Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, June 23 (EMN): Lecturers from various colleges in Nagaland have attributed the perceived lack of reading and dependence on technology as the reasons for the apparent decline in writing skills. The lack of a reading culture among students in the recent times has resulted in poor comprehension, and excessive use of the internet, they say inhibited creativity.
A workshop on “Challenges and issues of teaching and writing at the undergraduate level in Nagaland” was conducted on Saturday June 23. The workshop was organised by the Cue Academy of Writing Skills of Kohima in collaboration with the department of English, Unity College of Dimapur in Unity College’s conference hall.
The principal of C-Edge College, Dr. Chubatola Aier delivered a key note address. During her address, Aier stressed on what she called the ‘LSRW’ which was an acronym for listening, speaking, reading, and writing. She categorised listening and writing as receptive skills while speaking and writing as productive skills. Aier stated that linguistic competence affects academic performance and lack of it would lead to low grades even if a student was very brilliant.
Stressing that evaluation of students’ papers could play a role in improving the writing skills of students, Aier wondered what teachers look for while evaluating. Was it fluency—the flow in writing, or was it accuracy? She stated that different teachers have different ways of evaluating answers and that a teacher who looks for coherent writings could play a role in augmenting the writing skills of students.
Shuiching Konyak Lasuh, an assistant professor in department of English at Dimapur Government College assessed on the current scenario of students’ writing. Lasuh was of the view that poor foundation during the formative years led to limited knowledge of writing in present times. Lasuh opined that too much dependence on guidebooks also hindered students to write in their own creative way. She said that students should be discouraged to memorise answers and that they should write on their own understanding which would ultimately improve their writing skills.
The founder and chief instructor of Cue Academy, Dr. Rukulu K Puro emphasised on the techniques to enhance the level of writing in students. Puro admitted that not only students but even teachers fail to observe the importance of writing in many ways. She said, “We as teachers have in many ways overlooked writing too.” Puro stated writing was of paramount importance and that teachers have to assess students in a way that would improve their writing.
Puro asserted on personalised teacher feedback in which she said that teachers should acknowledge students’ strong points and highlight areas that need attention. She said that teachers’ feedback should be ‘to motivate and encourage but not to disappoint and humiliate’. “It comes up from one’s concern for students,” she added.
Earlier, Chubatola Aier congratulated Unity College for taking the initiative to explore students’ writing skills. She said that she would also conduct a similar workshop in the near future. “For my workshop I would call teachers only because that is where it should start,” she stated.
