teaching writing

Arlenne M. Fernández

DEVELOPING WRITING

SKILLS


INDEX

Approaches to teaching writing... Process writing...

Writing genres...

Stages of writing...

Teaching framework

Practice!


"Writing is like prostitution...First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.”(Molière, playwright)


APPROACHES TO TEACHING WRITING


Why is writing such a

difficult skill to achieve? Skilled writing requires mastery if the fine motors

skill to form the written shapes and orthographic knowledge of how written symbols are combined to represent words through spelling conventions.

Curriculum material is broad and too grammatical.

Writing process is time-consuming. Teacher´s correction can be overwhelming if the

class is too large. Students do not know how to do it by themselves.


The Controlled - To - Free Approach

Audiolingual method (50s & 60s), It is sequential Students are first given sentence exercises; then

paragraphs to copy or manipulate grammatically (e.g by changing questions to statements, present to past, or plural to singular)

They might also change words to clauses or combine sentences.

With these controlled compositions, it is relatively easy for students write and yet avoid errors, which makes error correction easy.

Students are allowed to try some free composition after they have reached an intermediate level of proficiency.

As such, this approach stress on grammar, syntax, and mechanics. It emphasizes accuracy rather than fluency or originality.


This approach stresses writing quantity rather than quality.

Teachers who use this approach assign vast amounts of free writing on given topics with only minimal correction.

The emphasis in this approach is on content and fluency rather than on accuracy and form.

Once ideas are down on the page, grammatical accuracy and organization follow.

Students write freely on any topic without worrying about grammar and spelling. Teachers do not correct these pieces of free writing. They simply read them and may comment on the ideas the writer expressed.

The Free - Writing Approach


Instead of accuracy of grammar or fluency of content, the Paragraph-Pattern-Approach stresses on organization.

Students copy paragraphs and imitate model passages. They put scrambled sentences into paragraph order. They identify general and specific statements and choose to invent an appropriate topic sentence or insert or delete sentences.

This approach is based on the principle that in different cultures people construct and organize communication with each other in different ways.

The Paragraph - Pattern Approach


This approach stresses on simultaneous work on more than one composition feature.

Teachers who follow this approach maintain that writing can not be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned sequentially. Therefore, student should be trained to pay attention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax.

This approach links the purpose of writing to the forms that are needed to convey message.

The Grammar - Syntax - Organisation Approach


This approach stresses the purpose of writing and the audience for it.

Student writers are encouraged to behave like writers in real life and ask themselves the crucial questions about purpose and audience (e.g Why am I writing this?, Who will read it?)

Traditionally, the teacher alone has been the audience for student writing; howewer it´s assumed that writers do their best when writing is truly a communicative act, with a writer writing for a real reader.

So the readership may be extended to classmate

and pen pals.

The Communicative Approach


LET`S CHECK...

Content Process Audience Wordchoice

Organization Mechanics Grammar/Syntax

Controlled- toFreeFree-WritingParagraph-PatternGrammar-Syntax-OrganizationCommunicativeProcess

.


THE PROCESS APPROACH

"Process writing is learning how to write by writing” (Stone, 1995)

In this approach current emphasis focuses on the process of creating writing rather than the end product (Tompkins, 1990).

The initial focus is on creating quality content and learning the genres of writing.

When writing, students work through the stages of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing).


Teachers who use this approach provide students time to brainstorm ideas and give them feedback on the content of what they write in their drafts.

Therefore, learning to write is seen as a developmental process that helps students to write as professional authors do, choosing their own topics and genres.


Process Writing Product Writing Text as a resource for comparison Ideas as starting point More than one draft More global, focus on purpose,

theme, text type (reader is emphasised) Collaborative Emphasis on creative process

Imitate model text Organisation of ideas more important

than ideas themselves One draft Features highlighted including

controlled practice of those features Individual Emphasis on end product

A Comparison..


WRITING GENRES


Expository Writing It seeks to inform,

explain, clarify, define or instruct (writing that explains or shares information)

It includes thesis statement and controlling ideas.

Six basic steps to write an expository essay.

1) Select a topic.2) Write a thesis statement

with controlling idea (s).3) Organize it into

paragraphs.4) Write topic sentences for

the body paragraphs.5) Furnish a paragraph of

introduction (state the thesis, introduce divisions of paragraphs and gain reader´s interest)

6) Write a pragraph of conclusion.


It tells a story. Its purpose is to

entertain. Common sequence

includes: -Beginning (characters

set) -Problem - Minor resolution. - New problem. - Resolution. - Moral. Use of past tenses.

These are the elements of a narrative style:

- Setting. -

Character. - Plot. - Conflict. - Climax. -

Resolution.

Narrative Writing


It´s like painting a picture with words. It describes places, people, feelings, events. Uses vivid language (adjectives) and figurative

language.

Descriptive Writing


Writer tries to convince others to agree with our facts, share our values; adopt our way of thinking.

General characteristics of an argumentative essay:

- state position or belief,

- factual supports, - persuasive technique, - logical argument, - call to action.

Argumentative Writing


Academic writing is formal in style and there are a number of conventions to follow such as avoid abbreviations or contracted words, use passive tenses or third person, use model verbs, avoid long sentences and avoid multi-part verbs, instead use formal language.

Its basic layout is introduction, (and abstract) body, conclusion, and bibliography.

Academic Writing


Today being fat is totally bad for your health. About 30,000 fat people die every year in the UK and loads more fat people die in the USA. By 2005 more people will die of being fat than smoking and it doesn’t have to be this way, this could easily be prevented, couldn't it?

The number of deaths per year attributable to obesity is roughly 30,000 in the UK and ten times that in the USA, where obesity is set to overtake smoking in 2005 as the main preventable cause of illness and premature death.

Let`s compare... Which one is academic writing?


Technical / Lab / Book report. Literature review. Term paper. Research paper (short, argumentative) Opinion paper. Essay (expository, descriptive, argumentative). Senior thesis. Formal letters (application, complaint, etc) Email. Powerpoint presentation. Case study.

Types of Academic Writing


STAGES OF WRITING


If tasks are far beyond the immediate capacity of learners, they will either lead to frustration and/or resorting to L1-based experience and knowledge (Qi, 1998). Therefore,

tasks should be progressive (Myles, 2002). Teacher should introduce one concept at a

time, model it extensively and give numerous examples before requiring independence.

Costas Gabrielatos suggests two types of activities before the pre-writing: Focused global procedures and Global practice procedures

TEACHING FRAMEWORK


Focused Practice

Procedures

Ordering jumbled sentences to create a paragraph/text.

Dividing a text into sections/paragraphs.

Ordering jumbled paragraphs to create a text.

Inserting additional or missing information into a text (linking & signposting expressions, sentences, paragraphs).

Global Practice procedure

Creating a text from prompts (title, task, text, first/last sentence, key words/expressions, visuals, outline, tables etc.)

Re-writing a text following specific guidelines (corrections, code, comments etc.)


Strategies to encourage writing

Create a literate environment

Stick posters or positive messages and labels on the walls to familiarize students with written codes.

Have a bulletin board with weird news, news from famous people, horoscope, beauty tips, fashion styles, etc.

Have a mailbox. Make “word snakes” for

new vocabulary (HFW).

Make collages with visual representations of specific vocabulary.

Sequence an experiment.

Copy songs, rhymes or poems.

Paste labels with idioms.


Strategies to encourage writing

Encourage creative pieces of work:

Have a graffitti wall as a sort of “complaint wall”.

Make Sts fill in soundless filmstrips.

Complete cartoon strips.

Make them write postcards for a special person.

Make them keep a journal with new vocabulary.

Make them re-write a fairy story.

Make them write weather reports with pictures.

Make them design new covers for books.

Copy shopping lists or restaurant menus....


Liv Jonassen & Elizabeth Tomchak. Academic Writing. www.rgu.ac.uk/files/academic%20writing.ppt Gabrielatos, Costas (2002). ESL Writing Product and Process. ERIC, ED476839. Cheu Ching Kiing, Jenny Kong & Wong Siew Jing. ELP Writing skills. Bruton, Anthony. Process Writing and Communicative-Task-Based Instruction: Many Common Features, but More Common Limitations? TESL-EJ Dec, 2005. Vol. 9 Number 3. Stone, S. (1995). The primary multiage classroom: Changing schools for children. Tompkins, G. (1990). Teaching and writing: Balancing process and product. Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing Co. By Dr. Ghazi Ghaith. Writing. American University of Beirut in http://www.nadasisland.com/ghaith-writing.html#approaches Vanessa Steele (2004). Product and process writing: A comparison. British Council.

References


Let`s Exercise!!!

teaching writing

Documents