Integrated approaches to improve students writing skills: a literature review / Siti Zalika Rosly … [et al.]

Writing skill is the ability to write down ideas, opinions, argument, discussion, fact or stories in a manner that makes one’s thoughts clear, relevant, understandable and comprehensible to the reader. An excellent write-up comes from clear objective, proper planning over layout and logical structure, and most importantly successful execution in delivering the matter under discussion. This skill is not only an important academic skill, but it is also crucial in the world of work that follow. This justifies the significance of writing skill as an extremely valuable asset in students’ performance portfolio (Klimova, 2014). A review on the academic literature on writing skills reveals that there are two approaches which are commonly used to develop and enhance students writing skills and subsequently improve students’ academic performance. These two approaches are product approach and process approach. The first approach usually involves discussion and analysis on the model text presented. Under this approach, one learns the structure, linguistic features and the idea organization. The second approach on the other hand concentrates on how to develop the content and language by using group discussion, re-writing and brainstorming. The latter method has been proved had more extensive use due to its focus on process rather than the form (Applebee, 1981; Leki, 1989; Rogers, 2012). The purpose of this article is to present the integrated approaches on improving students writing skills which are significant for students pursuing professional accounting education. Therefore, it is crucial for tutor and educator to integrate this method in their teaching and learning process as it offers a great assistance in enhancing students’ academic achievement and performance.