WeCWI: SIL (macro)

SIL is a diagram originally introduced in a paper entitled L2 Writing Challenges for the Undergraduates: A Performance Analysis and a Literature Review on SIL Domains authored by Boon Yih Mah, Irfan Naufal Umar, and Voon Foo Thomas Chow. It was presented orally by Boon Yih Mah in the third Annual Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL) on 25-28 April 2013 in Osaka, Japan.

In macro perspective, SIL summarises the contemporary literature on L2 writing problems faced by the ESL learners, writing instructors, and institutional e-learning system in a local context. Web-based Cognitive Writing Instruction (WeCWI) is initiated through a deductive approach: Investigate a problem from the macro perspective before venturing into the micro perspective. By focusing on the learner domain in SIL, WeCWI is developed to tackle on the poor writing skill among L2 learners in higher education context. Click HERE to access the full paper. Below is an excerpt of SIL from the original paper:

SIL is proposed as a chain reaction diagram summarising the nine L2 writing challenges in three different perspectives. This diagram provides a clearer overview of L2 writing challenges, which is proposed to be overcome deductively and sequentially. If the challenges of the system (S) can be overcome by the related authorities, the shortcomings of the instructor (I) will also be prevailed; along with the hitches of the learner (L), which will be resolved gradually. Therefore, the remedial actions should begin with the largest perspective, S: lecture time, institutional e-learning system, and ICT research. This will bring positive effects to take place in I, which includes classroom practice, ICT interest, and L2 writing approach. As the last perspective, L, the predicaments in reading habits, language proficiency, and first language can be curbed eventually.