After careful analysis of student work, P6 teachers of Kowloon Tong Bishop Walsh Catholic School concluded that the students had the potential to produce longer, richer and better-organised pieces of writing. However, what they handed in often displayed careless mistakes in the use of target structures they had shown to have previously mastered, as well as lack of motivation to elaborate and develop ideas.

To address these issues, the teachers decided to take a look at their unit planning practices. To ensure greater coherence in student learning, they strengthened the use of task-based learning as their planning matrix. It was their understanding that a stronger focus on how input and attendant language exercises and activities were designed and sequenced could contribute to better alignment between teaching and the completion of the writing.

In addition to that, they also thought that infusing assessment for learning strategies would help students develop reflection and independent learning skills. This focus on assessment for learning was operationalised by giving students a chance to plan and produce first drafts of their writing, comment on each other’s writing with reference to clear assessment criteria, and making changes to the first drafts based on feedback from classmates and teachers.