Writing in EFL teachers’ education

Abstract

The national guidelines for teachers’ education in Norway state that EFL students should be able to work with two different dimensions of writing in their future classrooms. Learners are expected to develop their writing skills (learn to write), and they should use writing as a tool in the language learning process (write to learn). The teacher students should also be able to demonstrate good writing skills themselves. The guidelines do not, however, specify the kind of work students should do in order to meet these objectives. Thus, it is up to those who offer EFL courses to interpret the guidelines and decide how students’ work with writing will happen. The present article discusses the decisions that are made at thirteen institutions where English is offered as part of the integrated teacher training program for grades five to ten. My data are the requirements related to writing in local syllabuses, and the obligatory writing assignments that students have been given. The investigation shows that writing is a central element in the students’ work. However, the required writing functions primarily as a vehicle to ensure proper study progression and to provide a basis for assessment. In this way, it can be said to meet the institutions’ and the course instructors’ needs more than the students’ needs. The article calls for a pedagogy that is geared more towards helping students develop their writing skills and their ability to cater for work with writing in their future classrooms.

Keywords

• engelsk skriving grunnskolelærerutdanning