The Effect of 4+1 Planned Writing and Evaluation Model to Develop the Attitudes of Preservice Teachers as to Written Expression and Their Writing Skills

Writing courses are included into teaching programs in order to help students express themselves through writing and acquire writing skills. However, in writing activities done in these courses the students are not supplied with adequate feedback about the quality of the written texts they produced. Moreover, writing process moves linear as the students are not supplied with feedback given regularly after the observation of teachers. The formal qualities such as readability of the text, obedience to correct punctuation rules are important for this traditional writing concept. Nevertheless, producing a well-written text requires a planned process which must be oriented through regular observations. Teachers, in the writing education activities based on process, give feedback to students about the development of their writing to improve their writing skills in certain steps. They do not allow the students pass to the next step before the previous one has been achieved and provide students with a cognitive conscious on the writing process by displaying them what or where something missing occurs. In the present study, the effect of 4+1 Planned Writing and Evaluation Model, which includes preparation, planning, arranging, correcting and publishing steps, on students written expression skills and developing their attitudes towards written expression were examined. The study was designed as an experimental model involving a pre-test, a post-test and a control group. The samples are freshman students of Turkish education departments of two universities from Western Black Sea. At the end of a twelve-week experimental application process it was found out that 4+1 Planned Writing and Evaluation Model develops both the written expression skills of preservice teachers and their attitudes towards written expression at a meaningful level.