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[,ongmanGrouPUK Limited' Burnt llttill, Harlotr' Hotrsc' Lort-gntan 655.'1f.1/20 2JE. England lltc Ihrottgltotrt vorld' Companics i,ri ,.tttoriored ,OLongman GrouPUK Limited 19E8 publication no f,tt ,lioir,t resert'ed; part o.fthis storedin a relrteral syslern' nnt"be reproduced' tttcut,ts, el.ectronic. in .[orntor b1'..artt' u,l'|,routrritted an.v or recordtng' ottter)t'tsc' photocopring' ntechanit'al, o-[ ,,ri,iri,t the'prior u'r'iircnperrnissiort thc Ptrblisher's' 1988 First published 1993 impression Sixth Data in British Library Cataloguing Publication Bvme,Donn, 1929-Teaching writing skiils'-Newed'teachers)' handlooks for language fi""g*it i. Eriglishlanguage-Writing-Stud.v and teaching I. Title 808',.042',07 PE1404

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rsBN 0-58e-?'1b51-5
Catalogingin Publication Data Library of Congress Bvrne.Donn. 1929writrng skills' Teaching teachers) language frong*i" handbooksfor and index' , . inclulesbibliographies and i. englittt language--Study teaching-Foreign an c.-.Studv d tanguage-Rhetori t. Engiistr" ,p;;kd and exercises ;;;;hl;;. i. rnltitt' tanluale-c-omposition I' --StuOy-unO teaching' Title' II' !erle^s,^ 87-4238 808','042 pE1128.A28938 i988 l-5 ISBN 0-582-7465 (Pbk.) PublishersPte Ltd Producedby Longman Singapore Printed in SingaPore Acknowledgements to reproduce We are gratefulto the following for permission coplrighl illustrativematerial: Series' PLC fbr page 39 (top) (TakenAom the Foundation (Taken Cassell for page24 t4tririnsI by Louise wooitj;'iollins Publishers r,rsiitn gooi{'t bv Vincent' Foll and Cripweli; rt"^?nrh, page 58 (Taken from wr.iting in Macmillan PubiishersLi-it.o io. ';;;i;;i;t pages Thomas Ne6ol and SonsLimited for Anita Pincas; Reprinted bv page 94; i4rl Functr pruii.utlo"t Limited for ;;";;; 122' 2l unlt.oF.aiuie synalcate'Inc for pages and oitrti*i"t oi

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Contents
Preface 1 The nature and purposeof writing 1.1 What is writing? 1.2 What do we write? 1.3 Speech writing and 1.4 Why writing is difficult 1.5 Learning write:mothertongue to andforeignlanguage situations compared 1.6 Why teachwriting? Discussion/Exercises/References 2 Learningto use the resources the written language of 2.1 Understanding how the written language functions 2.2 The reseurces the writtenlanguage of Discussion/Exercises/References 3 Generalprinciplesfor teachingwriting 3.1 Approaches teaching to writing 3.2 The stateof the art 3.3 The role of guidance 3.4 The needs the learners of Discussion/Exercises/Refere nces 4 Writing in the early stages 4.1 Somebasic considerations 4.2 Copyingasa writing acrivity 4.3 Reinforcement activities 4.4 Sentence linkingactivities 4.5 Communication activities 4.6 Writingfor fun Discussion/Exercises/Refere nces 5 Developing kills s 5.1 The importance demonstrating of progress 5.2 Reinforcement activities 5.3 Sentence linkingandsequencing activities 5 . 4 R e p r o d u c t i oe x e r c i s e s n 5.5 Communication activities 5.6 Writingfor fun Discussion/Exercises/References iii

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C o ntextsfor wr iting: the use of texts 6 .1 The textascontext activities 6 .2 Com Pr ehension (r.3 Note- taking sum m ar ising and re rcises/Refences DiscussioniExe

C o ntextsfor wr iting: the use of visualm ater ial consider ations 7 .1 Somegener al 1 .2 The role of the teacher examples som e m 7 .3 The useof visual ater ial: Discussion/Exercises/References In tegr atedskills skills of 8 .1 The impor tance integrating t 8 . 2 P r o j e cw o r k 8 .3 Skillsequences activities for as 8.4 Simulations a framework rvriting Discussion/Exercises/References level Writing at the post- inter mediate ar 9 .1 Pr oblem eas approach work: the valueof a functional 9.2 Remedial procedures 9.3 Freewriting:somesuggested nces Discussion/Exercises/Refere

E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E ts

1 0 Correctingwritten work
10.L Errorsandmistakes correction and student 1,0.2Teacher 10:3 Correction Procedures ere rcises/Ref nces D iscussion/Exe for 1 1 Wr iting activities childr en wr for 1 1.1 Reasons teaching iting I 1 . 2 W r i t i n ga c t i v i t i e s Discussion/Exercises/References

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1 2 T e achingthe Englishscr iPt


of 1 2.1 The needs the lear ner s shapes 12.2 Letter script for L2.3 Procedures teaching Discussion/Exercises/References
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devices Cohesive Appendix: BibliographY

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Preface
The mainpurpose thisbookin its revised of editionremains unchanged: to various writingactivities, kindsof showhow both guided exercises develop to particular skillsandcommunication tasks involving freeexpression, be can writingprogramme. built up into a coherent Throughsucha programme is it intendedthat the learners shouldnot only makesystematic progress, through their growingmastery the writtenlanguage, alsoseehow writing is used of but of for the purpose communication. The book hasbeenextensively revised ensure to that it reflects current practice. methodological Integrated skills, highlighted evenin the firstedition, now havea chapter theirown.The numberof examples beenexpanded of has throughout,so that the book canbe usedfor resource material.In particular, the activities the Writingfor/un sections in shouldprovea usefulandflexible additionfor any teaching situation. written work and teaching Correcting havenow beenexpanded chapters, thereis a completely handwriting into and on new chapter teaching children. The substance thisbook is based of on.teacher-training courses, seminars givenoverthe lastfifteen and lectures years. series seminars teaching A of on writing which I had to givein Latin Americain the earlyseventies me set whilethe interestand encouragement the thinkingaboutthe subject, of of whichI taughtat Concordia students 'Course317'on 'Composition' obligedme to givemy viewson teaching University,Montreal,in 1976, writing and a little more cohesion coherence. However,a spellbackin the classroom, and with adolescents children, mademe appreciate onceagainwhat every to teacherknows:that it is not enough do the'right' things.The 'writingfor camedirectlyout of that experience. fun' activities

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1.1 What is writing?

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that or s1'rnbols: is, letters combinations of Whenwe rvrite,we usegraphic rve On to thesounds makewhenwe speak. onelevel,then, whichrelate letters makingmarkson a symbols: writingcanbe saidto be the actof formingthese muchmorethantheproduction of somekind. But writingis clearly flat surface just of is The symbols, asspeech morethanthe production sounds. of graphic conventions, form words, to to according certain haveto be arranged, symbols we although again canbe to andwordshaveto be arranged form sentences, 'writing'if we aremerely of makinglistsof words,asin inventories saidto be lists. itemssuchasshopping or we As a rule,horvever, do not writejustbnesentence evena numberof arranged a in of We e sentences. produc a sequence sentences unrelated ways.The sequence may be very in particularorderand linkedtogetlter certain of only trvoor threesentences but, because theway the short- perhaps theyform a coherent havebeenput in orderandlinkedtogether, sentences whole.They form lvhatwe maycalla'text'. a methods composing text, of Not a greatdealis knownaboutindividual - wouldagree -.professional thatit is rvriters amongthem but mostpeople writingcomes activitv. Sometimes nor neitheran easy a spontaneous usually 'mood'or havea clearandperhaps needto pressing if easily, we arein the right mentaleffort:we someconscious but something, asa ruieit requires express 'think out' our sentences consider waysof combining and arranging various and to rvhatwe haverl rittenasa stimulus furtherwriting.Other them.We reread We andrevising. mayevenrvrite are notes, drafting practices making common \\'e with the result.Noticc'for of versions a textbefore aresatisfied several page2. his corrected modified draftof the textt'rtt and how the rvriter example, the Writinginvolves writing a reader. for The reason thisis thatwe are for lnto our of of encoding a message somekind: that is, we translate thoughts of or involves decoding interpretation thismcssaqe. the Reading language. nhen rvearewritingfor ourselvs5 lrtlr occitsions on But. exceDt those

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shoppinglist may h:tvebeenfor this purpose- the readeris someonewho ls present.This, after all. is why we normally choosethis particular not physicall.v And rather than the more common one of speech. channelof communication present.and in somecitses may not even be known to our readeris not because u s , w e h a v et o ensurethat what we 4{2.rA write can be T-h.ere{6ire ninety cases of polio occurri'ig / '-(rh,/ understoodwithout lf ' e{ v..ti}.tf,r* L^n"^ any further help from us. This is the ^49days@ reasonfor the care we have to take f+dtbtl hfilee'lre*c with writing. It is LE L^ by the organisation hie hei*c'mctc+ a n o t h e r personnecef of our sentences into a text, into a ad received the Cutter vaccine, coherentwhole which is as explicit as possibleand In seventy-one of these cases *,her completein itself, ;f that we are able (or Ci=essc t'hea+ c o n n e c t i o n c o u l d b e s h o w n hope to be able) to A communicate with successfully tlrct with particular Iots of the vaccine6 our reader through the medium of M writing.

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1.2 What do we write?

we It is helpfulto keepin mind someof the manyuses are likely to makeof level,mostof ususewritingto makea note on writing.For example, a personal to list), (things haveto do or wantothers do, like our shopping we of something We and we of andto keeprecords things wantto remember. sendmessages Most of ushaveto fill in anda few of uskeepdiaries. to write letters friends, - for example, insurance (especially for applications formsfrom time to time - or questionnaires) occasionally writeformalletters (for example, if we and will of u'echange job). Apart from this,the amount writingwe do regularly our gooddealof time writing a life. mightspend relateto our professional Some etc. this reports. For others will onlybe an occasional letters, instructions. activity. any Few of us,on the otherhand,arelikelyto spend timewritingpoetry (My daily or fiction.And, outside classroom, neverwrite 'compositions' the we routine,My favourite pastime, ) of the kind that arestill a featureof many etc. examinationsl A comparison between speech writingshould some and helpusto understand of the difficulties experience we whenwe write.The tableon the nextpage highlights maindifferences. the Note,however, it does takeinto that not

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1.3 Spe e c h n d a writing 2

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account certainsituations whichthe spokenlanguage used,suchas in is telephoning lecturing. and Althoughwritingis clearly muchmoredependent how effectively on we usethe linguistic resources the language of (see1.4.2), wouldbe wroneto it conclude that all the advantages on the sideof speech. are While it is tru! that in writingwe havethe taskof organising sentences our carefully asto make so our meaning explicit possible as as withoutthe helpof feedback from the reader, the otherhandwe do not normally on haveto write quickly:we can rewrite and reviseour sentences until we are satisfied that we haveexpressed 'our meaning. Equally,the reader in a moreprivileged is position thanthe listenerto someextent:he canreadat his own paceand rereadasoften ashe likes.In thisway, then,some the disadvantagescommunicating of of through the writtenmediumareoffset.

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SPEECH
1 Takesplacein a context, which often makesreferences clear(e.g. ' fhatth i ng over th ere'I 2 S p e a k e a n d l i s t e n e r ( sn r i) c o n t a c t I n t e r a ca n d e x c h a n q e . t roles p 3 U s u a l l y e r s o na d d r e s s e ds i soecif ic 4 l m m e d i a t e f e e d b a c ki v e na n d g expected ( a ) v e r b a l :q u e s t i o n sc o m m e n t s , . . . m u r m u r sg r u n t s , (b) non-verbal:facial expressions 5 S p e e c h s t r a n s i t o r yI.n t e n d e do i t b e u n d e r s t o o dm m e d i a t e l vl . i f not, listenerexpected interact to S e n t e n c e o f t e ni n c o m p l e t e n d s a sometimes ngrammatical. u H e s i t a t i o na n d p a u s e s o m m o n s c a n d u s u a l l y o m er e d u n d a n c y s and repetition 7 Rangeof devices(stress, i n t o n a t i o np i t c h , p e e d ) t oh e l p , s c o n v e ym e a n i n g . a c i a l F expressions, body movements a n d g e s t u r e s l s ou s e df o r t h i s a pu rpose

WRITING
1 Creates own contextand its t h e r e f o r e a st o b e f u l l y e x p l i c i t h

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3 Readernot necessarily known to writer 4 No immediateeedback ossible. p f Writer may try to anticipate reader'seactions nd r a incorporate them into text

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5 W r i t i n gi s p e r m a n e n tC a n b e . rereadas often as necessarv and at own soeed 6 Sentences expected be to c a r e f u l l y o n s t r u c t e d ,n d l i n k e d c a a n d o r g a n i s e do f o r m a t e x t t

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D e v i c e so h e l p c o n v e ym e a n i n g t , a r e p u n c t u a t i o nc a p i t a l s n d a ( u n d e r l i n i n g f o re m p h a s i s ) . Sentence oundaries learly b c indicated

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F why writing is a difficult activityfor most we can norvbegin to understand F p e o p l e . b o t h i n t h e m o t h e r t o n g u e a n d i n a f o r e i g n l a n g u a g- . W e s h a l l l o o k a t e rvriti'g under three headings by irr" irour"rns which are caused F psychological'Iinguisticand.ognitiu.-althoughtheseinevitablyoverlapto F s o m ee x t e n t .
Speechisthenaturalandnormalmediumofcommunicationforusinmost c i r c u m s t a n c e s a n d a c c u s t o m s u s b o t h t o h a v i n g S o m e o n e p h y s i c a l l ythe s e n t E pre of somekind. Writing, on we uselunguug"and to gettingfeedback when and the fact that we are required t<; F other hand. is essentiallya solitary activity or the benefit of own, without the possibilityof interaction write on our feedback.initselfmakestheactofwritingdifficult.

1.4 WhYw r i t i n g i s difficult

1 1.4. Psychological problems

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Linguistic problems

F except o.f through a process. interactionand' is oral communication sustained participantshelp to keep it such as a lecture, t^he in specialcircumstances. we have little time to pay is speech normallyspontaneous' going. Because o o structure r to connecting ur o a t t e n t i o ne i t h e rt o o r q a n i s i n g u r s e n t e n c e of the latter is maintainedthrough the process to sentences: some F "it.nt ald so on, dependingonhow interaction.We repeat.backtrack,expand p e o p l e r e a c t t o w h a t w e s a y ' I n c o m p l e t e a n d e v e n u n g r a m m a theasampleofc e s -F tic lutteran featuresare illustratedin usuallypassunnoticed.Someof these ts below: u'hichhasbeen transcribed conversation

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p i a n o 'l s t h a t h o w y o u t P e t e y o u c o m p o s e dh i s p i e c ea t t h e , w normallY ork? b e t h a t T i g f ' ] c h a n g et n A l w a y s ,U p t o t h i s p o i n t ,a l w a y s l' t m a y k n o w 'w o r k i n gf r o m w t h e f u t u r e , h e n t f e l m o r ei n t o ,y o u do write at the witfr syntn'uritttt,but at the moment I r.iurct.r l w r i t t e nt h i s u n t i l I 'r r p i a n p . c t u a l l y o i o n ; t . . - . h a r d l yr e a l i s e c'ld A j u s t d r o p p e do u t o f t l r e t h a d! ( L a u g n s .O n eo i t h o s et h i n g st h a t skvI , W e l l ,h o w d i d Y o us t a r t t h e n ? a , e r m ,a s o r to f m u s i c afl l a v o u rt h a t w e o E r ,w e l l ,w e d e c i d e d n n r a n d 'e r m ' j u s t ; ; ; ; i J ; ; " p t f o r ,t o t l t ' ' i t ' p a ' t i c u l a ru m b e y'o u k n . o . w 'r ' w e ' ' ' E r f o l l o w e dw h e r em y f i n g e i st o o k m e ' . e a l l y ' a a n dd o o d l i n g t t h e i , f n u O i n i n t r ol ' d l ' ' f i u u t ; u t tn o o d l i n g pianol p i a n ow i t h t h i s ' ' ' l s o u n do f

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at of range devices our disposal . we As we haveseen, alsohavea considerable to h e l p g e to u rmeaningacr oSS.Inwr iting,wehavetocom p.ex T :" - I^" ::l :. open ! we features: haveto t ""p the chamelof communicati<ln of absence these t h r o u g h o u r o w n e f f o r t s a n d t o e n s u r e ' b o t h t h r o u g h o usequencecl' e n t e n r c h o i c e o fthai ! s and andby the way our senten.., ur" linkedtogether structure E on own' can the textwe produce be interpreted its
1.4.J

Cognitive probierns
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much of our i spend to We growup learnrng speakandin normalcircumstances ! t i m e d o i n g i t . W e a l s o a p p e a r t o s p e a k w i t h o u t m u c h c o n s c i o u are of r t o r which s e f f o aboutmatters we and generally talk becau,"*. wantto, thought
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interestor relevantto us socially professionally. or Writing,on the other hand is learnedthrougha process instructiorz: have to masterthe written form of we of the language to learncertainstructures and which are lessusedin speech, or perhaps usedat all, but whichare importantfor effective.o.muni.ution in not writing. We alsohaveto learnhow to organise ideasin sucha way that they our can be understood a readerwho is not presentand perhaps a readerwho by by is not known to us. Finally,writingis a taskwhichis often imposed us, perhaps on by circumstances. not only hasa psychological This effect;it may alsocause a problemin termsof content what to say.Beingat a lossfor ideasis a familiar experience mostof us whenwe are obligedto write. to 1.5 Learning to write: mother tongue and foreign language situations compared So fa'rwe havelookedat writing in general, without drawingany distinction between writing in the mothertongueand writing in a foreignlanguage. Clearly,however,thereare importantdifferences, particularly the learnine in situation, attention now drawnto these. and is Most children learnto writein theirmothertongueat school, generally between ages five and seven. this time they havea well-developed the of By command the spoken of language, adequate least their social at to needs, but their experience the writtenlanguage still very limited. Most childrenwill of is of course havebeenexposed it to somedegree to throughbeingreadto aloud. writing itself,however, a totallynew experience mostof them. is for Most childrenacquire this new skill fairly laboriously. the other hand, On they are requiredto makeregularuseof it, both in classes devotedto writing practiceand, astheir education progresses, other lessons in (history, geography, etc.) whichinvolvesomeform of relatedand purposeful written work. Certaintypesof writing,particularly thosewhichinvolveprojectioninto adult-type roles,tendto cause them difficulty.Many children,in fact, simply do not enjoy writing,partlybecause the natureof the taskandpartly of because, of school, haslittle valuefor them asa form of social out it interaction, although mostcultures ability to write carries in the prestige. Very few childrensucceed becoming in reallyproficientat writing and manycease to usethis skill oncetheyleaveschool, useit only occasionally-for or specialised purposes (e.g.fillingin forms). In the light of this,we should,asforeignlanguage teachers, ableto be makecertainassumptions, subject course culturalvariations, of to and to avoid makingothers.Most of our students alreadybe familiarwith the process will of writing, unless theyarevery young,in whichcase writing will not - and should not - figurevery prominently the foreignlanguage in programme. Thev may haveto learna new scriptbut writing itselfwill not be a new experience for them. They are alsolikely to havehad a fairly wide experience written of language throughreading their mothertongue.They may alsobe at an age in when they canlearnthroughreadingand perhaps written language has the cometo havesomepsychological valuefor them asa form of supportwhen learning something new. We should assume, not however, that theyareproficient writingin their at mothertongue, thattheyalready or skills possess necessary the organisational for writingeffectively. should assume the abilityto writein the Nor we that mothertongue canbe transferred the foreignlanguage, to some although
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S W TEACHING RITING KILLS

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to global transfer,as with readingability, often seems take place(that is, easilybecomeliterate in their own language ieopte who are highly literatein of previousexperience learningto that the students' nnoiher;. It is alsopossible was frustratingor writing in their own language write and of practising unrewarding.At for their attitudestowardslearningto write in a foreign may at we language. are rarely in a positionto make any assumptions all: these ,un"g"fiom no interest at all to a firm belief in its value to them as learners. One very significantfactor which affectswriting in the foreign language time is classroom that. even if we delaythe introductionof writing for some disposal will have at their which the learners (see4.1), the amountof language - so limited that it might seemto make it io, *riting will be very limited impossibleto introduce any meaningfulform of writing practice' At thesame time, the learners,being more mature than they were when they learned to of write in their mother tongue, are conscious the limitations which the foreign of on imposes the expression their ideas.To resolvethis problem it language going to will be necessary strike some sort of balancewhich preventsthem from beyond their linguistic attainmentin the foreign languageand yet will still which satisfythem on an intellectuallevel. provide them u,ith writing activities

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1.6 Why teach writ in g ?

how withoutlearning language a to it Clearly is possible learnto speak foreign eventhe majorityof them, perhaps to wriie in iiand for manyof our students, evenafter writing will be the skill in whichthey arenot only leastproficient, but practice, alsothe onefor whichtheywill havethe leastuse. considerable we is The situation not sovery differentin the mothertongue,aS havealready capacity' for except thoseof uswho usewritingin someprofessional Seen, writingis a skillwhichis both limitedin valueand difficult therefore, Because, it' in we to acquire, shouldbe very clearaboutour purpose teaching writing oral proficiency, orientedtowards of stages a course tn ttreearly. purposes: pedagoglcal a serves variety of, us of andpractice someform of writing enables to (a) The introduction especially Somelearners, andneeds. providefor differentliarning styles alone,feel more secure throughoral practice thor. who do not learneasily For to if they are allowed readandwrite in the language. suchstudents, they feel more at if writing is likely to be an aid to retention, only because andrelaxed. ease evidence with sometangible to (b) Written work serves providethe learners likely to be a true It in that they aremakingprogress the language. is not need' a it satisfiespsychological but indexof their attainment, onceagain throughmorethan one medium, to (c) Exposure the foreignlanguage to appears be more effective if especially skillsareproperlyintegrated, levelthere Evenat an elementary mediumalone. than relyingon a singie skills' integrate that effectively for are manyopportunities activities as serving a breakfrom activities, varietyin classroom (d) Writing provides time for both a orat*ori (andis therefore quieterandmorerelaxed the time,it increases amountof At and students teacherl). thesame work that canbe setout of class. through contact language

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(e) Writingis oftenneeded formaland informal.testing. for Althoughin general oral abilityshould measured be throughoral tests, practice in we areoftenobliged circumstances, asthe amountof time we haveat by such and our disposal the number students of thereare in the class, usesome to form of writtentest.In some cases, course, writtentestmay evenbe a of appropriate: example, for makingnotes whilelistening. Theseconsiderations strongly suggest that, while we shouldstill concentrate on skillsin the earlystages, canmakegooduseof writing,aspart of we aural-oral an integrated skillsapproach language to learning.Although at this stage writing activitieswill be largelya reinforcement language of learnedorally* , this neednot imply that writing hasto be an unsatisfying evenrigidly controlled or aclivity(see 3.3).It canalsobe taughtin sucha way that it prepares the learners more realistic for formsof writing at a later stage. progress the intermediate to As the learners stages language of learning, whichwe havenotedabovestill applybut, in addition, factors the pedagogical we canprovidefor writtenwork on a more extensive scaleand in particular with other skills(seeChapter8). At this level,the integrate more effectively it itselfwill alsoprovidecontexts learning through written language for - andwritingactivities maybe related these. the sametime, reading to At writingmay become goalin both hereandat the post-intermediatelevel, a programmes whichdo not havea specific itself Althoughin language . orientationwe are not in a positionto predictwhichstudents likely to have are needfor writing asone of the outcomes their course, of a moststudents will haveto do someform of writtenexamination and this will increase their motivationto learnto write well. In addition,we canidentifyand concentrate value,the relevance whichshould on formsof writing whichhavea proctical of to be easilyapparent the learners. Specific needs canalsobe met because can writing practice to someextentbe individualised. however, situation so complex Clearly, the is that thereis no onesetof although applies the teaching otherskillstoo. But on this to answers, of pedagogicalgrounds it rvould alone that writingis a skillworth seem in developing the foreignlanguage. problemis how to do thisin sucha way Our see that the learners thepurpose writingand makemeasurable of progress throughthe performance realistic relevant of and tasks.

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your list with a friend. Compare in betweenthe two speakers 1.4.2in of Write out a version theconversation stYle' normalwritten Prose References* from J BarzunandHF Gtaff' The The correcteddraft on page2 comes Englishon page4 of (1970). The transcript spoken ModernResearcher Show(i985),in whichDavidFreeman from the DavidFreernan comes musicians' professional interviews F TeachingWriting;Smith (1975): On writingseeJ Brittonin A Davies and 1983). 4-19 andY Zamel(1981 pages (198a) S (1982), i(rashen in see features D Abercrombie J Laver and S Hutcheson bn paralinguistic e (1,91 : Paralanguag . 2) in thoughtpatterns differentways organise whichlanguages bn tne waysin in Patterns InterCulturalThought seeR B Kaplanin K Croft (1980): CulturalEducation. 33-6' pages (1972) valueof writingseeC Bratt Paulston On the pedagogical writingseeM Sharwoodviewof the valueof teaching For a more extreme I'7 6)pages -19. Smith(1,97

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(a) Whatis the writer'spurpose? That is, we wantthe students decide to why Nick is writingto Mike. If they canrecognise Nick is apologising givinghis reasons excuses!) that and (or for not doingsomething, thentheyhaveidintinio ttreoverall communicative purpose the letter.In thiscase is fairlyobvious, in of it but othercontexts maybe harderto elucidate. point or tne activity it The is to demonstrate understanding writer'scommunicative that the purpos.i, un essential of understanding text. part the (b) How doesthe writerachievehispurpose? Here we getthestudents consider to someof the waysin whichthe writer doesthis. For example, how doeshe apologi.se? How doeshe try to assure Mike that he intended cometo hispartyi Ho* doeshe assure to him that he tried to get in touchwith him? whar is the significance well, I of: couldn't refuse,could I? andI know you needeimy record.s? why doeshe mentionthat he had sucha boringevening himself? is throughquestions It of this kind that w: canbeginto get the students understand to why the writerwrotecertain things andexpressed themin a certain way. (c) How doesthe writerestablish maintaincontactwith hisreader? and Herewe cangetthe students look bothat the language general to in andat particularexpressions draw their attentionto the waysin which to he does this. In this letterit is donepartly throughthe informalstyle,which reflects certainfeatures conversational of English(for example, useof the contracted formssuchaswasn't, couldn'tand ellipsis: sorry I wasn,t able) and partly throughappealing his readerdirectly with: well, I couldn,t to refuse,could I? andI hopeyou,ll understand.. (d) what typicalfeaturesof written English are therein the text? Herewe will getthe students look at features to suchaslinkingdevices, sentence structure inter-sentence and structure. while we wouldnot expect find a greatmanvsamples to withinthe context an informalletter of suchasthis(thethird sentence provicles bestexample. the with cohesion throughthe useof the pronoun andthe structure the sentence he of itself), we want them to appreciate thisis not speech that writtend.own,horvever informalthe stylemay be and horvever muchit reflects certainfeatures of conversational English. reinforce point,we mightgetthemto To this transform letterinto a conversation, the which,event[ough it is hypothetical, underline differences will the between two mediums the of communication. conversation A between Nick andMike mighthavegone something this: like Nrcr: Look, Mike. I'm terriblvsorryI couldn'tgetto your party ... Irrrp: Yeah . . . why didn'tyou phone? N l c x : W e l l ,I d i d t r y . . . I j u s tc o u l d n 'g e tt h r o u g h . . t . Irrre: Sowhathappened, then? Nrcx: well, just at the lastminute. . . I rvas just aboutto leave fact . . . in and the phonerangand.ri'ell.I've got thisfriencl Teheran. in vou see,and...(etc.l l1

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For our secondexample,u'e shalllook at a pieceof expositorywriting.* Unlike to i, the text in7.1.. it is not addressed a personknown to the writer' l s E l e c t r i c i tiy t h e m o s tu s e f u f o r m o f e n e r g yt h e r ei s .l t i s e a s yt o t i d cta nb et r a n s m i t t eo v e rl o n gd i s t a n c e st; i s c l e a n o u s e produce;'i s m e l l A b o v ea l l ,i t i s c o n v e n i e n t ' . a n d i t h a sn o b y T h e e l e c t r i c i tp r o d u c e d y n a t u r e l i g h t n i n g i s a d i f f e r e n t l r k i n do f e l e c t r i c i tfy o m t h a tw h i c hf l o w st h r o u g ha n e l e c t r i ci g h t a i b,e c a u s et e x e r t s f o r c ew h i c h i s e s b u l b .l t i s c a l l e d t a t i c l e c t r i c i t y ' ic s t a t i o n a r yl.t i s e a s yt o d e m o n s t r a t e l e c t r o s t a t a t t r a c t i o nR u ba . t y o u rj e r s e yT h i sw i l l c h a r g e h e c o m bw i t h o combonihe sleeve f o a s t a t i ce l e c t r i c i t y ,n d i t w i l l n o w p i c ku p s m a l lp i e c e s f p a p e r . t o f l o w i n o r d e rt o h a v ea n y y T h e o t h e rk i n do f e l e c t r i c i tn e e d s , n e f f e c t T h e e l e c t r i c i tiy a b a t t e r yf,o r e x a m p l ew i l l n o t m a k ea l i g h t . w b a b u l bg l o w u n t i lb u l ba n db a t t e r y r el i n k e d y w i r e st h r o u g h h i c h c called urrent s y t h e e i e c t r i c i t c a nf l o w .T h i sk i n do f e l e c t r i c i tiy o f t e n wh t; e l e c t r i c i t yH ew i r e ' c h a n n e l ' t h r o u g h i c hi t f l o w si s k n o w na s t h e i c i r c ut .

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governingthe use of the visual Except in a few areas.the conventions although known as punctuationare fairly well established, devices P to punctuationhasneverbeen standardised the sameextent as spelling. extendingeven into ltz Attitudes, therefore,tend to be fairly prescriptive, of this is that the is areaswhere variationin usage tolerated.The result -ts that can be done treat punctuationas something learnersare inclinedto 'extra' rather than as an essential part of the writing and as an mechanically -ts system. valueof punctuation needstobe demonstrated-!l.J The cornrnunicatit,e sentence the because readerexpects For example,it is precisely at the start and a full stop, or -!'J to boundaries be marked (with a capitalletter to questions he Someequivalentdevice,at the close)and because expects t-d of this symbol l with a questionmark, eventhough the presence signalled be cannotbe igncired. FJ conventions that these *uy b. redundantin most cases, marked to level, the readerexpects have paragraphs Similarly,at a higher FJ the rest of indentedand for him, normally by findingthe openingsentence -' I left blank. These conventionstell him that E the line after the last sentence i to the writer intendsthis set of sentences be taken together.On the other .J l-r great there is suchaScommasand semi-colons, hand, with devices I the extentto which they are used' variationboth in how they are usedand ;r We should also admit that there and this should be freely acknowledged. J are areasof difficulty for most of us, such as the use of hyphensin Fto compoundnouns.where recourse a dictionaryis the only solution' >-a of punctuation.then, we can besthelp the studentsif we In the area provide them with guidancethat is not too rigidly prescriptive,and at the Sametime encouragethem to considerthe effect on the reader if, for : >z example, sentenceand paragraphboundariesare not marked. Likewise. I 'too long', we for or a .) insteadof criticising sentence a paragraph being >.d whetherit placesa strainon the readerin any -) might ask them to consider *uy. So-. punctuation devicesadmittedly call for a cautioususe (for >-r I and here there is no marks and dashes) the useof exclamation example, ) to harmln telling our students usethem sparingly.On the other hand, it an = would be wrong to deny the learners expedientsuchas underlining sincethis is the equivalent emphasis, phrasisthat call for special words or .) in of italicisation Print.
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: which form part of the wide rangeof devices Other graphological resources footnotes. includethe useof headings, availableto us in the writing system = tablesof contentsand indexes. Thesewill not be relevantto all our >J the students.but at leastthev shouldbe awarethat a headingenables )

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which are neededin writing in order This term is usedto refer to all the devices producea text in whichthe sentences organised into a coherent to are whole,in purpose. This section sucha way that they fulfil the writer'scommunicative is of intendedto providea brief survey theseresources. more detailed A list, togetherwith examples, givenin the Appendix. is Rhetoricaldevices lookedat hereunderthree headingslogical, are srammaticalandlexical.
( a ) Logical devices

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(c) Lexicaldevices Almostanytextdisplays greatdealof cohesion a lexical a on level.To someextentthismightbe felt to be inevitable, nevertheless but thisis anothersignificant way in whichsentences linked together. are Key words,for example, often repeated: are erectriii| occurs ten timesin the textinz.r.z although is alsoreplaced ir to give it by grammatical cohesion. Key itemsare alsorepeated differentforms: in thus,in the text in2.I.2 we havenot only electricity alsoelectricand but electrostatic. Another commondeviceis the useof a synonymous word or phrase. For instance, the firstexample (a) abovewe havebooksin the in in first sentence volumes the second. and in

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1 Do you agreethat readingis an importantfitctor in leachingrvriting?


? communicative PurPose to Do you agreethat it is necessar)I pay atteutionto spellingand punctuation? do you of i..o- your experience teaching(or learning)a foreign language. listed in2.2.2 could be picked up (e.g. from think that the rhetoricaldevices reading)or need to be taughts1'stematicalll'r

Exercises

2 RepeatExercise on page 8, which you first attempted after reading 1. Chapter betweenNick and of (d) you havethe beginning a conversation Ln2.L1 how Mike. Suggest it mightcontinue. Readthe followingtext carefullY: of is pe-rople.a source for Srfoking$hiclmay be a pleasure some S mo ki n g , fo seri ousdi scrc-mrt tot@fe IIows.lFurtFe medicaI authorit i es express onljlof those on of aboutthe effect smoking the healthlnot theirconcern inhalethe contribution who who smokelU[falsolthose mustinvoluntarily to of the smokers the atmosPhere. numberof our students aware,a considerable As you are doubtless to the in havejoined together an effortto pelsuade university ban they areentirelyright in their aim' I smokingin the classrooms.believe to this to However,I would hopethat it is possible achieve by an appeal for andto concern othersratherthanby regulation' reason and in by Smokingis prohibited City by-laws theatres in hallsused wheretheremay be a fire filmsaswell aslaboratories for showing it Elsewhere, is up to your own goodsense. hazard. in you to maintain'No Smoking' the asking I am therefore roomswhereyou teach.This proof of and auditoria,classrooms seminar is for your interest their healthandwell-being very importantto a large numberof our students. of by has backreference beenindicated means a circle In the firstparagraph, restof the havebeenboxed.Mark the andan u.ro*. Otherlinkingdevices waY. text in the same

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\ 3.1 Approachesto teaching writing Attemptsto teachrvriting since time whenstudents the weremerelygivena topicof somekind and asked produce 'composition' to a withoutfurtherhelp - haveusually focused some particular on problematical aspect thervriting of situation. Somekey approaches examined are below. Mistakes showup in rvritten rvork(especiallv since to thisis usualli,'subject rigorous'correction') not unnaturally and cometo be regarded a major as

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AlthoughthisapproachdoesnotSolVeSon}eoftheprrrblemswhich Y (see thevcometo writein a foreignlanguage 4.1),it drau's haveu,hen students write badl'v' points needto keepin mind.Many students we attention certain to i G theyfeelinhibited reason and because theydo not u'riteenough for the same to well if we areobligett write rvhen theirpick up a pen.Mostof uswriteless E a b o u tso me th i n s'Afluenc1' - appr oach.per hapschannelledintos om ethi ngl i P keeping diary.canbe a useful a antidote.

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with whichthe students facedin learning are In viewof the manydifficulties principle guidingthemin the how to write a foreignlanguage. fundamental of waystowards masterv writingskills,andsometimes a various of controlling we canlightlydismiss, evenif the principle to what theywrite, is not one has (for in someextentbeenmisapplied example, tryingto eliminate mistakes). consider morecarefully what kind of guidance should Rather,we should we in to problems givethem,particularly relation the various theyhavewhen w r i t i n g( s e e1. 4 ) . level,since aim is to develop our their abilityto writea text, On a linguistic the and guidance, by of one way of helping students. therefore providing is practice, evenin the early stages. usfngthetextasour basic While formotfor practice, whichmay be necessary thisdoesnot rule out somesortof sentence of types compound of andcomplex for the masterv certain sentence structure, throughwritingbecause they are mostcommonlyusedin writing bestpractised (see4.4),we do not needto buildinto the writingprogramme step-by-step a whichwill take the learners easystages in from sentence practice approach to the productionof a text. With the text asour basicformat for practice, can we grammatical all devices logical, teachwithinits framervork the rhetorical While we mustbe careful needto master. and lexical- whichthe learners not at to overwhelm themwith too manydifficulties anyonetime (see 2.2.3), there justification attemptirlg separate is no apparent for to features the written of whichgo naturally together. language and for By using texts(letters reports, example evendialogues the in practice as format,ratherthansomeotherunit suchas earlystages) our basic we or the sentence eventhe paragraph, canmakewritingactivities muchmore for and increase theirmotivation writewell. to meaningful the students thereby vvithin whichtheycanpractise, example, ct for The text provides settirtg sentence combination. paragraph construction, in relation sentence etc. to completion, of In stretches discourse. thisway they canseenot only why they are lo-nger to ryritingbut alsolvrite in a manner appropriate thecommttnicative of the goal text. This,then.is onewavof helping learners: makingwritingtasks the by practice a specific purpose by to instead asking morerealistic, relating of them In for to writesimplyfor the sakeof rvriting. orderto find our contexts rvritten opportunities integrating effectively for work, we shallalsoneedto explore it activities involvinq only reading alsospeaking not and with otherclassroom but Writingtendsto getrelegated the levelof exercises to partlvbecause listening. as to ratherthanasa rvorthwhile learning it is treated a compendium the lesson activity itself.Whileit is convenient, we haveacknowledged 1.6(d)), in (see as rvorkashomework andwhilewritingmay not come to be ableto setrvritten this takeits place very highon the listof priorities. doesnot meanthat it cannot sequence learning of activities. aspartof a natural for can A lvritingactil'ity, example. derivein a naturalrvay from some asil conversation something read.As in reallife. it canbe prior activity such or of situation. seean advertisement a job, for We for the consequence a certain whichinvolves rentlirtg. talk aboutit andperhaps We phoneup about example, and We involves .speuking lisrening. thendecide applyfor the job to it. rvhich w . n . w w h i c hi n v o l v e s r i t i r t gA l t h o u g hp e r h a p s , e c a n n o c o m p l e t e liy t e g r a t e t (see rvithcrut raclical rvithotheractivities in clesign r.vriting a change materials

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can do to relateit more effectivelyto other classrclom 8.3), there is much \\1e u'hichwe have set up for oral the for activities: example.b1'extending contexts to work, through simplerole-playactivities, provide a meaningfulsettingfor of we as writing activities u,ell.In this \\'aV can hope to overcomeSoffle the writing tasks. haveu'ith role projectionfor rvhichthe learners difficulties in So far we have looked at guidance terms of u'hat kind of framework linguisticand contextual \ /e can provide in order to make writing tasks more purposefulrather than in termsof the actualsupportwe can give the in students order to ensurethat thev completetheir taskswith reasonable with an explorationof Sincethe major part of this book is concerned success. this stagewe shallonly we and procedures can use,at the varioustechniques each appropriate to specific need a v,holerangeof techniques. stressthat we for goalsand needs.Variety is important,as in oral work. This is essential the are constantlyaskedto perform get sakeof interest:the learners bored if they factor is that certaintechniques type of task. But anothersignificant the same particularwritin-e skiils.For example.texts (read are effectivefor developing note-taking:they nct only lead or heard) provide the right sort of contextfor on to meaningfulwriting tasksbut alsoprovide a model for the kind of writing expected.Visual material.on the other hand. properly used (seeChapter 7) of frameworkfor writing activities different kinds providesa more open-ended writing activitiesthan is at different levels,but it is lesssuitedfor elementary Particularkinds of visualmaterial.suchas diagramsand tables, often assumed. skills.Clearly, then, our approach organisational are valuablefor developing rvhichare usingthoseforms of guidance shouldbe as eclecticas possible, appropriate to different kinds of writing at different levelsof attainment. however,is that guidanceneed not emphasis, One thing that needsspecial - indeedshouldnot - imply tight control over what the learnerswrite. If . for are example,we acceptthat errorsin speech not only inevitablebut are also a then we shouldacceptthat they will occur, natural part of learninga language, and to some extent shouldbe allowedto occur,in writing too. Unlessthe learnersare giveri opportunitiesto write what theywant to write, they will when we provide opportunitiesfor free never learn this skill. As in speech, errorswill occur,but this is a situationwhich we must accept. expression, Perhapsit is largely out attitudetowards theseerrors that is wrong: because they occur in writing, we feel that they must be corrected,whereasin speech, we it perhapsbecause is more transient, are inclinedto be more tolerant. is that free expression the solution to learning This is far from suggesting have needof guidance,as they do with to write: on the contrary,the learners to oral work. They must alsobe encouraged look criticallyat what they write and taught to draft, corlect and rewrite. But sinceno approachto teaching which will take them smoothlyfrom writing under writing hasyet been devised to reasonable provide someopportunities it control to free expression. seems for writing freely, even in the early stages,as we do for oral work. This will not it are only enableus to seewhetherthe students making any real progress; will also ensurethat thev become learnersrather lhan leaners.
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In this section someof the mainissues Chapters are reviewed. 1-3 of They are now presented the form of guidelines a writing programme. in for (a) Teachthe learners how to write. The ability to write is all too often assumed, especially the learners if are mature,canwrite reasonably well in their mothertongueand havealso acquiredsomeproficiency the spokenlanguage. oral skills- both in But - haveto be taught,throughappropriate listeningand speaking techniques throughappropriate and formsof practice. Sincethe spoken and written formsof the language not the sameand sincewriting is a are different way of communicating from speech,it follows that writing skills requirespecialteaching too. (b) Provideadequate and relevant experience the writtenlanguage. of We work on the principlethat oral ability requires firm foundationin a listening and that the lattermustbe on a broaderbasis than speaking. Similarly,writing hasto be preceded and accompanied wide exposure by to appropriate modelsof writtenlanguage. the learners If haveonly seen dialogues their textbooks in and narrativeprosein their readers, they cannotbe expected produce to other varieties the written language of appropriate, example, letters,or for to reports. (c) Showthe learners how thewrittenlanguage of functions as a system communication. toJhe writtenform of the language itselfis not sufficient. Exposure by The learners alsohaveto be madeawareof how we communicate throughthe written mediumand how thisdiffersfrom speech. particular,they need In to be shownthat anypieceof writing, whetheror not it is addressed a to reader,hasa communicative specific purpose. They needto understand, therefore,how the resources the written language usedto fulfil this of are purpose,by establishing maintaining and contactwith the readerin order to getone's'message' across. (d) Teachthe learners how to writetexts. ' ''' W. havealready seenthat writing, at leastin any significant form, involves the ability to organise into sentences a coherent wholeor text. Most writing practice shouldfrom the startaim to teachthosedevices the of (as written language identifiedin2.2.2) which are needed write various to typesof text. The practice thesedevices of possible, should,wherever be goal,so within the frameworkof a text whichhasa definitecommunicative that the learners thepurpose what they are writing. The learners see of must alsobe givenopportunities practise to organising their ideasto paragraphs. form acceptable (e) Teachthelearners how to writedifferentkinds of texts. cannotbe expected masterall the differentvarieties the The learners to of written form of the language. Many of them, in any case, would not be relevant theirneeds, theextentthat these to to canbe identified a in writingprogramme. thesame At time,it is not enough try to teachthem to 'neutral' general purpose a kind of As form of writtenexpression. in

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an to at extent least be ableto select approprlate theyhaveto some speech, on depending *'hat theyarewritingaboutand siyle,formalor informal, in this be ableto present to the reader an and rvhomtheyareaddressing. to be as form. such a letteror a report.Althoughit cannot said appropriate havein thisarea the rvhich learners manvof the difficulties ttratttrisis easy. simplybeing for writingtasks: example, of of because the nature the arise Also, thiskind of taskdoesnot out to asked write a paragraph of context. it Likewise, might as themto thinkof rvriting communication. encourage as kindsof writing(such different not be noted,our goalshould be to teach and expository soon) but ratherto seethat these descriptive, narrative, a of withinthewidercontext a text.For example, lettermay arepractised whi the so i n vo l ve me 'nar r ation' ( see letterin2.I.1) or ' descr iption" l ea writing. expository for the reportmightprovide setting some and realistic relevant. (f) Make writing tasks they do not because lackrealityfor the learners All too oftenwritingtasks They are thattheyarewritingto or for somebody. givethemthe feeling who reacts of for as donesolely a form of exercise the benefit the teacher, The useof textsasthe reader! to themmorelike a judgethana genuine We the solution. mustalso (d)) is onlypartof (see formatfor practice basic attemptto identifythoseformsof writingwhicharemostlikely to be of types personal suchasvarious needs, to relevant the learnerS' (formal communication and'institutional' (notes, letters) communication them (as for contexts practising classroom andto establish reports) letters, in is in suggested 3.3.Thisaspect furtherdeveloped 4.5 and5.5).This does creative of noi rule out the possibility otherkindsof writing (for example, at of although course a fairly low level),provided writing, suchasstories, for the motivation thiskind of work canbe established' writing with other skilk. (g) Integrate 'Cinderella' the four skills(at leastat the lower of Writing tendsto be the unit andused to andis oftenrelegated the endof the teaching levels) wantto write. to Thisis unlikely makethe learners mainlyfor homework. that writingactivities leadnaturally introduce we Wherepossible, should see so onto or from the useof otherskills, thatthe learners writingasa real activity. and (h) Usea varietyof techniques practice formatstypeof getboredwith the same the because learners Thisis important and techniques some worthyl).Also, aswe haveSeen, activity(however letterwriting is For example, to formatsare appropriate certainlevels. it because permitsthe learners for suitable usein the earlystages especially within a new formsof the language to makesomeuseof the spoken writing that,in termsof developing We framework. mustalsorecognise is. technique anysingle skills,we cannotbe surehow effective suPPort' (i) ProvideapproPriate and of noted(in 3.3)the importance guidance how, We havealready in in broadly,it canbe interpreted the writingprogramme a varietyof

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ways.It hasbeenargued thatguidance shouldbe tempered with opportunities freeexpression. should for we remember, however, that writing tasksaregenerally imposed and that the learners may not have eitherthe relevant whenthisinvolves ideas, somecontribution their on part, or be sufficiently stimulated the tasksto think of them. The by problemis furthercompounded their havingto work on their own. by Clearlythereare manysolutions this problemand they needto be to exploredin a ffexible way. In particular, however,the useof techniques and procedures whichhaveprovedvaluable oral work, suchaspair and for group work, needto be examined within the contextof the writing programme. Thereseems reason no why, in the classroom least,writing at needbe a solitary activitv. (j) Be sympathetic! we haveconsidered lengththe manyproblemsinvolvedin writing and at theseare freelyacknowledged prevailwhen we write in our mother to tongue,not only in a foreignlanguage. Exceptin specialised programmes, heavilyweighted favourof readingand writing skills,we cannotexpect in too high a levelof proficiency. with the help of a programme which takes the learners'problems account, canhopeto makewritinga more into we rewarding activityfor them,both in termsof attainment and satisfaction. But we needto surrender role as'judges', our except whenwritingis being testedor examined, andviewwhat the learners write asattempts, however inadequate, communicate. to Thereis always greattemptation,perhaps a a naturalinclination, concentrate what is wrongin a pieceof writing, to on mainlybecause, we havealready as noted,it is therefor us to readand reread.But if we are to be truly readers ratherthan judges,we should perhaps look not so muchat what the learnershave but failed to achieve ratherat what they haveactually succeeded doing. in

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1 which of the approaches described 3.1do you think is mostimportant? in

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are Q What reasons givenfor takingthe text asthe basicformat for practice? . Do you agree with thisproposal? 3 From your own experience teaching learning)the written form of a of (or foreignlanguage, you agree do thatfreeexpression, well aswritingunder as control,should a feature thewritingprogramme, be of evenin the early stages? 4 In the guidelines a writingprogramme 3.4why arethe following for in points emphasised? (a) The learners haveto be exposed differentvarieties the written form to of of the language. (b) The learners haveto be setrealistic tasks. (c) The learners'efforts needto be viewedsympathetically. Do you agree with these viewpoints?

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Exercises
F.d

Examine anytextbook your ownchoosing seewhatkindsof guided of to writingexercises provided. particular, are In consider whether textbook F.< the writertends relyon a limitedrange exercise to of typesandwhether gives - ' ll he the learners opportunities freeexpression. any for EH Rewritethe exercise 3.1.1sothat a meaninsful in choice to be made has F.< from the itemsprovided. For surveys teaching of writing,andin particular useof guidedwriting, the (1912). seeC Bratt Paulston Also A Raimes andM Sharwood Smithin D L Bouchard (1980) andL J Spaventa andW Slager TheArt of TESOL in (1982).Other accounts teaching of writingmaybe foundin G Broughtonet al (1978) (1983). a description the 'fluency'approach andA Raimes For of seeBriere(1966). The controlled writingexercise page22 comes on from DH Spencer Guided (Longman1967). all the exercises this book Composition Exercises Not in are manipulative. For the purpose writingthischapter, followingcourses of the weresurveyed for writing activities: Abbs andI Freebairn B (various Strategies levels) , (Longman); AxbeyJourneys (Longman); BlundellVisa S (OUP); J D Bolton and L Peterson (Nelson); CarmichaelWay Breakaway J Ahead (Penguin); Ellis andP Elhs Counterpoint M (Nelson); HarmerMeridian J (Longman);B HartleyandP Viney Streamline English(OUP); R O'Neill Kernel(Longman);MPalmerandD Byrne Track(Longman); Swanand M C Walters TheCambridge (CUP); M Vincent et al Timefor EnglishCourse English(Collins)andN WhitneyCheckpoint English(OUP). The illustrative materialon page24comes from M vincent et al Timefor English(CollinsELT 1984) top; M PalmerandD Byrne Track(Longman 1982) centreleft;J CarmichaelWay Ahead(Penguin 1985) centreright, and J HarmerMeridian(Longman1985) bottom.
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* In the earlystages a language of course, the principalfactorwhich affects both the quantityandthe kind of writing that canbe doneis the smallamountof language that the learners haveat their disposal language which to a large extentthey haveacquired orally and to a lesser degreethroughreading. The weighting, favourof dialogue narrative/descriptive texts, in or type may vary from one coursebook another,but by and largewe may assume to that at this levelpatterns typicalof the spokenlanguage havebeenselected and that theseare presented contexts in designed promoteoral fluency.We to shouldalsoremember that the actualinput of language likely to be fairly is are slow: the students learninghow to understand how to makethemselves and throughthe spoken understood medium.This is a situationwhichwe have with the one in the mothertongueclassroom, alreadycontrasted when the (see1.5). learners go to school first One solution thisproblem to wouldbe to delaythe introduction writing, of at leastin any significant form, until the learners havea muchgreatercommand of the language, the form of a plateauon whichwritten work couldbe much in more easilybased. However,if we adoptedthis solution,we shouldfail to whichthe learners satisfyneeds havein the earlystages whichcanbe met and writing: reinforcement materiallearnedorally,varietyof activityin th;rcugh of the classroom increased and contact with the language throughwork that can (seei .6). Theseare goodreasons introducing be doneout of class for writing and it would be wrongto ignorethem. In any case, althoughwe haveto work mainly within the limitsof language whichhasbeenlearnedfor oral purposes, it is possible introduce smallnumberof itemsneeded to a specifically for

*The first75-90 hours approximately firstyearof a secondary or the school course. some In countries is common schoolchildren havehadsome it for to orevious instruction the lansuage in (e.g.at a middleschool level) wherethefocus beenmainlyon oralskills. has
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Althoughmostwritingat thisstage be undercontrol,we canandshould --1 will avoidmanipulative procedures whichdo not encourage learners think : the to aboutwhattheywriteandwhichin anycase not helpthemto understand -_1 do * how the writtenlanguage We functions. mustalsointroduce activities which, --.-a however simple, demonstrate writingcanbe used the purpose that for of Id communication. objectives thisstage, Our at however, mustnecessarily be --1 = modest. .1 The followinggoals suggested: are k (a) Writingactit'ities should satisfy immediate needs providing the learners Ld by with opportunities handling,throughthemediumof writing, language for whichtheyhavelearned orally. f.r For thispurpose. is suggested we should dialogue it that use writingasthe I main typeof activity. Thisis a typeof textwhichthe students familiar are --1 with; it provides context reinforcing practising a for and sentence structurek andto some extent aliows themto be creative. ,1
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(b) Writingactivities shouldalsobeforward-lookingb1, beginning familiarise to ..2 tul the learners withpatterns language of typicalof the writtenmedium:in particular,someof the devices needed linking and sequencing sentences. 1 for Ld For this purpose, letter-u,ritirzg offersa formatwhichhasmanyadvantages. _4 If the lettersareinformal,the language usedcanto a largeextentbe based ffd on what the learners havealready learned orally,but at the sametime we _1 F canintroduce smallnumber linkingandsequencing a of devices (see 4.4). ,_1 For the mostpart,then,'exercises'to practise these devices be will LG embedded withinthe contexts letters. important of An point to noteis that I the students alsobe learning will --J something throughwriting:for new exampleithe Iayout a letter,modes address certain of of and opening and --1 = closing formulas. (c) Writingactivities should also givethelearners opportunities communicatert to throughwriting and, equallyimportant,simplyto enjoywriting. -a --we cannotaffordto neglect Although othertypesof writing activityin the classroom situation, the endfor manystudents in enjoyment mayproveto = be the mostmotivating factor. F You will needto getthe nght balance between these varioustypesof activitySo - -: F asto meetthe needs vourparticular of students.

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The role of the teacher

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it an or the layoutof a letter(etc).In particular, alsoprovides opportunity and so on. On a reasons certainchoices for answers. alternative to discuss that simplelevelwe canthusbeginto demonstrate writing is a thinking process. (b) Preparethestudents orally. for procedure writing activities in as This shouldbe regarded a standard (andlaterwhenintroducing any new type of activity). the earlystages that the students know Make sure,througha numberof workedexamples, what theyhaveto do. Do not, however,go throughthe wholetask exactly this orally because will leavethe activitywithout any elementof challenge in and reduceinterest the actualwriting task. ( c ) Decidehow thewritingtaskshouldbe carriedout. in An activitymay be doneindividually, pairsor in smallgroups. will help to reducethe feelingof on Collaboration a task,for example, also 1. we notedin 1.4. Students tendto getmoreinvolved which isolation in an activityif they are allowedto talk aboutit togetherratherthansit in may be begunin pairsor in groupsbut concluded Someactivities silence. to it In on an individualbasis. the earlystages would seemappropriate exceptwhen feedback allow manyof the tasksto be donecollaboratively is on individualprogress needed. procedures. (d) Decideon correction the everything students to or It is not essential evendesirable examine will manystudents want to havetheir work lookedat. although write, work and to to their completed However,theycanbe asked exchange efforts.This helpsto train them to look at written one another's evaluate and work ciitically,asreaders, will help them to view their own work in the Work canalsoof coursebe in sameway at a later stage the course. askedto maketheir own a class basis and the students on discussed corrections. 4.1.3 The organisation of written work to we of In the course the writingpro_qramme shallbe askingthe students carry havemore Someof thesewill of course variouskindsof activities. out an for providing, example, indexof the iearners' valuethanothers, permanent for theywrite maybe needed reference progress thisskill,whileotherthings in therefore, how their of 4.2.I). The question, (see, example, for purposes if one. In anycase, theirwrittenwork in theirbooksis an important arrange on no imposing sortof organisation their to be casual, are the students allowed purposeful. writtenwork, writingis boundto seemless and leafsheets writtenwork should doneon loose be perhaps, Ideally, sections. into appropriate on arranged a file,whichhasbeendivided For booksmay be usedfor thispurpose. one Alternatively, or moreexercise material of of onebook or onesection a book mightconsist reference example, work whichhas mightcontain another for whichcanbe used oral activities; combination sentence of structure, a mastery sentence beendoneto develop of for whilea third onemightbe reserved pieces sequencing, and sentence valueof writing(for example, the whichdemonstrate communicative writing
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4.2 as Copying a writing activity

it is because is sometimes of Somediscussion the valueof copying necessary will be the This of course presented the first stage a writingprogramme. as in level haveproblems the graphological (thatis, if they at case the learners if or symbols how to write from left to right). This haveto learnnew graphic is aspect dealtwith in Chapter12. because it however, copying heldto be valuable is Equallycommonly, For we or sentence structure. example, helpsto teachspelling to reinforce to write wordsandsentences the boardand askour students on sometimes At the beginning the course, an activitymay havea of such copythem down. the to serve introduce learners the to certainnoveltyvalue,andcanof course written form of what hasbeenlearned orally.But the noveltywill soonwearoff just routine.Besides, what will thenbecome onemoreclassroom andcopying madein the same way. copytends getlostin a jumbleof notes to the learners - like readingaloud- is not often One maywell wonderwhetherthis activity just a wayof fillingin a littletime in the lesson. neednot be a pointless activity. Most of uswouldagree, on Yet copying new,that copying of the basis our own experience tryingto learnsomething of in copythingsdown is an aid to retention.Furthermore, real life, we frequently we the in orderto havea recordof them:for example, copyaddresses, timesof as numbers well asotherbitsof usefulinformationor trains,telephone we materialfor whichwe think we mayhavea futureuse.For example, quite and can of The students be asked make to often makecopies songs poems. notebook. of their own copies thistypeof materialin a special to as activity, Copying,then,canbepresented the learners a meaningful particularly we cangetthemto seeit asa wayof makinga recordof if whichis not otherwise available them (i.e. it doesnot appearin to something to the textbook)or is not available them rntheform in whichthey havecopied together certaindatawhichis distributed various in it (i.e. they havebrought We mustalsodemonstrate them, throughsome to in lessons their textbook). activityeitherat the time or later,that they havedonethe copyingto some purpose. various is the kindsof learning Vocabulary an areawhichgives students spelling. is alsoan areawhereit canbe usefulfor them It problems, including lists,in the form of lexicalsets, suchasclothes, furniture, to havereference - furniture- and seehow we canpresent food, etc.Let ustake one suchset copying task.The following of the compilation a list of itemsasa purposeful are steps suggested. whichincludes following (a) Ask the students drawa planof a house to the dining-room, andbathroom. sitting-room, bedroom Ask rooms:kitchen, of to write in the names the roomson their plan. them (b) Ask them to dictateto you a list of items- furnitureand somesmaller vase flowers, of etc.)- whichcouldbe objects(suchaslamps,telephone, on found in anyof theserooms.Write these the board,askingthe students to tell you how to spellthem.

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(c) Ask the students usethe list on the boardto compilefive lists,one to for eachroom of their house,on a roughpieceof pup"i. Each list should containitemswhichmight be foundin that .oom. An item may of course appear morethanonelist (e.g.chair). in (d) Ask the students put the itemsin eachlist in alphabetical to brder and to copy theselistsinto their exercise books.Each fisl shouldappearunderits appropriate heading (e.g.kitchen, sitting-room, etc.). (e) Ask the students compare to their listswith thoseof other students the in class. Thus,what the students havecompiled their exercise in booksis a small reference section furniture,whichthey shouldbe encouraged keepup to on to date by addingnew itemsastheylearnthem. Although the aclivitywas primarily a copying one- we may of course alsoallow them to includeitems which were not on the board- it alsoinvolvedthinking:they had to divide up the list on the board,decidewhichitemsto includemoie than onceand also to put them into alphabetical order. Now that the students havemadetheir reference list, which might be only one of manytopic areas dealtwith in the sameor in a similarway, they should alsobe givenan opportunityto useit: eitherin a writing activity,perhaps at somelater stage, in an oral activityfor whichreference suctralist might or to be calledfor. For example, listsof thiskind are usefulfor certaintypesof language gamewhichinvolvevocabulary repetition(suchasvariations ^I on: wentto themarketand I bought. . .).

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4.2.2 Othercopying activities

Notice that someof the activities 4.2.1mainlyinvolvecopying(e.g. (a)-(c)) in sincethe students not actually do haveto contribute the text. to (a) Puttinga listof wordsin alphaberical order

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(b) Puttinga listof wordsin their coruect sequence For example, days the week,months, of numbers. (c) Putting words in categories For example, arranging list a of wordsunderheadinss:

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(d) Doingpuzzles For example, hereare the names f 1l countries: o Brazil, Egypt, England, France, Greece, India,Italy, Peru,Portugal,Spain, Turkey. Complete crossword. the Which countries not are there?

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(e) Playing Bingo way of revising copyingand is an excellent This involvesselective clothes,etc.) through a game' vocabularvsets(e.g. colours.occupations.

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Write,with the helPof suggestions 12-16itemson the from the class, hat, board(e.g.for clothes: iacket, etc.).Ask the students shirt, socks, to copyanywordsfrom the list. Then readout the wordsfrom the list lrr anyorder.The first studentto hearall hiswordsreadout callsout
BINGO!

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needneverbe a be it suggestionsshould clearthatcopying Fromthese dialogue particularly activities. of Some thefollowing boringactivity! haveto do the copyingl students not actually writing,alsoinvolve to contribute the text. 4. 3 Reinforcement activities 4.3.1 writing Dialogue are orallyin the earlystages learned language Variouswaysof reinforcing below:* suggested with thehelp of keywords (a) Writingparalleldialogues Readthisdialogue: e: Giveme thatbook,Please. n: Whichone? a : T h e b i g b n e- on thetable. n: Here you are! a: ThanksverYmuch to keywords writesimilardiaiogues: Now usethese (a) umbrellaired/behind/armchair toP (b) box/small/on of/cuPboard etc. (c) hammer/h lnearlwindow, eavy choosing a (b) Completing dialogue, from a listof iumbledsentences the whicharenot in thecorrectorder, to complete Sentences, Usethese below: dialogue At Clarkson's you there I've neverseen Do Youlike it? takemYcar I usually Mine'sJennie Bob. A : Mv n a me 's
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W R I T I N GN T H EE A R L Y T A G E S I S

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e: Well, it's a big place andI onlystarted week. last


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e: Do you?Well, perhaps cangiveme a lift! you The students mayalsobe asked write a continuation the dialosue. to of (c) Puttingsentences order to form a dialogue in Instead providing dialogue of a frame,asin (b), all the sentences are jumbledup. It helps number firstitem, however, to the and alsoto limit the number itemsto (say) of eight. (d) Providethestudents with a dialogue frame, similar to (b), which theyhave to complete with ideasof their own.

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4.3.2 Parallel writing

For this type of activitythe students givena modeltext of somekind and are are asked writea similar to textwith thehelpof cues. These maybe verbalasin the first example belowor visualasin the second. The text may recycle itemsof spokenor writtenlanguage canbe usedasan introductionto organising and ideasin the form of a paragraph. (a)

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Read this, then copy and complete the information. P e t e rS m i r h i s t h i r t y - n i n e e a r so l d . H e i s a t a l l m a n y w i t h b r o w n e y e sa n d b r o w n h a i r .H e i s a b u s i n e s s m a n f r o m E n g l a n db u t h e l i v e si n A m e r i c a . Narne

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4.3.3
Dictation as a reinforcement activity

The purposeof this short sectionis to indicatewhere dictation belongsin a writing programme. Clearly it differsfrom the reinforcementactivities it describedabove, because involveslisteningand the ability to transform what is heard into its written form. However. sincea dictation should be basedon languagewith which the studentsare alreadyfamiliar through other contexts of (that is, it is essentially re-presentation known languageitems), it can be a useful as an alternativereinforcementactivity. should not havewith this type of exercise The difficultieswhich students An be underestimated. alternativeapproachto the'conventional' dictation is to provide the studentswith an outline, in the form of an incompletetext, which they filIin from what they hear read aloud. This permits a more natural form of delivery, althoughlesswriting is involved. Texts ugedfor dictation may also be in the form of notesand short letters,thus adding to the realismof the activity. Our goal through this type of activity is to begin to familiarisethe studentswith which are usedin composinga text. They can then begin the cohesivedevices which they havelearnedorally to form an acceptable to combine structures in sequence writing. For this purpose,in order to make any headway,it will be number of linking devicesand to practise to necessary introduce a selected thesethrough writing. A basickil at this stagemight consistof the following:

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Co-ordinators and,but, or, so when,until, sothat (etc.) Conjunctions although, first,next,finally Sequencers then,afterthat,meanwhile, as therefore, a result,in fact,of however, moreover, Linkers on course. theotherhand.etc.

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some procedures practising for theseare suggested below.Although this shouldnormallybe donewithin the contextof a text, suchasa letter,this does not preclude someinitial practice the purpose familiarising students for of the with linkingsentences, in the firstexample as below.
(a)
TYyand join theseparrsof sentences correctly to make one sentenceeach trmeuse hneslike thrs: Mary lkes tennrs. I work rn slunmer Tony hvesin London. I work rn a bank. I g o o n h o h d a yr n w l n r e r I hke my lob

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Noticethat'exercises' like these,in the form of a compiete text, alsoserveto introduce the studentto suchpointsasthe layoutof a letter,different modesof address and salutation, etc. Examples of theseshouldbe written up on the boardand the students askedto copytheminto their notebooks reference. is for It important,therefore, to incorporate rangeof such a features whichwill be usefulto the students whenthey themselves asked write are to letters(ascommunication tasks, example). for i

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artd complete text bt,insertingcluttses serttences a (.) Thestudents frorn u juntbled listof itents(see(b) page34) in the correctplaces. ' o u t l i n e ' f o rt h e s e c o n d a r a g r a p hn t h e l e t t e ra b o v e i p , F o r e x a m p l et h e as could be presented follows:

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are while rvritingactivities still to a largeextentserving Throughoutthis stage. 4.5 C o m m u n i c a t i o n to reinforceoral work and rvhilethe foundationfor writing skillsis still being importantto showthe students Iaid (asindicatedin 4.1.2), it is nevertheless activities The activities of that writing can be usedfor the purpose communication. simplein form and limited in are which we set up for this purpose necessarily towardslearninghow to motivatethe students scopebut they will serveto are throughu'riting.Someexamples givenbelow. themselves express in (a) Thestudents write instmctionsv,hichother students the class(or the teacher!)haveto carry out. For example:

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These instructions be givento anyone the class perform. may in to Alternatively, theymaybe addressed someone name,in the form of by to a noteor shortletter.For examole:

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Activitiesalongtheselinesare particularly usefulfor practising structures itemsof vocabuiary and whichhaverecentlybeentaughtfor oral purposes. ( b ) Thestudents writeto one anotherto askfor information.

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The student who getsoneof these requests simplywrite the can information the same on piece paper.This enables activity go at a of the to muchfaster pace whichis partof thefun!
( c ) Ask thestltdents writeshort messages one anotherin theform of a note to to

or short letter.

For example:

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roundthe a This activitycanquicklygenerate flow of correspondence class. some whichinvolve to to (d) Ask thestudents writeshortletters oneanother form of roleplay. to invitations a party,together oneanother theymaysend For example, may language be written on items.Relevant to with a request bringcertain Wouldyou like to . . .? Will youplecse asa guide.For example: the board b r i n g. . . ?

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mustbe answered.The (c), invitations As with the'messages'in these to or the can person whomtheyareaddressed accept invitation decline to say he the If come,givinghisreasons. he accepts invitation, should or whetherhe canbringall the itemsrequested only someof them.The to givingor asking directions get to for to activitymay be extended include house. somebody's
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The activities this section not intendedto help developthe learners' in are - because a rule theywill not be writing a text in a skills composition as sense. the mostpart theywill be writing thingsFor conventional questionnaires, puzzles, programmes, example which they cando for with. Usuallytheywill be workingtogether,in pairsor smallgroups, something and thiswill involvetalkingaswell aswriting. Students usuallyenjoy these activities because they seethe point of doingthem, like thosein the previous section, and alsobecause a smallway, evenat this elementary in level,they get the opportunityto express themselves imaginatively. (a) Writing questionnaires preferably The students, workingin pairs,write questionnaires whichthey canuseto interviewone or moreother students the class. in Noticethe varioustypesof questionnaire.

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can topicsand evenparticularitemsof Questionnaires focuson specific language. This neednot makethe activitylessenjoyable. ( b ) Writing quizzes enjoy writing questions. the form of a shortquiz, on a text they Students in just read(asan alternative 'comprehension have to questions'in the work in smallgroups thisand thenexchange bookl).Theyshould for their quizzes with another group.
GROUPS WRITE QUIZZES GROUPS XCHANGE E Q U I Z Z E SA N D W R I T EA N S \ \ ' E R S GROUPS CHECK ANSWERS

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(.) Writing Puzzles writeoneor morepuzzles or individually in pairs, u,orking The students. to to whichthel'give otherstudents answer' like these.

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'secret for messages' one anotherin can way, studeirts write In the Same haveto interpret. somekind of code,whichother students

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(d) Writing programmes working in grouPs The students, to sharetheir ideas,u'ritea TV/radio Programmeto cover a entertainment' evening's possible Each studentthen makeshis own which copy of the Programme, can be usedfor Pairwork suchastellingYour activities, partnerwhat Yousawor listened o e to thePrevious vening r to u'hichProgrammes agreeing evening. watchor listento that 44

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Normally,when we want students do a roleplayactivity,we givethem a to description the role we want them to play. However,evenat an of elementary levelthe students write simplerole descriptions one can for another.Incidentally, they involvelittle useof cohesive devices. pictures Give the students (maleor femalefaces) a as stimulusand a list of the (e.g. itemsto be included j, n a m e . g e .n a t i o n a l i t yo b . a Yowa'reMarytAom t"L&h. interests, etc.).Eachstudent /hh,t//- tlree. Yw a,re writesa role description for in one other specific student the class. This is important it because addsto the fun: Thsya,re all qr,r[s. the students usuallywrite in Yo;rrhutsba;d's rua,rnz Ls features for someunusual 8 ill a4rd fu i,s o tazL theyhavechosen the partner dri4v,r. Yawr hobbizs are or beengiven! (g) Wririrtgmystervstories the For thisactivity students aregivena series questions of w h i c ht h e ym u s ta n s w eirn order. For example:Who was theperson?Wherewasslhe? Whatwasslhedoing?Whatdid slhesay? Whatdid slhedo after that?Eachstudentthen takesit in turnsto answer question. a When the first studenthas answered question, folds his he the paperoverso that the next cannot whathe has see student written(andso on). Whenall

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Art The studentsmay of coursebe askedto keep real diartes at this stageor but they will not want and should perhapsslightlylater on in the course. not Ueaskedto showtheseto one another.On the other hand, writing the imaginarVdiary for a famouspersonof their choiceor for a fictitious they will be willing to shareand will very likely chaiacteris something shouldwork in pairsor groups The students stimulatetheir imaginations. (althoughthis is an activitythey could equallywell do on their own). They may like to continuewriting about their characterfrom time to time. (i) Writing abourpictures This is an activitYesPeciallY intended to stimulatethe imagination and self will The students expression. a need a picture showing situationthat is likelY to different suggest interpretations.Ask them to talk about their Pictureand to decidewhat the situationis about. Then get them to write down their ideas- without
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thencompare Theyshould connection. worryingtoo muchaboutsentence group. of with those another their ideas drawnon the board.For bubbles speech you of Instead pictures, canuse mightwrite:A boy is in a shop.He aboutthisonethe students example, " So buys onebutit issmall. he says: . ......." His an wants icecream. mother Some to are in The activities the lasttwo sections intended be donein class. requireno justification time.Thisshould couldeventakeup a fair amountof are the generally students alsotalking.However,the importantthing because writing:they towards attitudes students' of is that activities thiskind change throughwriting;how theycanuse cometo seehow theycancommunicate In and writingpurposefully howit formsa naturalpart of certainactivities. with eithercollaborating additiontoihis, you canalsowork with thestudents writeto your also (e.g.you should themon a taskor joiningin an activity in 4.5;you canalsowrite and students getthemto writeto you for the activities

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Discussion

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Reread 4.1.1and4.I.2. What advice wouldyou givea fellowteacher (or intendingteacher) aboutsetting writing activities the earlystages? up in From your own experience, you agreethat copyingis an aid to retention do in language learning? From your own experience learning write in a foreignlanguage, you of to do think enoughattentionwaspaid to activities: (a) to practise linking sentences sequencing and ideas; (b) to showhow you cancommunicate throughwriting; (c) to showhow writingcanbe enjoyable? What is your view of the valueof dictationasa writing activity? Fxamineany coursebook seewhat provisionit makesfor the presentation to and practice linkingdevices the earlystages. of in Examineanycoursebook seewhat provisionit makesfor meaningful to copying. Devisea parallelwriting activity,for usein the earlystages, similarto those in4.3.2. Devisean exercise linkingsentences, usein the earlystages, in for similarto t h e o n ei n 4 . 4( b ) . Suggest writing activity, a to be usedin the early whichcouldbe stages, H tq H S-TREET based thismao. on -Tsil.l

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Devisean activity whichcouldbe usedin the earlystages let the learners to enjoywriting. References of On the importance getting learners evaluate another's the to one writing seeC Brumfitin S Holden(ed.)(1983). For writingin the earlystages, G Abbott and P Wingard(1981) see Ch.6; pages J Harmer(1983) 65-75 P Hubbardet al (1983) pages 61-71and ( ) A P i n c a s1 9 8 2 ap a g e s 8 - 2 1a n d9 1 - 1 0 1 . 1 For examples writingactivities the earlystages T Hedge(1983a); of in see (1982b) L Woods(1986). A Pincas and Examples writing activities thischapterhavebeentakenfrom of in (4.3.2 J Harmer:Meridian(Longman 1985) (a));L Woods:Writing I (Cassell i986)(1.4(a)) andM Palmer 1982) D Byrne: Track(Longman and ( 1 . 2 . 2 d ) a n d4 . 3 . 2 b ) ) . ( (
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that. level,* it is essential to At the post-elementary intermediate whatever the scopeof the writing programme,it shouldnot lose direction and momentum. This meansthat the writing programmemust be carefullyplanned to develop a masteryof new skills, which the learnerscan usefor a continually expandingrange of tasks.At the sametime, sincewriting will still be guided to a lirge extent, we need to make the activitiesas varied aspossible,avoiding a types. monolithic approachwhich relieson a limited rangeof exercise (a) The writing programme should continue to provide opportunitiesfor reinforcing languagelearnedorally. being that the learners'are At the ru-. ii-e, however,we may assume either through the type of exposedto a greateramount of written language redding.At this stage, texts in their coursebookor through supplementary therefore, the amount of dialoguewriting shouldbe graduallyreduced, it althoughit shouldnot be abandonedaltogether,partly because is one which they can use themselves to way of getting the students write material - for oral work, for example- and partly because dialoguewriting may of be one of the requirements the examination.However, as the main practiceat this level, we can now begin to make format for reinforcement sincethis providesa convenientand greateruse of informal letter-writing, material learnedorally and of courseby appropriateway of re-presenting this stagethe learnersare alreadyfamiliar with this type of writing. (b) The writing programme should be designedto include a greaterrange of the of resources the written language. in The basickit, suggested 4.4 shouldbe expandedto incorporate,for
*90-225 hoursor approximatelv second schoolcourse.The and third yearsofa secondary the 6 with Chapters and 7 on the useof texts in suggestions this ihapter mustbe readin conjunction and visualmaterial.

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example, both a widerrange conjunctions of usedin compound and complex sentence structures otherlinkingdevices. the same and At time, we mustincrease learners' the awareness rhetorical of devices suchas comparison contrast, and definition, exemplification, (see etc. the procedures suggested in2.1.2)andtheirabilityto usethese. For this purpose, shouldnow beginto introducea certainamountof we institutional-type writing,suchasformal lettersand reports.As at the previousstage the programme, of when the students wereintroduced to writing informalletters,thiscomponent will teach themsomething new throughwritingand willthereforeincrease their interestand motivation. (.) Theamountof control over whatthe learners writeshould be reduced. 'cues' At thisstage theyshould learnto respond to whichstimulate their imaginations leavethemrelativelyor completely but free to decide what they actually write and how theyorganise their ideas. (d) Therangeof communication tasks should be extended. Thus,alongside guidedwriting activities the suggested 5.2-5.4, the in learners alsogivenopportunities free expression. are for Thesewill to someextentinvolvegreater reliance roleplaytechniques. on 5.1.2 The role of the teacher It hasbeenemphasised thisis a delicate that and crucialstageof the writing programme. is especially It important, therefore, to: (a) Get the right balance writing activities. of with regardto dialogue For example, writing, this shouldbe reduced considerably unless is an examination it requirement. the sametime, it At is importantto extendsystematically sentence the linking and sequencing component the programme of described 5.3. No real progress be in will madeunless this is done. (b) Ensurethat thetypeof writing activiry* theformats usedto practisethese and are sfficiently variedso that thestudents not get bored. do Practice materials may haveto be selected adapted and from a varietvof sources. (c) Gattgecarefullytheamottntof guidancerequired. It is likelythat the amount oralpreparation manywritingactivities of for cannow be reduced. The amount individual of writingmay alsobe increased, especially whenthestudents approach time whentheywill the haveto do a publicwrittenexamination. certain For activities, however, it hasbeensuggested pair andgroupwork will stillbe extremely that valuable.

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The needto provideopportunities practising for what hasbeenlearnedorally continues throughout stage. this although increasing of textsotherthan the use dialogues now makes possible introduce it to writingactivities whicharebased moredirectly a reading on text (see Chapter As we havenoted.dialogue 6). writinghasalmost outlived usefulness a writingactivityand.if rve its as continue useit, we mustlook for freshwaysof presenting to the learners. to it 49

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qivenbelow are classified activities for The suggestions reinforcement to of according the t1'pe n'ritinqinvolved.

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(a) Thestudents gittena ntodeldialogue,togetllerv'itlt cues.forv'ritirtg are parallel versiorts. This task is much freer than the one in 4.3.1:it is guidedratherthan from the cuesprovided.In the can controlledand the students select alsohave to the students on examplebelou'.whichfocuses offeringadvice. -lng form must usethe modify the form of the cues(for example,the.v . .?)* afterHow about . Read this dialogue: e : W h a t ' su p . M i k e ? s: I don't know what to do this evening. a: Well, u'hy don't you go to the club, then? B : O h , t h a t ' sn o t m u c hf u n , i s i t ? e: Well. hou'aboutcomingto the cinemau'ith me? like a much betterideal B: Hm, /ftcl sounds ideas(or useonesof vour own) to v'ritesimilar Nov, chooseany of these dialosues: go for a walk go and see(Jane) sit and readthe paper help me cook the supper write someletters gameof cards have a go and watchtelevision help me washthe car (b) The studentsare given an incompletedialogue, togetheru,ith instructionsfor completing it. Thesedo not specifythe actual words to be used. Completethis dialogue: g d . . . . . . . ( S u g e s t o i n gs o m e t h i n g ) A: ... n: Oh, all right. If that'swhat you reallywant to do. a . . . . . . . .... ( E n q u i r e b o u t B ' s w i s h e s ) A: B: Don't know. Go to the cinema,perhaps. .. (Object to thisidea) A: B : O h , a l l r i g h t .t h e n .L e t ' s of Now write (2) similar dialogues vour own. dialogue.Theyaregiven an outline or'map' (c) The students write the complete of the dialogue, but none of the actual words to be used. A y n G i v e o u rp h o n e u m b e r . S a yw h o y o u a r e . A s kw h o i s s p e a k i n g . A s ka b o u tA ' s h e a l t h . y T e l lB a b o u t o u rh e a l t h .

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* A s f o r C h a p t e r , i t s h o u l d e k ep t i n m i n dt h a t t h e l a n g u a g u s e di n t h e e x a m p l e d o e sn o t r e l a t e s 4 e b r t o a n vp a r t i c u l ac o u r s e .

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Anotherpossibility to givethe students is a'scenario'. Mr A hasan appointment with Mr B in a big officeblock.when he enters building,he announces arrivalto the receptionist, the his who speaks Mr B on the phone.The receptionist to then tellsMr A how to get to Mr B's office.Mr A getsout of the lift on the wrong floor. He meetsan employee, who offersto takehim to Mr B's office. when he getsthere,Mr A, who is now ratherlate,makes excuses his and explains whathappened. It may be felt that thisis rathera long way round to get the students to write a dialogue remember this stage are lookingfor waysof but at we 'maps'and providingguidance withoutcontrol.Both the dialogue 'scenarios' directthe students towardscertainuses language, thus of and preventthe productionof ramblingand often trivial dialogues, at the but sametime requirethem to think of the actualwords whichwill fit the situation.when theytranslate scenarios dialogue the into form, they can alsowrite somenarrative commentary the form of stagedirections. in It 'maps'and'scenarios' shouldbe notedthat bothdialogue canbe usedat differentlevelsof language attainmgnt, depending the sophistication on of the taskinvolved. (d) Thestudents writea dialogue w-hich settingis definedand some the for suggestions givenfor thelanguage be used. are to For example: You are in a restaurant with a friend. You are looking at the menu, trying to decidewhatto have. write the conversation have. You may usethese you phrases: Howabout...? That's(rather)... What shallwehaveto . . .? I wonderwhat . . . Haveyouever...? Whydon'twe... Thislooks... Let'sask... (b) For activities to (d), it is suggested the students that shouldbe allowed to collaborate. eitherin pairsor in smallgroups, leastfor the initialstage at whenvarious of the activity, possible formsof expression be discussed. can Thus,the students'talk over'the dialogue together, work out a rough version and then.if theylvish,eachproduce theirown finalversion.

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the By thisstage students alreadl'familiar are with writinginformalletters. but therearevarious things cando to givethisactivitv newslant.For we a we example, canteach newrvays beginning ending of and letters. canalso we seethat the students givensystematic are opportunities practise to writing whichhave.overall. specific (a letters a functionsuchasmakin_q apology an complaint, excuse), an sending congratulations, givingdirections, etc., andat the same timeshowhorvsuchtasks rvillrequire verydifferent uses of language different on occasions in particular and how these depend the on relationship between *'riterancl person is acldressins. the the he 51

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cues (a) Thestutlents giverlo tnodeltext,togethet'h)ith ore for v)rititl7parallel versiotls. o m T h i s i s s i m i l a rt o 5 . 2 . 1( a ) . T h e c u e s a v b e p h a s e d u t s o t h a t t h e s t u d e n t s For example: producetheir ou'n versions. Read thefollox'ing. It is an extract from a letter.
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(i) [Jsethese notesto write a letterto a friend v,ho wantsadviceabout a holiday: ./do not stavin the town itself/finda quiet hotel just go to . outsidethe town/geta room with a good view/makea booking as early as possible. (ii) Usethese notesto write a letterto a friend who wantsadviceabout how to find a newjob: a try to get a job with a new firm/do not go to an agency/buy paper which jobs/. has adsfor (lli) Write a letterto a friend who wantsadviceabout how to learn (a foreign language). or (b) The studentsare given an incompletetext, with suggestions instructions about how to completeit. This activity can be particularlyusefulfor practisingspecificitems of below. suchas the -ing form, as in the example language, You are introducing yourself to a penfriend. Completethis letter with to reference vour own likesand dislikes,etc-

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complete (c) Thestudents a text by expanding notes. The notesin this are example within the frameworkof a letter, the themeof to whichis assumed relateto a topic exploredthrougha in lesson the coursebook.

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in Activitieslike thosesuggested (b) and (c) lend themselves to well within the contextalready related writing tasks established. example, For to the students may be asked write a shortreply to Bob's letter based on cueslike the following: in Writeback to saythatyott are interested Bob'sproposal but askfor more informationaboutthefollowing points: - how muchis the rent? - whatotherexpenses there? are - what arrangements therefor havingguests? are - is it easyto find parkingnearthe flat? - who are the otherpeoplein the flat? writethecomplete text. Theyaregivenguidance the content (d) Thestudents for to but notfor thelanguage be ttsed. For example: lotion afterseeing You boughta bottleof perfumeor after-shave an advertisement it. It gaveyou a skin complaint.Write a letterto thefirm for which madetheprodttct,saying: - whatyou bought(inventa suitable name) - whereyou sawthe advertisement what the advertisement and claimed (e.g.goodfor the skin) - why you boughta verv largebottle - how it affected your skin - what the doctorsaid - why youwantyourmoneyback 53

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one. Look at the details these of two beaches. write a reportaboutwhichbeach would be suitable a newhotel. rJse for althoughandbecause.
A D V A N T A G E S DISADVANTAGES
b e au t i f u l easy to get to very rougn sea small beach

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Janetwest'ssister an air hostess a famous is for international airline, . . . Janetwantsto become one . . ., sheis stilltoo young: the minimumagefor an air hostess twenty. . . . Janetis onty iuit over is sixteen. . . . s h e h a s t a k e n a j o b an o f f i c e . . . s h e .. . a t t e n d s e v e n i n g in classes. . ., shewants improveher French . to andSpanish, . . foreign . languages an essential are qualification an air hostess. for . . ., Janetis gaining experience through present job. . . . the her officewhereshe worksis atravelagency.. . . sheis learning.. . how to dealwith people. . . quitea lot aboutthe places onedavhopes she to visit.

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outline' v,ithintheframeworkof a related rex'ritetexts Thestudents For example: the Readthis text. Thencontplete textbelowso that thesameideasare in expressed a differentw'a\': do They actually mostof to Thereare two sides the work of stuntmen. jump from high they For the thingsvou seeon the screen. example, However,theydo not fall onto hard groundbut onto empty buildings. with a mattress. covered boxes cardboard do . The work of stuntmen . . to it. They actually almost. . . whichyou see a s . . . . B u t i n s t e a d o.f . . , t h e y . . . o n t oc a r d b o a r d b o x e s t h e m. . . , s u c h w h i c h. . . . in formeda dialogue thisway, and4.6 the See4.3.1(c),u'here students is of Whilethe purpose thisactivity (e), wheretheywrotetheirown texts. it sequencing, mustnot become to to getthe students thinkaboutsentence

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just a puzzle. Narrative textsusuallv havea fairlytransparent sequence and therefore provide goodstarting a point.You canprovidesome framework reference. with the map in the activitybelow.As a final of as stage, expository use textswith a clearopening'topic' sentence. otherwise the firstsentence should indicated. be Look at themap.John livesat 7, Elm Lane.He'shavinga party. What directionsmusthegive to hisfriends?Put these instructions theripht in order. Number themI to 7.
Walk alongunril 1'ouget to the library.

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to can Sentences be broken dorvninto clauses draw further attention to the logicalstructureof a text. For example: to Usethesesentences write a paragraph about thepygmies. Changethe punctuation. and add any necessar)' order They can move easilf in the forest and they are not afraid of it place The forest in the centreof Africa is a dangerous well knou'the forest Pygmies they are verYsmall because A big pygmy is onlYlm 40cmtall there but the pygmiesare haPPY which specificallydirect their attentiotl to the way (e) The studentsdo exercises in a text. ideasare organised This may be done in a guidedform at the start, with the help of in information presented tabularform, togetherwith examplesof the kind are of text which the students requiredto write. For example:

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I alrport sportsground motor show theatre hospital port coach tube taxi on foot bus boat

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a Sharing flat hascertain advantages. onething,you do not haveto For do all the housework yourself Besides, is alsocheaper. theother . it On hand,you maynot havemuchprivacy and,moreover, maybe noisy. it All in all, it is probably betterto liveon your own! are The students thengiventopics whichcanbe writtenaboutwithina For similarframework. example: 1 2 3 4 Livingin a big city Owninga car Working in an office Beinsa housewife 59

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haveto iistento a text whichis in dictations, that the students Theseresemble to of instead beingasked take thisdown readalourlto them.However. they artificialexercise, a dictation someu'hat u,hich makes by segment segment. (usuall-v threeor more)before text a numberof times listento the complete theyareaskedtou'rite.Thei'arethenrequiredto'reproduce'thetextthey words but as haveheardasaccurately possible. theymayfill in with their own failsthem' their memorvof the original u,here and the listening careful alsoinvolves of activity this Like dictation. type much However, it focuses of transformation u'hatis heardinto its writtenform. how one of meaning a text andin particular the more on grasping overall 'rules'for this activity. our own We to relates another. canalsomake sentence to maybe allowed makebrief notesduringthe final the students For example. on wordsandphrases the board, we Alternatively, maywrite key reading. of to remind the students someof the main ideas.In eithercase'we thusensure We may alsowrite a just a testof memorY. that the activitydoesnot become the board, so that in on devices frameworkof linking wordsand sequencing aroundwhichthe text canbe a structural'skeleton' effectwe givethe students 'reproduced'.

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shouldmatchthe activities that communication it At thisstage. is important 5.5 throughthe written form themselves to Commu n i c a t i o n growingu6itityof the Iearners express be in therefore, the firstinstance on a much 6t rir. tinguag..Theyshould. activities scale. moreextensive comparedwith the modest messages tasksof sending (see4.5.This and notes typeof activity,however, u'riteto wherethe students can one anotherin the class still be usedprovidedthat m2,... . (+ cot44,e/ rfuose h44et they are askedto Produce ptue a,lrd t r'n<) Yaw ccr,rtt more something TheYmust substantial.). tt, trytLss b44f/unratl u alsobe more challenging. (+e*act tot;a-"5. With thistypeof writing maY activity,the students / rtfr;rg fhn4nrd toseelng | Yo/+ as of coursemakemistakes, with freeoral expression. b u t t h e i m P o r t a ntth i n g . from the point of view of PSDoTitfo lotel motivation,is to that writing is demonstrate a purposefulactivitY.

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as to and You shouldalsoencourage help the students find penfriends a way of conductall From time to time you can also practice. communication extending throughthe mediumof writingso that the students entirely or part oith. lesson requests, instructions. in whatis involved givingandreceiving ."utty appreciate etc. in thisway.

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In the activities below,moreuseis now madeof roleplay, although to not the exclusion other activities of wherethe students write as themselves. list The of suggestions below,whichis intendedto indicatetypicalactivities ratherthan to be exhaustive, frequentlyinvolves someform of collaboration the writins in task.

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5.5.1 ( a ) TheEstate Agency Roleplay activities Divide the class into two. Sub-divide half into threeor four groups, one
depending the sizeof the class. on Tell eachof thesegroupsthat they represent estate an agency. They shouldalsofind a namefor their agency. Their immediate taskis to devise form on which they canrecord a information aboutthe houses flatswhichtheir'clients' givethem or will whentheycometo seethem. Tell the students theotherhalf of the class in that they arepeople who wantto selltheirhouses to buy another. and Each of them shouldwrite somenotesdescribing housethey want the to sell.It may be the housethey actuallylive in or an imaginary one.They shouldalsohavesomeideaof the housethey would like to buy. The 'clients'then choose whichagency they want to go to. They are interviewed a memberof the agency by and fill in the form, on the basis of which a final description their houseis worked out. Thesedescriptions of are then written up and displayed, canbe r'ead thosewho want to and by buy a house. The activitymay be repeated a later stagewith the rolesreversed. at Insteadof estate agencies, secondhand firmscanbe usedasan car alternative setting. ( b ) TheMagazineAdvice ColLtmn 'advice Write the names a number magazine of of columns'on board. the Theseshouldbe discussed the class that they know what kind of rvith so 'problems' eachone deals with. Then askall the students the class write to one of the advice in to columns, asking helpwith a personal for problem. Theycando this anonymously theyprefer. if Dividethe class into smallgroups, eachone representing staffof the an advice column.Distribute letters the amongthe groups, makingsure that no one getshisown letter.andaskthemto write replies these to letters. These replies should thenbe givento the students who wroteto the column. Alternatively, both the letters andreplies may be writtenup asrvall sheets. that the wholeclass readthem. so can
(c) TheNewsDesk

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'job vacancies' fiveor sixbig firmsand askeach in a Distribute list of jobs (giving for to student write a letterof application one of these d p e r s o n a l e t a i l sr.e a lo r i m a g i n a r y ) . eachof thesefirms and ask into groupsrepresenting Divide the class a them to write their replies.In these,they shouldsuggest dateand time beenfilled, etc. has for an interviewor saythat the vacancy already
( e ) Complaints

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a from magazines varietyof adsfor well-knownproductsand paste Select one of theseads to in Ask eachstudent the class choose these to cards. on abouteitherthe productor the ad to the and to write a letterof complaint firm concerned. a eachrepresentingbig firm responsible into groups. Divide the class to the Then distribute letters products. a numberof these for advertising These write their replies. and firmsandaskthemto discuss the appropriate u'howrotethe letterof complaint. be sentto the person should (f) Campaigns on andaskeachgroupto decide someaction into groups Dividethe class by theywouldtaketo improvetheirtown:for example, pullingdown a a facilityof somekind, suchasa new certainbuilding;by providing swimmingpool, or tenniscourts:by wideninga street,etc. Eachgroupshould report,what they proposeto do. in then announce, the form of a press is Each studentin the class then invitedto respondto one or more of by for proposals: example, writing to the press;by writing, in these a with two or more other students, publicprotestor a notice collaboration or the against proposal. by writing to for calling a meeting protest with the proposal' concerned lettersto the persons anonymous (g) Notices Ask eachto drawup a noticeon a giventopic: into groups. Divide the class . a groupor club;starting protestagainst . ', a starting pop for example, raisingfundsfor . . .. etc.At leasttwo groupsshouldwork on the sametask their notices. so that they cancompare ( h ) Rulesand regulations into groupsand askeachgroupto draw up a list of rules Divide the class to and regulations controla certainsituation:for example,safety (fire, hygiene, etc.) for a holidaycamp.After eachgroup has precautions ask up its list of rulesand regulations, them to compare finisheddrawing thesewith thoseof other groups.

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into groups.Ask eachgroupto draw up a market research Divide the class shouldthenuseone of product. Eachstudent for questionnaire a certain in otherstudents the class' to questionnaires interview these
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(a) Ourtown into groups. Dividethe class Giveeachgroupthe taskof describing one feature theirtown. Foiexample: of - places interest - sportsfacilities of - goodplaces eatat - localindustries, to etc. - entertainment facilities writetheirdescription sucha way that the Eachgroupshould in feature described sounds attractive someone to visiting town. Each the student should alsomakehisown copyof the description. Thenform newgroups. makingsurethat theycontain least at one from groups, representative each the original of and askthemto write a full reporton theirtorvnbased these on descriptions. reportmay be The by places interest, accompanied a mapshorving location various the of of etc. (b\ Publicinterviews who is rvillingto be interviewed cometo the front of the Ask a student to him aboutsomeexperience, class. Ask the otherstudents question to pleasant unpleasant whichhe hashad,and to makenotes. or Dividethe students groups, themto compare into ask notesandto an various compile account whatrvas of saidby combining ideas. Whenthe groups havefinished writingtheirversions. these shouldbe readaloudand compared. (c) Private interviews Ask eachstudentin the class intervierv to anotherstudentaboutsome whichhe hashad.andto makenotes. experience Eachstudent should then write a rough version from his notesand showthis to the personhe interviewed beforewritingup the finalversion. (d) Book reports Ask each student writea reporton a book he hasread.If thereis a class to library,he should choose book from thisandplacethe reporthe has a writteninside bookfor theguidance prospective the of readers. thereis If library,the book reports no class maybe circulated in amongthe students the class a folder.Similarly, students in the maybe asked reporton new to records on filmsthevhaveseen. or (e) l,/oticeboard Ask the students writeadsor notices things to rvhich for theywouldlike to sellor to buy.These should pinnedon the class be noticeboard or circulated round the class a folder.The noticeboard in may alsobe usedas the location someof the activities for in suggested 5.6,e.g. 'problems', graffiti.jokes,or simply'hello'messages otherstudents the class. to in (f) References Ask eachstudent the class request leasttwo otherstudents write in to at to him a character reference. various The references be shouldthen rvith cclmpared one another.

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for suggested fun writingin Chapter We cango on usingmanyof the activities horv to to it 4. In factit is important do thisbecause demonstrates the students in as muchmorethev cangetout of an activity their proficiency the language importantto go on it increases. Amongstthe activities suggested.is especially jumbledtexts,role descriptions also(d) (see usingquestionnaires quizzes, and bubbles. For and speech and below),imaginarl'diaries u'ritingaboutpictures just a few we morethan writingaboutpictures particular canbeginto expect in sentences ideasiotteddou'n. and (a) Posing problems u'orking pairsor smallgroups, in think up problemsituations The students. suchas: Prime Whatw,ould fire 1'oudo if . . . . . (theschoolcaught I vou becarne Ministertomorrow' you had to live withoutwater a monthI . . . .)? I for of somewa,rs geningor ntaking Weneed(f 1,000)at once.t you suggest Can money? for problems oneor more otherpairsor groups to Theythensendthese solutions. their sussested (b) Writing clues crosswords for

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u'orking groups, The students, rvrite'scenarios'like onein 5.2.1(c) in the whichthe1, or shortstories giveto oneanother decide to how to actout. Noticethat the scenario opportunities talk but doesnot giveany of for has words.Thuswe havean activitv the actual whichdevelops follows: as
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(h) Jigsawwriting Cut up anysuitable picture: should it havea clearoverallstructure and some,but not too much,detail.Give onesuchpictureto eachgroupand askthe students work in pairsto work out a description one or more to of pieces. Theyshould look at oneanother's not pieces. Whentheyhave writtenout theirdescriptions, should they put awaytheirpieces try to and work out what the pictureasa wholelookslike from what they have written.Whentheyhavedescribed, orallyor in writing,the complete picture, theycancheck thisagainst visual. the (i) Instructions drawinga map or picture for The students. workingin groups, haveto drawa simple mapor picturelike the onesbelow.Theythenwork out the stepby stepinstructions for drawing these. For example. the picture: for 1 Draw two trees, oneon the left of the pictureandthe otheron the right. 2 Thereis a rope between two trees.It is aboutfour feet from the the ground. 3 Draw a manon the rope.He is walkingfrom left to right.He is wearing a hat andhe hasa stickin his handand . . . . ., etc. They mustdecidehow muchdetailfheywant to include(theycanof course change their pictureat thisstage) they mustmakesurethat their but instructions clear. are The groups thenexchange instructions try to drawone another's and pictures. a finalstage As theychecktheirpictures against original the ones.

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In whatwaysdo manyof the writingtasks proposed thischapter in involvea muchcloser integration thanat earlier stages with otherlanguage activities in the classroom? vou agree Do with thisdevelopment? Many of the activities proposed thischapter in wouldinvolvemoreclass time beingspenton writing.Do you think that thiswouldnecessarily a wrong be way of using class time?Givereasons. Many of the activities 5.5and5.6arelikelyto resultin the students in makingmistakes. Doesthisworryyou?

Exercises

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Devise otherexercises similar thosein 5.2.I for practising to dialogue writing at the post-elementary level. Devise exercise an similar the onein 5.2.2so that the cuesarephased to out and the students asked writethe finaltext unaided. are to write an exercise, similar the finalone in 5.3 (d). After you havejumbled to up the items,givethe exercise a friend for checking. to This is the complete for 5.3 (a): text JanetWest'ssister an air hostess a famousinternational is for airlineand Janetwantsto become onetoo. However,sheis still too young:the minimum agefor an air hostess twentyandJanetis only just over slrteen. is For the momentshehastakena 16bin an office.But shealsoattends evening classes. particular, wantsto improveher Frenchand In she Spanish because foreignlanguages an importantqualification an air are for hostess. MeanwhileJanetis gainingexperience throughher present job. For the officesheworksin is a travelagency. this way sheis learning In not only how to dealwith peoplebut alsoquite a lot aboutthe places one she day hopesto visit. Now completethe exercise the end of 5.3 (a) to practise at grammatical and lexical cohesion. Devisea rewritingactivitv.based the text in 4 above,similarto one in on 5 . 3( c ) . From vour own experience teaching learning) foreignlanguaee. of (or a suggest otheractivities similar thoseproposed 5.5and5.6. to for

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writingseeA Pincas On guided (1982a) pages I0Z-9 andS Holden(ed) ( 1 9 8 3p a g e s 9 - 5 7 . ) 4 For the technique interviewing class N coe in S Holden(ed) of the see (1983). Also L Wineron conducting lesson a through writing. a J For writtencommunicative activities J Harmer(1983) see pages 132-140. 4 For writingactivities thislevelseeT Hedge(1983a at and 1983b); Juppand T J M i l n e ( 1 9 8 0 ) ; AP i n c a ( 1 9 8 2 b n d 1 9 8 2 ca n dL W o o d s( 1 9 8 6 ) . s a ) Examples writingactivities thischapter of in havebeentakenfrom: D Byrne Functional Comprehen^slon (Longman 1986 newed.) 5.2.I(a);5.2.2(b) and ( c ) ; 5 . 3 ( a ) - ( ca n d( e ) ; J H a r m e r l t e r i d i a nL o n g m a n 9 8 55 . 2 . 3 ( c ) : ) i ( 1 ) T HedgePento Paper (Nelson 1983) 5.3(d)firstexample; palmerand M D Byrne TrackJ (Longman 1983)5.6(b), and (i) andA pincas (g) writingin English (ivlacmillan 1 1982) 5.3(d)second example. 69

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to Texts- read or listened - offer a naturalcontextfor a wide rangeof and reactby making a note, We often read or hear something activities. writing might equallywell be However.our response for eximple. or writing a letter. oral and itrir t inO of linked reaction.with a variety of skills taking place, will be skills in Chapter 8. This chapterwill be more dealt with under Integrated the important, though often neglected,skills of notenarrowly concernedwith taking and summarising.First, however,we willlook briefly at various types of comprehensionactivity. sincethis can also be a useful and effectiveway of p r o r i d i n gw r i t i n gp r a c t i c e .

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way of providing Comprehensioneierciseson a text are a weli-established 6.2 various kinds, and it is not the purposeof this sectionto Co m p r e h e n s i o n writing practiceof can be in examini the wide range of possibilities this area. Many such exercises activities

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are whetherstatements on done orally: for example.questions a text, deciding lseconveniertr ask for theseto be done in writing but to true or false, etc. It ma1' in this is not intrinsicto the task. On the other hand, there are certainsituations rvhich it rs appropriateto chooseu'riting as the medium of response. require the studentsto This is particularly the caseu'hereexercises examine the meaningof the text very carefully: for example,if they are asked in evidence the text to support certain to decideu,hetherthere is sufficient like areimplied by the text. In cases statementsor whether certain statements they are this the studentscannot be expectedto respondquickly because in probably having to examinethe meaningof severalsentences order to find the answers. of Getting the studentsto write out answers this kind is also a way of them to usewriting for activitieswhich require thought and encouraging precision- precisionwhich perhapscan only be attained after several on can collaborate the precluded: students attempts.Oral work is not of course follow-up' thesetasksand there can be somewhole class

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Sometypes comprehension may alsocallfor the production of task of two or moresentences: is. a shorttextof somekind. This,for that e.xample, ,igh, be the typeof re-writing exercise suggested 5.3 (c) or drscussron in type questions whichcallfor the learner owt't s' responses certain to ideas expressed in the text.Exercises the latterkind areespecially of valuable because irr.v allowthe writtenmediumto be used the .*pr.rrion of personal for opinion within a context provided the text. by Another typeof rewriting exercise frequently usedis the guidedsummary, illustrated 6.2-1 in below.Thiscanbe a useiulpreparation summary for writing based moreextensive on texts(see 6.3.Z). 6'2'1 Guidedsummary writing:an example Sometypes guided of summary rvriting verymuchmorecontrolled are thanthe one below'For example, siudents giventhe actual the are sentences be used to in the summary merely and haveto link thlse with appropriate connecting wordsand phrases, whichare alsoprovided.Althougirthis givesthe students practice continuous in writing,it doesnot teachsummarising skills, rvhich must involvesomeform of note-taking. Noticein the example beiowguidancefir the summary providedthroughquestions the texi, to which is on it is suggested that the answers shouldbe in note form. Today,air traveris far saferthan drivinga car on a busy motorway. But thereis a danger that growseveryyear.Airlinersget laigerand laiger. Somecancarr.y 300 And -over passengers. the air itseribecori., nror. uiJ more crowded.If one giantairlinercrashed into anotherin mid_air. 600 livescould be lost. From the momentan airrinertakesoff to the momentit lands,every movementis watched radarscreens. trafficcontrollers on Air tell the pil,ot exactlywhen to turn, whento climb and when to comedown. The air trafficcontrollers arounda busvairport like London-Heathrow may handle 2500planes day.Not all of themactually a landat the airport.Any prane that fliesnearthe airportcomes underthe ordersof the controllers there. Even a smallmistake theirpart couldcause disaster. on a Recentlysucha disaster almosthappened. Two largejets rvere flying towardsthe airport.one wascarrying69 puss.ngers and had comefrom Toronto. The.other wascarrying176passlng..riro* chicago.An air trafficcontrollernoticedon his radaricreenihut the two planes weretoo close eachother.He ordered to one to turn to the rightandto climb.But he madea mistake. orderecr wrongprane Jo this. He the to So,instead of turningawayfrom the second plane,tne nist planeturnecr torvards it. Fifteenseconds laterit flewdirectry front oi tt. second in plane.They avoided eachotherby thesmallest of a second. part The distance between themwasless thanthatof a larseswimming pool.Thisis an example the of danger that grows evervyear. Describethe disa.ster olntosthoppened.write oneparagraphof about thut eighty words. Answerthese questiorts note irt pomts; fonn to getyoLtr 1) What werethe tu'oplanes doincat the time,/ 2) Wherehadthevcorne from'l 3) What did an air trafticconrroller ancl tlo rvhvJ 71

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-1) What was the result'l -5) What \\'asnarro\\'lvavoided'l to This type of activitvis a usefulfirst stepin gettingstudents make notes u'ith. lt doesnot. of course,shou'themhow to ivhichthey will do something make notes.which is a problemrvervill now look at.

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6.3 and Note-taking summarising

to and summarising* writing tasksat of The relevance the skillsof note-taking thel' are a commonfeatureof many writing this level shouldnou' be apparent: u'hichrelatein somewav to what we haveread or heard.sincewe activities them in someother often make a note of certainideasand then re-present that and it is essential form. These.then. are importantskillsfor the learners 'classroom' that they are artificial not be left rviththe impression thev shoulcl valueexceptfor the purposeof passing practical which are of little activities. to according certain and this too only if they are executed examinations. Yet this is how thel'are to formulas.This appliesparticularlv summarising. are the and practised: students askedto take noteswith commonlvpresented in purposein mind and to u'ritesummaries a wav u'hichinvolves no specific both distortionand contortion.lt is not deniedthat there is an important in (or elementof control and discipline at leastself-discipline) theseactivities, meaningfulactivities bur the purposeof this can bestbe broughthome through applied. mechanically rather than by procedures alsobe clearthat theseare skillsthat cannotbe fully developed It should until the learnershave reacheda certainproficiencyin the language,althoughit basis. them on areceptive will be arguedthat u'e can and shouldfirst present look like in relation what notesand summaries s areshon,n That is. the learner to an original text. There are alsosimple taskswhich the learnerscan be asked to perform before thev carrv out activitieson a more extensivescale. just hou,difficulttheseskillsare, evenfor the nativeuserof To appreciate what is involvedin them. With u'e the language. would do well to consider for note-taking. example.we haveto be ableto identify key items in a text. much more and clearl.v test of comprehension itself a searching which is in when at leastwe have the difficult if u,e are listeningrather than reading, the opportunityto scrutinise text at leisure.We aisohaveto be able to reduce theseitems in a way that is at leastsufficientto allow us to retrieve or compress callsfor a good abbreviation The task of meaningful their originalmeanin-q. these works. Likewisethe ability to re-present knowledgeof how the language text. with an key ideasin sucha wav that thev constitute acceptable than is much closerto advanced and appropriatesentence-linking sequencing. the guidedwriting. While it mav be true that, when we are summarising' text 'content' of what we write. in many respects is more it u'ith the provides us elses thoughtsthan to of Oifncultto operateu'ithin the constraints someone produceour own.

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6.3.1 Note-taking

It hasbeensuggested the initialphase note-taking* that of shouldconsist mainlyof showing learners the what notes look like andof demonstrating that, thereare no magic although formulas. is since note-taking to someextenta personal activity, therearea number wavsof reducing text to notes that a of so ideas it arenot lost.We should in the fundamental start,therefore, showing by relate a text.For example, canpresentboth a text and a setof to how notes we notesandexamine horvthe writerarnvedat his notes. JohnSmith,who wasbornon December is 6,1957, a secondary school teacher. wife'snameis Jovce. His Thevhavethreechildren: onesonand two daughters.

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We may alsousefullycontrast one setof noteswith another.For example:

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By comparing possible of notes canaskthe students identify two we sets to rvhatinformation beenpreserved both andwhatotherinformation has in each writer hasincluded omitted.We canalsoexamine or someof the devices which havebeenused.For example. examination evenshortsets notes the of of like these reveals thatwe canomit pronouns. verbs,articles auxiliary and connectives. thatwe canalsousenumerals symbols. canalsobegin and and We to look at the question abbreviations. whichthereis only one example of of in (sec. secondary) discuss thiswasmade(i.e. in thiscase, the notes for and how by takingthe firstsvllable the rvord)andwhether of otheronesarepossible (for for school). example. sclz. It will alsohelpstudents be shorvn to different waysof setting notes out. F o r e x a m p l et,h em o d e l b e l o rd o e s o t c o m m i t h e mt o a n vp a r t i c u l ao r d e r . v n r and.perhaps moreimportant. allou's additional related information be to addedin at the rightpoint.especiallv you arereading longtext.For if a n b e x a m p l ew h e r e o h nS m i t h ' a s o r n .t h e n a m eo f t h es c h o oh e t e a c h eis a n d . J l n t h e s u b i e c t s .t c . e

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t s o t l n a d d i t i o nt o a s k i n g h e s t u d e n t so e x a m i n e e t s f n o t e sa l o n gt h e s e and discuss how we might arrive at a set of take a numberof texts lines,we ma1, that notes:for example.\\'ecan underlinekev items.bracketwords or phrases Finally.we can work out possible contractions. can be omitted. and consider a v'ith the students possibleset of notes. to Another usefulactir,itv. be carriedout with fairly long texts.is to ask to the students identifl'the main ideasin a text. For example.as a first step.we in can give them a list of the main ideas.presented random order, and ask them dealtwith in the text. Subsequently, to put thesein the order in u'hichthe1,'are they may be askedto identifl,themain ideasfor themselves. to At this stage.too. u'hen*'e first askthe students take notes,it is helpful, of aspects the text and to both in order to focustheir attentionon specific ensurethat they keep their notesshort.to givethem somesort of framework on u'ithin which to u'ork. in the form of a chartto be completed.The activities of the studentson page75 show how it is possibleto focus the attention of particularaspects a text (in this case.one for readingfollowed by a related to). r.rhich the pointsthey needto make a note of. are one for listening more enjoyable it because is intrinsically enjov this kind of activitl,' Students than simplymaking a stringof notes.Equally important.however,the useof to chartsobligesstudents be concise. involvekeepingnotes,and this is Mani' gamesand gamelikeactivities their real importance.One home to the students anotherway of bringin-q and activityin particularu,ill be found useful:this is a variationon Describe draw. Instead of trying to drau' a picture which for someonedescribes them without their being ableto seeit, the students make notesas they listen.They can then either compare notes and subsequentl,v. individually or in coliaboration.carry out one of the following tasks: - describethe picture orally; draw the picture; write a descriptionof the picture B,c,D...comparenotes

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overnight Scotland is different. It's exciting. It's easy to get to. and it's cheap to travel around in. There are plenty of travel bargains. meals 2 How would you travel if you wanted to do these things? ar watch a film on the journey b) take your car to Scotiand without driving it c) get to Scotland as quickly as possible

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are trainingaloncthcselinesu'ill ensurethat the students Sy'stematic sametime' we can also At preparedfornote-taking' the adequately e thepracticalt'alueof note-takilg:for example.by making sure demonstrat for this skill when rvegivethem instructions exercise that the students which they haveto carrv out at a later date' In includinghomeu'ork. activities. is purposeful way. it is hoped.thev u,ill be ableto seethat note-taking a this activity.

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6.3.2 Summarising

versionof a text rvhichhas been read or a SunmarisinC producinC shortened throughdifferentkinds of heard- is bestviewedas a skill which is realised and on of writing' Reports speeches \\,riting,ratherthan as a special.fo,77? of articlesand svrtopses of ntintttis of meetingsare summaries:so are obstracts at may be quite lengthydocuments: summaries books.At one end of the scale, of the the other. no more than a few iines.One factorrvhichdetermines length u'riter of the summarised rvhichthe a summaryis the actualamountof space A at his disposal. report on a meeting.to be read and studiedbv versionhas length' u'hile a report on a ma\Ihaveno prescribed thosewho were not present. may haveto be in a ne\\'spaper meetingu,hichhasbeenu ritten to be published for which the fitted into half a column or less.Another factoris lhe purpose summarvhasbeenu,ritten:it may'be intendedto provide a record of some hand. event,in rvhichcasebrevitvwill not be the main concern'On the other a guidefor is corrcisenesslikely to be importantif it is intendedto serveas who doesnot haveiime to read the originaltext or who wishesto find someone out u'hetherit is worth reading' as All this. of course.is a long u'avfrom summarising it is traditionally the but therewoulclseemlittle point in practising in practised the classroom. like those activities wa,v realistic to we ititt ut all unless can relateit in some above.A more flexibleview of sunmary u'ritingwill not only make it described work with it a more purposefulactiyityfor the students; will alsoenableus to different differentkinds of material.both spokenand written. and of very althoughin a summarised that. lengths.It wiil fuither enableus to demonstrate information- the main essentiai to concerned preserve versionwe are alwa),s both by the purposein making the summary ideas- how u,edo this is affected and the amount of spaceat our disposal' Through note-takingwe have alreadyto a large extent laid the foundations the main for summarising;in particular, through activitiessuch as identifying to convenient work rvith points in a text ir.. 6.: . 1) . Becauseat the start tt is setting iairll,short texts(like the one in 6.2.1).we haveto be carefulto avoid of taskswhich rl ould involvethe compression materialwhich is unrealistic Hou'et'er, the studentsmaY be askedto give a already succinctlyexpressed. ratherthan a set ."ru*d, oral or written. in a givennumberof sentences to the students make the best useof the number of words.This encourages at number of sentences their disposal' what variouskinds of we As with note-taking. must alsosftowthe students of versions a text look like. This can be done in a number of ways' summarised study of texts(which is we may reiatethis activityto the intensive For example. the form of a bv o.o61*on activityaithis stage), settingthem a readinggoal in reflects summarv.which asksthem to decidewhetherthe summaryaccurately of with examples notes. alsocompare,as in the main icleas the text. we ma1'

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two or threesummaries different of lengths, that the students decide so can to whatextentthe essential ideas theoriginal of havebeenretained each.and in how the lengthof the summarised versions mayaffectboth whatis included and how it is expressed. However, practical the valueof summarising only be fully brought can homeif we work with fairly' longtexts. How thisis donemustof course ..lut. to the levelandinterests the students. of Theymay be asked write abstracts to of chapters bookstheyhaveread.For example. communication in of the task 5.5.2(d) mav be reformulated that theywrite 'blurbs'for the booksrvhich so thevhaveread.In someclasses. mav be moreuseful work with textsrvhich it to areheard ratherthanread.For example, somedialogues wherethe speakers aredealing with a well-defined theme, suchasmakingplans, lendthemselves well to reporting activities throu-sh rvhich summarising be practised. can Incjeed the taskof writinga notice. based whatthe speakers on havesaid,is a form of summarv, with a special communicative purpose. listening If facilities are available, students, the divided into two halves, may be asked listento two to reports a townor on an accident, on broadly samebut differing details. the in They maythenbe asked writesummarised to versions whattheyhaveheard of andsubsequently compare to these asto identifythe similarities so and differences. But to demonstrate thepractical'applicationsummarising shall fullv of rve probably haveto relv mainlvon activities rvhich invo.lve someform of roleplay. F o r e x a m p l et.h e ' e s t a t e g e n c v ' a c t i v is v g g e s t en 5 . 5 . 1( a ) i s w e l l s u i t e do a tu id t thispurpose. Eachstudent mavbe asked rvritea comprehensive to description of the property wishes sell.rvhich thensivento otherstudents. he to is preferably rvorking pairsor smallsroups, 'edit' in sucha way that the in to description into a givenamount space the purpose advertising. fits of for of Similarly students the mav be given,or asked write. to 'articles' of different kindssuch asnewsreports, socialevents, book andfilm reviews. letters t o t h ee d i t o r . t c . ,f o r w h i c ht h e e lengthis not specified. A s e l e c t i oo f t h e s es g i v e n o n i t eachgroupof students, together with the layoutfor the pageof a newspaper shown as in the diagram. Their taskis to f i t t h e s e i e c eo f w r i t i n g n t o p s o the page. Thevhave,therefore. to consider bothwhereto place their articles, rvithin limits the laid down,andto modifythem as necessary, whichmight i n v o l v e i t h e r x p a n s i oo r e e n reduction.

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alongtheselines(and aisowithin the broadercontextof Through actii,ities and developed may be practised see simulations, 8.4). the skill of summarising may demandthat this skill way. The requirementsof examinations in a realistic in shouldbe usedin a much more limitedway. suchas makingsummaries the traditional sense,for rvhich thepurposemav not be at all apparent,but these this skillin the need not be allowedto distortthe rvaywe teachand practise classroom.
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Discussion

1 Make a list of the thingsyou use note-takingand summarisingfor' Arrange with a theseunder two headings: frequent andoccasional.Compareyour list friend. do 2 From your reading of.6.3.2. you agreethat summarywriting is an important and valuableactivitY? 3 How effectivedo 1'outhink the final activity in 6.3.2 would be for teaching summary writing?

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Exercises

levelto seewhat attemptis made to 1 Examineany textbookat an appropriate wellpresented? and summarywriting. Are the activities practisenote-taking in 2 Do the exercise 6 .2.1. i m 3 M a k e n o t e so n t h e t e x t i n 6 . 2 . 1 ,u s i n gt h e d i a g r a m o d e l s h o w n n 6 . 3 . 1 .D o suitablefor this type of text than conventionalforms of you think it is more note-taking? 4 Find a suitablepicture and try out the Describeand note in 6.3.1 with some friends. What difficultiesdid you have?

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1 The texr on pageTlcomes from R o'Neill: Flight (Longman 1973). 2 Onnote-taking seeJB Heaton in S Holden (ed) (1977)Keep it short and JB Heaton (I975) pages18-28. see 3 On summarising M Donley (1975). material on page75 comesfrom M Palmer and D Byrne 4 The illustrative Tracki (1983).

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l e l c x i c a l r e a .a l t h o u g h r e n h e r cu ' e r r r cn o t t i c d t o u n \ is t : to f i t e n t s . n o t h e r a r. horl'eve \\e are frec ttl exploitthe matcrialaswe u'ish. I/ie special rcspecls. the o.[ edt,ontuge thisi.sthatve con rtse sentepiecco.fmateriulat differentlevels and alsofor di.fferertt\ pes o.f x'ritirtg. hasits On the other hand. the verv fact that visualmaterialis open-ended u,ill interpretthe visualcontentin a There is the risk that the learners dangers. permits.This the u'avthan their proficiencl,'in language more sophisticated in lvhichin turn results mav involvesomeforn of mentaltranslation. Even if errorsare not our main expression. and incorrect inappropriate failing to that they shouldresultfrom the learners concern,it is undesirable thet' haveacquired:both oral and make full and proper useof the language can how the,v goals.aim to shorvthe learners u'rittenpracticemust. asone of its they know. Writing tasks. *'ithin the limits of the ianguage themselr.'es express given appropriate and the learners therefore.haveto be rerv carefulll'defined for preparation thenl. l u I f v i s u a lm a t e r i a l i s s e da t t o o e l e m e n t a n ' ae v e l .i t a l s ot e n d st o u'hichis remotefrom u'ritingin any real et encourage form of u ritten expression as At sense. best.it might be described a kind of commentaryon rvhatcan be are seenin the picture.Thus. for example.the learners invited to produce For example John is at the bus stop. Continuous. usingthe Present sequences rhe He is w,aiting.for bus. The bus is corttingand John is gctingto get on it. Now he is gettingon the bns. etc. Although it might be arguedthat the learnerswill of from rvritingsequences this kind rather than producing get more satisfaction skills.On the this tvpe of writing u'ill not benefitcomposition singlesentences. it allowsthe learners contrary,it might evento someextentbe harmfulbecause linking and that thel'can u'riteu'ithoutthe useof appropriate to believe forms of much betterto usealternative It devices. is. surelr'. sequencing them to write in a encourage in practice(assuggested Chapter4) ratherthan to to u'av which is inappropriate the rvrittenform of the language.
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CentralRoad and New Roadis the The buildingin Harbour Roadbetween and It fish,vegetables fruit. It usedto whichwasbuilt in 1875. sells market, The marketis openfrom sellmeat,but that is now soldin the supermarket. andfrom 8 a.m.to 5 and Thursdays Fridays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, p.m. on Saturdays. on The informationwhichappears ten differentcardsis asfollows: CentralRoad andNew Roadis the in 1 The building HarbourRoadbetween market. 2 The marketwasbuilt in 1875. 3 The marketsellsfish. vegetables. 4 The marketsells fruit. The marketsells 5 6 The marketusedto sellmeat. 7 Meat is now soldin the supermarket. Fridaysand Saturdays. Thursdays, 8 The marketis openon Tuesdays, 9 The marketis openfrom 8 a.m.to 2 p.-. on weekdays' 10 The marketis openfrom 8 a.m.until5 p.m' on Saturdays. pointsto, are The students then invitedto identifya buildingwhich the teacher informs to is'able do this and he therefore suchasthe market.Only one student of openingsentence the is This statement clearlythe the restof the class. Another pieceof informationwhichmight relateto this is then paragraph. cards, do calledfor. Sincethe students not know what is on one another's that the mostsuitable are suggestions likely to be madeuntil it is agreed several . Themarketwasbuilt in 1875 However,it cannot pieceof informationis: on in foilow on from the first sentence the form in whichit appears the cardand sentence. are invitedasto how it shouldbe linked to the preceding suggestions version,or with lr (that is to This may be either with which,asin the original It The say-. buitding. . . is themarket.It wasbuilt in 1875). shouldbe notedthat cards haveto be modifiedin someway. on most of the statements the Noticethatwe are continues. of And so the construction theparagraph form. On the the to not concerned reconstruct originaltext in its exact acceptable to consider to it contrary, is far moreimportant get thestudents the For alternatives. example. text might continue:Themarket sells fsh. It also not market sells onlyfish but alsofruit and or sells fruit anclvegetabies even:The vegetables. description the firstplacemay be written up on the of The completed is to can board.After that,the students be asked makenoteswhilethe activity They will find this afterwards. and in progress to write up the descriptions to easier do if theyareworkingin pairs.

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the maybe cuedby providing firstlineof the the (b) Alternatively, dialogue A to whichrelates Pictures andB, the belorv, In exchange. the exampie giveher husband's takesthe partof Mrs Ball. and the students teacher responses. r: s: r: s: r: s: please? and Will you go to the grocer's getsomesugar, on TV') a (But I'm watching footballmatch W e l l ,i f y o ud o n ' tg o ,I c a n ' tm a k ea c a k e ' ( O h , i n t h a tc a s eI' ' l l g o l ) , . N o w .I n e e d s o m e o t h ; r t h i n g s a s w.e.l ls a l t c o f f e e . .' H e r e ' s a l i s t ' ( I d o n ' tn e e da l i s t ! ) for alternatives both several to maybe asked suggest The students F s p e a k e r s .o r e x a m P l e : Canyou go andgetme some? B: MRS I needsomesugar. the B: Now? I wasiustreading paper' MR Or: for mind goingto the grocer's me? B: MRS Would,vou want? B: What do You IuR ' B M R S : W e l l ,l ' v e r u n o u t o f s u g a r ' ' I've go thisafternoon. got to go into town' B: NtR I'll
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theycanselect cometo writeup their dialogues, Thus,whenthe students ones that from the differentsuggestions havebeengivenor producesimilar for themselves' for to exploited produce, maybe similarly The nextthreepictures (c)' Mr weather and aboutgardening the a example, shortconversation from the grocer- but forgettingthe rvants Ball orderingthe thingshe aboutthe news(E). PictureF involves sugar(D) and a conversation and is thereforean importantpicturewhich asling'forand givingdirections below).Finally,in G andH. we havethe depth(see be should explJitedln has her N{is betrveen Ball. rvhois angrybecause husband conversation who triesto makeexcuses takensucha longtime.andher husband, the only to find that he hasforgotten sugarl should that F, For Picture it is suggested one or moremodeldialogues to relevant language practise to firstbe built up with the helpof the class, a very we For directions. example, mightstartwith for asking andgiving dialogue: simple me. Canyou tellme the way to the station? NIAN:Excuse and ou.r th. road.go asfar asthe nervsagent's thenturn s: rvrR Yes.Cross left. MAN: Is it a longwa,v? .rrcx: Oh, abouthalfa mile' is be it dialogues, should emphasised,to these of The purpose producing task' theirrvriting willneedfor the rvhich students the rehearse tariguage to be theyshould encouraged theirdialogues, WhentheycomJto o'riteup v t p r o d u c e e r vd i f f e r e nv e r s i o n s ' maY in pictures the sequence aboutinclividual $'ritten The dialogues 85

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like Whateverthe final outcomein rvriting,you can usevisualsequences the both to one in I .3.2 andthe shorterone belowfor a rangeof oral activities in preparefor u,rittenu'ork and to involvethe students the material(u'hichwe however attractiveit may must never assumetobe intrinsicallymotivating, appearto be). For example: - speculation: to Get the students give their own ideasabout the people and ( w h o t h e y a r e ; w h e r et h e ya r e ,e t c . ) .S e e4 . 6 ( i ) . thesetting Get the studentsto work out how they would roleplal,and dramatisation'. presentpeople shown in the picturesand how they would act out some or . all of the sequence (Seebelow for relatedwriting activities. ) For N{ostpicture setswill stimulatesome kind of discussion. discussion: for relationships 7 .3.2 and monstersfor the set example. husband-wife below.

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will be: Somekey writing activities - notes:The studentsshould make a note of anv important ideaswhich come up during oralu'ork. - diarl, enuies:The studentswrite up an accountof what happenedfrom the Notice that this involves viewpointof one of the peoplein the sequence. above,don't forget the diary of the For the sequence reporting. selective monsterl - role descriptions: The studentswrite rolecardsfor one another if they are See goingto act out the sequence. 4.6 (t) and 5.6 (d). They can alsowrite s c e n a r i o ( s e e5 . 6 ( e ) ) . s letterwriring: Similar to the previousactivity. Again the activity will involve reporting and. if you do not wish to bore the personyou are selective summarising! writing to - realistic

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(articles, ):This will depend the content the sequence. reports etc. on of The couldwriteonefor the one above. students For example: rur,I,ToNSTER lHAr cAME LUNCHI ro Reportwritingis discussed detailin 7.3.5. in Noneof thisprecludes morebasic oral work (question answer, and true-false statements, etc.)andmorebasic writtenwork (sentence linking,paragraph completion), whichmay be necessary certain with classes. 7. 3 . 4 Techniques for presenting visual sequences Muchwill depend theform in whichthisis available on (book,display chart, transparency), alsohow muchyou wantthe students and themselves to contribute ideas. Wherever possible, unless wantto givethemthe taskof you exactdescription (whichcanbe a challenging activityif it is presented the in rightway),you should welcome opportunity getting students rhe of the to contribute ideas. Theyarecertainly likelyto enjoyit more thanif theyare allowed describe to onlywhattheycansee. Here are somewaysof presenting four-picture a sequence asto so stimulate students' the imaginations: (a) Showthefirst and lastpicture. Thestudents in what fill happened between. in (b) Showthemiddletwopicrures. Thestudents supplythe beginning and theend. (c) Showthelastpictureonly. The stLtdents decidewhathappened before. (d) Showthefirst picrureon[y. The students decide whathappened after that.

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onecyclistwaskilledandanotherbadlyinjuredw.hentheycollidedwit afternoon' yesterday motor cycleon the roadto Winton Airport probablyuseinformation We canthen showthat at thispoint we would by provided the picture'For example: neara sharpbendin the road abouttwo . . . The collisionoccurred milesfromtheairport.Accordingtothedriverofthelorry,whichwas ' two cyclists ' ' travellingtowardsthe airportat the time' the I n t h e v e r s i o n w h i c h t h e s t u d e n t s a r e a s k e d t o w r i t e , t h e o u badly e o f t tcom hitsthe tree,andis kiiledor picturemightbe that the driverof the lotry Thiswill still allowthe injured.throughtryingto avoidthe motoi-cyclists. but version, at the same of the rehearsed to students usesomeof the language In changes. this way' noneof the time theywill haveio makequiteslgnificant is of challenge the writingactivity lost'
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Using diagrammatic materials

writing and canbe usedfor controlled guided how maps seen we havealready (seea.3(b)and5.3(d)).rvhileearlierinthischapter(7.3.1)amapwasu g u ' o . p u r a g r u p h o r g a n i s a t i o n . . T h e S a m e m a t e r i a l c a n b e uhow to tget t e seda ala someone a suchasrvriting letterto advise for freerwritingactlvities. like with graphs together These, in o, to your house *tr".. to meet,vou town.

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t h e o n e b e l o w ( s e e E x e r c i s e s , P a g e g ; 1 ) p l a n s o f r o o m s a n encourages a dbuilding whichwill of activities can and train timetables be ur.d fo. a variety theremaybe morethanonervayof . For to students write preciselt, example, describingaroomoradvisingaroute-butatleastitwillbeclearifthe across' havegotthe information students GREEN FO r POPULATION \ND ENlPLOYI"'iE,NT RSTAN-|ON

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formalnpes of

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and contrastinq. the u'rittertlanguage. suchas deltniltg.cort'lparing exemplifying(etc.). The practiceof these(see9.2) can help to give a new slant to the programme and enableus to cover old ground in a new way. Visual can materialin the form of plansand diagran-rs be very usefulfor this purpose. of belou'showshow the diagrammaticrepresentation a town The example neededfor writing a text which can be usedto introducesomeof the language of classification data and also to structurea parallel involvesthe systematic * to writing task for the students carry out. The diasram below showsthe structureof a town calledBrunton.

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visual Other useful for materials activities writing

placefor a numberof reasons: (a) Ads: These a mustoccupy special - thereis a widevarietyof them; theyarewidely(andfreely)available: - students to respond them. suchasjobs, or If you arecollecting makingads,coverkey areas food,carsand schools. language holidays, for things sale. accommodation, - but alsoinclude yourcollection adsthat areparticularly any in clothes strikingandmemorable. rvill Wiiting activities normallyinvolvesomeroleplaysuchaswriting with holidayaccommodation) in for more information(e.-e. connection writing in (e.g.for a job or for a place a school); makingan application (e , of letters complaint .g aboutfood ads) etc. TV festivals, andradio theatres, for For (b) Programmes.. example. cinemaS, for canbe used (see+.0(d), wherethe students madetheirown).These or shortreports' makingnotesor writing rvhich involve activities planning for the (e.g.suggesting programme a davout)' letters for rvriting 9I -

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in for of 'fun' writingactivities earlier has Visualmaterial beenused a number 4.6 4.6 for See, example. (d) TV/radioprogrammes: (f) rolecard chapters. whichis (an for and pictures: (i) pictures interpretation speculation activity 4.6 makeprogress with theirwriting);5.6 (h) jigsaw valuable students as especially (i) instructions drawine picture a map. for a or writingand5.5 be are Someotheractivities suggested lorv.The firstthreeinvoivethe use objectsuchasa pieceof (usually showing single a of smallpicturecuecards . . f u r n i t u r e a n i t e mo f c l o t h i n ga n a n i m a ie t c . ) . , (a) Picturelinking to from u'orking eroups. given(or areallowed choose in are The students. u'hich theyhaveto make pictures. around threeto four a largernumber) so connection. the not should haveanyobvious up a story.The objects to are students encouraeed be imaeinalil'g andevenabsurdl (b) Losrandfound is Eachstudent giventrvocards ( e . g .a d o ga n da p a i ro f s h o e s ) to oneof these rvritea anduses he noticeaboutsomething has lostandthe otherto \\'ritea he noticeaboutsomethin-e has are found.The cards then and redistributed the notices respond readout. The students b y s a y i n g ' T h a t m i n e ! 'o r ' I ' v e 's g o ti t ! ' (c) Desert Islandmessoges haveplayed After the students the DesertIslandgame(thatis. theyare whentheyimagine andhave marooned an island on h t o d e c i d e o u t h e r u i l t u s e( 3 ) clock. suchasa hammer. objects to mirror),theycanbe asked w r i t em e s s a g eo p u t i n t oa ts bottleandthrowinto the sea. to They canalsobe asked write part of the time their diaryfor they areon the island.

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( e ) Who is it?

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(f) Life story

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(i) Postcards ^ - + ^ ^ ^ . i ^ ^ . A ( a q A r by pasting plctur( c u t f r o m a r a (made Give eachstudenta postcard askthem to senda or magazine travelbiochureonto a pieceof card)and do elsein the clasi(thismay includeyou!). They may ro message someone singer,actor, (e.g. or this aslhemselves in the role of a famousperson . politician . .).

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of usingvisualmaterial and I What aresomeof the advantages disadvantages as a frameworkfor writingpractice? at the postit that. on the"wtrote, is betterto usevisualmaterial 2 Doyou agree Give reasons' level? elementarY form is intended ,picturecomposition' in materialavailable published 1 Most of materialof your own for useat a fairly .i.,n.nr"ry level.Examineany set choosingandseewhetheritcouldbesuccessfullyexploitedatamore level. advanced similar inl.3'1, write a description, to 2 With reference the activitydescribed or the supermarket to the one of the market.of anotherplace(for example, whichcanbe cinema) and thendivideup the text into statements the Palace on (as sitedon the students'cards shown page82)' 93

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ptcture couldbe seton the following u'hich tasks Identifysomervriting or letters be should in theform of dialogues. sequence. These compositit-rn for that mightbe needed anyone of the Suggest kind of preparation reports. t t h e s ea s k s .

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anypieceof visualmaterialand showhow it couldbe usedfor a report Select in alongthe linessuggested 7.3.5. writingactivity for someuses the graphin7.3.6' 5 Suggest in with a friend andtry out one or more of the activities 7.3.8.Can you 6 Work alongtheselines? other activities suggest References see of For examples visualmaterialfor writing activities, JB Heaton(i966); (1975); Ridout(1975); R C D Byrne(I967);JBHeaton(1975); Fleming (1981); and L (1976); Hill (1978); Markstein D Grunbaum LA D Byrne B J B H e a t o n( 1 9 8 6 ) ; D y r n e( i 9 8 8 ) . booksthat containusefulvisualmaterialare:T Hedge Other composition (1982b 1982c) and A (1983a, R and 1985); Knight(1986); Pincas 1983b L Woods(1986). see materialimaginatively picturecomposition for For techniques exploiting A PictureComposition: FreshLook. D Byrne (1987) through Composition picture in7.3.5is from JB HeatonBeginning The in (LongmanI975);the picturesequence 7.3'3is from M Palmer Pictures 3 andin Exercise from G Fleming and D Byrne Track3 (Longman1983) (Hodderand Stoughton 1975). GuidedComposition

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8.1 The importance of integrating skills

The needto integrate skillsin language learninghasalreadvbeenstressed and in manyrespects is not a newfeatureof the writing programme. fact, this In manyof the communication activities and 'fun' writing activities Chapters in 4 and 5 integrated talkingandwriting (andsometimes reading)in a naturalway. See for example, questionnaires quizzes 4 .6 (a) and (b), roleplay and in , a c t i v i t i eis 5 . 5 . 1 ; s c e n a rwo i t i n g n 5 . 6( e ) ; j u m b l e d t o r i e sn 5 . 6( g ) a n d n ir i s i writing instructions pictures for and mapsin 5.6 (i). The key factorwith many activities how you get the students work: pair and groupwork offer many is to moreopportunities integrating for skills,asthe simple analysis belowshows. The activity drawing picture a map. is a or INDIVIDUAL WORK
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so defined because takes manyforms.It it work cannot neatlv be Project (through andreading)it often interviewing usually involves someresearch I (although is not essential) it almost and goingout of the classroom this involves a l w a y sn v o l v e d i s c u s s i o n . i s of out The process carrying the project- is clearlvimportantbecause haveto undertake; equallvtheproducl- some but the the activities students Writingmay kind of document u'illqivethema greatdealof satisfaction. (filling questionnaires, making in takeplaceat both stages: alongthe u,a.v we \\'hen writingup the prolect.(For our purpose and at the finalstage notes) plansor maps,though in for wouldavoidonethat resulted. example. drawing projectin itself.) this couldbe a legitimate it that projectwork shouldgivethe classroom is important In the language At for use opportunities language anddevelopment. the sametime it students to educationalfront develop: will helpthemon a broader - communication back; and skills: wheninterviewing reporting - research whenreadingl skills: u'hendiscussing, collaborating. social skills: will for Sometimes projectu'orkthe students haveto usethe mothertongue be in (e.g.whentalkingandreading), the outcome writingwill always in but English.

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(since there are no 'rules'for Although this is largelya matterof commonsense haveto be carefullyplanrred that doesnot havea setform), projects something the in role is crucialespecially presenting project The teacher's and sustained. it doesnot breakdown. that in and involvingthe students it, and in ensuring stages: You mav like to foliowthese
D E P R E S N T A T I O NA S . D I S C U S S I O N

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at the start is to show one of the thingsyou may haveto do with the students thestudentshowto.op"nup'atopic'Onewayistogetthemtomakeachart whichwill involvetalkingand in simlar to the on. ur.d for note-taking 6.3.1, is Food, a chartmight look if *riting. For example, the topicfor ihe project like this:

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only.Ineithercasenote-tutlngwillbeinvolved(perhapstogetherwithsome for project shouldbe agreed: of initial reading).At this point the Scope the This may dependon its scope. to it example, couldue decided limit or extend available of for (opportunities going.out the classroom, opportunities research of etc.) oriimply the interests the students. readingn1ut.riul, work distributedamongthe groups'. and the when this hasbeenagreed interviewing' If *oit on the main activities. this involves the student,.un U.gin questionnaires socialbehaviour), abouteatinghabits,attitudes, (for example, If theseinvolve writing' precise aridthis involves will haveto be devised, the or whetherin English the mothertongue)' (as reading some.*^i"fy will, what they haveread' and to mustbe prepared summarlse re-present students alsotranilatingfrom the mothertongueinto English' ;";il to their research date o-n At somepoint thelroups will haveto report back that this what tieir frnalproductwililook like. It is assumed and alsoto agree of text andillustration' or will be a brochure bookletof somekind, consisting to enoughfor someone want to read.(e.g :Td.":::",. which will be attractive and then haveto do a gooddealof writing up The studentt*ltt anotherclass). of *ltttln the constraints a editingof their material.If they are askedto work amount certain haveto do a ihey rvillprobably pages), length(sixteen certain thinking aboutthe actual They *ititraue to do some of summarising. 97

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All doeslook attractive. so of presentation theirmaterial. that the end-product - will nrake skills for a inir - apartfrom providing framework integrating e i a u'riting motivatinacti\t\ . but u,ill throughout be important mainlyasa Your involvement be should The students of groupactivity. as consultant, for otherforms wherethey canfind relevant to encouraged askfor your advice(for example, haveto provide you situations may actually material.In someclass referencL on it) and for your helpwith their English(depending their level and the extent for The to whichyou *unt ih.. to rely on themselves). responsibility the final be productmustof course their own.

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underheadings grouped belowhavebeenroughly for The suggestions projects thel'overlaP. but inevitably (a) 'Newsmag' over the whole of the school extending This is a longterm project.perhaps reading offices, to ne\\'spaper (e.g. researching visits year,whichinvolves and and aboutthe historyof nervspapers magazines) writing materialfor a Items and - a combination a class newspaper magazine' of hybridproduct features fun writing,reviews, creative are to be included articles, (e'g' sport)and jokes),ads,special topicareas puzzles. (crosswords. whichwouldbe primarily visits, omit the outside Evenif 1'ou illustrations. medium to you unless haveaccess English interest of educational projectin the Englishlanguage of the newspapers, advantage this in to is that it hassomething offer everyone the class. classioom and that (b) Projects couldbe donemainlythroughreading(in and out of class) sharingof knowledge couldbe donemainlyin thisway' section, in Food.anal1,sed theprevious are: Someothertopics - time - money transport paper'etc') (e.g.plastic, of uses materials clothes

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planning realor imaginary (d) Projects int,olving - developing 5'5'2 (a)) in facilities one'stown (see - developing imaginarY island an the planning imaginary to the moon,downthe Amazon.across trip an S a h a r ae t c . .

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not skillsin anysetorder- certainly in the In reallife we do not uselanguage --+ in appear textbooks: listen--+Speak read--+write. We order that they often we an aS useSkills and whenwe requirethem. For example, See ad in the paper or job or a holiday); maytalk aboutit to someone ring up or write a we (for a 'chain'of simplyforgetaboutit!) This letter aboutit. (We may of course couldgo on - andonl Importantly,however,it canprovidea model activities leveland, way at a post-elementary skillsin a realistic for integrating for for providenaturalcontexts writing. Oncethe mechanism this incidentally, in it is not difficultto setup a chainof activities this way. is understood, task, for provides setting a note-taking the a In thisexample, conversation 'characters'. They are then with performsimultaneously the which the students why shownhow thesenoteswereusedto write a notice,whichwasthe reason notice askedto write a second the notesweremade,and aresubsequently way' in Thus all four skillsarepractised a fully integrated themselves. his and I Bitt Hatlida;'- Jane Stokes, girlfriend, areplanning to go on holiday Bill, who is an because together.Theywantto travelround Br,itaintogether muchof thecountry.Theyarein Jane's and they Australian,hasnot seen flat abouttheirplans. are talking . JANE: . . Well, I don'twantto go by train.But why don't we hire a car? vou BILL: Hm, it's veryexpensive, know. Andyou can'tdrive!. ' ' But we you'vegivenme an idealPerhaps couldgeta van. :eNs: You meanbuy one? one. BrLL: Yes,a secondhand One of thosebig ones. thereareonly two of us. rrNr: But, Bill, theycosta lot . . . andbesides, You, me, andfour more.We BILL: Look, we only needaboutsix people. way to seethe country It's expenses. a marvellous canshare . in staying hostels . . camping, Put how do weltnd four people? an ad in the paper? :eNe: Mm, but u Li . B I L L : N o , t o o e x p e n s i v e . s t e n I ' l l p u t a n o t i c e p o n t h eb o a r da t c o l l e g e . * onenearthe bookshop. And whataboutthat newsagent'S There's Theyhaveadsin the window. shop? nearthe record rve :eNe: OK. then.Well. I suppose oughtto makesomenotes. ' ' . to l,t, Bitt ttndJunecontinue talk.** Janemakesnotes.Listen,and makea note poirtts. of tlteirnportant p . : e N E :R i g h t ,h e r e ' s o m e a p e r . . a n da p e n .I ' l l m a k et h en o t e s ' can't CK. Well. first. . . mustbe ableto drive.After a]rl,,vott andI BrLL: d o n ' tw a n tt o d r i v ea l l t h et i m e l who like a simple rANE:. . . hasto be abieto drive.And we wantpeople in hostels. goingto campand stay life. After all. rve're Haveyou got that down? no BrLL: Yes.definitelv luxuries!
' ' B i l l w o r k s i n a c o l l c g c ' b o o k s h oa n c l a n er r o r k si n a r e c o r ds h o p . p J '*'Thc l hr'ltr thc convcrsatitln hich itlllorvs. stttr.lcnts

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o r n n r : i - I a n g n ! Y e s . a n d a n o t h e rt h i n g . . . t h e y o u g h t t o s h a r et h e c o o k i n g t o o . I ' m n o t g o i n gt o d o i t a l l ! tsrLL: Should be able to cook. then. Right. What else? .rnNE:Shallu'e tell them about the costof the trip? BrLL: Mm. ves. Let's sar'. . . about f2*5each.Plus expenses. What about age? JANE: . . . f25 and shareall expenses. BILL: Good point. Hou,about . . . eighteento twenty-five?And not all Englishl :eNr: Or Australian! So . . . eighteento twenty-five. . . any nationality. people. That shouldencourase B r L L : . . . D o v o u t h i n k t h a t ' sa l l ? :eNs: Can't think of anl,thingelse.We've got quite a few notes. u'rite out the noticefor the board at college. BrLL: OK. then. i'11 . do JANE: . . . And I'11 the one for the neu'sagent's . . Billpur up 2 This is the notice w,l'tich on the collegenoticeboardIlle follov,ing day. 2a l,low write the notice v'hich Jane Stokestook to the nen'sagert's. Her telephonenuntber at the record shop is 874 9192and her number at honte is 675 3245.

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ARE rou /SEnqEEP /8 AND 25? cA// yoq DR.VE? cAN YOUcooKT / AM TRrING To oScAN/sE A FOUK W'EFK TR|P ROUN? BR|TAIAI IN A YAN PLACES FOR rcUR lNOBF PEOPLE ,T ANY NATIONALITYlELCOME ! x No LuxUR/Esf X 'HARE ALL FYPE^/'E,/ * TMALL cHABcE'- flseao*-

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In this example, the sequenceopens with a reading activitv. It includes guided as well as free speakingand u'riting tasks. It should be noted that, at the end of decide what happens. the sequence,the studentsthemselves 1a Terry Barnes,a teenager*,is getting tired of his job at Holford Natural Products,so he decides to lookfor a new one. He seesfheseads inlhe H o l f o r dN e w s ,
Personnel Manager, HNP, Holford. L A B . A S S T . 1 6 - 2 1 . P r e v . e x p . d e s i r a b l e .G d . p r o s p e c t s for right person. Trafalgar Tobacco Co. Holford 7997 Ext. 5.

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JUNIOR ACCOUNTS CLERK to work for Eastern Bus Co. 5 day wk. 9-5.30. Prev.exp. not essential. Typing an advantage.Apply in writing. S I I O R T H A N DT Y P I S T

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1 a Terry first rings up the Trafalgar Tobacco Company. Listento his conversationwith the secretarY. 5 EY S E C R E T A R x t:e n s i o n . . . M r P l a t t ' , s Who's sPeaking, secretarY. Please? T E R R Y : O h , m y n a m e ' sB a r n e sI.' m r i n g i n g aboutthat vacancY You advertised N i n T h e H o l f o r d e w s . .' Wasit S E C R E T A R Y : W h i c ho n e w a s t h a t ,n o w ? f o r a l a ba s s i s t a n t ? t Y e s , h a t ' sr i g h t . , . | tsf{l{ Y . f w S E C R E T A R YW e l l ,l ' m a f r a i d e ' v ea l r e a d Yi l l e d : I'm vacancy. very sorry' that v O h ,w e l l ,t h a n k s e r y m u c h . TERRY: GoodbYe. GoodbYe. sECRETARY: 1c Terry next rings up the EasternBus.C.ompany' He is totd bv the secretarythat theiob is still available,but that he must applYin writing' Suggest what they actuallysaid to each other' 2t, Complete this letter which Terry writes to the EasternBus ComPanY.
July 10

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Dear Mr Barnest thank you for your letter you to cone for sn interyier of iuly lO' I should }lke

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He Terry phonesMr Davis'secretarY. explains he is ringingand confirmsthat he can why come. Suggestwhat Terryand the secretarY said to each other. Terry is being interviewedby Mr Davis. Suggest what Terrysaid. S , : M RD A V r sR i g h t T e r r y " i t d o w n .T e l lm e a s o m e t h i n g b o u tY o u r s e l f .
TERRY: M F D A V I S : A n d h o w l o n gh a v e o ub e e ni n Y o u r Y

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3e Mr Davis finatly decidesto offerTerry the iob' This is the letter he wrcte. July J0 :
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I am pleased to be able to offer Jr:nior Accounts Cferk at a. starting W o u l d .y o u p l e a s e c o n f i r n that this

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job. 4a The fottowing week, Terry meets Carol Davis, a girl he was at school with. She is the daughter of Sam Davis.Terry tells Carol what he has been doing recently.Suggestwhat he said. 4a Afterwards, Terry realisesthat he'quite likes' Carol. He decides to write to her. Write the letter which he sendsher. 4c Write Carol's reply.
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so and proposed discussed far haveinvolvedan Many of the writingactivities the to are That is to say,the students asked assume parts elementof roleplay. l -5'-5'and 8'3)' The useof (See, example' for of differentcharacters. furtherboth by us enables to takethiskind of rvorka stage simulations the work in.which learners language for providinga framework integrated 'input' of the datafrom which the writing activities itr"*r"tu-"s providea larger to the situation'to are derivedand by allowingthem,wherethis is appropriate This latter featurehasan obvious setting. within a defined be themselves who sharecertain when we areworkingwith groupsof learners advantage with a and skillsandinterests who arelearning foreignlanguage professi6nal throughthe rvillbe increased motivation ihe.e p.i*arily in view.since however' groups, with non-specialist knowledge. of utilisation their specialist to haveto continue rely we or whetheradults aiolescents, shallprobably a certainamountof we although maybe ableto introduce largelyon roleplay, For reactto the task asthemselves' simulation,wherethe learners rol"e example,inthesimulationdescribedin8..l.2below,somestudentsina will be asked while others can class playthe part of teenagers, ,..ondury school what is more importantis the purpose' to take on adultroles.For our present whichthey are askedto carryout generate extentto which the activities At this level' simulations meaningfuland relevantopportunities.for-rvriting' the form of a well-defined would siem to be ideal,p.&laing guidanie,in as to in the classroom' setting.which getsasneir to reai life as\\'ecanhope the executing writingtasks' well ai motivationfor

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if especially we of a simulation' While caremustbe takenwith the construction this neednot be writingtasks, to naturally certain that it leads want to ensure will the task.By definition. simulation involvethe viewedasa complex uld the contextwithin problemor setof problemt: of discussion a specific a mustbe clearlydefinedfor the learners'To do this in which this takesplace skills' we must the language naturalway and, no lessimportant,to activateall information' amountof background with an adequate provide the learners in desciibed 8.4.2,theproblemto be discussed Thus,in the simulation for criticised failingto to relates the Holford Arts centre,whichhasbeen to In programme' addition, p,""io. the publicwith the rightkind of cultural of ih. to interJst the situation, C.ntt" is alsoaccused of add an element spicy ,undeiirable the premis"t. T: to happenings' take placeon allowingcertain as invited speakers well asmembersof the a settingis publicmeeting,at whl;h throughwhat they tt trr.r. proUiems. is left to the participants' public discuss Thusthe speakers issues' on to saywithin the limitsof theirroles, decide these for providethe raw substance the writingactiviries. thlmselves Toestablishthesetting,thereisacertainamountofbackground both to be of whichconsists material by devised thJteacher, infor:marion, is teacher the by contrived the to listened andread.The othercomponent ' throughrole cards This is done, of specification the rolesof the participants. the role to be plaved, line to i"p"nding on the or whicheitherdefine suggest, or eitheron the role cards We ma1:also. be followedby eachpartlJpant. of with certainitems oraltrieling, hetptrrelearners througha preliminary they langrrigewhich canusein the discussion' from most a in described 8.4.2is perhaps little different The simulation

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a to structured create i'arietyof writingtasks. it because hasbeendeliberatelr, q'e o.f opens, havetx'o kirtds the u,hen publicdiscussion At the start, meeting.Someof thesehave at Thereare thoseu'hoq.reck the performers. whileothers direction. a roles.to givethe discussioncertain defined clearly is that the outcome by no thus involvement, ensuring havea moreopen-ended view to reportingthe rvitha predict;ble.Thereare alsothoservho/lsrerr means the the theyrepresent press, For angles. example, various p.o.""iings from in who speak the discussion those However. groups. iadio andiertainpressure ;recvcled' various ways that theytoo havea writingtask So in aresubsequently the since purpose of is to perform.This.to someextent, a question expediency' sizeof an average for in e is of itre simulation to inr,olv ever))one the class, which in thirty hasbeenassumed, someform of writinsactivity' 8.4.2 of An example a the simulation: Holford Arts Centre informarion (a) Background maPof Holford. (i) This is a street

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Anglia Guides' (ii) Thisis an entr\) theEast in


H o l f o r d P o p u l a t i o n :6 0 , 0 9 0 C a m b r i d g e6 2 L o n d o n 10 3 A pleasantmarket town situatedon the River H o l t . M a i n l y a g r i c u l t u r a G o o d w a l k i n gc o u n l r y l. P l a c e so f h i s t o r t ci n t e r e s t :H o l t o n A b b e y ( 1 1 2 2 ) a n d S t . J o h n ' s C h u r c h ( 1 2 3 7 ) O t h e r p l a c e st o s e e a r e t h e n e w S h o p p i n g C e n t r e( 1 9 6 9 ) a n d t h e H o l f o r d A r t s C e n t r e ( . f o u n d e di n 1 9 7 5 ) l n d u s t r i e s i n c l u d e : c o s m e t i c s ,t o b a c c o a n d l i g h t e n g in e e r n g . i H o t e l s H o l f o r d r m s , a r d e n o t e a n dP e n r i d gI n n . e A M H l Restaurants HolfordArmsandThe CountryKrtchen.

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$D fhis is an extract from an articleon Holford which appearedinThe CambridseGazette.


... Like many other towns in this part of the country. 'on Holford is the move'. There are new factories and officesas well as a fine shopping c e n t r e .w h i c h w a s b u i l t i n 1 9 6 9 . And, with the laree new housing estate on the iorth side of the town, Holtbrd has begun to spreadout into the surrounding countryside. Industry has brought prosperity to Holford. although m a n y p e o p l ea r g u e t h a t i t h a s already begun to spoil the essential character of the town.

Some evensaythat there roo ii muchmoneyaroundin Holford andnot enough culture.


T h i s l a s t c r i t i c i s mi s s t r a n r e in viewof the fact that Holloid has a flourishing Arts Centre. S e t u p i n 1 9 7 5 .l a r g e l y o n t h e initiative of a few dedicated i n d i v i d u a l s , t h a s a l r e a d ys i v e n i Holford several fine oro-ductions, including Pintei's The Caretaker. It has also made a documentary on the theme of racial integration which was well receivedat a national film f e s t i v a l .. . .

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(iv) This is a conversation between Dan Graves,seniorreporter onThe Holford News,and TedRaines, younglocalfarmer. a TED: Are you sorryyou camebackto live in Holford, then, lvlr Graves? After all those years London,I mean. in neN: Sorry?No, not for a moment.I wasgladto escape from the place ! rED: Still,you mustfindit allchanged . . . orN: Well, yes,it certainly changed . . all theseindustries a has . for start.But at least people haveplentyof work these days. And the facilities so muchbetter.After all, there aren'tso many are townsthat havea shopping centrelike ours. TED: But there's muchgoingon, is there?Don't you find it rather not dull? DAN:But there's lot goingon! Justtakethe Arts Centre, a for example. rED: Yes. that has attracted quite a lot of attentionlately! oeN: Mm, I don't thinkpeople understand whatthey'retrvingto do there. rED: Well, personally,don't seethe pointof it. After all. rvehavea I perfectly gooddramatic society already. oex: That'sexactly whatI mean!It's not just a bigger andbetter dramaticsociety... rED: Somepeople it isn'tbetter! say DAN: . . . they do lotsof otherthingsdown there . . . T E D :H m , s oI ' v e h e a r d ! orr: I suppose vou'recoming thismeeting Fridaynight.aren't to on you? rED: Oh yes,I'll be coming alongto that all right.I like listening a to goodargument! Besides, cantakea look at the place the I at time. Same D.lN: Yes,you certainly should to find out moreabouttheplace try whileyou'rethere. . . just whattheydo anddon't do. As for all t h i st a l ka b o u t. . . . r v e l l . i u s tt h i n ki t ' sa l o t o f . . . I 105

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Tltis is rlte rtotir:einvitittgpeople to a public tneetingat the Holford Arts Centre. IIOI-F-ORDAR'I'SCE\I-RE - \ p u [ - . l r cc c t i n g r i l l l r c h c l r il i t l l t c c c n t r . e r l
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(b) Briefitrg
After the presentation the backsround of information. involving both l i s t e n i n a n dr e a d i n s n dp e r h a p a l s oi n c l u d i n s o m er e l a t e d r a l w o r k . g s a o the students readvto be briefed are aboutthe problemto be discussed and the various rolesthevhaveto play. The publicmeeting intended the firstinstance giveTony Cross. is in to the director theArts Centre. chance explain of a to u'hattheirwork is about.At the same time.a lot of publiccriticism expected. is is It anticipated thiswill centre t\\ o mainissues: that on (i) that the Centredoes giveHolfordthe rightsortof 'cultural' not programme. (ii) that the Centre frequented teenagers. go thereto misbehave is bv u'ho various\\'avs. in As explained 8.4. thissimulation beenstructured asto include in i. has so 'speakers' and'reporters'. speakers The (see'Role cards'below) as are follows: couNCrLLoR DAvrs:Chairman the meeting sAI{ of T cRoss: Directorof the Arts Centre K RIXoN: Principal, Holford Comprehensive c s porrERToN: Secretary, Holford Amateur DramaticSociety J TAYLoR: Youth WelfareOfficer M plArr: studentat Holford Polytechnic K FosrER: student Holford Polytechnic at All of thesehavewell defined roles.In addition,there are five adult rolesandfiveteenage roles,representing publicpresent the meeting. the at The numbercanbe increased reduced or according the sizeof the class. to These rolesaremoreopen-ended. The provision reporters for (that is, thosewho will listenduring the discussion rnakenotes)is asfollows.Two students and shareeachrole and collaborate afteru'ards the writing task.This is alsoa way of ensuring on maximumclass involvement. L BARoN: reporteron TheHolford News r JENKS: reporteron TheCambridge Gazette J WISEMAN: reporterfor EastAnglia Radio w TRAILL: representing Holford Comprehensive Schoolmagazine r sMIrH: representing Holford Amateur DramaticSociety J srorr: Youth Freedom Movement PB L A K E : S e c r e t a rtv t h em e e t i n s o

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T CROSS your As Directorof the HolfordArts Centre, a n d t o r e f e rt o m a i n t a s ki s t o e x p l a i ni t s w o r k s s o m e o f i t s a c h i e v e m e n ts i n c ei t w a s s e t u p ' t . D o t h i s c o n c i s e l yY o u s h o u l ds t r e s s h a t playsis only part of the Centre's putting on with work Jnd that you are not in competition the Amateur DramaticSociety.Referto a c c u s a t i o nw h i c h h a v eb e e nm a d ea g a i n s t s ( , t h e C e n t r e f o re x a m p l e y o u m a y r e a da n ) y l a n o n y m o u s e t t e r o u h a v ej u s t r e c e i v e db u t i s n o t r u t hi n t h e m ' t m a i n t a i n h a tt h e r e

Membersof thepublic

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S JAMES l r Y o u a r e a t e e n a g e w h o r e c e n t l ye f tH o l f o r d t Y C o m o r e h e n s i v e .o u b e l i e v e h a t t h e C e n t r e d o e s l i t t l et o h e l pp e o p l eo f y o u r a g e a n d y o u w o u l d l i k et o s e e m o r e m o n e ys p e n to n o i m p r o v i n gt h e f a c i l i t i e s f t h e Y o u t hC l u b .

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it especiaily work. or whether tends naturally from the otheractivities. oral asa homeu'ork task. to be presented arising from the suggestions projectwork in for --) Canyou seeanvproblems outweigh these? 8.2?Do ),outhink the advantages for guidance sufficient outlinedin 8.4provides Do you think the simulation more to involved? you wanted givethe students If the writingactivities guidance, how wouldyou do it? for skillsdo you of suggested integrating types activity Whichof the different Why' find mostattractive? Exercises is anytextbook seewhatprovision madefor proiectwork. Could to Examine into be someof the activities suggested developed smallprojects? in Draw a chartsimilarto the one on page97 for anyof the topicssuggested (a). 8.2.2 any for and Showhow you wouldpresent develop classwork of the ( in s u g g e s t i o n s8 . 2 . 2 a ) . thismodel.This will foilowing the of in Analyse sequence activities 8.3.2. the mechanism. helpyou to understand underlying
TEXT Ad Dialogue O U T L I N EO F C O N T E N T
TB readsad in Holford News TB rings up Trafalgar Tobacco Co

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a sequence your own.Thismay be muchshorter of Now construct similar t h e o n ei n 8 . 3 . 2 . than in for in 5 Write role descriptions otherspeakers the simulation 8.4. in the rolesfor the 'reporters'in simulation 8.4. somealternative 6 Suggest togetherwith relatedwriting activities. References et On integrated skilisseeD Byrne(1986) Ch. 11andA Matthews al (eds.) ( 1 9 8 5p a g e s 2 - 4 a n d 1 2 6 - 4 0 . ) 3 alsocontains pages 733-7. This section For projectwork seeD Byrne (1986) an for about'Newsmag'. more information Suggestions developing pages 726-3I. A island givenin A Matthews al (1985) are et imaginary from which the is usefulbook on proiectwork generally D Waters(1982), has chartfor Food on page97 beenadapted. The and For skillsequencing D Byrnein K Johnson K Morrow (1981). see on firstsequence 8.3.1is based D ByrneandS HoldenGoingPlaces in (Longman (1980); second on the sequence D ByrneandS HoldenInsighr For on D 1976). materialbased thismodelsee Byrneand S HoldenFollowIt (Longman1980). Also R White Through(Longman1978) and GoingPlaces WriteAway (NelsonFilmscan 1987). (1982). see For a simpleintroduction D Byrne On simulations K Jones see on (1986) in pages725-8. The simulation 8.4 is based D Byrne and S Holden with the originalmaterialwill showhow Insight(1976). Comparison can for textbookmaterial be adapted thispurpose.

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that, oncethe learne* haveacquireda reasonable It is often assumed in furtherpractice this skill canbe given in profrciency written expression, 'composition' 'essay'' The or mainlythiough tasksin the form of somekind of at themselves to ur" students giu.n a topicor a themeand are expected express to write. It mightseem their ability somelengthon it in orderto demonstrate we of this typeof activityat earlierstages the programme' that, havingavoided extensive are obligeJto fall backon it at this levelin order to givethe learners in practice their hard won skill. are and Sincecompositions essays still a featureof manypublic for somepreparation not we clearly should denythe students examinations, to in is thistypeof task.This aspect considered 9.3.We mustalsoattempt see writing and whetherthe same throughthis kind of rvhatskillsare practisecl ways'At the sametime, it in practised alternative more effectively skillscanbe this kind of writing activityasone of the main rvouldbe wrongto accept which For of outcomes the writing programme. one thing, it is a form of writing onlyto hall' One needs or the outside classroom examination is rarelypractised an uS,it presents for Besides, mostof ask:whendid I lastwrite an essay? task,evenin our mothertongue'andevenmoreSoif we are difficult extremely in the to asked do it against clock.Therewouldseemlittle point' therefore, whose learner, on this inflicting typeof writingactivity the foreignlanguage matchthe task' to in proficiency writingis unlikely of lvays alternative thatwe wouldneedto consider It rvainotedabove we writing.These and composition essay through skillspractised developing ideas abilityto organise the skillsinvolving those to be particularly *oy "rru*e pieci of writing.But organisational need skills,whichcertainly in a sustained throughactivities well developed at furtherpractice thislevel,canbe equally such form of expression, asletterandreport somerealistic involve rvhich a writing.for example. letterof through to writing.Reacting a situation factsto of u'hilcthe marshalling relevant argument. rvill protes"t. require 111

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(c) For theirfinaltask.the students sivendatain tabularform. They are are to asked rvritea reporton oneof the carsin eachof the two groups, and haveto compare The.v this recommending carasthe'bestbu1". group.rvhere thisis this in contrast caru'ithotherones the same appropriate.
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9.3 Freewriting: some suggested procedures which is someprocedures The main concernof this lastsection to suggest students usewhentheyhaveto copewith the task,whichveryfew of us can 'essay' a on or find easy,of producing text in the form of a 'composition' an a That is, it is giventopic,eitherin an examination in a similarsituation. or haveno special motivationfor writing aboutthe assumed that the students for preparation it through, topic and that they havenot beengivenanyspecial for exampie, class in discussion, suggested 9.1.It shouldbe noted,however, as a rvith'recipes' that we are not concerned or'formulas' writingmodel for but compositions essavs rvithprocedures or suchasoutlining,draftingand improvingdrafts. fheseform part of any writing taskfor which the students of havenot beenhelpedu'ith the actualstructuring the text they haveto u'ritingactivities for derivedfrom the simulationin produce.For example. the 'content' letter, andthe format(article, are 8.3,the students givenboththe the theyhaveto organise datafor report, etc.)which thevhaveto use,but in themselves. Man.v students fact write lesswell than they are ableto simply stressed. havenot beensufficiently because theseor similarprocedures It is not claimedthat thereis any one way of goingaboutthe writing of a however, that is text (thiswasacknorvledged 1. 1) . What is important, in of makingnotesand for students shouldappreciate importance. example, the that this is a normalpart of writing. The fact that drafting.They mustaccept the to they cannot alwavs thisu'hen do theyareasked write against clockin an doesnot invalidate Drocedures. the examination
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AT WRITING THEPOST-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

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uninspiring a procedures, particularly these of For the purpose illustrating muchmore a Describe placewhichseems topichasbeenchosen: composition whenit wasnew. and neglected sadthan faced to In attempting writeabouta topiclike this,we are immediately naturally whowe arewritingfor, which,aSwe haveSeen, problems: with two the how influences we write. andwhatto write about.In normalcircumstances we the at outside classroom, do not wouldneverarise all, since, firstproblem for thereis somereason doingso. For thistypeof writing,students write unless a This mayto someextentbe helpfulif to'imagine' reader. areoftenexhorted alsothink of the taskinitiallyasformingpart of , let us say,a letter the students for or a report.This at leastgivesthemsomepurpose writing aboutthe topic in on to someideas it. And if the students the firstplaceandcanserve stimulate 'otherstudents the class'. who areat in it areto'imaginea reader', hadbestbe do leastrealfor them. Students tend to rvritebetterif they know that other aregoingto readwhattheyhavewritten.Hencethe people the class in boardof somekind in the classroom. of importance havinga display point is reallythe problemof then,our starting of procedures, In terms on someideas the topic.Understandably whatto write about:that is, getting if to oftenfeelthat theyhavenothing sayat all, although, the task students woulda discussion,numberof ideas or by werepreceded a shortclass group needto stimulate of certainlybe thrown up. In the absence tttis.the students clttestions doneby askingoneself canbe quiteeffectively and themselves this aboutthe topic andnotingdown anv ideasthat occur.As a first step,then, it is should: that suggested the students (a) List possible ideas. find it mostpeople In off One ideaveryoftensparks another. anycase, downon paper.It is betterthan staringat blank helpfulto getsomething 'ideas'chart is (see 6.3.1and8.3.1) oneway of getting paper!Makingan You canexpand' of advantage beingflexible. andit hasthe added started, in in ideas a rvaythatis difficultif you aremakingnotes a link, number to decide of are Here,for example, the results trying conventionalwav. to whichplace rvriteabout.

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The writer play'ed around with severalideas.House did not lead anywhere;farnt did. but he decidedthat he \\'assoing in the wrong direction. Both theatreandfactorl' had some potential, but in the end the rvriter decidedthat he could do more u,ith hotel. Horvever.he can easilygo back and developthem later if he getsnowhere with hotel (and it is much easierto transferideasfrom one placeto another by meansof arrows). (b) Selectand expand one idea. The writer has decidedthat he can do somethingwith hotelon the basisof personalexperience. Again, it helpsto do this in chart form - perhaps merely expandingthe first one if time is short. j

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(c) Make an outline. Not everyone findsit necessary evenhelpfulto makea planor outline. or For someit is inhibiting in andprevents ideas from flowing.In anycase, (such theexamination somesituations as room)theremay not be time. In you cannumber ideas the chartin the orderyou think you that case. the in wouldlike to incorporate that nothing themin the text.Thisalsoensures important left out. is 118

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However,some find making students an outlinehelpfulfor ideas, organising for especially identifyingand an developing openingand closing whichwill paragraph, a great make on impression the reader.Students shouldat leastbe taughthow to do this, evenif they do not makeuseof it everY time they write a composition. (d) Write a draft. Writing a draft is a key stagein the of production a text and the students shouldnormallybe requiredto do this as a matterof course. of The purpose the outlinein (c) is to providea scaffolding for the draft version. However,students n s h o u l d o tf e e l t h a t they must necessarilY keepto theiroutline: a pieceof writing off' sometimes'takes goes a in and different completely andthey direction, may find it more to productive follow this new line of Generally development. be draftsshould written quitequicklytheywill be because reworkedand afterwards. corrected

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neg"-.caeC. l'"ike ;ungle ! ?arc S (Cor,ciuslon) Fett pLace hai grcum o1-.i (!:,'<e cn',ers/guests) ' M'istcke ;o go back. ' Esccaei' nert norning.

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(e) Correct atttl intprrtt e tlte tlrutl. t s I n p a r t i c u l a rt h e s t u d e n t s h o u l dc h e c kf o r m i s t a k e s h r o u g h a c a r e f u l q,hat thev have written. Thev should alsorevierv the text from of reacling a the point of vieu of expressitlnnd organisation. -

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to :;ot Long/ago I d"ecid"ed" ,go on a u'Lsit to BorLey. )ur parents ,? ln',d4 used to take us tc ihis ^f';easid.e toum f.or ouT su/mneT claays sit't'we ry 2OquftJ aat fI i.c!;/al.tsl Aitt t hoC ro! b:an back therelfor ouer taentA aearS ,
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the most popuLaT VtoteL in toum., aluays uerA cTouded There uez'e parties during the holidau season and fuLL of Life. and" dnnces at the ueekend, and the odltey,s used to apange tea tentextainments' anC other, us, of course, this in the garden for. the children. For was the speciaL attrietion! uas the niddLe of

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I aTriued. on a saturday and although it

the hoLidaa season, the hoteL uas aLmost compLeteLy ernpty. It Later in the fua, o ieu more guests arTi.ued. uas a bad. sign! They uere mostLy eLderly couples. At dinner, peopLe ate in siLence and. by ten o,clock the hoteL uas cornpLeteLydesev'ted. Conpared.utth the oLd d.ays on a Saturd-a.ynight, tk"e pLace seemed Like a graueYard! I uent back to mA room - but tlnt depressed me eDen more: it

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I decided to take a uaLk h-ad not been d.ecorated foz, years. It uas not iust the round" the gard.er,, but this aas no better. ou_tside of the hotel, uhich aLso needec painting. Tk'e gaTdens - those LoueLy gardens! - uere cornpLetely neglected: no one bothered. to pLant any flouers; no one bothered euen to cut the grass ! It aith seemeiLto me tlnt the pLace Ltad sir,rpllJ gI,oLn oLd - aLong Perhaps theu

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the orineTE and the people uho uent there.

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be should taughta setof that To sumup. it is suggested thestudents u'ill helpthemnot u'hich (summarised the diagram), in procedures like the one dealtwith only whentheyareu'ritingabouttopics 'free'u'riting. particular. these In kind of abovebut alsorvithan1' of the procedures should takeinto account importance making draftsbeforethe writingoutlines. drafting andcorrecting notes, the moreexperienced, finalversion writtenup. As theybecome is during In particular, will students no doubtwantto modifythese. examinations, maynot havetimeto takea pieceof writing thev learned of However. experience having the all these stages. through to makenotes.to write draftsand to correctthemwill standthem in it that, because is it goodstead. And theywill appreciate. is hoped. just a question inspiration': it of u'riting not is a thinkingprocess. involves greatdealof hardwork andorganisation. a alsogenerally

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Discussion

is In whatsense mostof 'real the writingwe do in life' everreallyfree?How for usefula preparation it composition? is classroom that there Do you agree are manyeffective to alternatives the Lt.THEN ]ELL {OU I.TL conventional IV XGLIJH IEAo/'I.R' GA ' composition' u'riting OCOI,LE6E FOUR FOR V4f,,5.. activity?What are they? What is your view of the functionally-oriented suggested writing activiti6s in9.2?
O 1986unded FeatureSyndrcate.lnc

N0.I Dof r K{otdtdl{y TEAC'{ER5 60'Ib Eil6tI5H FOR {EAR',. COUE6E FOUR

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Exercises

is to Examineany coursebook seewhat provision madefor remedialwriting activities. etc.)whenyou drafting, you do (e.g.making notes, Make a list of the things pieceof writing. a haveto write, for example, reportor anycomplex ri'ith a friend. Compareyour procedures to In the light of what you haveread.makea list of what you consider be the Compareyour besttwentycontrolled,guidedandfreewriting activities. 'Top Twenty'witha friend. do On what students whentheyhaveto write (in the mothertongue)see (1984) pages 12-19. S Krashen leveland beyond,seeJ Arnold and at For writing activities the intermediate (1978); Coe et alWriting Skills(1983); N J HarmerAdvancedWrttingSkills and H Mantell Writeldeas(i983); E M Carrier Writing(1981); Glendinning WriringSkll/s(i984); D Jolly Writing Tasks Advanced J O'DriscollPenguin Wriringin English (1982). J (1984)and A Pincas

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References

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10.1 Errorsand mistakes When we seesomething wrongwith a pie'ce written work, we mustfirsttry to of decidewhetherit is an error or a mistake.Broadly,learners makeerrorswhen with the language which they are not yet ableto do. they try to do something (theyusea regularinstead For example,they oftenmakefalsegeneralisations of an irregularform, suchasthrowed insteadof.threw)or they transferfrom the mothertongue(theywrite: Thepeopleis angryinsteadof Thepeopleare angry).Theseare two major sources error. Mistakes, the other hand,are of on slipsof somekind. The students havelearnedsomething, perhaps but they havetemporarilyforgottenit or are tired . . . or, we feel, arejust being careless. Although in practice is sometimes it difficultto decideif something a is mistakeor an error (afterall, we may think we havetaughtthe students they did not learnit) , it is importantto try to decide. but something perhaps we if havenot learnedsomething, cannotexpect Clearly,for example, students it On reasonable them to correct for themselves. the otherhand,it is perfectly soundto get them to correcttheir own mistakes. And it is and pedagogicaily with the students they keepon makingcertain if certainlyno usegettingcross we needto learn errors.The lesson canlearnfrom theseis that the students whetheror not the syllabus the coursebook providedfor it at has or something, andthe bestwaywe canhelpthemis by givingthemthe opportunity this stage, (and in our to learnit. Learners'errors, short,canhelpshape teaching certainly remedial our teaching). with It hasalready beensuggested we shouldnot be undulypreoccupied that is of in expression the detectionand correction mistakes written work. Effective in not the sameasaccurate expression. Accuracyis normallymeasured termsof grammar, whichtendto getthe spelling, etc.,since these the areas are correct of whena piece writtenwork is being'corrected'. a piece But mostattention of the convey in writtenwork whichhasa number mistakes it mav nevertheless of
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in individually. pairsor in Usinga listof thiskind, vou cangetthe students. If for of the mistakes themselves' at to smallgroups. identify leastmost makes certainly you.This approach consult thentheysirould theycannot. theyaremakingandis therefore the kind of mistakes of themmoreaware to You do not needof course beinglearned. likelyto resultin something the all it however, doesnot solve In all indiCate the mistakes. practice. for mistakes areleft to identify if For problems. exampie, students someform not the1, ihemselves, ma-V bother.Evenif theywork in groups, time in and may, of confirmation be needed thiscouldtakeup a lot of class a largeclass. a you couldtry to implement staged permits. situation If your teaching theirown work' to the for approach getting students correct it anddiagnose b,vu'ritingthe appropriate the 1 Stage Underline mistake iln t h e m a r g i n . symbo it' but the 2 Stage Underline mistake do not diagnose in the by the 3 Stage Diagnose mistake u'riting symbol the marginbut do ie i s i n t h el i n e . t n o ts h o u ' g ' h e r mistake)' in 4 Stage Put a cross the margin(for each how but linewith a mistake do not indicate each against 5 Stage Put a cross thereare. manymistakes theirown mistakes' (d) Let thestudents identifl'andcorrect that you arelikely to be ableto follow all the time. This is not a procedure occasiona]l1,.hou'ever,Voushouldbepreparedtohandoverthewhole do to of business correction the students whichtheirwill generally and scrupulously u'ithenloyment. are: whentheymakemistakes you cando to helpstudents Otherthings (a) Explaina mistake. in you For example. canwrite a comment the marginor at the end of a usefulfor drawing is especially tr,ork.This procedure pieceof wlritten in mistakes a particularareaand when you are able attentionto recurrent in class. to look at students'work vou abouta mistake' consult (b) Indicate thestudents the,v ,should that to to This may be usedasan aiternative (b) and (c) above.Very often the whentheir attentionhas the cansuggest correction themselves students beendrawnto a mistake. teaching. (c) lJse mistake a basis remedial as the for in numberof students the shouldbe followedif a sufficient This procedure Alternatively, general correction. to havemadea mistake warrant class may takethe teaching work. Remedial remedial you cansetindividual oral or wherethis is felt to be sufficient, exercises, iorm of an explanation, the to correct designed to Seems be appropriate, or written.whichever mistake. rather procedure Teachers tend to placetheir faith in one typeof correction with some (or only accept than another. particular. manvdo not accept In

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References

. o s R F o r u s e f u l q e n e r ac u i d a n c e n c o r r e c t i o n r - e J W i n g f i e l d( 1 9 7 - l ) F o r l Y'ritt(ll studentcorrectionseeCJ Brumfit in S Holden (1983)Corrcctirrq work. The ideasin this chapterowe a good deal to thesetrvo articles.Seealso p R W h i t e ( 1 9 8 0 )p a g e s1 0 6 - 9 a n d . l H a r m e r ( 1 9 8 3 ) a g e s1 , 1 0 - 1 . For correctionsymbolsseeJ Willis (1981)pages112-3 and L Dangerfieldin A Matthews et al (eds) (1985)pages195-8.

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NICHOI.AS CTIAPIVTAN a A b o yu ' r o t e p o e m . f I t w a sf r o m h o n r e w o r kr o m c l a s s , L I ew r o t ca b o u tc l i f f ' t o p s , A n d h o wt l r cu i n d s r i r s s l H e j u s tl c t i t I t o * ' f r o m h i sh e a dt o h i sp e n , * B u t h i ss p c l l i n g ' a sb a d , " C , d o t h i sa g a i n l " A b o y w r o t ea p o e m , o A n d t h o r r g h t f h i sn r a r k . il A n d t h i st i m eh ec h c c k e r t A n d w r o t eo f t h e d : r r k . a H e c h a n g e d n dc o r r e c t e r l . G a v ei t i n t h en e x td a y , He got "B+ Good effort" a n dt h r e wi t a w a y .

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childrenof this ageto for for The main purpose goinginto the reasons teaching helpus to seehow we shouldgo aboutit. Two things write is that they lvill shouldbe kept in mind. First,rvritingmustnot impair oral fluency. especially providedthe pupilsgetplenty of why this shouldhappen There is no reason for opportunities hearingandusingEnglishand if writing is treatedasan of we of extension oral work. Secondly, shouldnot try to teachaspects the to be expected understand at whichlearners this agecannot written language linking they aretoo youngto do sentence and copewith. For example, that (except the few instances thesecanbe turnedinto a kind of in activities than game)andthe kind of textstheywritearemorelikelyto be imaginative their that the pupilsarestill learninghow to organise coherent.Remember in ideas theirmothertongue. (a) Give thepupils plent;' of opportunities copying. for and with the written language shouldalso This willhelp them feel at ease e.g.listsof words, theymayneed, of providethemwith records things poems anddialogues. of copies songs, in to (b) Give thepupils adequate opportunities useorally learnedlanguage writing. to particularly practice. of In short,theywill needa fair amount controlled

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key reinforce structures vocabulary. and This neednot andshouldnot be boring.(In fact,mostworkbooks children to makethistypeof for try and activityinteresting enjoyable.) (c) Provideactivities which thepupils can do at their own speed. Somepupilswill finishan activity veryquickly(andcallout for attention!). You shouldbe prepared extendthe activity(by someform of parallel to writing) or havean extraactivityready(whichneednot be a written one). Slowerpupilsshouldasfar aspossible always giventhe opportunityto be finishan activityin someform (that is, they must not be left feelingthat theyhavefailed,otherwise theymaybeginto getdiscouraged). (d) Work with thepupils wherever possible. providea breakfor the pupils- but not, asa rule, for Writing activities the teacher! Somepupilswill actually needyour help. With all of them writing will providean opportunity get to know them a little better to personally. (e) Make surethatthepupils beginto seewritingasa means communication. of This canbe donemainlyby gettingthe pupilsto write to one anotherin (see17.2.3 and 11.2.4), class whichis an activitythe learners particularly enjoyat thisage. (f) Encourage pupils to be creative. the controlled This shouldbalance and language-focused activities suggested in (b). At thisagetheyhaveplentyof imagination theyshould and be to encouraged useit. (g) Make writing activities enjoyable. This is the mostimportantprovision. Rememberthat manypupilsarejust whichmay lastfor years.It would be a pity if they startingon a programme were turnedoff at this earlyagethroughboredomor failure.You musttry, therefore, ensure to that theygetasmuchfun out of writingastheydo f r o mo t h e ra c t i v i t i e s . 71.1.2 The organisation of writtenwork . will normally makinguseof be Seealso4.7.3 At thisagethepupils workbooks activity or books. Thisin itselfwill helpto keeptogether good a dealof theirwrittenwork. Sometimes, however, material to be cut out and has togetherthis and other looseleaf a folder will be usefulfor keeping material. As a rule at thisageit is betterto askpupilsto work with exercise books (ratherthana folderfor everything). kind of exercise The book theyuse(i.e. between lines) the may alsobe important writing.Pupils will the distance for books:onefor vocabulary needat leasttwo exercise listsand relatedactivities (e.g.Word Bingo)andthe otherfor copies dialogues, of songs andpoems, be to whichtheyshould encouraged iilustrate. They may alsoneedonefor projectwork suchasmakinqan illustrated dictionary. with words, into four groups copying. practice Thesehavebeendivided some rvriting but thereis inevitably with sentences creative and practice groups. these between overlap 131

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11.2.4 Creativewriting activities

Pupilsat this ageneedplentyof opportunities uselanguage to imaginatively. theyarealways Unlike manyolderlearners, willingto showyou theirwork and to ask'CanI saythis?',so that fewermistakes occurthanmightbe expected. Let pupilswork togetherin pairsor smallgroupswhereverpossible. (a) Writing notes (i). See11.2.3 For this activity,however,givethem tasksthat will require longersequences. example: For

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( e ) Writing nottces for cards thisactivityor See7.3.8(b). You cangivethe pupilssmallpicture (i.e.theymaypreferto write aboutthingsthey let themusetheirown ideas theyhave).childrenveryoftenlike to like wouldactually or things The pupilscanalsowrite be thingsso the activit)'can authentic. exchange or for for rulesand regulations their classroom, example, for a club or park. recreation

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FOR ACTIVITIES CHILDREN WRITING

form (see7.3'8(j)) andthey can Writingmessages alsobe donein postcard canalsobe writtenin code.

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whenit is Don't forgetto get your pupilsto sendbirthdaymessages of The preparation the card canbe done as birthday. someone's homework. Make a birthdaycardfor a friend. Draw a pictureand write a message.

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at projectfor learners this ageis to get them to One usefuland enjoyable The pupilscanwork on their own or maketheir own picturedictionaries. in groups(evenif theywork in groups,so asto help one another,theymay like to maketheir own copy).For the dictionary,they will needan exercise onesout of or book.Theycandrawtheirown pictures cut suitable keepa recordof all or even is The magazines. intention not to getthemto -on1' of the wordstheyhavelearntbut only to write aboutitemsthat abouttheirwords(not writesentences them.Theyshould interest
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(see wallsheet 5'5'2 (g))' which makinga class Most pupilsalsoenjo,v e.g' little stories, will provideu fo.ut for a numberof writing activities, (etc.).Both the jokesandriddles for and captions balloons pictures. over a schoolyear shouldbe spread dictionaryandthe $'allsheet picture course)' e'g' on a summer the iunless pupilsareworkingintensively, for adapted be in8.2.2caneasily suggested Many of the projects younger learners.

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Discussion

to or Do you think it is eithernecessary desirable teachyounglealnersto write in a foreignlanguage? writing earlyon in the for Would you givechildrenopportunities creative to courseor would you restrictthem (for example) copyingand activities? reinforcement would do to makesurethat childrenreallyenjoy What are the things1'ou writing? written work is that children's How ilportant do,vouthink it is to ensure neatandtidy? is to course seewhat provision madefor writing Examineany children'S (a) Is activities. there a workbook?If so, arethe u'ritingactivities interesting (b) useful? .2.4 s of for otheractivities each the four sectionI7 .2.1.-11 . 2 Suggest a for in J Make a list of the projects 8.2.2whichcouldbe adapted childrenand them. one of work out how you u'oulddevelop andS Holden(ed) to younglearners writeseeo Dunn (1934) on teaching

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Book Resource see io. u .ung. of writing activities, D ByrneRoundabout M Igguldenet al and relatedWorkbooks(ModernEnglishPublications); Nowfor English(Nelson)l K 321(Longman); Johnson sam on Rqdio (Heinemann). ! (MacMillan)andSnap Kaleidoscope in IL}.I (a) and (e) are ftom Samon Radio321;the The illustrations from Kaleidoscope;I'he illustrationin71.2.7(f) hasbeenadapted ( ( is i l l u s t r a t i o n n 1 1. 2 . 1 ( c )a n d( d ) ; 7 7 . 2 . 2a ) a n d( f ) ; 1 1 . 2 . 3i ) a n d 1 1' 2 . 4@ ) Workbooks. are from theRoundabout

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12
script the Teaching English
12.1 The needsof the learners doei not usethe Latin scriptwill haveto be whosenativelanguage All students you needed writingEnglish.In somecircumstances may for taughtthe symbols of alsowant to improvethe handwriting thosewho alreadyusethe Latin script. and, no lessimportant, In order to be ableto do this effectively areas of you sympathetically, will needto inform yourselfof the learners' 'problem areas' notedbelow. are Fourpossible difficulty. Thisis not just a of haveto learnthe shapes the newsymbols. (a) The students the alphabet, orderof which of the English the question teaching letters of has Instead,somedecision to be purposes. for is mainlyirrelevant teaching practice, takinginto togetherfor effective to groupthe symbols takenhow the For and whichallowcomparison contrast. example, features account btter A. may be derivedfrom the letter C ; the lettersA- and O. on the otherhand,needto be contrasted. (that loweranduppercase (b) The students of haveto learntwo sets symbols: to has Again,a decision to be madewhether andcapitals). is, smallletters or together whetherto teachfirstthe small of teachbothsets symbols andthenthe capitals. letters that is,from mayhaveto learnto writein a newdirection: (c) The students of left to rightinstead from rightto left.This will only applyto certain whose but to (for groups learners example. Arab students not to those of North Indian of scripts the employs of the Devanagari one nativelanguage the of aspect mastering new scriptis not to be This languages). physical underestimated. of of mayhaveto learnthe position the symbols the scriptin (d) The students as scriptmay be viewed the to the ruledlines.Essentially English relation whilethe and downwards, upwards sittingon the line andextending 'hang'fromthe lineabove' for in s-vmbols the Devanagariscripts, example,
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Adult learners be Anotherkey factoru,ill.of course. the ageof the learners. (andwill probablv need)to learnmorequicklvandwill therefore rvillwant giventhe right u'hichto a largeextent, practice. requireconcentrated the For out for the1, provide themselves of class. children, can guidance, period.While it is assumed longer overa much be should spread programme theywill script, language theirnative havemastered that theywill already and not all their motor skilis difficulties handwriting probablystill havesome as Hencethe needfor copyingactivities will be equallywell developed. a will Younglearners alsobenefit gooddealfrom in suggested i 1.2.1. to that activities givethemthe opportunity play,andtheywill handwriting kind of workbook. needsome certainly almost

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12.2 LettershaPes

we of the of For the purpose teaching shapes the newsymbols, needto identify taughttogether. and conveniently u'hichcanbe effectively groupsof letters One,for (see on notes sources). havebeenproposed Variousgroupings letters below.Upperandlowercase as ten proposes groups. shown example, practice. punctuation with integrated are taughttogether, 1 2 3 4 5 i.l,t v,w,b u,y(+?and!) n,m,h k , p ( + . a n d, ) 6 f.s.r 7 c,e,o 8 a,d.g 9 j,q," 10 z (+ numerals)

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suchastheseis usefulif you want to do remedialwork of Awareness groupings are you may find that somestudents consistently (for example. in certainareas somesymbols). miswritingor confusing

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12.3 Procedures for teaching script

will At the start,moststudents needto be madeawareof someof the writing the Englishscriptandwriting in their between importantdifferences in to if For nativelanguage. this purpose, they are asked write something their a broad movements, and own language to notesomeof the essential this andwriting in English.You will also can comparison be madebetween of needto draw attentionto the positioning the right forearmon the desk,at of like 80",andthe flexiblemovements the wristto produceantisomething givestudents lot of difficulty.You must a whichsometimes motions, clockwise shouldalso points. Two'warm up' activities these to be prepared demonstrate be noted:

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on to preferto get their students draw thesepatterns blank Many teachers as paper.For childrenthe activitycanbe presented a game,suchas climbingup and down mountains. tracingthe to the helps,whatever ageof the students, practise It generally on of shape the lettersin the air. This helpsthem to concentrate the way a as to go on practising long astheylike. them letter is formedand enables For this activitydraw a largeversionof the letter on the board,with the to the arrowsindicating directions be followed,and then demonstrate firstof all, can yourself The students makelargemovements . movements to who are accustomed writing ones.Students makingsmaller gradually of to make a series strokes from left to right canbe helpedby beingasked whichstarton the left and movetowardsthe right. or circles how letterformationin the air canbe belowshows The example presented a fun-likeway for children: in

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(c) Get the studentsto practiseseveralspecimens eachletter. of

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( d ) Get the studentsto practisethe new lettersin combinatiort tvith previously Iearned ones. Thesemay be simply patternsof lettersor words, phrasesand short sentences.

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of carefulattentionis the actualpositioning the A matterwhich rpquires line.At the startit willprobablyhelpthe on symbols the lowerhorizontal ruledor dottedline, as withinthe limitsof an additional to students practise shownbelow.

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however,arguethat anyruledlinesat the startmakeit more Someteachers, the to it difficultfor the students write well because restricts sizeof their script, preferblank paper. and they therefore of the On the whole,it would seembetterto separate teaching capitals to s1'mbols. permitsthe kind of groupingaccording shape This lower case from the example paget44.It alsotakesinto account on asshownin the second counterpart letterand its uppercase between lower case a many differences (for example, and R,g andG). r In whichneedto be considered. therearesomeotherfactors In addition. to to decide how earlyin the course introduce the firstplace,we shallneed of makingthe shapes to Shouldwe get the students practise writing practice. as the lettersvery earlyon, evenbeforetheycanread,perhaps a breakfrom through oral work, or shouldu'eu'aituntil theyarefamiliarwith the symbols

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T E A C H I N G H EE N G L I S H C R I P T T S

recognition practice? someform of reading Althoughthereis clearly one no on to answer thisquestion, the whole,if thereis time for thisactivity, whichis exercise, wouldseema goodideato introduce a it essentiallykind of drawing problems actually to makingthe symbols of as the students the mechanical enjoy this kind of activity,while adult Youngerlearners soonaspossible. instructionin both readingand needto haveaccelerated may actually students literatein the foreignlanguage quicklyas as writing in order to become possible. ^fhe wherethe students are paceof that part of the writingprogramme The work will relateto the agelevelof the learners. beingtaughtthe symbols in shouldbe carefullysupervised class, for of youngerlearners, example, althoughthis doesnot rule out a certainamountof practiceashomework. sheets on Adult students, the otherhand,mightwell be givencyclostyled to material, that, afteran introduction the so copying appropriate containing to they continue work on their own out of class. to be practised, items We mustalsodecidewhatkind of scriptwe are goingto teach.Do we writing from the Startor do we delaythe teachthem someform of cursive they havelearnedto print? Again, the agefactoris introductionof this until are relevant:youngerlearners probablybesttaughtthe printedform first. On from the starta kind of hand,thereis no greatharm in introducing the other of modifiedcursive, a kind rvhichis easyto write and easyto readandwhich we to veryclose theprintedform. In makinga decision, haveto takethe stands would probably for students, example, adult into account: of needs the learners sincethis is the only form they can lessthancursive, be intolerantof anything using. themselves envisage

Discussion

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1 Which wouldyou prefer? letterstogetheror separately; and lower case (a) to teachcapitals (b) to teacha print scriptfirstor a modifiedcursive. Give your reasons. as own handwriting a model?Would you be 2 How importantis the teacher's yoursto helpyour students? to prepared change have(or might have)with that your students 1 lvtakea list of any difficulties scriPt. the English (capitals lowercase) and alphabet of of some the letters the English 2 Choose to needed form them. out the strokes andwork and scriptareGK Pullum(1971) the on articles teaching English Two useful (1972). BH Seward on The first groupof symbols page144is from J Bright and R Piggott (1972). is second from BH Seward (CUP 1976);the Handwriting EnglishscriptareJ Bright and R Piggott for Someusefulmaterials teaching Handwriting(CUP I976); D Cobb It'sFun to Write(Longman1984) and P Smithand A InglisNew Handwriting(Collins1983) R PhilpotEngtish The firstand lastbooksmentioned (Nelson 1981). Handwriting Nelson books. in theform of teachers' guidance detailed provide NelsonHandwriting.. from ly'ew materialin i2.3 (a) comes The illustrative from It'sFttnto Write. in 12.3(b) and 12.3.1are Otherillustrations
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References

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devlces Appendix: Cohesive

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list reference of the of is The purpose this appendix to providea more extensive discussed in2.2.2.It is intended serve a checklist to as of features rhetorical of be in itemswhichshouldgradually learned the course a writing programme treatments, Quirk et see goingup to the intermediate level.For more complete al (1972)and HallidayandHasan(1976). A Logicaldevices the listedbeloware givenin For ease reference. logicalconnectors of are order. Someexamples alsoprovided. alphabetical (a) Addition again also and andthen besides equally further (more) (to in addition . . .) indeed in fact moreover too whatis more

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Examples: north, so it nevergetsthe sun..A/so, is ratherdamp. it The housefaces The childrendo not like one another.Moreover,they often quarreland startto fight. Shehardlyevergoesto the theatre.In fact, shehasnot beenfor months. (b) Comparison witfr compared in the sameway similarly rvith likewise in comparison Examples: job with that,my present I usedto work fifteenhoursa day.In comparison is more like a holiday! The doctoradvised him to giveup smoking. Similarly,herecommended to eat muchlessandtakeplentyof exercise. him (.) Contrast and concession* besides naturally but nevertheless however of course in contrast on the contrary instead on the other hand

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AppENDtX: COHESTVE DEVTCES


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Examples: He did not showanyone papers. the Instead, soonashe got a chance. as hc burntthem. Sheis not asprettyassheused be.Nevertlteless, is stilla verv to she attractive girl. His firstnoveltook him onlv a fe*' n'ecks u ritc. *'/lilchis nc\t onc to.k to overa year.

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(d) Enumeratiott f i r s t ( l y ( s e c o n d ( l ve . c . l a s t ) )t ) ( ) n t ( ) [ r r t ' (t l r r r ) t t finally next 1 t o ( [ r g { i 11 1 i 1 h ; in the (first)place morc inrprlrtlnt thcrr Examples: His job involves number things. a of Firsr,he is responsiblc sencral for administration the office. in Secondly, hasto look afterthe hnancial he side of the business. . Finally,he hasbeenasked buildup outside . to contacts. Therewereseveral goodreasons changing plan. To beginwith, it for the involved lot of money.On top of that,it needed manypeople. a too (e) Exemplifi.cation as(evidence . . .) of for example for instance let us (takethe case . . .) of Examples: Most countriesdo not grow enoughfood for their needs Let us takethe . case the United Kingdom. of Most peoplearesuperstitious someway. Thus,a lot of peoplebelieve in that the number13is unluckv. . . (0 Inference ifnot,... otherwise then in (that)case that implies Examples: He left the countrythe sameday.In thatcase, musthavehad his he passport with him. You mustget somemore petrol. Otherwise, will not haveenoughto get we us to the nexttown.
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in all in short on the whole in brief in conclusion to sum up Examples: a Shespends lot of moneyon clothes. is alsofond of buyingexpensive She jewellery. short,sheis extremely In extravagant.

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after(a while) afterwards at first at last time) at (thesame Examples:

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firmly At He tried to openone of the smallwindows. first it remained to openit a but. in theend,aftera greatdealof effort,he managed closed few inches. menare undercontrol.Several . . . andthe fire hasfinallybeenbrought are of the . stillmissingMeanv,hile causes the explosion stillbeing investigated. ( i ) Result accordingly for that reason hence asa result of the consequentl.v (consequence)that is . ' . Examples: that it wastoo on to Most peoplewere opposed the scheme the grounds canbe to re-examined seeif costs it Accordingllt, is now being expensive. reduced. of inches snowfell duringthe night.blockingmostmain roads.,4sa Seven havebeenchaotic. result,trafficconditions . very seriouslyHence,it is very In the past,no one hastakenhis advice probablethat he will not be inclinedto help on this occasion' (j) Reformulation in other words that is (to saY) to put it more (simPlY) rather Examples: on Towardsthe end of the partyhe got up and danced the table.In other . fool of himself a complete words,he made Most peoplefelt that the projectwasnot worthwhilein proportionto the it amountof time it would taketo complete and equallythe financial put it moresimply,it wasa wasteof time and involved.To expenditure monev. then therefore thus

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A P P E N D IC O H E S I V E V I C E S X: DE

(k) Replacement again (better) still

alternatively on theotherhand Examples: I t i s v e r yl i k e l yt h a tw e s h a l l g o v c a r .e r . c n h o u s h t i s a l o r r g r i r c . b t i d l b e c a u sw e s h a l n e e d o m e e a n s f t r a n s p o rrtrh i l c\ \ ' cl r r cr h c r c . e s m o we Alternatively, mightfly out andhirc a cartvhcnrrc urrivc. g , I f t h i n g s e ta n yw o r s ew e m i g h th a v et o a r r a n s e p u b l i cn r c c r i n r ( ) a s the s/i//,we couldevenorganisc dcnronstrittion. discuss matter.Better a (l) Transition 4
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asfar as . . . is concerned now toturnto... asfor... with (reference) . . . to incidentally Examples: of until the nextmectinc. mostof the details the proposal We canleave consideration. this careful Now, asfar dsmoneyis concerned, needs provedto be a to In the end, he decided sellhis car.Thrs,incidentally, mistake.

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referredto in2.2.2(b) of therearefurtherexamples the devices In this section and2.2.2(c). nounphrases (a) Useof pronominalforms to replace He wasa greatsoldier. wasalsoa greatadministrator. Napoleon a t Johnbough a newcar.It costa lot of money,but it goes lot betterthan his old one. on John and Marlt are,eoing holidayto Brazil. Theirfriendsarevery envious. with him. He thoughtthatthese shoes to He decided takesomeheavy wentwalking. he would be usefulin case (nounphrases timeand of adverbials (b) Useof pronominal forms to replace place) He left thefollowingday.He knew thenthathe wasnot comingback. that rhls We We calledon themsoonafterbreakfast. shouldhaverealised wasa bad timefor a visit.* backto thelibrary.WhenI gotthere.lfoundit to I decided takemy books wasclosed.

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or clauses selttetlces (c) {Jse pronominal of forms to replace Iftis an work all night iustbefore exan"L. is a sreatmistake. students Some 1l John hasjust resigned. u'asquiteunexpected. formsall referbackto the above pronominal Noticethat in the examples They may alsorefer forward.For mentioned. previously something example: Thisis what you shoulddo. You shouldbe veryfrank. My adviceis asfollows. Be veryfrank. noun (the,this,that,etc.)to referbackto a previous (d) Useof determiners phrase shopin North Streetlastnight. Thethieves broke into a jeweller's Thieves througha smallbackwindow. enteredtheshop provedvery I boughta pocketcalatlatorlast}'ear.Thatcalculatorhas useful. noun Former andlatterareusedto referbackto one of two previous phrases. John and Tombothtook part in the play. Only theformer hashad any real before. of experience acting.Thelatterhad neverevenbeenon the stage (e) Repetition key words of As are Theseparticulartrain services not usedvery muchby commuters. a rendto travelmuchearlier. rule,commuters (f) (lseof synonymsto avoid repetition When they were firstproduced, they Thesecarswere firstmadein 1972. werenot vervpopular. please me know. I shallbe let on If you haveany thoughts the subject. to interested hear your ideas. or implying whole-part part-wholerelationship (g) Useof a construction You will needto take someroolswith you. You canget a hammer,a saw stores. from mostbig department and a screwdriver to Largecarsand lorriesare not advised usethis route.Thesevehicles takethe otherroad. should (h) Useof relatedwordforms were madelate last so peoplehavebeenarrested far. The arrests Seven night. (i) Useof parallelstructures possible that it will fail. 1r that the plan will succeed. ls equally It ispossible

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EIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography
'Teaching ABBorr,e English Spelling to Adult Beginners' English Language TeachingJ ournal XXXIII:21979 ABBorr, .rand wrNGanD,e The Teaching of English as an I nternational Language (Collins

Rehabilitation' ( E nglis Language h T each i n g J o ur nal XXIX:3 1975) DOUcHry, eeence,r and e, rHoRNroN, t Exploring Language (Arnold 1972) DUNN,o Developing English wirh Young Learners (Macmillan 19g.1) FLEMTNc. Guided Composition o revisedby H J S Taylor (Hodder and Stoughton1975) D FREEMAN, The David Freeman Sftow (Modern English Publications1985) g and v,rxtrLl, tt GLENDTNNINc, Write Ideas(Longman 1981) H.ALLIDAY,e x and HASAN, lt R Cohesion in English (Longman

1e81)
ALLEN, r and cAMIBELL, N (eds) s n Teaching English as a Second Language(McGraw Hill 1972) ALLEN, p a and coRDER, r (eds) r s The Edinburgh Course in Applied Linguistics 3 (Oxford University Press 1974) ARNoLD,and senutn,.r Advanced I Writing Skl//s (Longman 1978) B A R z u Nt, a n d c n e r r , H n The Modern Researcher(Harcourt, Brace and World 1970) BoucHARD, I and SPAVENTA, o LJ (eds) A TEFL Anthology selected articles from English Teaching Forum (1980) 'Quantity BRTERE, r before Quality in SecondLanguageComposition' (LanguageLearning 16:3,4 1966)
BROUGHTON, G, BRUMFIT, C, FLAVELL,

L1 -l il' TJ il'
-],

le16)
H.\RrvlER, The Practiceof English t Lan guage Teachi ng (Longman 1983) HEAroN, B Compositionthrouglt J P ictLtresLongman 1966) ( HEAroN,i B Beginning Composirion through Pictures(Loneman 197J) HEAroN, B Writingthrouglt J Pictures (Longman 1986) HEDGE, Pen to Paper (Nelson r 1983a) HEDcE, t In a l,Vord(Nelson 1983b) HrLL,L A Writingfora Purpose (Oxford University Press1978) Hor-oeN.s (ed) EngLish Specific for P urp oses (Modern English Publications1977) Hor-oeN,s (ed) TeachingChildren ( \ l o d e r n E n g l i s hP u b l i c a t i o n s 1980) HoI-oeN,s (ed) SecondSelections from Modern Englbh Teacher (Longman 1983) 'Using H o R N \. ' C o n n e c t i v e is n Elementary Composition'(English L ang ttage T each i ng XXYI:2 1972)
H U B B A R D , P , J O N E S .H . T H O R N T O N , B

LAvER, and HurcsesoN,s (eds) J Communication in Faceto Face I nteractio (Penguin 1972) n MARKSTETN, cRuNsnuN{, L and o What's the Story?(Longman 1981) MATTnEWS. senatt, lt and e. o,lNcenrrrro, I (eds) At the C halkface(Arnold 1985) o'DRrscoLL, Ady'uncetl t Writing Ski//s(Penguin l9tl.l) P A U L S T oc B ' T e a c h i n g r i t i n c i n N. W t h e E S O L C l a s s r o o m(' T E S O L 6 Quurterlv :l l97l) PiirLpor.n Errg/ull Hund*,ritins ( C o l l i n sl g t t - ] ) PINcAS, ?'eat'lrirrq .r Englisltll'rittnt ( M a c m i l l a nl g f i h ) pINcAS, Writing,itr Enelish Rrtoks s, 1 - J ( N { a c m i l l u n9 8 2 b . c t 9 f t 3 ) l puLLUlv{, p 'lndian Scriptsand the c T e a c h e ro f E n g l i s h '( E n g l i s h Language TeachingXXV:l l97l)
Q U I R K . R , G R E E N B A U M ,S . L E E C H , G

i:

and sveRwrr, t A Grammar of Contemporary English (Longman

t972)
RATITES,Techniques Teaching s for Writing (OxfordUniversity Prcss le83) RrDour, WriteNow (Longman n 197s) sEwARD,H 'Teaching B Cursive Writingto EFL Students' (English Language Teaching XXVI:2 1972) sHARwooD-sMrrH,'A Noteon M "Writingversus (English Speech"' Language achingJo urna! Te XXXI:11976) sMrrH, Writingand theWriter F (Heinemann 1982) sMrrH, and rNcr-ls, New Nelson P e, H andw riting (Nelson198.1) wArERS, PrimarySchoolProjects o (Heinemann 1982) wHIrE,R Teaching WrittenEnglish ( H e i n e m a n1 9 8 0 ) n wrLLrs, Teaching t Englishthrough (Longman English 1981)
W T N G F T E L D .J R 'Five Ways of

i:

i_'

a'
('

a' L? i: r
'a:
'li"

R, HILL, p and prNces,e, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1978) BRUMFrr,c Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching (Cambridge University Press 1984) BYRNE, Teaching Oral English D (new edition) (Longman 1986) BYRNE, Focus on the Classroom o ( M o d e r n E n g l i s hP u b l i c a t i o n s 1988) BYRNE. Prttgressive D PiL'ture Compositions (Longman 1967) BYRNE, lustWritet (Macmillan D 1988) cARRTER, Writing (Hodder and u S t o u g h t o n1 9 8 1 ) ct-osE,R a A ReferenceGrammar for Studentsof English (Longman

andwHEeLen. ATraining n Coursefor ?'EFL (Oxford Universitv Press1983) JoHNSoN, and rvroRRow,(eds) r x Communication in the Classroom ( L o n g m a n1 9 8 1 ) roLLY. D Writing lasks (Cambridge University Press198.1) JoNES, Simulations in Language K Teac hing (CambridgeUniversity Press1982) rupp.r and NITLNE, Basic Writing J Skillsin English (Heinemann 1980) KNtcFrr. Writing2 (Cassell1986) x KRrsuEN, Writing; Research, s T lteorv und .1pp licutiorts (Pcrgarnon.l9S-l)

il' i: i: 'a;t
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r97 s)

t
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D coBB, It'sFun To Write(Longman 1984) n andenNest, e coE,N, RYcRoFr. Writing Skil/s(Cambridge Press 1983) University cnorr, x (ed) Readings English on (Winthrop Language asa Second 1980) e oevres, (ed) Problems of and Learnins Lunguage (Heineman1975) n
l rroNLEY.t 'Prccis Writing: a

Dealing with Errorsin Written Composition' nglis Language (E h Teaching Journai XXIX:1 i975) wooDs,t Writing1 (Cassell 1986) zAMEL, 'Writing:The Process v of Discovering (TESO Meaning' L 16 Quarterly 1981) zAilrEL, 'The Composing v Process of Advanced ESL Students: Six Case Histories' (TESO Quarterly L 1 71 9 8 3 ) TheArt of TESOLSelected Articles from English Teaching Forum(1982)

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Index
to Approaches teaching writing21-3 \A'riting to teaching Children, - activities l3I-12 - guidelines 130-1 - reasons -30 129 27 1-2. Coherence 10-14. - 1 9. 2 7 C o h e s i o1 7 n 17-19. devices Cohesive 148-1-s2 - grammatical 17-18 -lexical 19 - logical 17 - p r a c t i c o f 3 8 - 4 0 .5 5 - 9 e Communication - activities earlvstages in 40-2 - activities postat level60-4 elementary - non-personal 12-14 - personal 10-12 purpose 9-14 Communicative 70-2 Comprehension writing21-2 Controlled 34 Copying - activities - 6. 132-4 34 - evaluation 34 of 123-7 Correction - procedures 124-7 writing Dialogue - reasons 32,48 f.or - reinforcement activities 3 6 - 7 .5 0 - 1 - visual cues 83-6 for 38 Dictation - dicto-comp 60 Drafting1,716-22 Errorsandmistakes 123 writing111-13, Essay 116-22 - alternatives 111-13 to Fun writingactivities 43-6.
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o G u i d e l i n efs r t e a c h i n g writing2T -29 Handwritin143-7 g Integrated skills9-5-109 Learners. needs 27-29 of Letter\\'riting - in earlystages 40-2 - at post-elementarv level 5 1 - 3 . 6 0 - 1 . 9 9 - 1 01 0 9 2. 21-2.29.12-I 6 Mistakes N{other tongue. learning to u'rite 5 N o t e - t a k i n7 3 - 6 g 40-2. 51- 3 Note-writing see Orthography Spelling uriting 55-9. 81-3 Paragraph *'riting37- 8 Parallel work 96-9 Project Punctuation 16 for 9 importance u'riting Reading. activities Reinforcement - in earll'stages 36-,10 - at post-elementary 49-55 level
Kemedlal worx llJ-0

VisuamaterialT9-93 l - d i a g r a m8 9 - 9 1. 1 1 3 - 1 6 s - fun writing92-3 - maps 1-3 8 - paragraph organisation 81-3 - picture 83-7 sequences - reportu'riting 87-9 - r o l eo f t e a c h e8 0 - 1 r - s c q u c n c eo r d i a l o g uw r i t i n g fs e 83-6 - techniques presenting 87 for - useandabuse 79-80 of Writing - communicalive 23-4 teaching - compared with speech 3 2- controlled 21-2 -correction of.123-7 - foreign with compared language 5 t motherongue -6 - f o r f u n . 1 3 - 6 6 1 - 8 ,9 2 - 3 , - guided, examples 36-40,49-59, of 7 1 - 2 .8 3- 6 , 8 9 - 9 1 ,9 9* r 0 2 - guidelines teaching 27-9 for - nature 1-2 of - problems 4-5 in - programme for - in earlystages 32 - at post-elementarv 48-9 level - at intermediate level113 - reasons teaching 6-7 for - recent 21-3 in irends teaching - rhetorical features 17-19. of 148-52 - useof role-play teaching 61-2, for 99-109 - useof simulations teaching for i03-9 - useof visual for material teaching 19-93 - uses 2 of Writtenlanguage - communicative purpose 9-14 - graphological 15 resources -17 - rhetorical 17-19 resources

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Reportwriting54,63-4 - visual cues 87-9 for exercises 60 Reproduction (see activities also Role-playing 61-2,99-109 Simulations) of Script,teaching 143-7 - procedures 1-j 11 a i S e n t e n cl en k i n g n ds e q u e n c i n g - i n e a r l y t a g e3 8 - 4 0 s s - at post-elemen'rary 5-5-9 level 10 Simulations 3-9 g 99 Skillsequencinactivities -102 2 c d S p e e c h .o m p a r eu i t h u r i t i n g - 3 Spellin15-16 g writing71-8 Summary Texts - aspractice format25,32
analvcis nf 10-14

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Functional writing.for w r e m e d i a l o r k1 1 3 - 6 Guidance. of defined role 25-6 G u i d e d r i t i n ge x a m p l e sf w , o 3 6 - 4 0 . 0 - 9 ,7 1 - 2 , 3 - 6 . 5 8 8 9 - 9 1 ,9 9 - 1 0 2

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