions. They
examine three common writing problems faced by students; conventions, punctuation and
language use. The teachers also involved in this research where they were asked to give
feedback towards students' writing problems in these three areas. The researcher found that
the teachers' perception about their students' ability in writing matched with the result
collected. The teachers' role must be clear; witness more practice than delivering lectures,
explains every single use of punctuation marks, motivating and encouraging students to do
home assignment as much as possible, engaging the students into memory/ vocabulary games
and so on.

The article written by RanjiBaliya, Enchancing Writing Abilities of Primary Class

Students through Cooperative Learning Strategies briefly reveals what is co-operative
learning about. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of using cooperative
learning on primary class students' writing abilities. Her writing about cooperative learning
shows us that this method of learning is practical to be applied in the classroom. In
cooperative learning, all members with different abilities play their role to contribute
something in order to improve their understanding of a subject. Under the interpersonal and
small, the students will learn some social skills such as leadership, decision-making, trust-
building, communication, and conflict-management. The most important part in this article is
in cooperative learning strategy and writing process. Clearly, by doing all these stages in
cooperative learning method, the students will improve their writing skills because
cooperative learning strategy provides opportunity to work in groups. The result is shown in a
form of table, where it's proven that cooperative learning really effects the students'
achievement.

The articles written by Dr. Melor Md. Yunus1 & Siti Sukainah Che Mat2 Writing
Needs and Strategies of FELDA Primary ESL Pupils investigates the issues "English
language is being taught at all levels of primary school to equip the pupils with the
fundamental language skills. These to enables them to use the language to communicate in
certain situations. Hence, the English language program focuses on the skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing." To equip pupils with the basic skills and knowledge of the
English language so as to enable them to communicate, both orally and in writing, in and out
of the school." As students progress through school, they need to write more complex texts
for a wider range of academic and community purposes. Based on a study, the writer reported
that pupils' writing skills at the UPSR level in guided composition in vernacular schools are
far from satisfactory. The teaching of writing should aim to impart a balance of knowledge,
skills and understanding so that students learn to write effectively. The aim of teaching
writing is to ensure that students learn to write effectively in community and academic
contexts. To develop the skills, knowledge and understanding required, students need to learn
about writing and learn through writing.

The article written by Kell R. Paquette entitled Encouraging Primary Students

Writing through Children Literature is mainly about a few strategies or ways on how to get
the primary students to have a good writing using a few activities which consists six major
themes which are recognize as ideas, organization, word choice, voice, sentence fluency and
conventions are recognize as writing traits. Children benefit in many ways from actively
engaging in high quality childrens literature, and picture books provide a natural avenue to
motivate and encourage students writing. Shared book experiences in small or large group
settings can lead to meaningful writing discussions and applications. Picture books serve as
exemplars of the six qualities of effective writing and provide a scaffold for students to
incorporate these writing attributes in their original compositions. When primary students
writing is inspired by high-quality picture books and shared with peers, children benefit
academically and socially. This will help the students to empower their words and vocabulary
to be use in their written works. New words learn and sight words should be displayed around
the students. This is because, the more familiar students see the words, and the faster they
will remember the words better. However, upon the six traits mention before, the most
important thing is to choose a high quality children literature materials as a motivational
tools in order to encourage a good writing among the students.

The article entitled Integrated Approaches To Improve Students Writing Skills for
English Major Students, the author, Thanatkun Tangpermpoon explained about the main
three approaches which has been integrated to be one new approach in order to improve the
writing skills among the Thai students facing with the difficulties in learning English as a
Second Language especially in writing because it involving a big deal of lexical and syntactic
knowledge among the students. To assist language instructors to improve learners writing
competence and produce good writing, this article aims to present the combination of genre,
product, and process approaches in a writing class. The main focus of this article is about
three main approaches which are The Product-Based, The Process-Based and Genre-Based
Approach. It was conducted using action research and its theoretical framework is based on a
genre approach, which is arguably one of the most widely accepted writing pedagogies in the
Australian school context. This approach follows the principles of the Teaching and Learning
Cycle (TLC) that is designed to provide students with explicit and organizational structures
for writing for different purposes (Callaghan & Rothery, 1988).

The article written by Sri Wuri Handayani Improving Students Writing Achievement
Through the Process Genre Approach explained about whether the use of the Process Genre
approach could significantly improve students writing achievement. This study conduct by
applying Classroom Action Research which was carried out in two cycles in ten meetings.
The subject of this study of SMA Panca Budi Medan which consisted of 39 students of class
X 2 reguler. Orientation test was done in the first meeting, test II was done in the fourth
meeting, and test III was done in the last meeting. The mean of students score test III
(76,242) was higher than the test II (66,878) and test I (57,606). Besides, the qualitative data
was taken from observation sheet, interview, questionnaire, and diary notes. It was found that
teaching learning process ran well. By applying the Process Genre Approach in the
classroom, the students understood the content of descriptive text easily. They also were
active and enthusiastic during the teaching and learning process. The result of the research
showed that the application of the Process Genre approach significantly improved students
achievement in writing descriptive text. From the result of data analysis presented in previous
chapter, it can be concluded that teaching writing by applying the Process Genre Approach
could improve students writing achievement especially for students in Senior High School. It
proved by the students score mean from 57,606 in pre-test, 66,878 in post-test cycle I, and
76, 242 in post-test cycle II. The Process Genre Approach improved students motivation in
learning writing and developed students skill to communicate their ideas more to support the
purpose of writing task. It also promoted the students awareness of conceptual writing
strategies and willingness to apply practical writing strategy to compose.

The article entitled Mind the Map: How Thinking Maps Affect Student Achievement
by Daniel Long, St. Francis Xavier Elementary Dr. David Carlson, Arizona State University
investigated about how Thinking Maps or Mind Map could be utilized by the students to
broaden critical thinking skills and enhance their understanding of the content being
presented. The research data was gathered through anonymous student surveys, instructor
observation notes and a post-intervention assessment. Students were taught the function and
proper construction of all eight Thinking Maps and were encouraged to utilize them
on multiple occasions every day. The findings by Long indicated that when students
constructed Thinking Maps, they were able to achieve greater understanding than those
students who used traditional note taking strategies. The purpose of this research was to
determine if the use of Thinking Maps would increase student achievement. Because
Thinking Maps allow students to express their thoughts and ideas non-linguistically,
instructors actually see the graphic representation of a students thought process (Holzman,
2004). Thinking Maps differ from graphic organizers because they are used to promote
more strategic thinking and encourage students to focus on the processes used to
produce the correct answer (Holzman, 2004). By coaching students to correctly use the
Thinking Maps in their daily lessons, students will have a greater sense of control of the way
they handle classroom material and provide a strategy for organization that will allow them to
form meaningful connections with the content.

The article entitled Second Language Writing and Research: The Writing Process
and Error Analysis in Student Texts written by Johanne Myles, Queens University explained
about the academic writing that requires conscious effort and much practice in composing,
developing, and analyzing ideas. Students writing in a second language are also faced with
social and cognitive challenges related to second language acquisition. L1 models of writing
instruction and research on composing processes have been the theoretical basis for using the
process approach in L2 writing pedagogy. However, language proficiency and competence
underlies the ability to write in the L2 in a fundamental way. Therefore, L2 writing instructors
should take into account both strategy development and language skill development when
working with students. This paper explores error in writing in relation to particular aspects of
second language acquisition and theories of the writing process in L1 and L2. It can be
argued that a focus on the writing process as a pedagogical tool is only appropriate for second
language learners if attention is given to linguistic development, and if learners are able to get
sufficient and effective feedback with regard to their errors in writing. For English L2 writers,
the process of writing in an academic environment is challenging. I used to tell my students
that the only way to improve their writing is to keep writing--thinking that with enough
practice in writing and revision (involving problem solving and reflection), they would
eventually acquire the fundamentals, or at least the standard, required of academic discourse.
Although the process approach to instruction, characterized by practice, collaboration, and
the opportunity for revision, may be suitable for most English L1 writers, it is apparent that
many L2 writers do not have the necessary linguistic ability to reap the benefits of the
approach. As Yau (1991) points out:

Although we should not cripple our students' interest in writing through undue stress
or grammatical correctness, the influence of second language factors on writing
performance is something we have to reckon with and not pretend that concentrating
on the process would automatically resolve the difficulty caused by these factors. (p.
268)

Kern (2000) also mentions that process-oriented teaching does not acknowledge the influence
of sociocultural context on individual processes. He has characterized it as inattentive to
"learners' understanding of links between form and communicative conventions that will
allow them to construct meanings in ways that are appropriate within the immediate
academic context as well as the larger societal context" (p. 182). Feedback is of utmost
importance to the writing process. Without individual attention and sufficient feedback on
errors, improvement will not take place. We must accept the fact that L2 writing contains
errors; it is our responsibility to help learners to develop strategies for self-correction and
regulation. Indeed, L2 writers require and expect specific overt feedback from teachers not
only on content, but also on the form and structure of writing. If this feedback is not part of
the instructional process, then students will be disadvantaged in improving both writing and
language skills. In order to learn more about L2 writers' use of language in the process of
writing, we need to apply to L2 writing the research methods utilized in exploring the
composing process in L1 writing, such as think-aloud protocols. We also need to understand
how students compose in both their native languages and in English to understand more about
their learning strategies (especially in monitoring errors), the role of translation, and transfer
of skills. Certainly, ethnographic research in L2 writing that examines the writing process,
along with the acquisition of communicative competence, will help to create a more
comprehensive theory of L2 writing.

The article written by Majid Pour-Mohammadi, PhD Candidate Islamic Azad

University, Rasht, Iran entitled Effect of Process Writing Practice on the Writing Quality of
Form One Students: A Case Study explained and discuss about Teachers who teach English
as a second language are committed to develop an understanding and improvement of second
language writing as learning to write in the second language is a complicated process.
Despite the numerous researches on second language writing, the phenomenon of writing is
constantly under investigation as teachers want to share the findings of each study which
provides knowledge that resonates with their teaching experience. This case study is a report
about the effect of process writing practice on the writing quality of three Form one students.
This study uses observation, interview, students drafts, and writing and examination scores
as sources for data collection. The analyses show some effects on their writing pace and
writing quality. The findings also reveal that students are able to attempt writing despite the
difficulty of the given writing task. Overall, the practice of process writing in classroom for
the Form one students has affected the students in terms of their pre writing strategies which
make the whole writing process manageable. The practice leads the students to the necessary
steps to approach a writing task and this enables them to compose their drafts fast. It can also
actualize the complicated plan of writing, putting the students through a journey of
constructing their ideas from what is in their minds to writing and communicating these ideas
to their readers. Hence, the aspects of ideas, organization and sentence fluency are crucial
traits in assessing the product of the writing process. The practice of writing, as indicated in
this study, has revealed an improvement in their writing quality given the scores of their first
and last drafts. Undeniably, language competence still plays a significant role in second
language writing and this remains a dilemma for teachers teaching writing. Effective and
strategic interventions of language are necessary to enhance the writing quality of second
language writers, despite the emphasis of message over medium in using process writing
practice.

The article written by Khoiriyah, Increasing the Students Writing Skill through
Mind Mapping Technique briefly reveals that it could be seen that mind mapping technique
could motivate the students to be actively involved in the teaching learning process of writing
subject. They could contribute information, knowledge, and experience they already have to
generate and develop ideas and concept related or associated with the topic. It is in line with
(Buzan 2000) in Al-Jarf (2008) opinion that mind mapping is a graphic organizer in which
the major categories radiate from a central idea and sub categories are represented as
branches of larger branches. It is a visual tool that can be used to generate ideas, take notes,
organize thinking and develop concepts. In addition, by using mind mapping during
prewriting stage, the students could generate and develop the ideas and information into a
map that shows meaningful relationship. After the words and ideas were generated and
organized, then the words are grouped into its categories. Thus, the ideas could be developed
easily and more completely. As a prewriting technique, mind mapping can be used for general
vocabulary development. It can help students build and establish background knowledge and
brainstorm to generate words and ideas related to the topic. Based on the findings in the
article, it could be concluded that the use of mind mapping technique could improve the
students writing achievement. Hence, the results of this classroom action research in two
cycles proved that the application of mind mapping technique can improve the students
writing skill.

The article The Use of Mind-Mapping Technique in the EFL Classroom tells us that
mind-mapping is a technique that offers many possibilities for teachers of English as a
foreign language, that it can be used to support various language learning activities and that it
is recommended as a way to deliver meaningful learning for students (Buzan in Budd, 2003).
The author, Teddy Fiktorius also mentioned that mind-map is an effective means to take notes
and brainstorm essay topics. Consequently, mind-mapping technique seems to be
particularly suited to helping students in planning their writing as the approach
encourages students to reach for and adapt a deeper level of understanding of the writing
topics. The evidence suggests that mind mapping may impact on students abilities to
plan and organise their ideas for writing tasks under exam conditions. Besides that,
mind-maps are also most valuable when the key objective is to develop a comprehensive
understanding of all the key concepts involved in a subject area. It can aid creativity,
organisation, productivity, and memory. A mind map involves writing down a central theme
and thinking of new and related ideas which radiate out from the centre. By focusing on
key ideas written down in our own words and looking for connections between them, we
can map knowledge in a way that will help us to better understand and retain information.
Furthermore, in the reading aspect, mind-mapping technique is helpful to provide
students with meaningful displays so that learners can develop a wider and deeper
understanding of the content that is learnt. However, the author stated that there are some
drawbacks in terms of getting used to making mind-maps that need to be paid attention to. As
mentioned in the article earlier, the undeniable obstacles of using mind-map technique in the
EFL classrooms are apparently highlighted. Overall from this article, the writer finds the
disadvantages of mind-maps are far outweighed by their advantages. In his opinion, the best
thing about mind-mapping is that it is so simple to make that it is worth being given a try.

The article entitled Malaysian Secondary School Students ESL Writing Performance
in an Intensive English Program written by Jayakaran Mukundan, Elaheh Hamed
Mahvelati, Mohd Amin Din and Vahid Nimehchisalem already stated that there is a
relationship between reading and writing. As mentioned in the article, the intensive program
consisted of different components one of which was called Reading and Writing. Students
went through this component twice a day. Reading is regarded as one of the best pre-writing
activities which can engage the learner in writing. In addition, from a pedagogical
perspective, suitable reading passages can provide useful models for student writers by
showing them the characteristics of an acceptable piece of writing. The related literature
emphasizes integration of reading and writing skills and the findings of this study, at least in
part, indicate its positive outcome. The results from the research showed that language
teachers and program developers should reconsider the role of intensive courses. Based on
the findings of this study intensive programs can have a positive effect on learners writing
skills. As it is the case in Malaysia students experience only a 45-minute period every other
week the effect of which is negligible compared with that of an intensive course. In Malaysia,
researchers have pointed out the students unsatisfactory writing skills after years of taking
English lessons at school. Based on the results of the present study, it seems logical to argue
that these students should go through writing courses more frequently than they do.

The article Self-Efficacy in the Writing of Malaysian ESL Learners written by

Parilah M. Shah, Wan Hamiah Wan Mahmud, Rosseni Din, Aminuddin Yusof and Khalid
Mat Pardi stated that the ability to express ones thoughts effectively in writing relies on
ones efficacy with regard to this skill-a skill which an individual needs in his or her lifelong
learning journey. This study provided further evidence to support, who argued that the inner
processes of students and the beliefs they hold about their capabilities must be given due
attention, since they might contribute to success or allure in school. This study contributes to
the understanding of students self-efficacy; this information should enable educators to
develop innovative teaching materials taking account of these findings and upgrade their
pedagogical practices. L2 learners also need to be helped to develop substantive knowledge
of the writing process and to be trained in effective writing strategies. Such measures could
increase learners writing self- efficacy and benefit them in the long run, as well as
empowering them to go through wonderful, though subconscious, lifelong learning
experiences.

The research entitled Role of Teacher, Peer and Teacher-Peer Feedback in

Enhancing ESL Students Writing was written by Nooreiny Maarof, Hamidah Yamat and
Kee Li Li. In this research, the English language is learned as a second language in Malaysian
secondary schools and writing is an essential component. Although some students may be
able to write essays, the quality of these essays remains rather low. Teacher feedback can
assist learners to notice a target structure, to compare it with their existing knowledge and to
integrate it into that knowledge. Peer feedback, on the other hand, can also help learners to
notice the target structure while reconfirming its use and providing additional input via the
learners input. Thus, the two forms of editing and response to writing can interact in a
synergistic relationship, each shaping and in turn being shaped by the other. Combining
teacher feedback and peer feedback in ESL writing may not only possibly help increase
immediate writing abilities, but also help promote durability of the skill. This study
contributes to research in highlighting students positive thinking of the important role of
both teacher feedback and peer feedback in developing students writing skills. An important
implication for ESL writing is that although teacher feedback is considered more effective by
many students, peer feedback with appropriate training provided to students may well serve
as an important supporting role in helping learners in their writing. A combination of both
types of feedback is thus crucial in the effort to improve students writing in the ESL
classroom.