writing

TEACHING WRITING



A.    Writing as means of communication

“…writing will be used as a generic term to refer to all the various activities that involves transferring thought through paper. Writing that focuses primarily on the conventions of language form , i.e. grammatical or lexical structures, will be termed transcription. The term composition will refers to the skills involved in effectively developing and communicating an idea or making a point.”
(Dvorak quoted in Lee & Vanpatten, 1995, p. 214)
  
What have you written in your language in the past week?

Maybe you have not written anything in the past week! It is true that we do not write very much these days. But possibly you have written a shopping list, a postcard, a birthday card, some emails, your diary, or maybe a story. If you are studying, perhaps you  written an essay. All   of these examples of written text types.  You can see from this list that text types involve different kinds of writing, e.g. single words only, short sentences or long sentences, paragraphs, special layouts , etc  that show  different ways of ordering information. When we learn to write , we need to learn how to deal with these different features.   

All written text types have two things in common. Firstly, they are written to communicate a particular message, and secondly, they are written to communicate to somebody.  Our message and who we are writing to influence  what we write and how we write.  For example, if you write a note  to yourself to remind yourself to do something, you may write in terrible handwriting and use note form or single words that other people would not understand. If you write a note for your friend to remind him/ her of something, your note will probably be clearer and a bit more polite.

Writing is transforming thoughts into language; it means that we need to think about the content of our writing first and then arrange the ideas using appropriate language (e.g. grammar  and vocabulary). Consequently we must learn about organizational skills in writing.

Writing involves several sub-skills.  Some of these are related to accuracy, i.e. using the correct forms of language. Writing accurately involves spelling correctly, forming letters correctly, writing legibly, punctuating correctly,  using correct layouts, choosing the right vocabulary, using grammar correctly, joining sentences correctly and using paragraphs correctly.

However, writing  is not just about accuracy.  It is also about having a message and communicating it successfully to other people.  To do this, we need to have enough ideas, organise them well and express them in an appropriate style.

B.    Why we teach writing?
Harmer (1998, p. 79) describes that the reasons for teaching writing to students of  English as a foreign language include reinforcement, language development, learning style and, most important, writing as a skill in its own right

1.    Reinforcement
Some students acquire a language in a purely oral/ aural way, but others benefit greatly from seeing  the language written down.  The visual demonstration of language construction is invaluable for both their understanding  of how it all fits together  and as an aid to committing the new language shortly after they have studied it .  In other words, writing reinforce the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that students have learned.

2.    Language development
 The actual process of writing helps students in acquiring a language because the process demands them to think and choose the sentences as well as words that they will use to express the ideas. This mental activity that students go through in order to construct proper written texts is all part of ongoing learning experience. Thus, the relationship between writing and thinking makes writing a valuable part of any language courses

3.    Learning style
Some students are good at picking up language just by looking and listening .  Others need time to think and to produce a language in a slower way to reflect what they have learned

4.    Writing as a skill
The most important reason for teaching writing is that it is a basic language skill, just as important as speaking, listening and reading.  Students need to know how to write letter, how to  put written reports together, they need to know some of writing’s special convention such as punctuation, paragraph construction, etc just as the need to know how to pronounce spoken English appropriately

It could be said that writing is an important language skill. It is a productive skill that shows how skillful the student is in writing and discovers the talented students in this field. In addition, writing is a way that a student can express his ideas or thoughts on the paper.

In conclusion, writing is an activity that supports students to analyze and synthesize their discrete knowledge about language items into a text that is acceptable in an English writing convention by using the appropriate paragraph structure.  Hence  to be able to write students must write


C.    Principles of teaching writing
Bryne (1988) suggests the principles for teaching writing with the following points:
1.    Teach students to write
Classroom writing tasks need to be set up in ways that reflect the writing process in good writers. We need to encourage our students to go through a process of planning, organizing, composing, and revising

2.    Provide adequate and relevant experience of the written language
Care is needed in the selection of text types for both reading and writing, always bearing in mind that students can usually read language that is more advanced than they can produce.

3.    Show students how the written language function as a system of communication
When setting writing tasks, teachers need to vary the audience, identify who the readers are to be, and try to make every piece of writing fulfill some kind of communicative purpose, either real or simulated, when students understand the context they are much likely to write effectively

4.    Teach students how to write texts
Unless you encourage the production of whole texts, you will not have the opportunity to teach all the important features that can help to make a text coherent.

5.    Teach students different kinds of texts
Students need opportunities to practice various forms and functions in writing and within these to develop the different skills involved in producing written texts

6.    Make writing tasks realistic and relevant
Classroom writing tasks should reflect the ultimate goal of enabling students to write whole texts which form connected, conceptualized, and appropriate pieces of communication


7.    Integrate writing with other skills
It will be better if   teachers design a task or activities in which we integrate writing with other skills. For example when we ask students to listen to an English song, we can provide a worksheet in which the students  will try to complete the missing words.

8.    Use a variety of techniques and practice formats
Teachers need to provide various writing activities from the controlled writing to the guided writing until free writing.  Each activity will need different techniques and practice.  Collaborative writing in the classroom generates discussions and activities which encourage an effective process of writing

9.    Provide appropriate support
The process of marking, with its traditional focus on error-correction by the teacher needs review and modification into a range of activities involving students as well s teachers, thus making revision an integral part of the process of writing. 
Students need time in the classroom for writing. The teacher’s task is to select or design activities which support them through the process of producing a piece of writing.