Introduction

The actuality of the problem. The theme of my diploma work is “Peer-assisted writing activities for promoting EFL learners’ narrative writing skills”. The actuality of investigation in this sphere is connected with the fact that today we have reached the stage where changes occur so rapidly that each of us has continuously to work out a practical code of behavior for a better adjustment. Language has an essential role in helping learners develop their thinking and creative skills through using the language in several processes such as, relating, commenting, connecting, predicting, recalling, comprehending, applying, associating, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and solving problems.

The ability to write effectively and fluently in English is becoming increasingly important in today’s modern world, since communication through language has become more and more essential. Writing is known as an important skill for multifarious reasons in education and business. In fact, it plays a significant role in personal and professional life. Evidently, the pedagogical purposes of writing range from improving, training, and practicing language in the early stages of learning to communicating fluently and accurately at intermediate and more advanced levels. Indubitably, writing is a complicated process through which ideas are created and expressed. Learning to write in a foreign language is even harder and it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to write skillfully. To become a skillful writer, the role of English writing instruction in foreign language education is quite prominent.

The State program on education development of the republic of Kazakhstan states as one of the primary goals of education “development of the multilingual personality with the basic national and world cultural values, ready for socio-cultural interaction and self-realization” along with “building up communicative competence on the basis of state and other socially important languages acquisition” [1].

Thus, the schooling system faces the task of presenting new approaches to learning, guiding children to such ways of thinking and interacting, that would be useful in solving any problem arising in front of them at any age. Acquisition of home and world culture achievements; state, Russian and foreign languages acquisition are among objectives of system of education in Kazakhstan [2].

Collaborative writing has been used in composition research and pedagogy in U.S. educational institutes since the 1970s. Collaborative writing encourages social interaction among writers and their peers through activities such as peer response. This social interaction and dialogue with others are considered crucial for learning by social interactionist theorists, such as Vygotsky, who stated that learning involves the internalization of social interaction processes, which helps the learner progress from complex to conceptual thinking.

In peer response, students are given plenty of opportunities to brainstorm ideas in pairs or groups, to give feedback on each other's writing and to proofread and edit for each other. While increasingly more mainstream classroom teachers are encouraging students to write in collaboration, ESL/EFL writing instructors sometimes have reservations about its effectiveness due mainly to the concern that students lack cognitive sophistication and linguistic skills in judging writing and in revising and editing a piece of work.

Researchers in the field of second language (L2) writing such as Peregoy and Boyle pointed out that pairing students up in writing is an ideal way to promote learning effectiveness. It not only gives teachers more quality time to work with students but also provides students with plenty of opportunities to brainstorm ideas and to learn from each other. However, Peregoy and Boyle also emphasized that students in the peer response groups need explicit guidelines in giving their partners constructive feedback so as to benefit their partners' writing. Adopting Peregoy and Bolye's suggestion and Vygotsky's concept in which an individual learns to extend his/her current competence through the guidance of a more experienced individual, I developed a structured and easy-to-implement peer assisted writing activity to compensate for the lack of structures in many existing paired writing methods.

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a young state that is why it is very important to educate our children. The frame of the linguistic conception of our president “Trinity of languages” was organized by our president. According to him it is a great opportunity to be in the centre of economic, cultural, scientific achievements for our Nation, especially for our young generation. We see how developed, how educated our students are and to master three languages should be the first objective to become competitive specialist in such complicated world. That is why Our President suggested this idea, the idea of unity of three languages [3].

The purpose of this diploma work is to introduce the nature of peer-assisted language learning phenomenon and the effectiveness of using peer-assisted exchanges for English writing. Firstly the diploma work points out that the peer-assisted is an effective tool for students to improve English writing on the basis of the general observation of features and its application in education. Then it further described the influences of using peer-assisted learning for students in English writing. This diploma work also discussed how to engage students’ reflective learning in English writing through the peer-assisted learning. There are also suggestions for the research on peer-assisted learning and its potential for its pedagogical application to education, especially the teaching of English writing.

The aim - to research the peer-assisted writing activities for promoting EFL learners’ narrative writing skills

The tasks:

1. To reveal aspects of language proficiency in writing achievement.

2. To prove the factors influencing narrative writing skill.

3. To investigate the influence of a peer assisted writing activity on narrative writing skill.

4. To analyse the peer-assisted writing activities for promoting EFL learners’ narrative writing skills.

The object: foreign language teaching methodology.

The scientific novelty:

1. Approaches in teaching foreign language writing were observed.

2. The effectiveness of peer assisted writing to teach writing viewed from students’ creativity was defined.

3. Using peer-assisted writing activities in foreign language classroom were revealed.

The practical value. Practical analysis of peer-assisted writing activities for promoting EFL learners’ narrative writing skills, using peer-assisted writing activities in foreign language classroom, practical recommendation for using peer-assisted learning in the ESL writing classroom, the advantages and challenges of using blog in EFL writing class, collaborative writing in ESL classes.

Evaluation of the current condition of the scientific issue. The writer conducts this “The influence of peer-assisted writing on Students’ narrative essay writing ability” because the researcher hopes that the result of the study will become useful information for English teachers in considering and choosing effective medium or activity in teaching writing to their students.