Writing: Nature, Features and Processes

Prepared by Mr. Babni Facult Polydisciplinaire Errachidia

Outline
1. Introduction 2. Defining Writing 3. The Nature of Writing 4.The Characteristics of Writing 5. The Processes Involved in Writing 6. Conclusion 7. References

1. Introduction
There is no ready-made recipe for the teaching of writing. - It is a non-linear process. - It is messy; it is not done according to a specific formula. - It is a process of discovery, so it can be exciting.

2. Defining Writing
According to Murray, writing is the act of recording or communicating and much more. It is a significant kind of thinking in which the symbols of language assume a purpose of their own and instruct the writer during the composing process (Donovan and McClelland, 1983:3).

What to retain?
Writing is the sociopsychological process of communicating cohesive and coherent messages to a given audience in a graphicised form and standardised format.

2. The Nature of Writing

Writing is a complex skill which makes the needed subskills also complex and difficult both to teach and to learn. This is due mainly to the number of requirements the writer has to attend to while writing. Heaton (1975) postulates that the writing skill presupposes not only mastery of grammatical and rhetorical devices, but also of conceptual and judgemental elements.

 The sub-skills the writer has to attend to while writing can be listed as follows: a) Grammatical sub-skills: they have to do with the writers ability to make correct sentences (accuracy). b) Stylistic sub-skills: they are related to the writers ability to manipulate sentences and use language effectively.

 c) Mechanical sub-skills: they are concerned with the writers ability to use correctly those conventions peculiar to the written language (spelling and punctuation). d) Judgement sub-skills: they are related to the writers ability to write in an appropriate manner for a particular purpose, with a specific audience in mind, together with an ability to select, organise and order relevant information.

What to retain?
Writing is not a natural ability that automatically accompanies maturation (Liberman and Liberman, 1990). Rather, it is a process that needs enough instruction, training, practice, experience and purpose to be fully developed (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996).

4. The Characteristics of Writing

Unlike the other language skills, writing is characterised by the following features: a) it creates its own context that is why it has to be fully explicit, b) the reader is not present and no interactions are possible, c) no immediate feedback is possible. The writer may try to anticipate the reactions and incorporate them into the text,

d) writing is permanent since it can be reread as often as necessary and at the readers own speed, e) sentences are expected to be fully constructed, linked and organised to form a text, f) the reader is not known for the writer, and g) devices to help convey meaning are punctuation, capitals and underlying (for emphasis). Also sentence boundaries have to be clearly indicated.

5. The Processes Involved in Writing

According to Raimes (1996), writing involves moving through the following processes: a) Identifying purpose and audience
Purpose - Explain or provide information: expository writing. - Persuade: argumentative or persuasive writing - Describe: technical or scientific writing - Record or express ones own experience: expressive, autobiographical or personal writing - Create original works of art (poems, stories or novels): creative/free writing

 Audience Who will read what I am writing? What does the reader expect from me in terms of purpose, content, format, length, level of formality and objectivity (tone), organisation, and date of delivery. b) Generating ideas Keeping a journal: a notebook to record observations, comments, quotations, references and questions of research and to write down ideas on an assigned text or topic. Free writing: letting words on the page generate more words without concern for correctness. Brainstorming: making a freewheeling list of ideas as one thinks. Mapping: a visual way of generating and connecting ideas.

c) Making a formal outline: it serves as a kind of check on the logic and completeness of what you want to talk about in your written production. It reveals any gaps, repetitions, or illogical steps in the development of your writing. d) Drafting: turning ideas into blue print. e) Revising: making the necessary changes to improve your writing. The writer has to correct global mistakes that may lead to communication breakdown or misunderstanding. (vocabulary, style, organisation,)

f) Editing: correcting local mistakes that may not lead to communication breakdown or misunderstanding (spelling, punctuation and grammar). g) Proofreading: reading the piece of writing carefully to examine every word and marking the text for correctness.

6. Conclusion
This presentation is but a humble attempt to shed more light on some of the different aspects that make of writing a highly complex, complicated and sophisticated language skill.

7. References
Byrne, D. (1983). Teaching Writing Skills. London: Longman. Heaton, J.B. (1975). Writing English Language Tests. London: Longman. Grabe, W. and Kaplan, R. B. (1996). Theory and Practice of Writing: An Applied Perspective. London and New York: Longman. Murray, M. D. (1988). Writing as process: How writing finds its own meaning In T. K. Donovan and B. W. McClelland (Eds). Eight Approaches to Teaching Composition. Urbana: NCTE. Raimes, A. (1996). Keys For Writers: A Brief Handbook. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Thanks a lot for your attention. Your comments and questions will be highly appreciated.