Get lit up: literature as a teacher's best friend

Submitted by admin on 23 September, 2009 - 18:08

Literature. Quite a divisive word, that. Throw it through an open window into a
room full of language teachers and most will dive behind furniture, fingers in their
ears and looks of horror on their faces.

A few, possibly, will greet its arrival amongst them with a squeak of delight and
start playing with it like a favourite pet.

A bit of an exaggeration? Not really. Most teachers of English as a foreign

language will identify fairly readily with one group or the other, with those who
would welcome the chance to use literature in the classroom and those who
wouldn’t even think about it.

Why not use literature?

'You need to be an expert'

There are many reasons why teachers don't feel comfortable with literature in the
language classroom. Perhaps they are still in the recovery stage themselves, with
painful memories of literature classes as a curriculum subject at school. Unsuitable
and unhelpful exposure to the weighty tomes of long dead writers has left them
numb to the possible charms of the art. It might be that they don’t read books
themselves, gain no pleasure from them, and so don’t see why they should take the
burden into class. Others might perceive a wide gulf between the teaching of a
language and the study of the literature of that language, and why would they not?
Many universities maintain sturdy defences between the study of a language and
the study of its literature: two different departments; two different mind
sets. Others, possibly the largest group, might think literature has a place in the
language classroom but that it’s not for them. After all, dealing with literature
requires the hand of an expert, doesn’t it? And, let’s face facts, it is a bit elitist, this
literature thing, isn’t it?

'It must be "proper" literature'

A reverse distinction can sometimes be seen in some of the many of the reading
groups which have been blossoming all over the place in recent years, where
people's love of books extends to a desire to meet regularly with others and share
that love. In some groups, the readers seem to experience a certain feeling of
discomfort at choosing non-canonical, non-classic texts to share to read. The
 elitism alluded to earlier can be seen dividing popular, or even modern literature
from ‘proper’ literature (that is books by dead white men, with an occasional
honorary woman allowed in) as if being found sharing, let alone enjoying a
popular or, heaven forbid, lightweight book, was something of a minor sin;
something to be ashamed of.

'It's too hard for the students'

On the other hand, those who do welcome narrative and poetry into the classroom
often do so with a passion, and it is this enthusiasm which drives them to want to
share with their students. But even here hesitation is noted. Do they feel adequately
equipped to share what they see as a precious jewel with their students? Aren’t
many of the books they feel passionate about too advanced for their students’
language level anyway?

'There's not enough time!'

However, the biggest cause of excluding literature from the language classroom,
the over-riding factor which supposedly clinches the argument, is that there is no
time in the school syllabus for such dallyings. Why, there is barely time to cover
every page in the course book so why bring in extra work?

The argument for literature

The point to make at this critical juncture is to make it clear that all the teachers
who fall into the categories described above, and many others not mentioned here,
have misunderstood what literature in the language classroom can be. The key
point is that literature can be a very flexible tool for any language teacher:

 it requires no specialist training;

 it can be brief, contemporary and relevant;
 it can be used to enhance, supplement and complement the curriculum;
 it can aid students’ speaking as well as reading skills,
 it can engage the class in aspects of critical thinking that text books rarely do
and open minds onto the world;
 it can assist with specific language learning and it is an ideal tool for
revision purposes.

Many teachers who have courageously taken the leap from being non-users to
users of literature in the EFL classroom speak of the feeling of liberation it gives
them, and the sense of creativity it transfers to the class. Literature, they discover,
gives them permission to enter other worlds and ideas and to explore them
confidently.

Of course, this doesn’t happen without a degree of preparation. A little will happen
simply by opening up a book in class and reading to students, but not a lot.  Even
less will be achieved by sending the class away to read Chapter 3 over the weekend
for homework. Nothing will be achieved by deciding to structurally analyse the
book or its contents. What is required is a careful handling of the sometimes
delicate interface between language and literature and to understand where the
students fit into the creative reading cycle. What is needed is a way of raising
students’ expectations so that reading becomes a positive experience. What is
indispensable is an understanding of where the narrative might lead the reader and,
at the same time, to recognise that a narrative might take 30 different people to 30
different places, and be able to deal with that reality in class.

Thus, while we may not need any expert skills in literature per se, we will need to
be fairly resourceful and imaginative teachers. Luckily there is a growing body of
support out there, from engaging classroom resources to help from communities of
experienced teachers, and from access to copyright free short stories and poetry to
contact with authors and poets. 

The purpose of the Literature section of this website, which is being re-launched, is

to provide some guidance through the wealth of available materials and support, to
provide a platform for sharing ideas and experiences and to explore some areas that
are at the cutting edge of what is, for many teachers, the most powerful instrument
in their school bag: literature as a tool for language learning.

So, next time someone lobs some live literature through an open window, you’ll be
one of those who welcomes it with open arms.

By Fitch O'Connell

Read more by Fitch in our Literature section including the guide to available

materials to support your teaching

Check out the BritLit materials

How do you feel about teaching with literature? Leave your comments and
questions for Fitch below.
 Using drama texts in the classroom
Submitted by henry robinson on 1 March, 2007 - 12:00

In this article, I try to define what I mean by language learning through

drama/theatre texts, outline some of the benefits it can bring to the language
learning classroom and some of the differing methods and approaches that can be
utilised to fully exploit the potential of drama and theatre texts.

 Why use drama / theatre texts in the language classroom?

 The "a" type analytical approach to drama / theatre texts

 The "b" type experiential approach to drama / theatre texts

 Learning activities using drama / theatre texts

 Classroom method

 Conclusion

 References

Why use drama / theatre texts in the language classroom?

Collie and Slater (1987) focused on the positive contributions language learning
through literature could make in that literary texts constituted valuable authentic
material as it exposes the learner to different registers, types of language use. 

Writers such as Maley and Duff, (1978) and Wessels, (1987) have pointed to the
values and uses of drama:

'Drama can help the teacher to achieve 'reality' in several ways. It can overcome
the students' resistance to learning the new language:

 by making the learning of the new language an enjoyable experience

 by setting realistic targets for the students to aim for

 by creative 'slowing down' of real experience

 by linking the language-learning experience with the student's own

experience of life

And drama can create in students a need to learn the language:

 by the use of 'creative tension' (situations requiring urgent solutions);

 by putting more responsibility on the learner, as opposed to the teacher.'

(Wessel: 53-54)

Drama provides cultural and language enrichment by revealing insights into the
target culture and presenting language contexts that make items memorable by
placing them in a realistic social and physical context.

By allowing reading and the adding of some characterisation to a drama / theatre

text, learners became personally and fully involved in the learning process, in a
context in which it is possible for learners to feel less self-conscious and more
empowered to express themselves through the multiple voices (Vygotsky, 1987;
Bakhtin, 1981, 1986) of the differing characters. 

One of the drawbacks in the use of literary texts such as novels and poems is that
many of them contain language forms that learners of a language find difficult to
understand. This could be overcome by simplifying them, often leading to a loss of
'literariness' - leading to criticism that the texts became pale imitations of the
original writing. The lack of suitable texts in the traditional body of literature, in
my view opens the door for the inclusion of drama in language learning curricula
as it tends to use much more naturalistic language than in poems and novels.
Drama texts help to address the need for sufficient texts for worthwhile reading in
which suitable materials can be accessed. 

The "a" type analytical approach to drama / theatre texts

As I have suggested, the analysis of language in a text is just one aspect of its use.
In the type "a" approach, language is separated into its phonological, lexical
components etc and disseminating strategies then adopted. Using this analytical
approach, a teacher or course designer would think of a series of structures,
language items that were to be 'taught'. A literary text exemplifying these
structures was then selected and used in order to practise or raise the learner's
 consciousness of it. 

The "b" type experiential approach to drama / theatre texts

White (1988) identified a second (the type "b") approach. Here, language was not
seen as object but as a tool. Much more emphasis was placed upon, for example,
the inductive method of learning through 'experiencing' and applying the learner's
experience to the text through encouraging comment, responses and expression
based on the text or its theme/topic. The theme/topic-based syllabus is often seen
as more relevant to language learning. Gower (1996) commented how he felt more
focus on form meant students understood less of what was going on. 

Learning activities using drama / theatre texts

From a task point of view the learner is faced with several levels of achievement /
ability that the teacher can use as a basis for designing multi-level activities for
students:

 Identifying the story, characters, plot (achievable at beginner level)

 Identifying the author's / characters' viewpoint, attitude or opinion

 Understanding the work in relation to its socio-cultural and historical-

political context

 Giving a personal / creative response (e.g. enacting the text)

 Answering the question: "does it work as literature?" (Extended critical

analysis of text)

Classroom method
Below, I outline the stages of a type "b" approach to introducing a drama/theatre
text to a class of EFL learners. The process involves linking standard approaches in
drama/theatre to approaches suitable for the classroom. 
Classroom practice, then, may follow a (1) (physical) warm up - (2) text
reading/listening - (3) extension activities format.

Stage 1
Standard methods in the type "b" approach involve warmer activities to get the
learner to anticipate what they're going to meet in the language in the text using
guessing, pre-discussion, pictures.

It involves little or no stylistic analysis.

Its aims are to stimulate oral communication, reading for pleasure and to enrich
thinking and expression for this reason, drama techniques focussing on waking the
imagination, and the body including the vocal chords in preparation for reading or
even enacting the text could easily precede this stage.

Use of text can be one of the more in-depth and sophisticated drama activities.

Warmers, drama games, role-plays, individual and group improvisation can all be
used to support higher-level drama activities such as performing the text in the
classroom.

The idea is that the pre-reading/listening stage will sensitise the learner to the
language and concepts to be encountered and engage prior knowledge and
experience. Pictures, the book cover, prompt questions, learners' own memorabilia
etc are used. 

Stage 2
The second stage may involve two task types:

1. The while listening/reading task involves the learner having a task to fulfil based
on his/her reading, such as finding out a piece of information from the text.

2. Tasks inserted into the text such as one where learners complete the task using
their own ideas. 

Stage 3
The third stage could incorporate...

1. Comprehension questions such as: Who? When? What? Etc.

2. Multiple-choice questions are useful for evoking possible alternative answers.

3. Text attack questions require the learner to realise certain meanings in the text
and the way they are achieved in the language use.
4. Interpretation and response tasks /questions: What's the message from the
author? What general meanings can we infer from the antagonists' statements /
actions? What conclusions can we draw about the character and motivations of the
antagonists? How is that expressed through the language? How do you feel about
the character? How did you feel as the character? Response calls for the learner to
express an opinion or feeling and to often say why they feel this or have this
opinion.

Conclusion
Of the main approaches I have outlined a) Developing literary competence to
understand and appreciate and b) experiencing literature, I, like Rod Ellis (2000),
believe there is no absolute dichotomy between them. Differing approaches need to
be incorporated in language teaching/learning for their relative merits.

References

Austin, JL, 1962. How To Do Things With Words Harvard University Press

Bakhtin, M M. 1981. The Dialogical Imagination: Four Essays. University of
Texas Press: Austin, TX,
Bakhtin, M M. 1986. Speech Genre and Other Late Essays. University of Texas
Press: Austin, TX,
Belcher, D and Hirvela, A. 2001. Coming Back to Voice: The Multiple Voices and
Identities of Mature Multilingual Writers JSLW (journal of second language
writing) Volume 10, Number 1/2
Brumfit, C and Carter, R (Eds), 1986. Literature and language teaching Oxford:
OUP (2nd ed: 1987)
Brumfit, C and Carter, R, 1986. English Literature and English Language. In
Brumfit, C and Carter, R (eds) Literature and Language Teaching. OUP
Carter, R and Long, MN, 1987. The Web of words: exploring literature through
language. CUP
Collie, J and Slater, S, 1987. Literature in the Language Classroom. Cambridge
University Press.
Coulthard, M, 1977. An Introduction to discourse analysis London: Longman (2nd
ed: 1978)
Cummins, J. 2000 Language Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the
Crossfire. Clevedon, UK:Multilingual Matters.
Ellis, Rod Feb 2000. 'Literature in ELT Lecture Series'. MA in Applied
Linguistics, St Mary's College, Surrey University
Gower, R, 1996. Can stylistic analysis help the EFL learner read literature? ELT
Journal 40: 125 - 30
 Jones, A (ed), 1999. Performing the body: performing the text. London: Routledge
Maley, A and Duff, A, 1982 (2nd Edition). Drama Techniques in Language
Learning CUP
McRae, J, 1985. Using Drama in the Classroom. Pergamon Press
Searle, J R, 1969. Speech Acts: An essay in the philosophy of language CUP
Short, M, 1989. Discourse Analysis and Drama in Carter, R and Simpson, P, 1989.
Language, Discourse and Literature, Routledge
Soyinka, W, 1984. Six Plays: (inc) The Trails of Brother Jero, Methuen
White, R.V. 1988, The ELT Curriculum: Design, Innovation and
Management. Oxford: Blackwell
Wessels, Charlyn, 1987. Drama (Resource Books for Teachers) Oxford University
Press.
Vygotsky, LS.1987 Thinking and speech. In Rieber and A Carton (eds). The
Collected works of L Vygotsky. New York: Plenum

Henry Robinson, MA Applied Linguistics and ELT, LCTL DIP TESOL

Using poems to develop receptive skills

Submitted by admin on 19 October, 2005 - 13:00

I like to bring poetry into the classroom because I believe that it is important and
motivating for students to work with authentic texts.

I find that poems work well because it is possible to work with a whole text, and
sometimes with more than one poem in the same lesson. This can be done
successfully at any post-beginner level, so long as the poems are selected with care
and with the needs, interests and language level of the students in mind. Through
their reading of poetry, students can deepen their understanding of British
contemporary culture. I am an English language specialist, not a literature teacher,
and you will find that you will easily be able to adapt your favourite reading and
listening activities if you want to bring a bit of real emotion and poetry into your
classroom.

 Active listening

 Active reading

 Some pros and cons

 Conclusion

Active listening 
It is crucial for students to be able to get a feel for the rhythm and sounds of a
poem - more so than for most pieces of prose. This isn't always easy in a second
language, and so listening to their teacher read the poem, or to a professional
recording, perhaps by the poet or by an actor, is, I feel, essential.

 As with any listening activity, students will need some kind of preparation
and task so that they can be actively engaged. They might be asked to check
predictions that arose from a warm-up discussion, to compare their suggested
rhyming couplets with the poet's, or to identify stressed words and syllables.

 You might also want to get your students to listen to recorded or live
discussions about poems. This can, for example, take the form of a couple of
teachers or a group of students giving their views on a poem, or even an interview
with the poet.

 I'm a big fan of jigsaw listening because of the natural information gap. If
your school has the facilities, you might like to;
o divide your students into two, or even three groups
o give each group a different cassette or CD and tasks to work on
o then they come back together to share what they have learned.

 Remember that your own enthusiasm is a key factor in any activity relating
to literature in the classroom.

Finally, don't forget to encourage art for art's sake. Listening for pleasure, to poetry
(or to anything else, for that matter), is to be fostered at every opportunity, because
of the obvious benefits which include motivation, vocabulary acquisition and
learner autonomy. Many good song lyrics could be termed poetry and treated
accordingly in the classroom, copyright rules permitting.

Active reading 
Reading activities can centre around not only the poems themselves, but also
around background reading sources like biography or criticism.
 Some reading texts might be produced by other students, perhaps based on
internet research, if your school has the facilities.

 Don't get stuck in literary analysis unless your students have specifically
asked for a literature lesson, but do draw attention to useful syntax, grammar and
vocabulary, and beware of common poetic conventions like inverted word order,
ensuring that students are aware that this is a deviation from the norms of everyday
English language.

 Too much analysis can kill enjoyment, and we are aiming for the opposite!
As a pre-reading activity, I get the students to predict what they are about to read.
With poetry, this can be done with the title as a catalyst, by revealing the lines
gradually on an overhead projector, or by looking at the first verse of a longer
poem. Refer students back to what they have read in the text so that they are
justifying their predictions.

 You might like to prepare some jigsaw reading exercises too. With shorter
poems, this might involve different groups working on different, thematically
related, poems, each group having the same set of questions.

 Exam students might benefit from some discourse analysis: it's easy to make
your own cloze exercise with a poem, and of course I always encourage my
students to try to deduce the meaning of new vocabulary from the context.

 More advanced learners might enjoy identifying register and reading

between the lines to infer meaning. Once again, exploit the chance to encourage
reading for pleasure too.

Some pros and cons

You might need to spend a bit of time finding a poem that links thematically with
your scheme of work, and making sure you respect the copyright rules.

 I have rejected poems that are too long, too archaic or too obscure, or that I
can't muster any enthusiasm for or that the students may not respond to. The wrong
poem is worse than no poem at all.
 I find that I need to explain my pedagogical rationale and the aims of
activities very clearly, and students who have disliked studying literature in their
own language may need extra motivation.

 I sometimes reassure my students that their other needs, e.g. exam

preparation, are being met.

 It's worth taking the risk and using poems though, because poems can foster
a love of English, and they are so versatile.

 I have used them as warmers or fillers, and as the catalyst for many different
activities with students ranging from Pre-intermediate to Proficiency, and with
multilevel classes.

 Students find a poem a welcome, and sometimes inspirational, change from

a coursebook. Poems can be involving, motivating and memorable, and they can
supplement and enrich just about any lesson.

Conclusion 
I've found that poems can be an inspirational basis for, or supplement to, a
language lesson where the aim is to develop reading or listening skills. At both
lower and higher levels, students can be very excited and proud of themselves for
reading and understanding poetry in the original English version and perhaps best
of all they start to enjoy a real part of the culture.

Further reading
These are resource books of ideas and activities for using poems in the English
language classroom. They contain useful bibliographies of poetry anthologies too.

Literature in the Language Classroom Collie & Slater CUP 1987 

Literature Duff & Maley OUP 1990 
Teaching Literature Carter & Long Longman 1991

Christina Smart, British Council

Give it 4/5
 G
ive it 1/5
G
ive it 2/5
G
ive it 3/5
G
ive it 4/5
G
ive it 5/5
Using poems to develop productive skills
Submitted by admin on 19 January, 2012 - 09:53

You and your students might already enjoy reading and listening to poetry in your
own language and perhaps in English too. Poems are, after all, authentic texts.

This is a great motivator. Poems are often rich in cultural references, and they
present a wide range of learning opportunities. For me, the aim is to teach English
through poetry, not to teach the poetry itself, so you don't need to be a literature
expert.

Most of the tried and tested activities used regularly by language teachers can be
adapted easily to bring poetry into the classroom.

 Communicative speaking activities

 Working on pronunciation

 Writing activities

 Some pros and cons

 Conclusion

 
 Communicative speaking activities 
Before doing any productive work, I like to give my students plenty of pre-reading
activities so that they are adequately prepared.

 As a way in to a poem, I might play some background music to create the

atmosphere, show some pictures to introduce the topic, and then get students to
think about their personal knowledge or experience which relates to this topic.

 They then talk about the poem, first with a partner and then in small groups,
perhaps coming together as a class at the end to share ideas. I monitor and feed in
ideas and vocabulary if necessary, give brief feedback on language used and note
any language problems to be dealt with at a later date.

 I usually prepare worksheets for pre-reading speaking activities which might

involve a quiz, a questionnaire, sentence stems to be completed and discussed,
statements to be ranked and discussed, and so on.

 Students might predict endings to verses, the whole poem, or events

occurring after the end of the poem.

 Afterwards, the students could talk about their personal response to the
poem, discuss the characters and theme, or debate the moral issues.

 Role plays work well, interviewing a partner, or even dramatising the poem
and making a video. Students could compare poems on related topics, with
different groups working on different poems and then regrouping to pool their
ideas.

Working on pronunciation 
It can be fun to get students to rehearse and perform a poem. I read the poem to
them or play a recording, and they identify the stresses and pauses.

 We take a chunk (usually a line, sometimes two) at a time, and one half of
the class claps out the rhythm while the other half beats time, and then they swap
over.

 I recite while they mumble rhythmically, and then as their confidence grows
they could chant in a whisper, a shout, or show a range of emotion. For me, this
 tends to work best when it is improvised. I keep it snappy - it's a high energy
activity, and you have to know and trust each other!

 I sometimes do intensive phoneme work centred on the rhyming patterns in

the poem: Some poems are crying out to be exploited in this way. I elicit possible
rhymes before revealing the poet's choice, and discuss which suggestions have
exactly the same sound and which don't, leading to a minimal pair activity.

Writing activities
A poem can spark off some wonderful creative writing. Students can add more
lines or stanzas individually or in pairs or groups.

 They can write a letter to a character in the poem, write about what
happened before the beginning or after the ending of the poem and so on.

 Students could use the poem as a starting point and model for some parallel
writing: Each group might contribute a verse to a collective poem (or rap).

 Genre transfer presents a lot of opportunities for writing practice; letters,

diary entries, radio plays, newspaper articles, agony aunt columns all based on the
original text from a poem.

 My students have found reformulation exercises very stimulating, where

they switch between formal and informal language.

 Longer poems can be summarised in fifty words.

 It is also fun to get students to transform content words to synonyms or

antonyms and then discuss the subtleties of vocabulary.

Some pros and cons

You might need to spend a bit of time finding a poem that links thematically with
your scheme of work, and making sure you respect the copyright rules.
 I have rejected poems that are too long, too archaic or too obscure, or that I
can't muster any enthusiasm for or that the students may not respond to. The wrong
poem is worse than no poem at all.

 I find that I need to explain my pedagogical rationale and the aims of

activities very clearly, and students who have disliked studying literature in their
own language may need extra motivation.

 I sometimes reassure my students that their other needs, e.g. exam

preparation, are being met.

 It's worth taking the risk and using poems though, because poems can foster
a love of English, and they are so versatile.

 I have used them as warmers or fillers, and as the catalyst for many different
activities with students ranging from Pre-intermediate to Proficiency, and with
multilevel classes.

 Students find a poem a welcome, and sometimes inspirational, change from

a coursebook. Poems can be involving, motivating and memorable, and they can
supplement and enrich just about any lesson.

Conclusion 
One of the things I like most about using poetry in the classroom is that I can
usually create lots of opportunities for personalisation. This means that the students
have plenty to say, and the communication is genuine because they are talking
about their own experiences or hypotheses. They are engaged and motivated,
which helps to make the lesson and the language (and sometimes even the poem)
memorable. I am an English language specialist and have no formal training in
literature, unlike some of my students, and I bring my love of poetry into the
classroom.

You can't fake enthusiasm, but it can rub off on the most sceptical of students, and
without it the lesson is doomed. My students have always asked for more grammar,
but now they're asking for more poems too, something they didn't even know they
wanted! For me, there is no greater reward.

Further reading
 These are resource books of ideas and activities for using poems in the English
language classroom. They contain useful bibliographies of poetry anthologies too.

Literature in the Language Classroom Collie & Slater CUP 1987 

Literature Duff & Maley OUP 1990 
Teaching Literature Carter & Long Longman 1991

Storytelling - benefits and tips

Submitted by admin on 8 July, 2003 - 13:00

We often give stories to our students to read, but how often do we tell them a
story? This article looks at the benefits of storytelling and gives advice on
performance skills

 What can storytelling offer?

 Storytelling and intercultural understanding

 Other benefits of using storytelling in the classroom

 Commonalities of cultures around the world

 Performance techniques

 A last word

What can storytelling offer?

Children have an innate love of stories. Stories create magic and a sense of wonder
at the world. Stories teach us about life, about ourselves and about others.
Storytelling is a unique way for students to develop an understanding, respect and
appreciation for other cultures, and can promote a positive attitude to people from
different lands, races and religions.

Storytelling and intercultural understanding

There are a number of ways in which storytelling can enhance intercultural
understanding and communication. Stories can…
 allow children to explore their own cultural roots

 allow children to experience diverse cultures

 enable children to empathise with unfamiliar people/places/situations

 offer insights into different traditions and values

 help children understand how wisdom is common to all peoples/all cultures

 offer insights into universal life experiences

 help children consider new ideas

 reveal differences and commonalties of cultures around the world

Other benefits of using storytelling in the classroom

Stories…

 Promote a feeling of well-being and relaxation

 Increase children's willingness to communicate thoughts and feelings

 Encourage active participation

 Increase verbal proficiency

 Encourage use of imagination and creativity

 Encourage cooperation between students

 Enhance listening skills

Commonalities of cultures around the world

Stories reveal universal truths about the world. Through stories we see how very
different people share the same life experiences and how human nature can
transcend culture. 

Performance techniques
 Telling a story can captivate an audience…that is, with the right techniques and a
little practice:

Remembering and retelling the plot:

 map the plot as a memory technique

 use story skeletons to help you remember the key events

 think of the plot as a film or a series of connected images

 tell yourself the story in your own words

 create your own version of the story (adapt and improvise)

 retell it numerous times until it feels like a story

Performance skills.
Remember to...

 vary the volume, pitch and tempo of your voice (enunciate clearly and
exaggerate expression)

 use your face, body and gestures (let your body speak)

 make your body and face respond to the tale

 have a clear focus and maintain concentration

 maintain engaging eye contact with the audience/ individual listeners

 create a charismatic presence (make the audience believe in you)

 use different, exaggerated character voices

 use your space/ be dynamic

 remember to pace yourself

 always remember to regain your style as a narrator

 use silence and pauses to add dramatic effect

A last word…
Young Learners share a remarkable variety of personal experiences, values and
ways of understanding. The language they learn in the classroom is the tool they
use to shape their thoughts and feelings. It is more than a way of exchanging
information and extending ideas, it is their means of reaching out and connecting
with other people. Stories can link not only between the world of classroom and
home but also between the classroom and beyond. Stories provide a common
thread that can help unite cultures and provide a bridge across the cultural gap.

Adapted from a workshop by Paula Stoyle, British Council, Jordan

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Intercultural learning 1
Submitted by admin on 23 October, 2003 - 13:00

This is the first of two articles that deal with the topic of intercultural awareness
and learning. This article sets out the methodological background to this topic, and
the second article - Intercultural learning 2 - offers practical suggestions for the
classroom.

 
 Introduction

 What is intercultural learning?

 What do we understand by the word 'culture'?

 Intercultural awareness

 Intercultural communicative competence

 Intercultural awareness skills

 How does this affect the role of the teacher?

 When should we introduce this?

Introduction
There will have been points in most teachers' careers when we have stopped to
wonder "What am I actually doing?". Sometimes, filling our students up with all
the requisite grammar and vocabulary, and polishing their pronunciation and
honing their communicative skills doesn't actually seem to be helping them to
achieve the wider goal of being able to genuinely communicate with and
understand the real world outside the classroom at all.

For too long, we have been concentrating on structures and forms and producing
materials that may help our students to have perfect diphthongs or a flawless
command of the third conditional while leaving out anything approaching real,
valid, meaningful content. Major ELT publishers have produced materials so
carefully calculated not to offend anyone that they far too often end up being
vacuous if not completely meaningless. If our students are to have any hope of
using their language skills to genuinely comprehend and communicate in the
global village, intercultural awareness is crucial. 

What is intercultural learning?

The process of becoming more aware of and better understanding one's own
culture and other cultures around the world. The aim of intercultural learning is to
increase international and cross-cultural tolerance and understanding. This can take
lots of forms - intercultural learning is by no means only a part of EFL, but has
exponents in all fields of education. 
What do we understand by the word 'culture'?
A way of life. A set of social practices. A system of beliefs. A shared history or set
of experiences. A culture may be synonymous with a country, or a region, or a
nationality or it may cross several countries or regions. A culture may be
synonymous with a religion, though followers of Christianity or Judaism or Islam
may also come from different cultures. It is highly possible to belong to or identify
oneself with more than one culture.

Intercultural awareness 
Intercultural awareness in language learning is often talked about as though it were
a 'fifth skill' - the ability to be aware of cultural relativity following reading,
writing, listening and speaking. There is something to be said for this as an initial
attempt to understand or define something that may seem a difficult concept but, as
Claire Kramsch points out ...

"If...language is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core of language
teaching. Cultural awareness must then be viewed as enabling language
proficiency ... Culture in language teaching is not an expendable fifth skill, tacked
on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading and writing" (in
Context and Culture in Language Teaching OUP,1993).

Language itself is defined by a culture. We cannot be competent in the language if

we do not also understand the culture that has shaped and informed it. We cannot
learn a second language if we do not have an awareness of that culture, and how
that culture relates to our own first language/first culture. It is not only therefore
essential to have cultural awareness, but also intercultural awareness. 

Intercultural communicative competence

Following on from what Kramsch says above, intercultural awareness is not really
therefore a skill, but a collection of skills and attitudes better thought of as a
competence. 

Intercultural communicative competence is an attempt to raise students' awareness

of their own culture, and in so doing, help them to interpret and understand other
cultures. It is not just a body of knowledge, but a set of practices requiring
knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Intercultural awareness skills

What are these attitudes and skills that make up the competence? Among them are:
- observing, identifying and recognising
- comparing and contrasting
- negotiating meaning
- dealing with or tolerating ambiguity
- effectively interpreting messages
- limiting the possibility of misinterpretation
- defending one's own point of view while acknowledging the legitimacy of others 
- accepting difference

These are very similar to many of the skills we teach normally. So what makes
intercultural learning different? Raised awareness of what we do and of the vital
importance of these skills already makes intercultural communicative competence
a more attainable goal. Moreover - and despite the fact that the competence is more
than just a body of knowledge - intercultural awareness skills can be developed by
designing materials which have cultural and intercultural themes as their content, a
kind of loop input, if you like. 

How does this affect the role of the teacher?

What are teachers? Activities managers? Language facilitation units? Babysitters?
Intercultural learning gives the teacher a role not only as one or more of these, but
also as an educator. This makes many teachers feel uncomfortable, above all with
the idea that we may be influencing our students in some way. Are we responsible
for transmitting some kind of ideology to our students?

No, we are helping them to become more aware of the world around them, and to
better interact with that world. These are the crucial roles of the teacher. 

Moreover, EFL teachers tend to have a wide variety of different backgrounds in

different disciplines. They have different experiences, and in many cases may have
travelled extensively and got to know several different cultures. They may have
undergone the experience of living in, adjusting to and understanding a different
culture. There is a lot that they can bring to the job. They are unique mediators of
cultural relativity. 

When should we introduce this? 

Previously, "cultural awareness" has often only been seen as something for
advanced learners, an extension exercise that can be "tacked on" to an ordinary
lesson. This is partly due to the all-too-frequent error of assuming that students
with a low level of English also have a low intellect generally, or that it is
impossible to explain intellectual concepts in level one English. Intercultural
 awareness, as a fundamental feature of language and an integral part of language
learning, is important at all levels.

Chris Rose, British Council, Italy

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Intercultural learning 2
Submitted by admin on 30 October, 2003 - 12:00

This is the second of two articles that deal with the topic of intercultural awareness
and learning. The first article - Intercultural learning 1 - sets out the
methodological background to this topic, and this, the second article, offers
practical suggestions for the classroom.

 Introduction

 When should we introduce this?

 Intercultural awareness and perspectives on communication

 Ways to develop intercultural communicative competence

 Conclusion

 Further reading

Introduction
There will have been points in most teachers' careers when we have stopped to
wonder "What am I actually doing?". Sometimes, filling our students up with all
the requisite grammar and vocabulary, and polishing their pronunciation and
honing their communicative skills doesn't actually seem to be helping them to
achieve the wider goal of being able to genuinely communicate with and
understand the real world outside the classroom at all.

For too long, we have been concentrating on structures and forms and producing
materials that may help our students to have perfect diphthongs or a flawless
command of the third conditional while leaving out anything approaching real,
 valid, meaningful content. Major ELT publishers have produced materials so
carefully calculated not to offend anyone that they far too often end up being
vacuous if not completely meaningless. If our students are to have any hope of
using their language skills to genuinely comprehend and communicate in the
global village, intercultural awareness is crucial. 

When should we introduce intercultural awareness? 

Previously, "cultural awareness" has often only been seen as something for
advanced learners, an extension exercise that can be "tacked on" to an ordinary
lesson. This is partly due to the all-too frequent error of assuming that students
with a low level of English also have a low intellect generally, or that it is
impossible to explain intellectual concepts in level one English. 
Intercultural awareness, as a fundamental feature of language and an integral part
of language learning, is important at all levels. 

Intercultural awareness and perspectives on communication

It has been suggested that intercultural awareness consists of having four different
perspectives on communication with a different culture. Interculturally competent
students should be able to...

1. look at their own culture from the point of view of their own culture (i.e.
have a good understanding and awareness of their own culture)
2. be aware of how their culture is seen from outside, by other countries or
cultures
3. understand or see the target culture from its own perspective (i.e. understand
and be aware of what other people think of their own culture)
4. be aware of how they see the target culture

Ways to develop intercultural competence 

An example of how to deal with each one of these steps could be:

1. Produce a guidebook, poster or webpage for visitors to their town, country

or region. This should not only describe famous sites and places to visit, stay or
eat, but also give visitors advice about what they may find strange or unusual about
their own culture.
2. Read articles or extracts from books, newspapers, magazines or websites
written by people who have visited the students' town, country or region. (A good
source of texts for this are guidebooks such as the Rough Guide, Lonely Planet or
Time Out series, articles from the travel sections of newspapers such as The
 Guardian or The Independent or extracts from books by travel writers such as
Colin Thubron, Bill Bryson, Paul Theroux, Jan Morris or Bruce Chatwin.)
3. Familiarise students with sources of information about the target culture.
Again, newspapers and websites can be an invaluable source of reading materials
here. Films and literary texts often depict and interrogate their own cultures. (For
the UK, for example, popular films such as The Full Monty, Bend it like Beckham,
East is East, Billy Elliott or Calendar Girls are vital and engaging depictions of
contemporary British culture.)
4. The non-native teacher has a valuable role to play here, being a person from
one culture who has a certain amount of knowledge and/or experience of the target
culture.

If students have visited the target culture, they can recount their experiences -
perhaps by giving a written or oral presentation with advice for other students. If
there is no such source available, students can do a valuable creative writing
activity - imagining a journey into the target culture, predicting the problems and
misunderstandings they may encounter and creatively resolving them. At this
fourth step, students can measure their knowledge and awareness of the target
culture at the end of a course compared to the beginning of the course. How have
their attitudes and perceptions changed (if at all)? 

Conclusion
A reaction of some teachers when faced with these ideas is "Why bother?". There
is a feeling that we help our students to communicate anyhow, and that if culture is
an integral part of the language then students will just pick it up, that culture is
impossible to teach, that we shouldn't in any way be seen to be foisting values on
our students.

I would argue that to make our job relevant and meaningful, teaching intercultural
awareness is absolutely vital.

"What am I actually doing?". All teachers have asked themselves that question -
here's an answer: helping your students to understand, interact with and - hopefully
- change for the better the world we all live in. Given the current global situation,
there are few jobs more important than this. 

Further reading
Two key theoretical books on the subject are...
Context and Culture in Language Teaching Claire Kramsch (OUP, 1993)
Language and Culture Claire Kramsch (OUP, 1998) (This is a condensed version
of the above, and makes a good introduction to the subject)

Commercially published coursebooks and materials have so far been

disappointingly slow to pick up on intercultural learning. Two brave attempts to
rectify this are below. 

Changing Skies Alan Pulverness (Swan Communications, 2000) Specifically

designed for higher level European students, and those from Central and Eastern
Europe in particular, this may not be usable for classes outside Europe, but is
worth looking at to gain ideas and see an example of the approach in action. 

Zoom In Mark Andrews and Csilla Hos (Swan Communications, 2000) This book
is specifically designed for Hungarian teenagers. While, therefore, of no classroom
use outside Hungary, it is an interesting example of how to make the approach
work. 

Two recent practical collections of activities...

The Culture Pack: intercultural communication resources for trainers Derek Utley

(York Associates, 2002)

Intercultural Activities Michaela Cankova and Simon Gill (OUP, 2001)

For a more detailed list of the skills that comprise intercultural awareness skills,
see the appendix to the Unesco report at...

unesco.org/International/Publications/FreePublications/FreePublicationsPdf/batela
an.PDF 

The Common European Framework at... 

culture2.coe.int/portfolio//documents/0521803136txt.pdf 

(pages 43, 103-5) also has an interesting discussion of intercultural learning and
awareness. 

Chris Rose, British Council, Italy

 The BBC and the British Council are not responsible for the content of
publication

Creative writing for language learners (and teachers)

Submitted by Alan Maley on 16 December, 2009 - 14:41

Creative writing normally refers to the production of texts which have an aesthetic
rather than a purely informative, instrumental or pragmatic purpose.

Most often, such texts take the form of poems or stories, though they are not
confined to these genres. (Letters, journal entries, blogs, essays, travelogues, etc.
can also be more or less creative.) In fact, the line between creative writing (CW)
and expository writing (ER) is not carved in stone. In general, however CW texts
draw more heavily on intuition, close observation, imagination, and personal
memories than ER texts.  

One of the chief distinguishing characteristics of CW texts is a playful engagement

with language, stretching and testing its rules to the limit in a guilt-free
atmosphere, where risk is encouraged. Such writing combines cognitive with
affective modes of thinking. As the poet, R.S. Thomas once wrote, ‘Poetry is that
which arrives at the intellect by way of the heart.’ The playful element in CW
should not, however be confused with a lax and unregulated use of language. On
the contrary, CW requires a willing submission on the part of the writer to the
‘rules’ of the sub-genre being undertaken. If you want to write a Limerick, then
you have to follow the rules governing limericks. If not, what you produce will be
something other than a limerick: obvious, perhaps, but important too. The
interesting thing is that the very constraints which the rules impose seem to foster
rather than restrict the creativity of the writer. This apparent paradox is explained
partly by the deeper processing of thought and language which the rules require.

What are the benefits of CW for learners? 

 CW aids language development at all levels: grammar, vocabulary,

phonology and discourse. It requires learners to manipulate the language in
interesting and demanding ways in attempting to express uniquely personal
meanings. In doing so, they necessarily engage with the language at a deeper level
of processing than with most expository texts. (Craik and Lockhart 1972) The
 gains in grammatical accuracy and range, in the appropriacy and originality of
lexical choice, in sensitivity to rhyme, rhythm, stress and intonation, and in the
way texts hang together are significant. 

 As mentioned above, a key characteristic of CW is a willingness to play with

the language. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the role of
play in language acquisition. (Carter 2004, Cook 2000, Crystal 1998) In some
ways, the sunami of the Communicative Approach has done a disservice to
language teaching  by its insistence on the purely communicative functions of
language. Proponents of ‘play’ point out, rightly, that in L1 acquisition, much of
the language encountered by and used by children is in the form of rhythmical
chants and rhymes, word games, jokes and the like. Furthermore, such playfulness
survives into adulthood, so that many social encounters are characterized by
language play (punning, spontaneous jokes, ‘funny voices’, metathesis, and a
discourse which is shaped by quasi-poetic repetition (Tannen 1989)). These are
precisely the kinds of things L2 learners are encouraged to do in CW activities.
This playful element encourages them to play creatively with the language, and in
so doing, to take the risks without which learning cannot take place in any
profound sense.  As Crystal (1998) states, ‘Reading and writing do not have to be a
prison house. Release is possible. And maybe language play can provide the key.’ 

 Much of the teaching we do tends to focus on the left side of the brain,
where our logical faculties are said to reside. CW puts the emphasis on the right
side of the brain, with a focus on feelings, physical sensations, intuition and
musicality. This is a healthy restoration of the balance between logical and
intuitive faculties. It also affords scope for learners whose hemisphere dominance
or learning-style preferences may not be intellectual or left brain dominant, and
who, in the normal process of teaching are therefore at a disadvantage. 

 Perhaps most notable is the dramatic increase in self-confidence and self-

esteem which CW tends to develop among learners. Learners also tend to discover
things for themselves about the language… and about themselves too, thus
promoting personal as well as linguistic growth. Inevitably, these gains are
reflected in a corresponding growth in positive motivation. Among the conditions
for promoting motivation, Dornyei (2001: 138-144) cites:

 “5. Create a pleasant and supportive atmosphere.

  6. Promote the development of group cohesiveness.
 13. Increase the students’ expectation of success in particular tasks and in
learning in general. 
 17. Make learning more stimulating and enjoyable by breaking the
monotony of classroom events.
 18. Make learning stimulating and enjoyable by increasing the attractiveness
of tasks.
 19. Make learning stimulating and enjoyable for learners by enlisting them
as active task participants.
 20. Present and administer tasks in a motivating way.
 23. Provide students with regular experiences of success.
 24. Build your learners’ confidence by providing regular encouragement.
 28. Increase student motivation by promoting cooperation among the
learners.
 29. Increase student motivation by actively promoting learner autonomy.
 33. Increase learner satisfaction.
 34. Offer rewards in a motivational manner.”  

 All these conditions are met in a well-run CW class. The exponential

increase in motivation is certainly supported by my own experience in teaching
CW. Learners suddenly realize that they can write something in a foreign language
that has never been written by anyone else before, and which others find
interesting to read. (Hence the importance of ‘publishing’ students’ work in some
form.)  And they experience not only a pride in their own products but also a joy in
the ‘flow’ of the process. (Czsikszentmihaly 1997). 

 Finally, CW feeds into more creative reading. It is as if, by getting inside the
process of creating the texts, learners come to understand intuitively how such
texts function, and this makes similar texts easier to read.  Likewise, the
development of aesthetic reading skills ( Kramsch  1993, Rosenblatt 1978),
provides the learner with a better understanding of textual construction, and this
feeds into their writing.

And teachers?
I argued in the first article that teachers, as well as learners, should engage with
extensive reading.  In the same spirit, I would argue that there are significant
benefits to teachers if they participate in CW. 
 There is little point in exhorting learners to engage in CW unless we do so
too.  The power of the teacher as model, and as co-writer is inestimable. 

 CW is one way of keeping teachers’ English fresh and vibrant.  For much of
our professional lives we are in thrall to the controlled language of textbook
English and the repeated low level error-laden English of our students.  As teachers
of language, we surely have a responsibility to keep our primary resource alive and
well. 

 CW seems to have an effect on the writer’s level of energy in general.  This

tends to make teachers who use CW more interesting to be around, and this
inevitably impacts on their relationships with students. 

 The experimental stance with regard to writing in general appears to fee

back into the teaching of writing.  Teachers of CW tend also to be better teachers
of writing in general                

My evidence for these assertions is largely anecdotal, backed by a survey of

writing teachers I conducted in 2006.  One of the interesting facts to emerge was a
widespread belief among teachers of writing that CW had a positive effect on
students’ writing of Expository texts and helped them develop that much- desired
but rarely-delivered ‘authentic voice’.

Space does not allow me to expand on these findings, nor on some of the possible
activities teachers might try.  I will attempt to make good these omissions in some
of my blogs during the month of December. I will also make reference there to
ways in which CW intersects with some of our major current concerns. Meantime,
anyone interested could sample some of the books from the list below: Fry (2007),
Koch (1990), Matthews (1994), Spiro (2004, 2007), Whitworth (2001) and Wright
and Hill (2009)

References

 Carter, Ronald.  (2004)  Language and creativity: the art of common talk. 
London: Routledge.
 Cszikszentmihalyi. M. ( 1997) Creativity: Flow and the psychology of
discovery and invention.  New York: Harper Perennial
  
 Cook, Guy (2000)  Language Play: Language Learning.  Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
 Craik, F.I.M  and R.S Lockhart   (1972)  ‘Levels of processing: a framework
for memory research’  Journal of  Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour.  11. 
671-685
 Crystal, David (1998) Language Play. London: Penguin
 Dornyei, Zoltan (2001)  Motivational Strategies in the Language
Classroom.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Fry, Stephen (2007)  The Ode Less Travelled.  London: Arrow Books.
 Koch, Kenneth. (1990)  Rose, where did you get that red?  New York:
Vintage Books.
 Kramsch, Claire (1993)  Context and Culture in Language Teaching. 
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Matthews, Paul (1994)  Sing Me the Creation.  Stroud: Hawthorne Press.
 Rosenblatt, Louise  (1978)  The Reader, the Text, the Poem. Carbondale,
Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
 Spiro, Jane (2004)  Creative Poetry Writing.  Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
 Spiro, Jane (2007)  Storybuilding. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Tannen, Deborah. (1989)  Talking Voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery
in conversational discourse.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Whitworth, John.  (2001)  Writing Poetry.  London: A and C Black.
 Wright, Andrew and David S.Hill.  (2009) Writing Stories.  Innsbruck:
Helbling

 Product and process writing: A comparison

Submitted by admin on 3 May, 2004 - 13:00

There are several ways to approach writing in the classroom. It should be said at
the beginning that there is not necessarily any 'right' or 'best' way to teach writing
skills.

The best practice in any situation will depend on the type of student, the text type
being studied, the school system and many other factors. Thus, this article cannot
prescribe a system for the teaching of writing that is optimal for all teaching
situations. Rather, I hope to describe and contrast two popular, yet very different,
approaches and examine how both can be used in the classroom.
 A product approach

 A process approach

 A summary of the differences

 Which approach to use

 One or the other

 Further reading

A product approach
This is a traditional approach, in which students are encouraged to mimic a model
text, which is usually presented and analysed at an early stage. A model for such an
approach is outlined below:
 

Stage 1
Model texts are read, and then features of the genre are highlighted. For example,
if studying a formal letter, students' attention may be drawn to the importance of
paragraphing and the language used to make formal requests. If studying a story,
the focus may be on the techniques used to make the story interesting, and students
focus on where and how the writer employs these techniques.

Stage 2
This consists of controlled practice of the highlighted features, usually in isolation.
So if students are studying a formal letter, they may be asked to practise the
language used to make formal requests, practising the 'I would be grateful if you
would…' structure.

Stage 3 
Organisation of ideas. This stage is very important. Those who favour this
approach believe that the organisation of ideas is more important than the ideas
themselves and as important as the control of language.

Stage 4
The end result of the learning process. Students choose from a choice of
comparable writing tasks. Individually, they use the skills, structures and
vocabulary they have been taught to produce the product; to show what they can
do as fluent and competent users of the language.

A process approach
Process approaches to writing tend to focus more on the varied classroom activities
which promote the development of language use: brainstorming, group discussion,
re-writing. Such an approach can have any number of stages, though a typical
sequence of activities could proceed as follows;

Stage 1
Generating ideas by brainstorming and discussion. Students could be discussing
qualities needed to do a certain job, or giving reasons as to why people take drugs
or gamble. The teacher remains in the background during this phase, only
providing language support if required, so as not to inhibit students in the
production of ideas.
 

Stage 2
Students extend ideas into note form, and judge quality and usefulness of ideas.

Stage 3
Students organise ideas into a mind map, spidergram, or linear form. This stage
helps to make the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas more immediately obvious,
which helps students with the structure of their texts.

Stage 4
Students write the first draft. This is done in class and frequently in pairs or groups.

Stage 5
Drafts are exchanged, so that students become the readers of each other's work. By
responding as readers, students develop an awareness of the fact that a writer is
producing something to be read by someone else, and thus can improve their own
drafts.

Stage 6
Drafts are returned and improvements are made based upon peer feedback. 
 
Stage 7
A final draft is written.

Stage 8
Students once again exchange and read each other's work and perhaps even write a
response or reply.

A summary of the differences 

Process-driven approaches show some similarities with task-based learning, in that
students are given considerable freedom within the task. They are not curbed by
pre-emptive teaching of lexical or grammatical items. However, process
approaches do not repudiate all interest in the product, (i.e. the final draft). The aim
is to achieve the best product possible. What differentiates a process-focussed
approach from a product-centred one is that the outcome of the writing, the
product, is not preconceived.

Process writing  Product writing 

imitate model text
text as a resource for comparison
organisation of ideas more
ideas as starting point
important than ideas themselves
more than one draft
one draft
more global, focus on purpose,
features highlighted including
theme, text type, i.e., reader is emphasised
controlled practice of those features
collaborative
individual
emphasis on creative process
emphasis on end product

Which approach to use 

The approach that you decide to use will depend on you, the teacher, and on the
students, and the genre of the text. Certain genres lend themselves more favourably
to one approach than the other. Formal letters, for example, or postcards, in which
the features are very fixed, would be perhaps more suited to a product-driven
approach, in which focus on the layout, style, organisation and grammar could
greatly help students in dealing with this type of writing task.

Other genres, such as discursive essays and narrative, may lend themselves to
process-driven approaches, which focus on students' ideas. Discursive activities are
suited to brainstorming and discussing ideas in groups, and the collaborative
writing and exchanging of texts help the students to direct their writing to their
reader, therefore making a more successful text.
 

One or the other 

The two approaches are not necessarily incompatible. I believe that process
writing, i.e. re-drafting, collaboration, can be integrated with the practice of
studying written models in the classroom.

What I take from the process approach is the collaborative work, the discussion
which is so important in generating and organising ideas. Once students have
written their first drafts, model texts can be introduced as texts for comparison.
Lightbown found that learning appeared to be optimal in 'those situations in which
the students knew what they wanted to say and the teacher's intervention made
clear to them there was a particular way to say it.' Teacher intervention through
model texts could thus aid the learning process.

I also like to incorporate the exchanging of drafts, so that the students become the
readers of each others work. This is an important part of the writing experience as
it is by responding as readers, both during the collaborative stage of writing in
groups, as well as when reading another group's work, that students develop an
awareness of the fact that a writer is producing something to be read by someone
else.

As Lewis Carroll makes clear in Alice's adventures in Wonderland.

"I haven't opened it yet," said the White Rabbit, "but it seems to be a letter, written
by the prisoner to somebody."
"It must have been that," said the King, "unless it was written to nobody, which
isn't usual, you know."
Further Reading 
Process Writing by Ron White and Valerie Ardnt
Language Teaching Methodology by David Nunan 
 Progressive Writing Skills by Will Fowler
Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers by Michael McCarthy
 Approaches to process writing
Submitted by admin on 28 July, 2003 - 13:00

What makes an effective piece of writing? Good writers plan and revise, rearrange
and delete text, re-reading and producing multiple drafts before they produce their
finished document. This is what a process writing approach is about.

 What is process writing?

 Why should teachers be interested in a process approach to writing?

 The changing roles of teacher and students

 What stages are there in a process approach to writing?

 Classroom activities

 The importance of feedback

 Writing as communication

 Potential problems

 Further reading

What is process writing?

The process approach treats all writing as a creative act which requires time and
positive feedback to be done well. In process writing, the teacher moves away from
being someone who sets students a writing topic and receives the finished product
for correction without any intervention in the writing process itself. 

Why should teachers be interested in a process approach to writing?

White and Arntd say that focusing on language errors 'improves neither
grammatical accuracy nor writing fluency' and they suggest instead that paying
attention to what the students say will show an improvement in writing.
Research also shows that feedback is more useful between drafts, not when it is
done at the end of the task after the students hand in their composition to be
marked. Corrections written on compositions returned to the student after the
process has finished seem to do little to improve student writing.

The changing roles of teacher and students

The teacher needs to move away from being a marker to a reader, responding to
the content of student writing more than the form. Students should be encouraged
to think about audience: Who is the writing for? What does this reader need to
know? Students also need to realise that what they put down on paper can be
changed: Things can be deleted, added, restructured, reorganised, etc. 

What stages are there in a process approach to writing?

Although there are many ways of approaching process writing, it can be broken
down into three stages:

Pre-writing
The teacher needs to stimulate students' creativity, to get them thinking how to
approach a writing topic. In this stage, the most important thing is the flow of
ideas, and it is not always necessary that students actually produce much (if any)
written work. If they do, then the teacher can contribute with advice on how to
improve their initial ideas.

Focusing ideas
During this stage, students write without much attention to the accuracy of their
work or the organisation. The most important feature is meaning. Here, the teacher
(or other students) should concentrate on the content 
of the writing. Is it coherent? Is there anything missing? Anything extra?

Evaluating, structuring and editing

Now the writing is adapted to a readership. Students should focus more on form
and on producing a finished piece of work. The teacher can help with error
correction and give organisational advice.

Classroom activities
Here are some ideas for classroom activities related to the stages above: 

Pre-writing
 Brainstorming
Getting started can be difficult, so students divided into groups quickly produce
words and ideas about the writing.

 Planning
Students make a plan of the writing before they start. These plans can be compared
and discussed in groups before writing takes place.

 Generating ideas
Discovery tasks such as cubing (students write quickly about the subject in six
different ways - they:
o 1. describe it
o 2. compare it
o 3. associate it
o 4. analyze it
o 5. apply it
o 6. argue for or against it.

 Questioning
In groups, the idea is to generate lots of questions about the topic. This helps
students focus upon audience as they consider what the reader needs to know. The
answers to these questions will form the basis to the composition.

 Discussion and debate

The teacher helps students with topics, helping them develop ideas in a positive
and encouraging way.

Focusing ideas

 Fast writing
The students write quickly on a topic for five to ten minutes without worrying
about correct language or punctuation. Writing as quickly as possible, if they
cannot think of a word they leave a space or write it in their own language. The
important thing is to keep writing. Later this text is revised.

 Group compositions
Working together in groups, sharing ideas. This collaborative writing is especially
valuable as it involves other skills (speaking in particular.)
 Changing viewpoints
A good writing activity to follow a role-play or storytelling activity. Different
students choose different points of view and think about /discuss what this
character would write in a diary, witness statement, etc.

 Varying form
Similar to the activity above, but instead of different viewpoints, different text
types are selected. How would the text be different if it were written as a letter, or a
newspaper article, etc.

Evaluating, Structuring and Editing

 Ordering
Students take the notes written in one of the pre-writing activities above and
organise them. What would come first? Why? Here it is good to tell them to start
with information known to the reader before moving onto what the reader does not
know.

 Self-editing
A good writer must learn how to evaluate their own language - to improve through
checking their own text, looking for errors, structure. This way students will
become better writers.

 Peer editing and proof-reading

Here, the texts are interchanged and the evaluation is done by other students. In the
real world, it is common for writers to ask friends and colleagues to check texts for
spelling, etc. You could also ask the students to reduce the texts, to edit them,
concentrating on the most important information.

The importance of feedback

It takes a lot of time and effort to write, and so it is only fair that student writing is
responded to suitably. Positive comments can help build student confidence and
create good feeling for the next writing class. It also helps if the reader is more
than just the teacher. Class magazines, swapping letters with other classes, etc. can
provide an easy solution to providing a real audience.
Writing as communication
Process writing is a move away from students writing to test their language
towards the communication of ideas, feelings and experiences. It requires that
more classroom time is spent on writing, but as the previously outlined activities
show, there is more than just writing happening during a session dedicated to
process writing. 

Potential problems
Writing is a complex process and can lead to learner frustration. As with speaking,
it is necessary to provide a supportive environment for the students and be patient.
This approach needs that more time be spent on writing in class, but as you have
seen, not all classroom time is spent actually writing. 
Students may also react negatively to reworking the same material, but as long as
the activities are varied and the objectives clear, then they will usually accept
doing so. In the long term, you and your students will start to recognise the value
of a process writing approach as their written work improves.

Further Reading
Hedge T 1988 Writing Oxford University Press
Krashen SD Writing : Research, theory and applications Pergamon Press
Kroll B 1990 Second Language Writing : Research insights for the
classroom Cambridge University Press
Raimes A 1983 Techniques in teaching writing Oxford University Press
White R & V Arndt 1991 Process Writing Longman 

Written by Graham Stanley, British Council, Barcelona

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