How to teach writing Why teach writing? The reasons for teaching writing to the English students include: Reinforcement, Language development, Learning style, and most the important Writing as a skill on its own. Reinforcement – Some students acquire language in a purely oral, but most of us benefit greatly from seeing the language written down. Students often find it useful to write sentences using new language shortly after they have studied it. Language development – It seems that actual process of writing ( rather like the process of speaking ) help us to learn as we go along. The mental activity we have to go through in order to construct proper written texts is all part of the ongoing learning experience.

How to teach writing Learning style – some students are quick at picking up language just by looking and listening. But for some others it may take a little longer. Writing is appropriate for such learners and it can be a quiet reflective activity instead of just interpretation of face to face communication. Writing as a skill – the most important reason for teaching writing is as a basic language skill, just as important as speaking, listening and reading. Students need to know how to write letters, how to reply to advertisements, how to write using electronic media. They need to know some of writing’s special conventions ( punctuation, paragraph construction, the passive voice, formal expressions etc.).

How to teach writing What kind of writing should students do? Like many other aspects of English language teaching, the type of writing we get our students do, will depend on their age, interests and level. We will try to get students writing in a number of common everyday styles including writing postcards, letters of various kinds, filling in forms such as application forms, writing narrative compositions, reports, newspaper and magazine articles etc. There is no limit to the kinds of text we can ask students to write. Our decisions can be based on how much language the students know , what their interests are and what we think that will not only be useful for them but also motivate them as well.

How to teach writing The role of the teacher in writing? Motivator – by motivating the students, creating the right conditions for the generation of ideas , persuading them of the usefulness of the activity, and encouraging them to make as much effort as possible for maximum benefit. Resource – We should be ready to supply information and language where necessary. We need to tell students that we are available and be prepared to look at their work as it progresses, offering advice and suggestions in a constructive way. Feedback provider – Teachers should respond positively and encouragingly to the content of what the students have written. When offering correction teachers should choose what and how much to focus on, based on students needs at particular stage of their studies, and on the tasks they have undertaken.

How to teach writing How should teachers correct writing? Most students find it very dispiriting if they get a piece of writing work back and it is covered in red ink. One way of avoiding the ‘ over-correction’ problem for teachers is, to tell their students that for particular piece of work they are only going to correct mistakes of punctuation, or spelling or grammar etc. This has two advantages : it makes students concentrate on that particular aspect, and it cuts down on the correction. Another technique which many teachers use is to agree on a list of written symbols ( S- spelling, WO- word order, WW- wrong word, λ- missing word, prep - wrong preposition, Gr- Grammar mistake, T- tense mistake, etc. It is worth writing a comment at the end of a piece of writing work – from ‘ well done’ to ‘ this is a good story , but you must look at your use of past tenses, or see X grammar book page 00.

How to teach writing What can be done about hand writing? Hand writing is a very personal matter. It is supposed to reflect character. Many nationalities do not use the same kind of script as English, so from students from those cultures writing in English is more difficult. Now that word processing has become more and more common, people have less motivation for good handwriting. Teachers are not in a position to ask students to change their handwriting style, but they can insist on neatness and legibility.

How to teach writing How does writing fit into ESA If we speak about writing a post card the teacher may first talk to students about postcards and holidays as to Engage the students. They then Study the postcards looking for typical’ postcard features’ and finally they Activate their knowledge by writing their own version. A different kind of procedure is evident in a newspaper writing activity. Students are first Engaged with the topic of newspaper before doing the matching task (Activate). They then study headlines before going on to a creative writing stage ( Activation). In a report writing a number of stages are gone through. Students need to be engaged with the Topic, they need to study the language which they will need. Knowledge which is Activated in the collection of results before students come back to produce a final piece of work ( Activation).

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