UNIVERSITATEA “DUNĂREA DE JOS” GALAȚI

DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGĂTIREA ȘI PERFECȚIONAREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC

FACULTATEA DE LITERE
SPECIALIZAREA: LIMBA ENGLEZĂ

LUCRARE METODICO- ȘTIINTIFICĂ

PENTRU OBȚINEREA
GRADULUI DIDACTIC I

Coordonator științific,
Prof. Univ. Dr. MICHAELA PRAISLER
Candidat ,
Prof. BEATRICE ANIELA CROITORU (căs. BOCZAR)
ȘCOALA GIMNAZIALĂ “PETRU RAREȘ”, FRUMUȘIȚA

-GALAȚI 2018-
DEVELOPING WRITING SKILLS FOR
OUT-OF-CLASS LIVE WRITING
SITUATIONS
 FOREWORD

 The constant preoccupation of methodologists, scientists and teachers with meeting the learners’ needs, developing sustainable
competences, and finding stimulating and enjoyable ways of approaching the content of the curriculum has led to the
introduction of an element of real-world written communication in the English syllabus. This entails a re-evaluation and re-
interpretation of the way the writing skill is taught.
 In the context of the rapid development of cutting-edge technology teachers should be aware of the students’ inherent need to
indulge in their gadgets and of the benefits the information technology might bring to the classroom and create a friendly and
challenging environment aimed at developing skills for out-of-class live situations.
 Therefore by looking at the ways technology and the learning process blend together, teachers may motivate students to
become better writers and improve their written output.
 One element of novelty that can be brought to classroom is the introduction of the e-genre approach to writing (which brings
beneficent modifications to the way the real-world genres, that is the kinds of texts associated with electronic communication
can be put to use in the students’ best interest) in the teaching process, thus encouraging learners to behave like writers in real
life and extending the readership to out-of-class audiences.
 For example, students can be asked to narrate the events of a holiday using a social media posting or an e-mail.
 They can also invite someone to a social event using a text message or share an opinion about a film using a discussion board or
tweet. Further, they can write blogs to promote recipes, or contribute to a discussion board in order to share ideas and
information about a particular subject.
 The point is that, these e-genres are a practical and attractive alternative to the established English language text types the
learners often deal with in the classroom.
 Thus, instead of asking our students to write some kind of narrative or a story, we could have them use technology to
communicate in written form using these e-genres.
 Moreover, writing with a real sense of purpose, with a real audience in mind can be far more motivating and develops awareness
of how purpose interacts with genre and reader, influencing the writer’s decisions and choices with regard to the rhetorical and
linguistic conventions of the text.
 All things considered, it can be argued that the e-genre approach to writing is a blend of the old and the new, striking the
right balance between technology and the learning process by successfully combining the kind of writing that is done when using
IT with the rigour of the writing process. By actively participating in creating their products and getting their ideas to the web,
students are more likely to become autonomous writers, building their self-confidence and keeping up with the pace of change.
 The reasons why teachers should put emphasis on the
writing skill
 There are many good reasons why teachers should encourage students to write in English, whether by hand or on the computer, in
real life and in the classroom.
 First of all, Umberto Eco suggests in one of his articles that students should be taught how to preserve the art of handwriting. The art
of handwriting stimulates the control of the hand and helps eye-hand coordination.
 Secondly, we live in the era of communication which witnesses a tremendous development of technology.
 Computers have become an indispensable part of everyday existence and the advent and popularity of e-mail, web forums, Internet
messenger services and text messaging has meant that there is now a huge increase in written communication.
 Moreover, the writing ability is regarded as a linguistic, cognitive, social, and cultural phenomenon that takes place in a specific
context and for a particular purpose. Thus, writing involves a series of interactions between the task and the writers, who are
required to draw on different aspects of their knowledge and experience to produce a written performance.
 Also, many students have specific needs that require them to work on writing skills. Academic study, examination preparation and
Business English are three common areas where written work is still very important.
 Last but not least, the English Syllabus states that students should be able to produce simple written English, ranging from one word
answers to short pieces of continuous text.
 STRUCTURE

 The present paper is structured in two chapters, trying to cover both the theoretical and the practical aspects
related to the teaching of the writing skills for out-of-class live writing situations in the English language.
 The first chapter deals with both traditional and innovative approaches to the teaching of writing and
developing writing skills. The three main traditional approaches range from simply imitating modal texts and
drilling controlled writing activities to generating ideas through discussion, brainstorming, clustering,
freewriting or keeping journals.
 The second chapter is intended to lead to didactic methodological improvements and comes up with an
innovative approach to teaching the writing skills to 8th graders, using methods and techniques of investigation
such as the experiment, naturalistic observation, questionnaire survey, analysis of school documents, analysis
of students’ products and assessment.
 The goals and the reasoning of the research

The wider availability of new technology and the innovations it brought about paved the way to new approaches
to teaching the writing skills. In the light of the new discoveries, the focus is on how to use technology during the
English classes in order to meet the students’ need to communicate in writing for real-life purposes and how to
enhance language acquisition in an interesting and enjoyable way.
Consequently, the objectives of this research are:
 to emphasize the necessity of teaching writing skills for out-of-class live situations to secondary school students
in order to improve their performance
 to demonstrate that engaging students in on-line writing activities provides them with a real purpose for writing,
with real audience and with real situations
 to assess the possibility of teaching writing skills for out-of-class live situations using the E-genre approach
 to engage students in class activities affectively and effectively
 Writing as a process

 Writing can be difficult even in your own language. In a new language, writing can be even more difficult.
 Then, is it possible to teach the skill of writing? How could we do it?
 Many textbooks, many teachers seem to set a writing task, leaving the students to do it (perhaps as homework) then collecting it in and marking
it. As a result, there is a gap between setting and collecting. That is where the difficult writing work happens. There is a lot of in-class work that
could be done on writing.
 In a process approach to writing, ideas are generated through discussion or brainstorming (e.g. benefits of mobile technology, what makes a
good teacher.), students extend ideas into notes and evaluate how useful and interesting each idea is, students organize ideas in a mind-map or
linear form to help them identify most important ideas to order their text and write the first draft (this often done collaboratively in pairs).
Moreover, drafts are exchanged, and other students read / comment on the text, then, they are returned, and students now edit their work into a
final draft. The final drafts are then read and other students may write a response.
 Given that writing is a process, a lot of elements have to be taken into consideration when designing the learning activities.
 In the first place, spelling, punctuation, the construction of well-formed sentences, paragraphs and texts are the nuts and bolts of the writing
skill that need to be focused on at certain stages of learning to write in English.
 Similarly, the techniques, such as copying and parallel writing (imitating a written model) help to give students a basic mechanical
competence which they can put to use when they write more creatively.
 Building the writing habit through instant writing

 Further, building the writing habit that is making students feel comfortable as writers in English is a stepping stone
to more creative or extended activities.
 This will involve choosing the right kinds of activity, especially engaging activities which are appealing to students
and which have some relevance for them, with appropriate levels of challenge and providing them with enough
language and information to allow them to complete writing tasks successfully.
 In order to build the writing habit and boost students’ confidence two areas of habit building (instant writing and
collaborative writing) can be used.
 Unlike the “process” and “genre” approaches to writing which give students patterns and schemes to follow,
providing a frame to write in and which make the tasks less creatively free, instant writing and collaborative writing
put emphasis on tasks whose principal aim is to have students writing fluently and enthusiastically, with more
spontaneity and less preparation.
 Activities providing examples of instant writing

 . The following activities are examples of instant writing designed in order to get students to write creatively:
 Dictating sentences for completion
 The teacher dictates part of a sentence which students have to complete about themselves
 “The one thing I would most like to learn is how to …”
 “The best film I have ever seen is …”
 “One of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me is …”
 Writing sentences – students can be asked to write two or three sentences about a certain topic. For example, if they have been
discussing anti-social behaviour, the teacher can ask them to write three don’t sentences (e.g. Don’t listen to loud music after
eleven o’clock)
 The weather forecast – at the beginning of the day the teacher asks students to write about themselves and their day as If they
were writing a weather forecast: “What’s the “weather” like now? Are you happy or tired, listless or energetic? How are you
likely to feel later on, in the afternoon?”
 Activities providing examples of instant writing

 Using music can be a very effective way to stimulate the writing activity since it often provokes strong feelings and ideas. Among the many ways
music can be used to stimulate instant writing are the following:
 Words – one activity is to play a piece of music and have students write down any words that come into their heads as they listen. When students
have written down the words which the music has suggested to them, they can share their words with the rest of the class to see how others have
reacted.
 What is the composer describing? – a lot of music is written to describe particular scenes or places. When students have listened to the piece of
music they say what the music was intended to describe. For example, the music in The Lord of the Rings by Howard Shore is highly descriptive.
The teacher can ask: “What kind of a person is the composer writing about?” (e.g. Juliet in Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet)
 Film scores – film music can be used to create the opening scenes for a film. Students listen to a piece of music and then write the scene they
imagined
 How does it make me feel? – Teachers can play students musical excerpts and get them to write their reactions as they listen. Students can be
asked: “What colour do you think the music is?” ”Where would you most like to hear it, and who would you like to have with you when you do?”
 Musical stories – students can write stories on the basis of music they listen to. If the music conveys a strong atmosphere it will often spark the
students’ creativity and almost “tell” them what to write.
 Pictures can also be used to incite students to creative flights of fancy. Among the many ways of using pictures for
writing are the following:
 Describing pictures – the teacher gets the students to describe a picture. He or she helps the students with the
vocabulary necessary for the task.
 Suspects and objects – students are given a variety of pictures and asked to write about only one of them. When
they have written their descriptions, the pictures are put up on the board. The students then give their description to
another student who has to identify which picture is being described and perhaps, stick the description under the
correct picture.
 Write the postcard – we can give students postcard scenes and then ask them to write the postcard which they would
expect to write to an English - speaking friend from such a location.
 Portraits – can be used for a number of stimulating writing tasks. Students can write a letter to a portrait, asking the
character questions about his or her life and explaining why they are writing to them. Other students can write back as if
they were the character. They can get the clues they need by studying the subject’s face, expression, clothes and any actions
that they are doing. We can also ask students to write a “day in the life” diary of one of the characters. They can imagine
what someone who looks like that does for a living and how they might spend their day.
 Story tasks – pictures are really useful ways to prompt students into writing stories. For example, students can be shown
pictures of a man crossing a canyon on a tightrope,
 people in a street protest, or someone who has come face – to – face with a wild animal and asked to write what happened
next.
 Alternatively, students can be given a series of pictures of random objects (an aeroplane, a fireplace, a dog, a laptop, a
wallet,) and told to choose four of them and write a story which connects them.
 Students can be given a series of pictures in sequence which tell a story. They have to write the story which the
pictures tell.

 Students can be given a picture and a headline or caption and asked to write a story which makes sense of the picture
and the words.
 Activities providing examples of collaborative writing

 Successful collaborative writing allows students to learn from each other. It gives each member of the collaboration access to
others’ minds and knowledge, and it imbues the task with a sense of shared goals which can be very motivating.
 The following activities are examples of collaborative writing designed in order to foster the writing habit in a unique way.
 Using the board is one way of making collaborative writing successful.
 Sentence by sentence – in this activity, students can be asked to build up a letter in reply to an invitation on the board,
sentence by sentence. Each time a new student goes up to the board in such activities, the rest of the class (or the group that
student represents) can help by offering suggestions, corrections, or alternatives
 Dictogloss – is a procedure in which students re-create a text or story that the teacher reads to them. Alternatively, the
teacher can use their own words to tell students the story. The first time they hear the story students are told just to listen and
not to make notes. After the students have listened to the story two or three times, they make notes.
 Writing in groups and pairs – is another way of getting writing practice and involving anyone in the creation of a written
text, whoever does the actual writing. The following activities are suitable for use with paper and pen, but they can also be
done at the computer with students crowded around the screen.
 Successful collaborative writing allows students to learn from each other. It gives each member of the collaboration access to
others’ minds and knowledge, and it imbues the task with a sense of shared goals which can be very motivating.
 The following activities are examples of collaborative writing designed in order to foster the writing habit in a unique way.
 Using the board is one way of making collaborative writing successful.
 Sentence by sentence – in this activity, students can be asked to build up a letter in reply to an invitation on the board,
sentence by sentence. Each time a new student goes up to the board in such activities, the rest of the class (or the group that
student represents) can help by offering suggestions, corrections, or alternatives
 Dictogloss – is a procedure in which students re-create a text or story that the teacher reads to them. Alternatively, the teacher
can use their own words to tell students the story. The first time they hear the story students are told just to listen and not to
make notes. After the students have listened to the story two or three times, they make notes.
 Writing in groups and pairs – is another way of getting writing practice and involving anyone in the creation of a written
text, whoever does the actual writing. The following activities are suitable for use with paper and pen, but they can also be
done at the computer with students crowded around the screen.
 Rewriting and expanding sentences – in one sentence rewriting activity, students are presented with a stereotypical
statement and asked to amend it to reflect the opinions of the group. After the students have been presented with some
examples of stereotypical statements they have to rewrite the sentences so that they accurately reflect the views of the
group.
 Boys like football. Girls like shopping
 One group might think, for example, that while some boys are crazy about football others are considerably less interested.
 Another sentence – rewriting activity is to take a sentence and put far more detail into it. For example, we can give
students a short sentence like this:
 The woman saw the man
 The students then have to expand the sentence with as many words as possible.
 First lines, last lines or the story circle – This activity uses the first and last lines of possible stories to get students’
imaginations going. Students create a story which follows on from the first line or ends with the last line.
 Directions, rules, instructions – This activity could take the form of writing directions to a place (how to get to their school from
the station or the airport) or writing the principal rules of a game they like and know how to play
 Story reconstruction – This is a story activity which involves a sequence of pictures and sometimes a jigsaw element
 Writing to each other
 A further way of provoking student engagement with writing is to get students to write to each other in class time. These activities
are referred to as real life writing tasks, because they are genuinely communicative and has a real purpose. These include:
 E-mail exchanges between “key pals” or “mouse pals”
 Live-chat
 Blogs
 e-Twinning projects
 Although it may seem obsolete, getting students to write letters to each other and reply to letters can be an extremely motivating
task since it gives students a reason to communicate with each other and good rehearsal practice for real life written communication.
 Towards more creative writing

 When students are asked to write more elaborate pieces of writing such as narrative writing, discursive writing (a for and against
article) report writing, formal letter writing, or the design of publicity material such as advertisements and posters they should be
taught how to generate ideas, how to operate in a variety of genres, how to address a number of different audiences and how to plan
what they are going to write. The following examples show ways of generating ideas and of noting down ideas:
 The buzz group – This is where students “buzz” or generate ideas, reactions, opinions about a topic quickly and informally.
 For example, they might be asked to come up with five reasons why people prefer cars to public transport
 Individuals, pairs and groups – here students think about a topic individually and then discuss it in pairs and then in groups. The
teacher should activate the students’ background of the subject and go round helping them with suggestions about the subject matter
 Whole group discussion – this kind of activity implies discussing issues, eliciting topic words and phrases, sharing useful words and
grammar, looking at examples of writing and commenting on them
 Note making – the effective making of notes can contribute to the generation of ideas themselves. In this kind of activity students
write down words and phrases in a random way. Then, by making connections between them, students start to see patterns emerging
and they can organise their thoughts into sub-topics and categories.
Towards more creative writing
The Pros and Cons of Listening to Songs in English
Topic sentence
 
 
 
 
There are certainly some
advantages to listening to pop
songs in English. / Listening to
pop songs in English offers some
definite advantages.
 
 
 
 
 
Supporting arguments
1. It is an excellent way of
practising English
2. English pop songs are a source
of multicultural knowledge
3. They offer a great opportunity
to communicate and make friends
with other English –speaking
children
4. Listening to pop music in
English is cool and fashionable
Reason / Justification
Both Romanian teens and young
adults are increasingly interested
in English and increasingly
fluent in it.
As a result, they gravitate
towards music written in
English.
They present ideas, videos,
people from many different
English speaking countries, races
or religions.
They also talk about themes such
as love, war, revolt against rules
and regulations, against society
or poverty.
many young people across the
globe turn to the internet to
discover music
Teenagers who appreciate it are
considered to be very popular
with their friends.
 Analysing patterns of organization

 In order to write well in English, it is important to understand the way native speakers of that language organize their
thoughts and to conform to the accepted patterns of organization. This can be done through a thorough analysis of the
recognised genres. Students are exposed to lots of examples of articles, reviews, written advertisements and asked to
analyse:
 Topic sentences.
 Supporting sentences (which give examples, details to develop and support the topic sentence).
 The writing techniques
 The writing style
 The layout of the article
 The choice of vocabulary
 Ways of organising ideas

 When dealing with more complex writing tasks, students should be taught how to organize their ideas round things and
how to order arguments. The following procedures allow all the students to get a clear understanding of this aspect of
making a plan:
 For and against – opinions are grouped in “for” and “against” columns; arguments are listed in the order of importance.
 Board fill – the ideas are written up in no particular order, until the board is covered with words, phrases and sentences;
lines are drawn to connect ideas that go together.
 Main idea magnets – students agree upon four main ideas. The ideas that do not cluster around the four main points are
put into a special “extras” category at one side of the board.
 Papers in a hat - students can be given and asked, individually, to think of one idea and write it on a piece of paper. All
the pieces of paper are then put into a box and mixed up. The pieces of paper are then removed, and the students have to
work out how they are connected and how they might be made into a composition.
 Practising these patterns of organisation will put students on the road to becoming proficient writers.
 Performance versus Proficiency in writing

 Whereas achieving performance means building the writing habit through a lot of practice and reaching the
performance standards stated in the English Syllabus, proficiency deals with examination preparation.
 For example, Cambridge ESOL examinations are recognised worldwide by employers, education authorities,
universities, colleges and other institutions. It provides accurate and consistent assessment of language skills at a
range of levels, each of them having a clearly defined relevance to the needs of language learners.
 The Key English Test for Schools (KET for Schools) is an examination that demonstrates that a person can deal
with everyday English at a basic level. It is widely accepted as a qualification representing a general basic ability in
English
 The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is the standard benchmark for measuring and
describing language ability around the world
 KET for Schools / Flyers is at CEFR Level A2. At this level a learner should be able to cope linguistically in a range
of everyday situations which require a basic and largely predictable use of language. An A2 Level user will be able to
use English in their own or a foreign country in contact with native or non-native speakers of English for general
purposes. As far as the writing skill is concerned the students should be able to:
 Complete forms and write short simple letters or postcards related to personal information.
 Write a very simple personal letter, note or e-mail, for example accepting or offering an invitation, thanking someone
for something, apologizing.
 Write about his / her daily life in simple phrases and sentences, for example family, school, hobbies, holidays, likes
and dislikes.
 KET for Schools Writing Tasks vary in complexity from tasks requiring single word answers to a communicative task
requiring up to 35 words of output.
KET For Schools Writing Tasks

As far as the assessment is concerned, there are 5 marks for Part 9.

Candidates at this level are not expected to produce faultless English, but
to achieve 5 marks, a candidate should write a cohesive message, which
successfully communicates all three parts of the message, with only minor
grammar and spelling errors. A great variety of fully acceptable answers is
possible.
 PET For Schools Writing Tasks

 PET for Schools is at Level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. At this level,
students should be able to:
 Write to his / her friends about the books, music and films that he / she likes.
 Write a description of an event, for example a school trip.
 Take basic notes in a lesson.
 Produce short communicative messages of between 35 and 45 words in length.
 Write a story or an informal letter of about 100 words
 Cambridge Examinations

Cambridge ESOL Examinations CEFR Level

Movers A1

Flyers / Key for Schools A2

PET B1
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