You are on page 1of 7

Research on the Issues on teaching writing:

second language ● Composing vs writing​: a simplistic view would assume that


writing writing​ is the graphic representation of speaking, but no one holds
that thought today. Writing requires a complete different set of
competences and it’s fundamentally different from speaking. The
permanence and distance of writing, along with its unique rhetorical
convention, makes writing as different from speaking as swimming
from walking. The nature of the ​composing ​process of writing:
written products are often the result of thinking that require
specialized skills that not ever speaker develops naturally. The
upshot of compositional writing has produced pedagogical writing
that focuses students on how to generate ideas, organization, how
to use discourse markers, to revise the text, to edit and ahow to
produce a final product.
● Process vs product​: hals a century ago, writing teacher were
concerned with the final ​product​ ​of writing:how it should look like.
They were supposed to meet certain english standards, reflect
accurate grammar and be organized according to was considered
conventional. A model was presented and students would emulate
following a list of criteria on grammar, organization, vocabulary…
those criteria are still a concern for writing teachers, but they began
to focus more on the ​process​ (it gives learners time to write and
rewrite, place central importance on the process of revision, let
learners discover what they want to say as they write…) the
process approach is an attempt to take advantage of the written
code to give students a chance to think as they write: writing is a
thinking process. As Peter Elbow said: make a plan, don’t start
writing until you know what you want to say. The ultimate goal is to
balance the importance of both process and final product.
● Contrastive rhetoric​: Kaplan stated that different languages have
different writing patterns

The point is: If english speakers write straight to the point, and
chinese ones write spiral around the point, then a chinese
speaker who is learning english will have some difficulties in
learning to write english. There was some serious issues with
Kaplan’s thesis, though: it was simplistic (he based his
conclusions on style manual rather than using data from writing in
English) and overgeneralized (one cannot assume that all english
speakers write straight to the point). Nevertheless, there was
some truth on Kaplan’s theory: one's culture can have impact on
our writing style.
● Differences between L1 and L2 writing​: it is important to
remember that L1 and L2 writing are different. Silvia (1993) have
found that L2 writers did less planning, were less fluent, less
accurate and less effective in stating goals and organizing material.
● Authenticity​: one issue in teaching writing is the question of how
authentic are classroom writings. In school writing is a way of life.
One cannot pass the course without some ability to express
yourself in writing. English for academic purpose is the major
consumer of writing techniques (developing ideas, argument,
logics, etc). Another issue is the difference between ​real​ writing
(when the reader doesn’t know the answer and wants information
from the writing) and ​display​ writing (when the instructor is the only
reader, and writing is simply a display of a student’s knowledge)
both real and display writings should be included on our lessons.
● The role of the teacher​: a teacher offers guidance in helping
students to engage in the thinking process of composing, but must
not impose his/her own thoughts on the student writing.

Types of written
language

Characteristics of ● Permanence​: once something is written down and delivered, the


written language writer loses certain power: to clarify, to withdraw, to emend.
(writer POV) Students often feel anxious when presenting a written work, so as
teacher we can help them, guide them, to revise and refine their
work.
● Production time​: the good news is that given appropriate
stretches of time, a writer can become a good one by developing
effective processing time. Bad news is that educational context
demand students to write within time limit or writing for display. One
goal for the teacher is to train your students to make the best
possible use of such limitations.
● Distance​: anticipating the audience. Writers should be able to
predict audience’s general knowledge, cultural and literacy
schemata and how their choice of language will be interpreted.
● Orthography​: everything from simple greeting to complex ideas is
captured in writings. If your students are non-literate in the native
language, you must begin with the fundamentals of reading and
writing. For those whose alphabetic system is different, new
symbols have to be produced by hand accustomed to other
systems.
● Complexity​: writers must learn how to remove redundancy, how to
combine sentences, and much more.
● Vocabulary​: written language places a heavier demand on
vocabulary than speaking does.
● Formality​: for esl students, the most difficult and complex
conventions occur in academic writing: learners have to learn how
to compare, describe, criticize, argue, illustrate...

Types of classroom ● Imitative​: students will simply write down in order to learn
writing performance conventions of the orthographic code. Some forms of ​dictation​ fall
into this category:
○ Teachers reads a short paragraph once or twice at normal
speed
○ Teacher reads short units followed by a pause
○ During the pause, students write what they hear
○ Teacher reads the whole paragraph again at normal speed so
students can check their writings
○ Scoring of students’ work. Usually spelling and punctuation
errors are not considered as severe as grammatical errors
● Intensive​: the intensive writing usually appears in controlled,
written grammar exercises (not much creativity is allowed). A
common form of ​controlled​ writing is to present a paragraph to
students in which they have to alter a given structure (changing all
present verbs into the past). ​Guided w ​ riting loosens the teachers’
control but it still offers a series of stimulators (describing a story
they watched by asking questions). Another controlled writing is the
Dicto-comp​: teacher reads a paragraph two or three times, then
asks students to rewrite the paragraph to their best of recollection
of the previous reading. The teacher might write key words on the
board to help students.
● Self writing​: writing for oneself. The most salient self writing in
classrooms is the ​note-taking​. Diary or ​journal​ writing also falls into
this category. Many ​dialogue journals​ has two audiences (in
which the student records feeling, thoughts and reaction, and the
instructor responds to them)
● Display writing​: writing is a classroom way of life in which students
must show their writing competence.
● Real writing
○ Academic​: the Language Experience Approach gives a group
of students opportunities to convey genuine information to
each other. ​Content-based​ instruction encourages the
exchange of information. ​Group solving-problem​ task may
have a writing component in which information is genuinely
sought and conveyed. ​Peer-editing ​work provide real writing
opportunities. In certain ESP and EAP courses, students may
exchange information with each other or with the instructor.
○ Vocational/technical​: a variety of real writing can take place if
students are studying english for advancement on their
occupation. The possibilities are greater is “english in the
workplace”, where ESL is offered in companies.
○ Personal​: it can take place in an interactive classroom (diaries,
letters, postcards, notes, etc)

Principles for ● Incorporate practices of “good” writing​: good writers


designing writing
techniques

● Balance process and product​: make sure students are led


through appropriate stages in the process of composing. Writing
takes time and many drafts before the final product, make sure
your students see that everything leading up to the final product
was worth it.
● Account for cultural/literary background​: make sure that your
techniques don’t assume that your students know english rhetorical
conventions. Lead them into understanding it.
● Connect reading and writing​:students learn by observing, by
reading. By doing so, they can learn many important insights about
how they should write and about subject matter that may become
the topic of their writing.
● Provide as much authentic writing as possible​:whether its real
writing or for display, writing can be authentic in the sense that
there’s a clear purpose, a specified audience and some intent to
convey meaning. (sharing writing work with other students, publish
it, writing a resume…)
● Frame your techniques in terms of prewriting, drafting and
revising stages​: the ​drafting ​and ​revising​ stages are the core of
process writing. In traditional courses, teachers give students a
limited classroom time to write or they give writing assignments.
The first one gives no opportunity do drafting and in the second one
it might be possible assuming learners know how to.
Strategies for drafting and revising:

● Strive to offer techniques that are as interacting as possible​:


process-oriented writing is interactive as well as learner-centered.
Focusing on the purpose other that the composition is also part of
the principles of interactive classrooms. (brainstorming, group
collaboration…) Writing is not always solitary.
● Sensitively apply methods of responding to and correcting
your students’ writings​: error treatment can begin in the drafting
and revising stages. As students receive responses to the writings,
errors are not corrected outright by the instructors, they are treated
through self-correction, peer-correction or instructor-initiated
comments. Until the final product is delivered, the instructor wiil
guide students, will assume the role of consultant.
First draft responses:

For the subsequent drafts:


● Clearly instruct students on the rhetorical, formal conventions
of writing​:each type of writing has its properties, don’t assume
students will learn them by absorbing. Make them explicit
Evaluating students

In your evaluation of a student’s writing, the most instructive feedback


are your own comments regarding the work. The categories in the
picture can serve as the basis of your evaluation. You can have several
marks by considering all aspects instead of only one. By doing so, you
can help students to focus on those aspects they need to pay attention
to. Your learners must understand that your evaluation, grade, scores
and comments are feedback they can benefit from.

You might also like