CRITICAL READING 8

REVIEW OF JOURNAL entitled ‘A SOCIOCOGNITIVE TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING WRITING ‘ written by Jessie Barrot (2015) De La Salle University - Manila, Philippines

 

This article reports some of the compelling concerns in using various approaches to teaching writing. On this note, this paper provides an alternative teaching framework for the teaching of ESL writing to address these concerns. This sociocognitive-transformative framework incorporates the cognitive, social, cultural, and transformative components of learning. Specifically, the discussion covers three sections that shed light on the theoretical underpinning, the design, and procedure on how the proposed approach can be realized in ESL writing classrooms. It is also hoped that through this approach, the teaching and learning of writing would lead to producing 21st century learners capable of surviving this highly globalized and knowledge-based society.

There are some of the issues in using various approaches to teaching ESL writing in the context of 21^st century literacy. With these compelling issues, a sociocognitive transformative approach that incorporates the cognitive, social, cultural, and transformative components of learning was offered. To better understand this approach from both theoretical and practical perspective, this paper clarifies the theories (i.e., sociocognitive theory and transformative learning) that underpin the approach as well as its design (i.e., objectives, syllabus, types of learning and teaching activities, role of learners, and role of teachers) and procedure. Through this approach, it is hoped that the goal of producing 21^st century multiliterate and communicatively competent lifelong learners can be achieved. But at the end of the day, the success of such an approach greatly depends on the commitment and persistence of both the teachers and learners to break the barrier of complacency and individualistic approach to acquiring and using writing skills.