CHAPTER 7:

HOW WRITERS WRITE: TESTIMONY FROM AUTHORS

PHILIP PROWSE

PRESENTED BY:

NEGIN MADDAH, FATEMEH GHAFFARI,AND AREFEH FALLAH DARYASARI

Introduction

This chapter is about the process of materials writing from the writer’s perspective. It uses two snapshots: one taken in 1994 and one taken 15 years later.

The meeting of ELT materials writers from all over the world in Oxford in 1994 for a British Council Specialist Course with UK-based writers and publishers was the first snapshot.

The second snapshot was 15 years later that four leading ELT materials writers were asked to read the former ideas and reflect on their own practice.

Writers’ perspectives in 1994writing together

The points mentioned here are the accounts of ELT materials writers in 1994. they highlight importance of team-building, as well as separations in working practice.

Large teams Writing together means: sitting down at a table together. Although

the actual writing process happens in the same room, collecting materials is writer’s task.

Each one draft a unit: First each person draft a unit then each reads the other’s unit and criticizes.

The actual writing definitely takes place individually. First the team of writers meet and agree on an overall approach and methodology. Then they go away to write their own chunks. Then they meet to comment on each others work to improve their chunks with the benefit of the feedback.

Sometimes the size of the team is rather unusual and lots of people, teachers, inspectors, trainers. For example the textbook team that made up of 13 members.

In team-working, team players should be frank and accept constructive criticism and being confident but not arrogant.

One of the writers mentioned that working with co-authors who are virtual strangers and who are representing the country for which the book is intended is a relationship full of stresses and strains which result from approaching the project from totally different angles.

Drawbacks of team-working: Mismatch between individual working styles

Mismatch between individual writing styles

Unstandardized units

A longer than usual time for decision as we must give credit to every one’s idea in order to reach solution agreed.

Advantages of team-working: Variety of ideas

Wider range of information and methodological sources

getting together from different parts of the country and sharing different areas of interest, conceptions and ideas.

Decisions taken from the whole team Content of the book

The topics to be covered

The balance of skills

The treatment of vocabulary and grammar

The culture and civilization input

Project coordinator and UK consultants’ job Planning

Setting up deadlines and seeing that these are met

Updating all members and persons related to the project on progress of work and results

Organizing piloting of the materials

Ensuring standardization

Avoiding overlap

Reviewing the materials

Workshops (organization, management and reports)

Relationships with the publishers

The mode of working the writers agreed on:

During a first workshop : the group decide on different parts of a unit then units are allocated to each member.

writers devise units accordingly, send them to the project coordinator for checking and the consultants get them for suggestions as well.

In about three months the group meets again with the project coordinator and the consultants and common agreement for all lessons is obtained.

Pair working One of the writers believe that working at a distance is better. To

avoid serious disagreements and to work faster. After writing a draft the co-author comment on and adapt it if necessary.

Some writers in collaborative writing first decide on the topic to work on then collecting materials and ideas. Then pool the materials and decide about order and usefulness. Then trying things out and reverse them. In some team-workings a member of the team becomes scribe and writes what others dictate to him/her after elaborate discussion.

One of the good ways to work in a team is, using compatible computers. First they have meetings and then each works on different units. Then they post the disks containing the rough draft to each other and instead of commenting on it rewrite the lesson and send it back and then they sit down together at one computer and get the lesson all in order.

How to work together is clearly something which occupies materials writers. In the points given here we can distinguish pairs who works closely together, pairs who compliments each other, and larger teams where management of the writing process becomes as important as the writing itself. As a writing team gets larger, the benefits it receives from diversity can be outweighed by the negative effects of personal and professional disagreements, but a larger team can draw on deeper reserves of energy and experience.

The creative process In this process writers mention that: the real work for them is originating the drafts of a lesson. Although it’s a hard work, no work is more rewarding. The process begins with checking the course design requirements for the lesson to be written. And deciding in which authentic context the target structures or vocabulary are likely to be heard or read. After thinking about this, the writer looks for input texts (listening/reading materials in the lesson) from old newspapers, going to the library, etc. Then he decides on the stages of the lesson, and covers the principle and secondary syllabuses. Everything should occur in activity sequences with a beginning, a middle and an end. So that a communicative context is established and this usually involve an ingenuity.

Of course, there is a lot of polishing, revising and finishing to do, which is usually done in collaboration with an editor.

Writing is not just sitting down at the table and working. The ideas and intentions boil in writer’s mind, and take quite a while to mature, then at some point the writer feels he can start writing.

Writing is fun, because it’s creative.

Writing can be frustrating, when ideas don’t come.

Writing brings joy, when inspiration comes, when your hand cannot keep up with the speed of your thoughts.

Writing is absorbing― the best materials are written in trances.

Writing improves with practice, but everybody needs a bit of a push to face up to their first writing assignments.

Writing is addictive― after you have completed your first job you keep asking for more

Writing is a tortuous activity. A writer think a lot, not about the mechanics of writing, but about making a bonafide beginning, and about keeping things organized while he writes and for a writer planning takes place everywhere.

The main difference is that, in materials writing the writer needs to start from the germ of an idea. Then he might just let it simmer a way, give it a stir from time to time, and then at a certain point have a closer look at it. The writer draws heavily on his own experience. He might look through what other people have done, but he basically rely on his own intuition.

Two unstated assumption should be mentioned here:

The syllabus precedes the creation. An alternative view is to base lesson materials on topics and activities which are of interest and value in themselves, and derive the actual syllabus from the materials, using checklists were necessary to ensure sufficient coverage.

Coverage is another unspoken assumption, as if teaching materials can encapsulate the whole of the language, rather than offer a series of snapshots of it.

Working with publishers These days major course book series are usually commissioned by publishers rather than suggested by authors.

The typical writing process includes:

Initial stage Research on new level by talking to teachers and looking at/

teaching materials.

Meeting with co-author to discuss and draft the basic rational. This includes book and unit structure, and a draft grammar syllabus.

Creation of draft unit, planning of unit usually together and then divided up and worked on them individually. Done on computer and faxed backgrounds and forward for comments. At this stage editors are not involved.

Submit the draft unit/grammar syllabus to publisher and send out to readers to catch diverse opinions.

Meanwhile

Building up ideas for other syllabuses, vocabulary, writing in terms of activity type and topic. Also build up a bank of authentic texts which we feel we can use or adapt.

Meeting with the designer and art editor to discuss about the “look” of the book.

Meeting with the publisher and project manager after receiving comments to share ideas and views.

First draft At this stage the author should not be worry about writing to the page, detailed art briefs, recording, keys, etc.

The authors send the first draft to about 14 readers, and after receiving their comments there is a meeting with publishers (when changes in content and philosophy may occur). At this stage the focus is on big issues rather than silly ones.

Second draft

This stage is done over an intensive period and involve a lot of changes: Finding new texts, cutting out presentation, adding other activities, etc.

At this stage the author starts to write ‘to the page’ with an eye on design and layout. This draft sent to readers and they comments on the micros (details). At this stage the Workbook and Teacher’s book should be written.

Third draft At this stage publishing team are involved. The finished unites which the author write will be copy-edited and sent back usually requesting drastic cuts. There are also meeting with designers and editors.

Finally

When the author finish working, there is six stressful months of production work, specially in the area of design, cuts and rubrics.

The writer refers to the publishing team which consist of a publisher, an editor, a designer and one or more editors(work on materials in detail).

Two new developments are: input from marketing and the rise of the freelance editor.

For the most UK publishers the influence of the marketing team is important. Particularly, more market-specific courses are produced. It is input from marketing that sets the parameters of writing.

The relationship between writers and editors is as important as the relationship within the writing team. In the past materials were produced by the publishers own staff cost pressure and ‘down-sizing’ lead to the increasing of freelance editor. It is neither good nor bad in itself, but in a major project can lead to the authors having to relate to an increasing large number of ‘new’ people, with the consequent ‘getting to know you’ phase occupying more and more time.

Designer and illustrator The design of the book is important for authors, so a design for the book of the students page is finalized before writing, and the writer write to fit the design.

There are sometimes problems for illustratrators:

The maxim of illustrator: any one illustrator can either read or draw. So either she read or draw but the learner’s won’t be able to do the corresponding exercise because some of the elements of the illustration are wrong or missing.

Suspension of Gricean maxims: you can’t assume anything with an illustrator. Learning to write a tight art brief may be the most difficult subskill of the EFL writer’s trade.

For example if the writer want to say ‘desert scene’ it is better to specify the features of desert.

While the two problems as happening are not common, it is clear that in publishing the design and illustration can make or break a book.

Technology

Using the text through disk as well as paper was the norm by1994.

Publishers desire to set text direct from disk was because of the disks that have to submitted without any wonderful design and layout.

Now a days, none of the authors would like to go back the days that they use manual writing with pen, pencil and typewriter.

A time and place to write Another factor that the authors consider when they want to write is time and place.

Authors’ idea about time and place is different.

Some points that authors said about time and place are:

Distractions

A special and calm place

Private time

Private place

Conclusion

A different set of prompts different responses

Our concern is if this prompts had focused more on learning principles and objectives, and less on syllabus, ideas, and procedures.

And also we are interested in learning more about a relationship between writers and the classroom, the publisher’s view of writers, the teacher’s view of materials, and the learner’s perception of the whole process.

Reflections 15 years laterThe influence of the market Don’t write for yourself.

Remember you are writing for a market.

Know the market (get as much information as you can about the market and write for the market)

Course books which the writer is involved should be researched with repeated visits such as:

Classroom observation of lessons

Discussions with students about their interests

Individual and focus group discussions with teachers

Meeting with educational advisers and planners

Discussions with methodologists and teacher trainers working in the market

Finally when the course is published, a market visits continue for promotion but also see the materials in action and gather feedback for further editions.

The ELT writer and technology The original article focused on the technical aspects of writing.

Pete Sharma emphasizes the use of technology by writers to research the language itself and the content of materials. World Wide Web as a source for text is vastly improved access to authentic text.

Authentic text : the best source of rich and varied comprehensible input for language learners.

Before the revolution in corpus linguistics it was common for writers to invent sentences to exemplify a grammar point, or present a lexical item.

Now a days, such artificial sentences would be ridiculed because writers can access real examples of how language works.

A corpus is a ‘collection of texts, written or spoken, stored on a computer’. To study a word in context, the writer can simply go to a free web concordance, type in a word, hit ‘enter’ and then look at a resulting concordance line. Coursebook writers use professional concordancing tools such as WordSmith and MonoConc or subscribe to programs such as Sketch Engine which can provide detailed profiles of words.

Using the internet The World Wide Web is a rich source of knowledge for writers, as well as inspiration on every topic imaginable. Search engines such as Google make searches quick and painless. Sites such as Wikipedia provide information instantly, and are largely accurate. Texts from websites can be cut and pasted into a Word document. This makes us able to re-purposing an original piece of writing. Texts from different sources can be merged. Of course, it is much easier for any writer to plagiarize. On the other hand it could be argued that it has always been possible to copy other people’s ideas and words; technology has just made it easier.

Writing together In this two contributions Sue Kay and Jeff Stranks reflect how co-authors work together, coming to differing conclusions about being in the same room. The Writer’s experience is that working face to face is essential for the initial planning, brainstorming, creative phases as well as for discussion of material and reviewing. But new technology can mean that authors can ‘virtually’ be in the same room.

Sue Kay’s experience : Their starting point was finding that they both had the same ideas about what was missing in the market, and what sort of course book they would like to use with the students. As they were not manufactured by a publisher. Their open minded publishers accepted their unsolicited manuscript.

With the help of some highly creative people, they managed to write a course that stands up to the ‘litmus test’ they wrote down over ten years ago before they had written a word: ‘does it work in the classroom? Are the students having fun?’

They couldn’t write in the same room cause they were close friends and they couldn’t concentrate on writing. So they brainstorm ideas together. Then she would type lots of ideas into a word document and send them to her writing partner for his reaction.

They would choose the best topics and texts together. One would work on reading texts and audio content, and the other one would work on the language development aspect of the course, using these texts as springboard.

She says that they can’t imagine writing a course with someone who lives on a different continent. Regular editorial meeting had given impetus to the writing process.

Jeff Stranks’s experience: he worked with more than one co-author so things can vary a bit. The primary one is that of synergy― just being in the same room helps! Writing is a creative process of course, but that also varies in degrees. So when it’s the really creative staff then there is nothing to beat thrashing it out with one or more co-authors and that requires being in the same room― not always easy when you live continents apart, but if you have sympathetic publishers the distances can be regularly overcome.

There are also the less creative moments such as :

Writing the grammar exercise

Producing the questions for a text

Checking and polishing a manuscript before delivery

The above tasks need careful attention but don’t require much creative energy or synergy.

Much of those tasks can be done alone, but its better if your colleague is in the same room cause firstly, it’s a sense of working together and secondly, (personal idea) the avoidance strategies are more easily diverted.

They put away almost all of their hobbies, so more work gets done and hence deadlines get met or better still, beaten.

So work together whenever feasible. Email, Skype and the like are great, but, as in any relationship, eventually a poor substitute for being there.

Creative process Jeremy Harmer’s insight into how the creative process works for him chimes with Mishan(2005: 59) recommendation: ‘what is suggested here is a text-driven approach, one that is … learner-centered and works in a converse fashion [to PPP], in that it starts with (authentic) texts, and drives the language features to be studied from these’.

It differs from the experienced task designer quoted in Johnson (2003: 93): ‘I guess I am going to try to put together ideas that I have already used in some new way or put together ideas that I have seen in books, in resources elsewhere, and combine them in my own way. That’s how I usually do these sort of things. And maybe something new and revolutionary will turn up in the process’.

Harmer’s conclusion compares writing to teaching, and at the end, the comparison of how writers write now and 15 years ago.

First of all he looks for a topic or approach that engages students and teachers. But the danger is that he will fill the book with what interests him or people like him in the society and geographical reality that he inhabits.

Then he starts to question his choice to see if it has a chance of involving other ‘different’ people. When he fixed on a topic, it is time for what he named as classroom-in-my-mind and he tries to bring the topic into that classroom.

First he concerned about the engagement and now what language he should focus on and, what words and grammar he can mine for the texts and situation.

Writing a coursebook material is like having all the resources available but you have to locate them without a map, while you cant see or move. You know what you look for but it’s difficult to find, and even if you find it’s difficult to ‘knock it to shape’. Also you know there is no guarantee that other teachers and students will see things the way you do, or understand what you were hoping to achieve.

And then there ‘s the issue of how much you can expect students and teachers to ‘dialogue’ with each other if and when you offer them topics to explore or conversations to create; there are issues of how to make a book live in an age when YouTube and podcasts are there for everyone to use, and when the governor of California wants to cut costs by replacing textbooks with the internet. Is a book the right kind of teaching aid anyway, and if so, for who? these are the thoughts that lurk at the back of consciousness ready to invade us with doubt and uncertainty whenever we have a moment to stop and think!

Coursebook writing has always been like this: a genuine wish to provide material that will brighten any class, a desire to offer reliable material for the most put-upon teacher; a matter of excitement and compromises; an act of creativity that all too often seems suffocating and doomed. But when, against all the odds, and in light of linguistic and methodological constraints, you actually manage to make something that you know will work, the feeling is fantastic. It’s not actually that much different from teaching; we don’t always teach great classes ,but when we do we want to shout it from the rooftops. That’s what it’s like on the rare occasions when coursebook writers get it right’.

So, whistle much has changed in 15 years, the essential truth that coursebook writing is a creative rather than a mechanical process remains. The digital revolution may mean that in the future the ‘print’ coursebook as we know it vanishes, and the electronic materials which replace it are multi-authored packages assembled to meet the requirements of particular group of students.

Coursebook writers may increasingly be paid fees for sets of materials rather than sharing the risk of creating a whole book or series with the publisher by getting royalties.

Nevertheless, the act of writing will remain an art which can provide satisfaction for the author as well as contributing to the learner’s education. Publishing reaching materials will also remain a team effort involving people with a range of complementary skills, even if those team members may not be in the same room, or even continent. The reward for writers will also continue to be the same: not pecuniary (except in a few lucky cases), but personal, as in watching a class use your material successfully or meeting a student who says with a big grin, ‘I learned English from your book’.

The End