Developing writing skills

Indice
1.
Introduction
2. Development
3. Conclusion
4. Bibliography

1.
Introduction

Nowadays most people actually do very little writing in
day – to day life, and a great deal of what we do write is
quite short – brief notes to friends, answers on question
forms, diary entries, postcards and etc.
Despite this, there may still be a number of good reasons why it
is useful to include work on writing in our English lessons.
Our students have specific needs to take notes, copy resumes,
describe processes.
Writing involves a different kind of mental process. There is
more time to think, to reflect, to prepare, to find alternative
and better solutions.
Writing should be as communicative, or functional, as possible.
That is, it should be seen to fulfill the sort of normal
communicative purposes, or functions it is used (for) in every
day life. Although written English should certainly support and
be integrated with grammar and vocabulary learning, the teaching
of writing should be recognized as a special part of language
teaching with its own aims and techniques.

2. Development

As you know, writing is the reproductive skill and our
students commit many mistakes organizing in a sentence, sentences
into a paragraph.
Writing is intimately related to the other language skills. One
reads a text to write answers to questions (in reading
comprehension activities) or to summarize it (in summary
writing).
Similarly one usually discusses ideas before writing them down,
and one listens before writing. There are different types of
writing which reflect the different reasons for writing.
Effective writing, therefore depends on one’s ability to
structure and organize words and sentences into a meaningful
whole.
On the first steps in the teaching writing we may use sentences
whose words have been scrambled. They will serve as illustrations
of how the teachers explain grammar, vocabulary, and writing
mechanics while teaching organizational writing.
So, the teacher can kill many birds with one stone. As an example
we use the exercise 1 on page 24 or exercise 2 on page 25
("Communicating and reading in English: an overall course for
students of science and technology" Book 1).

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

The internal structure (syntax) of the sentences is the
immediate problem for the student.
The teacher should point out that word
"frequently" in the 5th sentence (Exercise 2) is an adverb and
the suffix "ly" is the adverbial suffix.
The teacher can teach many other conventions of punctuation,
depending on the structure of the sentence under
consideration.
Once students understand sentence order, the teacher can move to
sentence arrangement in a paragraph. The organization of any text
depends greatly on the literary genre it represents [for
instance, if a text is a narrative, or a commentary, or analysis,
each genre requires and organizational format.
In an analysis, the writing must be logically organized whereas
narratives require a chronological ordering; and a commentary
presents an opinion with supportive facts]. Whatever the case,
organizing a paragraph or a text requires an understanding of
rhetorical markers. The student should watch for the
following.

Organizing a paragraph or a text requires an
understanding of rhetorical markers:

1. Semantic markers. They indicate how ideas are being
   developed. Examples of these semantic markers include firstly,
   secondly, finally, etc. We use widely these markers in "brief
   summary".
2. Markers for illustrations and examples such as, for
   instance, for example, etc.
3. Markers that introduce an idea that runs against what
   has been said earlier: but, nevertheless, yet, although, by
   contrast, etc.
4. Markers showing a cause and effect relationship
   between one idea and another. They include, so, therefore,
   because, since, thus, consequently.
5. Markers that show the speaker’s intention to
   sum up his message. Some of these phrases are to summarize, in
   other words, it amounts to, etc.
6. Markers indicating the relative importance of
   different items, e.g, it is worth nothing, it is important to
   note that, the next point is, etc.
7. Markers that express a time relationship, e.g, then,
   next, after, while, when.

Paragraphs and texts that contain sentences with the
above rhetorical markers are much easier to organize than those
without them. As an example of the exercise we use in our lessons
is the exercise 1 on page 46.

1. English is a subject at the university because the
   students need it to read scientific books in that
   language.
2. A university student has to pass many examinations.
   In other words ha has to student hard.
3. To consult magazines for scientific work, some steps
   are necessary: first, scan the table of contents to select some
   articles; next skim through the articles selected, lastly study
   the articles and take notes.
4. Science demands effort, systematic work and
   self-control. In
   short, it demands discipline.

As point out earlier, the teacher can teach other
components of writing by teaching organizational writing. Apart
from teaching grammar, vocabulary, content, and mechanics through
organization, the students are also encouraged to create a
meaningful text out of confusion. This can therefore be a
starting point for teaching creative writing to our students.
(I’ll talk about this later)
Although some critics may say guided writing of this sort stifles
the student’s ability to create his own text. Moreover, the
text serves as a model for the student in spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, and paragraph indentation.
Teaching organizational writing means introducing many different
types of texts (scientific, historical, fiction) in the language
class. The use of a wide variety of texts chases away monotony
and boredom.
Some methodologists agree that in teaching writing we should
follow this chart.

Writing work in the classroom falls on a continuum from
copying to free writing

The copying exercises are the most simple exercises we
use in our lesson.
The examples of the 2nd step are the exercises from our book
"Communicating and reading in English".
Exercise 3 on page 36
Complete the sentences:

• Mary Ann will ____ a course in chemical
  engineering.
• Richard will ____ chemistry.
• Alice and Bill will ____ an English
  course.
• Engineering students ____ basic courses in
  mathematics and physics.
• Mechanical engineering students ___ force and
  vectors.

Exercise 2 on page 36
Write questions for the following answers:

• ________?Physics, mathematics and
  chemistry.
• ________? No, I haven’t.
• ________? In the engineering college.
• ________? Because engineering is very
  interesting.
• ________? The student.

The examples of the guided writing are:
Write down, in point form, all the details you can think of in
answer to the following questions about a typical day

• How long is your day?
• What clothes do you wear?
• How many buildings do you go into? What are they
  like?
• What and when do you eat?
• How many different people do you see?
• Whom do you talk to? What about?
• What jobs do you have to do?
• What do you do for relaxation ?

Writing
The answers to these questions should, together, tell a great
deal about your daily routine. Your assignment is to write a
passage with the title, "A Typical Day". You don’t need to
use all the details in the order in which you first gave them.
Simply write and organized a composition about your daily
routine.
Some ways in which guided writing exercises can help student
prepare for a writing task:

• Students think about the topic before they
  write.
• Sts brainstorm ideas and approaches.
• Sts discuss the topic with other sts, getting new
  ideas and clarifying their own thoughts.
• Sts see example writing that deals with similar
  issues.
• The class works on a piece of similar writing
  together.
• Sts do some preliminary writing exercises
  –making notes, answering questions, ordering ideas,
  linking sentences, etc.
• Sts work through some language exercises containing
  language that may be useful in their writing.
• Sts prepare a rough draft of writing for discussion,
  correction and amendment.

Free writing is another warm up activity that generates
ideas and get people to start writing. It is also called speed
writing as one writes as quickly as possible without stopping.
Again, as in brainstorming, the writer concentrates on content
rather than on form or correctness. The idea is to get as many
ideas down on paper as possible. This activity can be done alone
or as a class.
After a short brainstorming session the teacher tells the class
the purpose of the activity and then proceeds to demonstrate free
writing on the blackboard. A two minute time limit is set and the
teacher chooses an item from her own brainstorming notes and
writes freely and quickly until the time is used up.
There is close relationship between free writing and creative
writing. Writing is essentially a creative process and good
writers must learn to communicate their ideas clearly to an
unseen audience. This takes a lot of practice.
However, students have traditionally learned to write by
completing fill in the blanks exercises which focus on accuracy
rather than o the composing process. Creative writing on the
other hand, gives learners practice in composing and complements
more traditional approaches.
Here are some activities that focus on communication and self
expression students will be encouraged to write if writing tasks
motivate them and keep them interested. Pictures are a good
starting point for writing narratives. One method is to collect
about twenty photographs of people of different ages from various
magazines. Then the teacher tapes these to the board and tell
students that they should choose a picture of one person and try
to write a narrative imagining that they are that person. They
have to concentrate on details like job, hobbies, whether single
or married, children, and so on. The teacher also tell them to
avoid describing the person’s physical appearance and to
use first person singular pronouns throughout. After they have
finished writing they take reading their imaginary
autobiographical narratives out loud while the other students
have to look at the board and guess which of the people is
"talking". As there is no description of physical features, the
students have to listen closely to try and identify the right
person.
Using the first person helps to make the narratives sound
authentic and convincing.
This activity emphasizes the importance of writing as
communication because any lack of clarity means that the
listeners will not be able to recognize the "speaker". It
combines writing and listening. To make the second stage more
exciting it’s also possible to divide the students into
teams and ward points for each person correctly
identified.

3. Conclusion

As we have said, there are numerous opportunities to
help students develop the writing skill.
Writing assists the listener, reader or observer in achieving a
better understanding of what facilitates recall of facts as well
as oral expression and reading.
The students language level and the purpose which the writing is
to serve will determine the type of guidance the teacher must
provide to help them to write in class and later on the
job.

Recommendations

1. Focus on the content, avoiding language errors. Since
   the student will be deleting, adding, and re-writing a great
   part of the composition, making language mistakes would be a
   waste of time at this stage. On the other hand, focusing on the
   content separately from grammar helps us to deal with the
   rhetorical structure –an essential part of composing that
   is unfortunately neglected by English teachers most of the
   time.
2. Make specific comments avoiding cryptic language,
   jargon and symbols, and respond with questions as well as
   statements. Just as our students should write with an audience
   in mind, it’s our responsibility to show an awareness of
   the student writer as audience.
3. Do not impose your own interpretation on the
   students’ writing. They may misunderstand that what they
   have to say is not as important as what teacher wants to say.
   In this way the changes that follow may have nothing to do with
   what the student originally intended.
4. Note strengths as well weaknesses. Do not allow the
   errors to distract you from commenting positively on a
   student’s attempt to produce something to the best of his
   or her potential. It’s easier to locate the weaknesses in
   a paper then the strengths, but we should never forget that
   doing justice to our students involves noting both the pos and
   the cons.
5. Do not correct errors in grammar by providing the
   correct lexical or grammatical item. We should point out errors
   or categories of errors and let the students do the editing.
   Literature reveals that direct types of corrective procedures
   have proven ineffective.
6. Diagnose some general problems along with the
   individual errors and work on them in class. We can develop,
   for example, supporting sentences from the students’ own
   writing to deal with general trouble spots in grammar and
   mechanics.
7. Above all, make a comment, preferably an end comment,
   that is positive-something we usually tend to
   forget.

4.
Bibliography

• Janice M. Laver: "Four Worlds of Writing". Second
  edition. Sponsoring Editor 1985.
• Jim Scriver: "Learning Teaching". 1994 p.
  156
• Georges Terroux-Howard Woods: "Professional
  Handbook". Teaching English in a World at Peace. Mc Gill
  University. 1991. p 113.
• Vol 33 N 4 October 1995 "Forum Magazine" p.
  30
• Vol 36 N 1 Jan-Mar 1998 by Gabriel A. "Write Right
  for a Job" p.28.
• Vol 32 N 3 July 1994 Kevin Keys "Happy families: a
  multiple writing stimulates activity" p. 37
• Vol 32 N 4 Oct 1994. "Responding to Student
  Writing" p. 25
• Vol 36 N 4 Oct-Dec 1994. "Creative Writing" p.
  25
• Vol 34 N 2 April 1996. "Teaching Organizational
  Writing" p. 38
• Vol 38 N 1 January 2000. "Writing Cohesion" p.
  28

Autor:

Liubov Andreevna Rusenko

Elena Sergeevna Velazco
University of Camagüey
English Department