Cuban students know how to write texts using previous guidelines, but they need to improve their spelling, according to a study released Tuesday by UNESCO, which seeks not to make regional comparisons but to gather useful information for teachers.
The Comparative and Explanatory Regional Study (ERCE 2019) writing test shows that third and sixth graders in Cuba know how to structure a text and annotate it with the appropriate gender characteristics according to a given motto and purpose. He also points out that, according to the Efe Agency, they are sufficient in the text area, ranging from the vocabulary to the internal cohesion of the writing and through the correspondence of the sentences.
However, the report sees a need for more emphasis on spelling: ‘They need to improve the phoneticletter association’ and ‘They need to improve some aspects of legibility conventions’.
90% of the thirdyear students followed the instructions and wrote a text according to the guidelines, and 80% structured the first text (a letter) correctly, although the second (a description) was more difficult.
The vast majority complied with the requirements they set and 60% achieved consistent and coherent texts. 40% managed to write words in which phoneme (sound) and grapheme (writing) were associated (regardless of orthographic norm).
Among Cuban sixth graders, only half complied with the gender instructions (a story and a letter) and 70% stuck to the agreement. In terms of readability, only about 40% met spelling standards, while 70% got it right.
The “discursive area” (communicative purpose and adaptation to slogan, genre and register), the “textual area” (vocabulary, coherence, concordance and cohesion) and the “readability” (spelling and punctuation) were evaluated.
The Regional Office for Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago) published the results of fifteen countries with the aim of assessing the writing performance of students in the region.
OREALC/UNESCO Santiago director Claudia Uribe stressed that writing must be taught “from the earliest stages and “continued to be practiced consciously throughout the school career.
Writing is a “critical” skill in the workplace, he continued, because “it helps to think, to organize and transmit ideas, to interact with others indirectly and asynchronously, to communicate and capture thoughts sustainably.”
UNESCO: Cuban students, above the Latin American average
“Developing high literacy skills is a must for all education systems,” he added.
The study involved minors from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
Regarding Cuba, 5,274 thirdgrade students enrolled in 247 schools and 5,126 sixthgrade students from 244 educational centers were evaluated.
Efe/OnCuba.