TEACHING WRITING

TEACHING WRITING

Questions In Turkish which of the 4 skills do you find

more difficult?What have you written in the past two

weeks?

Why include writing in Teaching English? Sts. learn by writing ExaminationsGives the teacher a break!

WRITING CONVENTIONSHANDWRITINGSPELLING LAYOUT AND PUNCTUATION

2 aspects of writing A means of learning/practicing lang. formsA means of communicating a message

PROCESS AND PRODUCTWhen concentrating on the product we are only

intereseted in the aim of a task and in the end product.

A process approach to writing pay attention to the various stages that any piece of writng goes through. By spending time with learners on pre-writing phases, editing, redrafting, and finally publishing their work.

A process approach aims to get to the heart of the various skills that should be employed when writing.

PROCESS WRITING STAGES ARE: Drafting Structuring (ordering information) Reviewing (checking contexts) Focusing ( that is making sure you are getting the

message across you want to get across) Generating ideas and evaluation (assesing the

draft)

WRITING AND GENREIn a genre approach to writing students study texts in the

genre they are going to be writing before embark on their own writing. We let them look at typical models of materials before starting to compose. A genre approach is especially appropriate for students of English for Specific Purposes. This could be seen as as extremely prescriptive or reproduction rather than creative writing.

CREATIVE WRITINGThis suggests imaginative tasks as writing poetry,

stories and plays. Creative writing is a journey of self-discovery, and self- discovery promotes effctive learning.

There is always a danger that students may find writing imaginatively difficult. It is also important to expect whole compositons from the first. We need to build up it bit by bit, starting with phrases and sentences before expecting whle compositions.

WRITING AS A COOPERATIVE ACTIVITYCooperative writing works well with both process and genre

based approaches. In the first case, reviewing and evaluation are greatly enhanced by having more than one person working on it, and the generation of ideas is frequently more lively with group works.

Writing in groups, whether as part of a long process or as part of short game like communicative activity, can be greatly motivating for students, including as it does, not only writing, but research, discussion, peer evaluation and group pride in a group accomplishment.

Which skills are involved? Mastering basic sentence construction (SVO) Extending basic sentence construction with vocabulary Use of word combinations and collocations Developing a theme from paragraph to paragraph Using discourse markers: eg. Therefore, however, etc. Becoming aware of layout conventions (e.g. letters) Use of complex sentence constructions with connectives Mastering spelling, punctuation, capitalization etc. Linking basic sentences by using connecting words (and/but/ or). Complex sentence construction (e.g. conditionals) Selecting appropriate patterns, vocabulary (style) Organizing information logically and clearly (coherence and

cohesion)

??? What could be the possible order of the skills to be presented from elementary upward ???

??? Decide which of the above skills you need to work on with your intermediate students ???

Writing work in the classroom

1 2 3 4copying doing guided free writing

exercises writing

Practicing lang. ........ communication of ideasControlled ................. freeAccuracy ................... fluencyElementary to intermediate and advanced

Copying (From words to sentences and paragraph) and exercise

Practicing lang. Elementary levelControlled

Guided writing (from paragraph to essay)Sts become better writersSts. are shown how to writeThey are introduced a series of preparatory

steps

Types of guided writing

Model: (Earlier stages sts do not create, make alterations. Later based on a model they create a text)

Controlled composition Parallel writingOral preparation (Q & A Tech.)Question and answerCloze paragraph

Controlled compositionGrammatical changes

Present-PastDirect-Indi. SpeechSubject pronoun etc.

Parallel writingHosseis’ s new house is off Kings Street. He

moved there because it was quiter. It’ s next door to a hospital .....

1. Jim/flat/ Park Road.// move/cheaper.// cinema/....

2. Now write about your friend’ s house

Question and answ. Tech T. Systematically asks questionsT notes down the key points on the b

Cloze pargraphWrite a short model paragraph, leave every 5 word out. Give some words to sts to fill in the blanks. When sts. finish writing delete more words. Stst. write it on a new page.

More: guided writing“You think you have seen a man who is

wanted by the police. Write, for the police, a short description of the man, saying when and where you saw him.”

Begin: The man I saw was coming out of .........(place, time, date). Description of clothes, briefcase, etc. appearance, manner

?? WHAT IS OUR JOB AS A TEACHER ???

THE ROLES OF THE TEACHERSMotivator: to motivate the students, to

create the right conditions for the generation of ideas, to persuade them of the usefulness of the activity and to encourage them to make as much effort as for maximum benefit.

Resource: during more extended tasks, we should be ready to supply information and language where necessary. We need to tell the students that we are available and be prepared to look their work and to give suggestions.

Feedback provider: giving feedback on writing tasks demands special care. Teachers should respond positively and encouragingly to the content of what the students have written.

Stages:

PrewritingWhilewritingPostwriting

So prewriting: 1Model

(reading (preferred)or listening)Comprehension of the model

Analysis of the model (if needed) To see the substitutable parts how the model is constructedTo determine the morphological or

syntactic structures

So prewriting: 2Model

(reading (preferred)or listening)Comprehension of the model

Analysis of the model Considering the topic they will write

Initial individual, pair, group work Selection and rejection of ideasSorting and ordering ideasSmall groups and class construct a skeletonIndividuals or groups write the first draftFeedback and corectionFinal draft

PostwritingResponding

Feedback and correction

Grading

Responding

Message oriented,

emotions and feelings conveyed

Feedback and correction Learn whether your sts. want to be

corrected or not if not, just give feedback

If yes, tell them what you’ ll be correcting (Narrow down the

scope) How you will be correcting How you will be marking (if you intend to

do so)

Feedback and correction -Who can correct?

Teacher, students, sts. from other classes...

-How can we correct? Reformulation Correction codes Letter in reply No correction but discussion in the c.r.

Feedback and correction Write the correct answers in the margin or at

the end of the writing (R) Use correction codes in the margin (CC) Underline all errors of one type Write a letter in reply (RL)Or Sts. correct and mark each other’ s work Use errors and devise an exercise, a quiz, game

or a give a dictaiton

Correction codes

V. verbWW: wrong wordWO: Word orderSP: SpellingP: punctuation

Things to remember

Before sts. write make sure they speak- read know what you want them to do know how you want them to do it know why they are doing it

You as a guide, Move from simple tasks to challenging ones Give practice in planning, organizing and expressing

info. Give models Practice relevant structures before they write their own Keep a record of common mistakes and focus on one

per lesson Insist on corrections Make them write in class Do writing as group work

SUGGESTIONS FOR USTeachers have to the specific required for a

particular task and make sure the students know what type of language to use.

Teachers should also know how to integrate writing into a lesson.

Correction is very important because the focus on accuracy is much greater than it is with speaking.

Teachers should work on ways to reduce the pressure that students feel when doing a writing activity.

REFERENCESJ. Harmer,2001. The Practice of English Language

Teaching, Longman.

R. David, . Teach Yourself, teaching english as a foreign language.

www.eslcafe.com

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