MEASURES FOR DEVELOPING GRADE 4 STUDENTS’ DESCRIPTIVE WRITING COMPETENCE THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Abstract

Developing descriptive writing competence among Grade 4 students is an important requirement of Vietnamese language education under the competency- and character-oriented approach of Vietnam’s 2018 General Education Curriculum. However, classroom practice shows that students still encounter difficulties in observation, idea generation and organization, vocabulary selection, emotional expression, and the development of an individual voice in their writing. Experiential learning provides students with opportunities to directly observe, perceive, and interact with objects and phenomena, thereby transforming real-life experiences into meaningful resources for writing. This study employs theoretical analysis, surveys, and analytical and synthetic methods to establish a theoretical and practical basis for proposing measures to develop Grade 4 students’ descriptive writing competence. The study proposes three measures: organizing authentic experiential activities to enrich students’ life experiences; guiding students to draw on their experiences to organize ideas systematically; and developing writing competence through collaborative learning and peer feedback. These measures are mutually supportive, connecting writing with real-life experiences and creating favorable conditions for the development of Grade 4 students’ descriptive writing competence.