Focus on Writing How to Identify a Good Writing

The Writing Process:Pre-Writing The Writing Process:Drafting and

Editing Designing Controlled and Guided

Writing Tasks Designing Free Writing Tasks

ObjectivesUnderstand the featuresImportance of purposeSet up situationsDesign guided writing tasksUnderstand the process Set up different stages

Warm-up

Writing-a tool in teaching all language skills

Writing- may be a goal in itself.Writing has its practical value and

can be used as stimulus in motivating students to learn the language

Task 1 Comparing Two Pieces of Writing

1. Select two pieces of writing about the same topic. One piece should be a good one, the other should be an awkward one.

2. Design some questions to get the students to thinks about the two texts and give their comments.

Task 2 Identifying the Features of Good Writing

1.Layout: spacing, indention, handwriting or typeface should comply with convention.

2.Language:accurate spelling, right grammar, punctuating meaningfully, a range of vocabulary and an appropriate choice of words, a wide range of sentence structures.

3.Content: clear and convincing ideas with coherent fashion.

Task 3 Forming a Text from Scrambled Sentences

An example: the process of making jiaozi

Task 4 Focusing on Cohesive Devices

1. Relationship between or within sentences. (and, also, however, etc.)

2. Grammatical devices that establish links to form the cohesion of a text. (it, this, the, here, that, etc.)

3. Repetition of key words or synonymous words.

Pre-Writing

Definition: Pre-writing is a very important stage of the whole writing process. Activities at this stage may include deciding on the purpose, the audience, the contents, and the general outline.

Task 1 Developing a Sense of Purpose and a Sense of

AudienceWho are you writing for?

Are you writing for yourself, your friends, teachers, or someone you

don’t know?

Are you writing for an individual person, organization?

Task 2 Generating IdeasExploring possible content and

planning outlinesGathering information through questions and answers, group discussion, or brainstorming

Using a spider map

Task 3 Organizing Ideas

An example: work on the topic The Purposes of Writing in English

The Writing Process: Drafting and Editing

Drafting is the start. Editing is the revision and finalizing

of the composition.

Task 1 Focusing Informatio

Reason: writers need to find a focus, organize the main points and then elaborate on them in detail.

• Narrow down a topic.• Find a problem to solve.

Task 2 DraftingCaution: Good writers tend to

concentrate on getting the content right first and leave the details like correcting spelling, punctuation, and grammar until later.

Task 3 Revising ChecklistPut your writing away for some time.• Read it over. • Outline the ideas and arguments. • Examine the argumentation quality.• Read and ask questions.• Check for misspelling, punctuation

and grammar errors.

Task 4 Editing

The importance of editing: the most important activity of the post-writing stage and its purposes are to check for accuracy, provide feedback to a piece of writing for further improvement, and make the final version.

Useful guidances

Independent Pair-work editingWriting in group

Designing Controlled and Guided Writing Tasks

Task 1 Controlled Writing by Combining

1. Describing a process2. Reordering words3. Reordering sentences or

paragraphs4. Listening and reordering

Task 2 Controlled Writing by Substitution

Direct imitation: present a model and provide the new words, sentences,

paragraphs, etc.Contrastive imitation: new items

provided by the substitutions must be something different from the original.

Examples:

• Substitution of words and phrases in sentences

• Substitution of sentences in paragraphs

Task 3 Guided Writing by Completion

1. Completion by matching2. Completion by multiple-choice

questions (test, not teach)3. Completion using plans or outlines

Task 4 Guided Writing by Reproduction

• Reproduction by copying

• Reproduction by matching

Task 5 Guided Writing by Compression

Reason: examination purposes ability to paraphrasePurpose: recognize the difference

between fact and opinion

Task 6 Guided Writing by Paraphrase

1. Paraphrase by imitating

2. Paraphrase by transformation

3. Paraphrase by comparing

Designing Free Writing Tasks

One important thing about free writing tasks is that the students need stimulus before writing. A picture or sequence of pictures, a dialogue, or a letter can all be good forms of stimulus.

Task 1 Getting Ideas on the Topic

An example

Task 2 Selecting and Expanding One Idea

Also an example

Task 3 Making an Outline

Purpose: enable the students to have a clear organizations of ideas and a structure that can guide them in the actual writing.

Task 4 Writing and Improving a Draft

List possible ideas Select and expand one idea

Make an outlineWrite a draft

Correct and improve draftWrite final version

Task 5 Designing Your Own Writing Task