Outlining and the writing skill

Abstract

The final aim of learning a language, beyond the acquisition of communicative competence, is the attainment of a certification that proves the proficiency in the L2. The international examinations that provide this accreditation have a specific section that evaluates the writing skill. Consequently, this research is aimed to analyze the importance of the development of the writing skill, the difficulties that students and teachers face to improve it, and the use of a strategy –outlining– to develop a particular aspect of the writing skill: coherence. Thus, an experimental research was carried out with students of fifth, and sixth level of PINE (Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros) at “Universidad Técnica de Ambato”. At the beginning, a pre-test was taken to evaluate the current capabilities of the learners. Then, they were divided into two groups named control, and experimental. During six sessions, the learners who belong to the experimental group used outlines to write three expository essays, and three persuasive essays. The control group carried out the same activities without using outlines. In this case, the control group was provided with prompts. After these six sessions, a posttest was taken. The results gotten were processed, compared, and analyzed with the Wilcoxon test. The information showed that the experimental group had a significant progress, while the control group keep its performance in the same levels. In other words, the results demonstrate that outlining influenced positively the improvement of the writing skill