Abstract
The Role of Writing in Primary School English Curriculum
Being one of the four language skills, writing is considered to be problematic for second language learners since it is an extremely complex process. Due to its difficulty and complexity, writing is generally regarded as a skill taught at more advanced levels. However, learners are expected acquire this skill because writing is typically used as the foundation to judge one’s learning, even at the lower levels. Although there is a wealth of studies addressing primary school mainstream English, few of them deal with writing in particular. Thus, little is known about second language writing in the primary school context. In order to bridge this gap in the literature, this study aimed to investigate the role of writing in primary school English curriculum in Turkey. For this reason, Primary School English Curriculum published by Ministry of National Education in Turkey was examined. The results showed that writing is not prioritized in primary school English. Writing was found to be ignored at the 2nd and 3rd grades and limited to word level at the 4th grade. A typical example of writing activities in curriculum was that learners see a picture and label it or write the name. It was concluded as a result of this study that writing should be paid more attention in primary school in order to prepare learners for more complex tasks.
Keywords
Writing, young learners, primary school English curriculum