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set up, apply and monitor a variety of interactive classroom writing tasks
offer a theoretical justification for each of these tasks
integrate writing activities with the development of one or more of other skills
identify the various sub-skills involved in the writing process
select and apply appropriate classroom activities to develop these sub-skills
assess the learning outcomes of specific writing activities.
1.
Writing to learn
Writing is widely used in the English classes as a means of engaging the pupils with
other language skills. The pupils note down new vocabulary, copy out grammar rules, write
out answers to reading or listening comprehension questions, do written tests. In these
activities, writing is mainly a means of getting the pupils to practise a particular language
point, or as a convenient method of testing it.
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Which of the following kinds of text do you think your pupils would need in Romanian
and which in English?
advertisement, essay, filling in a form, letter to the manager, letter to a newspaper,
letter to mother/father, note about a telephone message, newspaper article, poem, pop song
lyric, postcard, report, shopping list, story, Ph.D. thesis.
Learning to write
Other activities have as main objective writing itself. These practise written forms
either at the level of word or sentence or at the level of content and organization. The pupils
have to express themselves using their own words. They have to state a purpose for writing,
and often to specify a readership. Examples of such activities include narrating a story,
writing a letter or a report.
Some activities combine purposeful and original writing with the learning or practice of
some other skill or content. For example, a written response to the reading of a text will
combine writing with reading. A task which provides little or no practice for the pupils to
extend their knowledge of appropriate content or context or to raise their awareness about
the writing process is not really a writing task but a general learning task using writing.
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Writing refers to several sub-skills: putting words on paper, making sentences and
linking them in paragraphs, writing a poem, developing an essay, and many others. Nunan
(1989) notes that writing involves:
organising content at the level of the paragraph and the complete text to reflect
new/given information and topic/comment structures
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Approaches to Writing
There are two main ways of approaching writing: focusing on the product or on the
writer. These perspectives have determined major approaches on the teaching of writing.
The focus on the product gave birth to the traditional text-based approach. The
teachers using this perspective often present model texts, usually given in textbooks, for the
pupils to imitate or adapt. They believe their role is to cultivate conformity to models, and
accuracy rather than fluency. They see mistakes as something they have to correct and
eliminate. In this approach, the pupils write variations first on sentences, then on paragraphs,
then on very controlled compositions, and finally, at an advanced level, they work on free
composition.
The first draft must then come under close scrutiny, preferably after a time interval or
by someone other than the writer. Comments and discussion follow before a second draft is
attempted, and so on. The pupils need to be assured that the final product is not the only
thing to be judged. Praise for the first draft, and praise, advice and suggestions throughout
the writing process are very important.
If you accept that for teaching purposes at least, the process of writing is more
significant than the final product, then it follows that pupils need to be given enough time to
produce their essay. If it is a race against time, then few of the above procedures can be
applied.
Much of the teaching of writing comes at the first draft stage. Very little can be taught
after the final version has been submitted. That is why you need to sit with your pupils and
discuss the first drafts, be appreciative of good ideas, and make suggestions for general
improvements in structure.
3.1
write the sentence outline on the board, (e.g. they home afternoon), say the whole
sentence and ask the pupils to write what they heard. You can also show or draw a picture to
replace part(s) of the sentence. Alternatively, you may write the sentence on the board, and
ask your pupils to write a similar true sentence about themselves.
Another extremely restricting activity, gap-filling, can become more involving and
challenging if the pupils are given the opportunity to choose between alternatives given in
brackets.
Without real comprehension, dictation is also a mechanical activity, restricted to
practising spelling. If done traditionally, you read a text once through and then dictate it
phrase by phrase. Then the text is read through once again. Even done this way, dictation
cannot be denied a number of advantages: it is an intensive activity which helps to develop
both listening and writing, requires concentration, and can be done with large classes.
example
You begin by asking what is happening in each picture in turn. Individual pupils
suggest answers, such as The boy is asking the teacher if he can go home because he is
sick. You write the best answer for each picture on the board. When all the questions are
complete, you ask the pupils to use the six answers as the basis for their text, reminding
them that the story must be told in the past tense. Before settling down to produce their texts
in pairs or small groups, the class may decide together what the wording of the first sentence
will be.
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As confidence and skill grow, you can ask the pupils to create a story directly from a
sequence of pictures, without the question - answer stage. In this activity, writing can be
integrated with oral work. Class discussion establishes what is happening in each of the
pictures, then pupils decide in pairs or small groups how they are going to put the story
together. Each pair writes a first draft of the story then passes it to the next pair for comment
and correction. Second drafts are then written, and so on. In this way, all the class are
involved in the writing process.
In another version of this activity the whole class share in the writing of the same
story (e.g. a fairy tale type in which the characters and plot are fairly predictable). After class
discussion of standard forms and sequences of events in fairy tales, one pupil is asked to
write the first sentence of a story on a piece of paper. The paper is then passed on to the
next pupil who writes the second sentence, and so on. Once the class is accustomed to this
kind of combined writing, several stories can be circulating at the same time. The completed
stories are read out to the class by individual pupils for comments and suggestions. As a
follow-up task, the pupils may be given copies of the story to check for grammatical accuracy
and punctuation.
3. Guided writing
In guided writing, you still retain a certain amount of control over the form and content
of the pupils writing. The pupils are given information that they must include in their writing.
Sometimes you also give the first and last sentences. The information may come in the form
of a picture. For example, you give a picture of a lake on a summer day with people doing
various things (e.g. swimming, diving, having picnics and sunbathing). In the distance a
farmer is seen with his sheep dog. The task is to write three paragraphs about the scene.
You tell the pupils to begin by saying that the picture shows a scene in the
countryside. Then you ask them to say something about the weather, the colour of the sky,
the sun and the shade given by the trees round the lake. They must describe the lake: is it
big, small, deep, shallow, clear or dark? In the second paragraph the pupils are asked to
describe the people and say what each group is doing. What does the farmer use his dog
for? Finally, you tell them to end the paragraph with the words Other people can enjoy
themselves in the summer sun, but the farmer has to work.
4. Parallel writing
Such activities are typically used with pre-intermediate and intermediate pupils. In this
type of writing activities, content is free but form is given. You first give the pupils a piece of
writing to see and then they use it as a basis for their own work. The original piece sets a
model and guides them in expressing themselves. This type of activity is central to the
teaching of connected discourse since it sets models from which the pupils can work. It
generally addresses the paragraph level.
Parallel writing tasks come in various forms to allow for varying degrees of control by
the teacher.
example
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Before asking your pupils to write an example of a particular text type, you might want
to go with them through some stages. Put the stages suggested below into an appropriate
order and justify your decision:
a)
practising guided writing which follows prompts (e.g. pictures or sentences that
summarise paragraphs)
b)
doing exercises that practise characteristic features of text type (e.g. passive
voice)
c)
reading examples of the text type
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d)
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Free writing
Free writing tasks can be assigned after the study of the respective genre models.
You can ask pupils from intermediate to advanced to write narratives based on a picture or
series of pictures. They may describe an occasion when they felt disappointed or afraid,
surprised, or relieved. They may describe someone they know very well, or write descriptions
of people and places, based on photographs or some information about them. They may
write an answer to a (given) letter of complaint, write application letters, etc.
You can ask more advanced pupils to describe the process represented in a flowchart
or any kind of diagram, write reports of books they read, reviews of books they enjoyed (and
would like to recommend to other people in the class), instruction sheets for something they
know how to do well (e.g. prepare some kind of food) or essays on various topics.
Essay format
Whatever kind of writing activities pupils practise in the classroom, at some stage you
will probably require them to produce an essay, and this will have to conform to an
acceptable format. A sample format is given below. This format is by no means the only
acceptable format for essays; many others are possible. But it may be useful as an indication
to pupils that each of the parts of an essay must be clearly related to the rest, to form a
coherent whole.
a)
Introduction. Here they need to define the terms. If the topic of the essay is,
for instance, Urban Pollution, they may need to show that they understand what urban and
pollution mean. Also here they need to state why the topic is of interest, where their main
focus on the topic will be, how many parts they will break the topic up into. This will give the
number of paragraphs they will have in the body of the essay.
b)
Body of essay. The introduction will tell how many paragraphs they are going
to write. Thus: each paragraph refers back to the introduction. For example, the
first/second/third type of urban pollution is Each paragraph discusses a different aspect of
the topic and provides an example to illustrate the point(s).
c)
Conclusion. This is a brief final paragraph. There is no need to repeat what
was said in the introduction or summarise the contents of the body paragraphs, except
perhaps in a brief sentence. For example: Thus there are a number of clear reasons why
urban pollution is a serious problem. The remainder of the conclusion looks briefly at any
further implications of what has been said in the body of the essay.
3.2
Relaying instructions
One pupil or one group of pupils elaborate instructions for the performance of a task.
They have to tell another pupil or group to perform the task by giving them written
instructions.
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Writing reports, advertisements, brochures
The pupils write items for a school news broadcast or a school magazine. They can
join together to write a brochure about the place they live in or are studying in. They can write
and design their own advertisements.
Co-operative writing
The pupils may write joint stories, each pupil contributing a sentence. They may start
either at the first or the last sentence (these may be or may not be supplied).
Job applications
The applications can be later on judged and a decision taken about who is
successful.
Journals
You can write a letter to the pupils in a (small) class, telling them something about
yourself and inviting them to write letters to you, which you would reply to personally. The
pupils may engage in correspondence about learning, their experiences, how they feel about
school, etc. The pupils use writing for genuinely communicative purposes and get individual
attention from you. The disadvantages of this procedure, as Rinvolucri, the initiator admits,
are firstly that some pupils get too close to the teacher and secondly that it takes a lot of
your time.
Alternatively, you can ask the pupils to keep diaries. Here they will write what they
want about what interests them. They will comment on the classes, on their personal
experiences, on politics or they will write stories. You can ask them to write in their journals
for five minutes at the end of every class, but also when they themselves want to. Such an
activity ensures frequent writing practice and all pupils have a chance to use English to
reflect their own thoughts and feelings. You have the advantage of interacting with your pupils
as individuals. These diaries are not primarily to be corrected, but rather to be reacted to. In
this activity, content feedback is far more important than form feedback.
Projects
Projects are longer pieces of work that involve the collection of information and
reporting. The quality of the end product is important. The pupils can use tape-recorders and
video cameras to record interviews with native speakers they can find, or they can consult
libraries (including electronic ones) for source material.
3.3
The communicative approach has led us to pay more attention to the purpose of
language, to the content of the message the pupils intend to get across. But it is sometimes
difficult for both teachers and pupils to think of writing as a motivating, purposeful activity,
especially if the goal of the activity is grammatical accuracy. In order for the pupils writing to
be more effective, and for reading to be more enjoyable, it is important to create other
purposes for writing.
The class should approach their task in terms of two questions: to whom they are
writing, and for what purpose. When the pupils have a better idea of whom their readers are
and of how they can get prepared to negotiate meaning, their writing is more purposeful. For
instance, instead of asking them to write a short autobiography, you could tell them they are
applying for a scholarship to spend a year in Great Britain. The purpose of the pupils writing
becomes thus more goal oriented. They will have to select the relevant qualities to speak
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about and present the information in such a way as to show that one could benefit from such
experience and merits the scholarship over someone else.
The incorporation of an element of real communication, such as publication, is
motivating for most pupils. Going public in newsletters or class magazines and/or organizing
the reception of a real response (from either a classmate, pupils in another class, penfriends or the teacher) may determine the production of more effective writing.
Feedback on Writing
In your own experience of learner of English, what kinds of feedback did you receive
from your teachers? How useful did you find their feedback?
Many teachers feel a terrible temptation to take the pupils work, indicate all the
places that need fixing, and return it to the pupils. Undoubtedly, the papers would be better if
the pupils handed them in the second time. The question is whether the pupils care enough
about their papers to want to put them into acceptable form and whether teachers know how
to encourage them to do that.
C. Tribble (1996) identifies four basic roles that teachers may assume when giving
feedback: audience, evaluator, examiner and assistant.
As audience we read the text and say how we find it, and if the authors point is
clearly formulated. We respond to the pupils ideas, feelings, and attitudes and indicate
whether or not we enjoyed reading the text. Unfortunately, we often avoid this role and
assume the other three, identifying problems, commenting and grading.
Our purpose as evaluators is to give feedback on the present strengths and
weaknesses of a text, with a view to help our pupils to improve their future performance. The
text is assessed on all dimensions: task fulfilment, content, organisation, vocabulary,
language, and mechanics.
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Consider the following comments made by various pupils. Try to identify what role
their English teacher assumed when giving feedback:
1.
My teacher wrote at the bottom of the page that my grammar is acceptable, but
I still have some problems with the present perfect, and the definite article.
2.
She told me to change the introduction, making it more interesting for the
reader.
3.
The teacher re-wrote my text, without changing its content and arguments and
brought both my draft and hers to class. We all discussed and compared the text
organisation, development of ideas, sense of audience and style, but my classmates were
not told whose text the teacher used.
4.
I got an 8 in my last assignment.
1. ..
2. ..
3. ..
4. ..
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We have distinguished between learning to write activities, meant to help the pupils
learn to write and writing to learn activities, meant to help them write to learn. What essential
difference will there be between the way we respond to texts that have been written with
these two different purposes?
aspects: syntax, punctuation, spelling, and the way in which the text hangs together. The final
grade should reflect content, shape and grammatical accuracy.
The problem of correction of mistakes is one of potential conflict between two of the
roles of the teachers: language instructors versus assistants. If we accept that language
should be corrected, then the problem arises: should all language mistakes be noted?
Sometimes there are so many mistakes that the page will be covered with corrections and
too much correcting can be discouraging, demoralising and distracting. Over-emphasis on
language mistakes can distract the pupils attention from content and organisation. How can
you judge which mistakes to relate to and which not?
Your approach should vary according to context and the pupils individual needs. In
any situation, your comments should relate to the task assigned. If the pupils are first asked
to express their ideas in English (free writing, composition) and then to read critically what
they have written in order to make changes, then you should also give a two-stage response,
by separating your response to content and structure from your response to language
accuracy.
One approach is to ignore the language mistakes that do not hinder reading. You may
correct only those mistakes which are very basic and those which affect meaning, leading to
misunderstanding or confusion, such as sentence derailments or faulty subordination. Other
errors may go uncorrected, but while identifying them you can make a list of error types as
they occur, and thus create an individual grammar syllabus.
To help your pupils to concentrate on particular aspects of language, you can tell
them that their work will be corrected for only one thing, the use of tenses, for instance. By
doing this, you ensure that their work will not be covered by red marks, and you encourage
them to focus on particular aspects of written language. You can individualise language work
by identifying for each pupil a few kinds of errors and assigning tasks that focus on these.
Where a piece of writing contains a number of common errors, you may photocopy
the work (erasing the writers name) and show it to the whole class, asking them to identify
problems. In this way the attention of the class can be drawn to common mistakes and the
photocopied document can form the basis for remedial work.
You will learn about your pupils errors if you give them the opportunity to make them,
fix them, and discuss them. You can ask your pupils to discuss where they think their
mistakes come from and why they make them. This will help you to realise which mistakes
the pupils can recognise and which ones they cannot. Asking the pupils to discuss their
mistakes will provide you with information about their transfers from Romanian or from
another foreign language they learn. In this way, the mistakes will no longer be everybodys
enemy, but clear evidence of language learning.
Another strategy is to point out both strengths and weaknesses. Thus, your pupils will
have the chance to perceive a correct model in their own use of language and will be likely to
continue taking risks if they see that their good qualities are noted and encouraged.
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When you bring back to class the pupils writing with comments on content and
correction symbols in the margin, you should allow them time to identify their mistakes and
correct them. While they are identifying their problems, you can help where they do not know
what is wrong. If this stage is not gone through, your pupils will not take advantage of the
system of correction symbols.
There is certainly no perfect approach to giving feedback on writing. Yet it is essential
that your pupils understand how you want the feedback system to work. You should clarify
both for them and for yourself what your policy on mistakes correction is, what symbols and
abbreviations you use, and what you want them to do with their drafts and your comments
when they receive them.
Use a correction code to signal the language mistakes in the following piece of
writing:
I am studying english because I want to work for a big company when I will graduate.
Perhaps I may to continue my studis. So I must to reach a good level of english because of
when I will go abroad sended by the company, Ill need to understand all. My father, who is
mecanic engineer, he says that english is an interesting language for all kinds of reason.
Another reason why I am studying english is that I like myself to listen to the music. I am
learning new expressions and improve my listening, too. I can mix learning with the pleasure
of listening to the music. Something else is we often have foreigners invited for dinner at
home who are invited by my parents and usualy english is the language of comunication.
Rewriting
When you receive written tasks, you normally correct and comment on them and give
them back. The question is whether you should insist on the pupils rewriting their tasks,
incorporating your suggestions. Your pupils do not like doing it, but, on the other hand,
frequent opportunities for writing and rewriting are an important tool for improving language,
content and structure. Irrespective of the feedback the pupils receive from you, they improve
their work when they rewrite their texts. According to A. Raimes, the number of language
mistakes decreases by about 20%, even when the teacher response includes no explicit
correction of mistakes (Raimes, 1983).
Pupils rewriting should be followed by your re-reading. You can motivate your pupils
to rewrite by seeing the first version as provisional, and assessing the revised version. In this
way the pupils will carefully read and incorporate your comments and new assignments in
their final version. Another reason to ask for rewriting and not spending a long time on first
draft correction is that you can misread your pupils intentions. Successful communication
also means that pupils say in writing what they mean. To make sure that their ideas are
communicated accurately, you have to ask them to rewrite and edit their own texts, assisting
them with questions and comments on the parts of the text that you find obscure.
Peer correction
Correcting written work is very time-consuming, particularly if you have large classes.
One possible solution is to let the pupils correct and edit each others writing. Even if they
cannot discern all the strengths and weaknesses of an assignment, they will detect at least
some of them. The problem is whether your pupils feel comfortable correcting, or being
corrected by their classmates, and whether they accept criticism (positive or negative) form
each other. Their comfort will depend on the general classroom climate. The attitudes that
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make peer correction helpful are mutual trust; a real listening to each other; a mutual
recognition that whatever is said is a subjective opinion and not necessarily the absolute,
objective truth, and a general desire to communicate effectively taking into account the
others reactions.
You could train your pupils in giving and asking for specific and constructive feedback.
For instance a statement like I think that this sentence would be better if you added some
colour words is constructive while Your sentences are problematic is destructive. The
pupils should be encouraged to ask for feedback on spelling, punctuation, sentence variety,
style, etc. Also, they should constantly check with their group members to make sure their
comments are clear. They can be taught to ask questions like:
The following activity is intended to teach pupils how to evaluate the content clarity
and effectiveness of a classmates composition. The order of the steps has been modified.
Your task is to try to put the steps in logical order:
1.
Without looking at the text, tell the author what you think s/he is saying, or, if it
is a narrative, tell the story back to the author as precisely as you can.
2.
After each of you has given and received feedback, rewrite your task.
3.
Then your partner(s) should give you the same type of feedback on your text.
4.
Ask your partner(s) about anything which seems unclear or for constructive
suggestions.
5.
Read each others paper carefully.
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4.
The pupils read their last sentences first and so on, backwards through the text,
sentence by sentence. This is a way of focusing attention on sentence-level accuracy and
preventing the eye from leaping ahead for the content.
The question of class climate, personal relationships, trust and willingness to accept
criticism and help from one another remains. Because critical reading does not come
naturally for many pupils, you can help them with checklists and/or questions to answer. Thus
the pupils will learn what to look for in a text in order to offer useful and constructive
feedback.
Summary
Although recent ELT methodology considers the clarity and effectiveness of the
content of a piece of writing to be more important than language correctness, writing is still
regarded by some teachers as transcribed speech. They tend to consider the quality of
writing in relation to the frequency and gravity of linguistic errors. They neglect composition,
assuming that once the language has been mastered, the ability to use the same language
for written communication will follow naturally.
However, writing has a dual purpose: as a means (or a support skill) and as an end
(or a communicative skill). Generally speaking, you will find two types of writing activities in
the English textbooks: those designed to develop the writing skills per se (writing as an
end/communicative skill) and those which provide opportunity of practising English (writing as
a means/support skill).
The kind of feedback that teachers give on writing is largely a matter of experience.
Generally speaking, the red pencil is intimidating and discouraging, when teachers believe
that form (grammar and spelling) is everything. Alternative ways of determining re-writing can
be found, such as peer-correction and self-correction.
Key Concepts
genre
writing sub-skills
cohesion
coherence
text-based approach
process approach
audience
form
content
peer correction
self-correction
Further Reading
1. Harmer, J. (2001) The Practice of English Lanhuage Teaching. 3rd ed., Longman
2. Nunan, D. (1991) Language Teaching Methodology. A textbook for teachers.,
Prentice Hall
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