CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

1. PROBLEM OF THE INVESTIGATION

The present research was developed in the Colegio Fiscal Nacional

Experimental “Eloy Alfaro”, it was focused on beginners’ students of Eighth Basic
Grade of Education. According to the Common European Framework (2002), the
students in Eighth Basic Grade of Education must have a proficiency level of English
language A1.1.

However, it has been found that in this High School, students have not had
exposure to or instruction in English. Due to the fact that English was not compulsory
subject for 2nd to 7th year EGB (Acuerdo Ministerial No. 306-11). For that reason,
students have an insufficiency in their class participation which affects their overall
language acquiring.

1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

The Ministry of Education of Ecuador has implemented the teaching of the

English language for students of fiscal educational institutions from Second Grade
of Basic General Education to the Third Year of Bachillerato. This institution gives to
the English teachers the guidelines based on the Common European Framework,
with the purpose and vision of providing students a quality education. According the
Ministry of education the guidelines provided will form students capable of facing the
challenges of globalization.

The English education in Ecuador is changing day to day and English

teachers are always trying to work in better way with the students, applying new
techniques and tools that can facilitate the learning process.
 After the initial observation, it was noticeable that students of the First Year of
Bachillerato had difficulties when writing about any kind of topic. This occurred
because at first, they did not know how to put in order their ideas. When they had to
write about topics, the organization of ideas is poor causing their written production
to be limited. Therefore, they do not finish covering the topic as requested by the
teacher. Also, this constitutes a conflict situation which is the insufficiency in the
written production.

Writing is a productive skill and sometimes it is one of the last ones used in
the classroom, because many times more focus on students can communicate.
However, when putting students to think about ideas on a particular topic, they often
have difficulties to write. Also, it is the last skill that is worked many times the focus
of writing is based only on assimilation of grammar rules, this might the reason why
many students consider the writing as a difficult skill.

1.3. SCIENTIFIC FACT

Taking into account all these factors, it could be concluded that the scientific
fact of this research is insufficiency in written production of the students of First of
Bachillerato Room “F” of Unidad Educativa Babahoyo in the academic year 2017-
2018

1.4. CAUSES

Due to the insufficiency that has been found in the written ability of the
students of the First Year Bachillerato, Room “F”, of Unidad Educativa Babahoyo,
could be mention three specific causes that hinder the learning and the development
of this ability in the English language have been observed, in which it can be
mentioned:

 Difficulty in the organization of students’ ideas.

 Insufficient knowledge of tools such as graphic organizers for written production.
 Limited resources for the development of written production.
1.5. PROBLEM FORMULATION

How does the use of graphic organizers to organize ideas in the pre-writing
stage influence the development of written production in students of First Year
Bachillerato, Room “F”, of Unidad Educativa Babahoyo belonging to Zone 5, District
2CD01, Los Rios Province, Cantón Babahoyo, in the 2017-2018 academic year?

1.6. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1.6.1. OBJECTIVES

1.6.1.1. GENERAL OBJECTIVE

To determine the influence of the use of pre-writing graphic organizers for the
organization of ideas in the improvement of written production through a
bibliographical study, field research and statistical analysis to design a system of
activities focused on the use of pre-writing graphic organizers

1.6.1.2. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

The specific objectives of this project to improve the writing skills are:

 To value the use of the graphic organizers to organize ideas in the pre-writing
stage through a bibliographical study, field research and statistical analysis.
 To characterize the process of written production improvement through a
bibliographical study, field research, and statistical analysis.
 To design a system of activities focused on the use of graphic organizers to
improve the development of written production through the interpretation of
information obtained.

1.7. SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS

Starting from the problem mentioned above, the following questions can be derived:
1. What is current level that the students of Second First of Bachillerato section “F”
of Unidad Educativa Babahoyo present?

2. How does the treatment of graphic organizers in the pre- writing stage influence
written production improvement?

3. What are the theoretical foundations that support the use of graphic organizers
to for the treatment of written production?

4. Which transformative proposal allows the improvement of activities based on

graphic organizers for pre-writing?

5. How will the design of a system of activities contribute to the improvement of

written production?

1.8. JUSTIFICATION

At the moment, the writing learning goal is not being achieved in the written
production, as at the time of producing a written text, students have problems to
organize their ideas.

To write is to express in a written way thoughts, feelings, and knowledge that

have been organized and prepared in advance. There are some instruments that
can help to organize ideas before writing a text. Graphic organizers are one of them;
this instrument is very useful because they let students put in order their ideas.

According to the National Curriculum Guidelines (2014) students of First of

Bachillerato must have a proficiency level of English language A2.2. This implies,
according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2002)
that students at the end of the academic year should be able to produce texts such
as essays, letters, descriptions, etc.

In order to help students to improve their written production, graphic

organizers for the organization of ideas might become an aid in the process.
 Graphic organizers are schemes to organize the ideas in a visual way, to
understand, to keep and remember information, they are considered as a good
instrument to help students establish an idea at the moment of they start to produce
a written text, they are an alternative to taking notes or organizing ideas, as well as
helping improve their written production easily.

Furthermore, this research complies with the current legal body in place in
Ecuador like what is established in the National Plan of Good Living (2013), article
4. 1, literal: e. In this literal, it is explicitly mentioned that to strengthen the capacities
and potentialities of citizenship, it must be guaranteed the access to the educational
resources necessary for the good performance, attendance, and permanence of the
school-age population to the National System of Public Education.

Effectively, this confirms the pertinence of this project because, in this

research, it is proposed the written production of the students a solution for the
problem that affects them.

To conclude this educative project is performed to promote the correct

learning process in writing in a creative and easy way. In consequence, students will
be seen as the principal beneficiaries with the solution proposed and teachers will
find the proposal as a great help for their writing lessons and work with the future
students who present the same problem in writing. Moreover, even the community
will be benefited, taking into account that all this process contributes to the
development of Ecuador.