Developing Extensive Writing: Why, What ,and How? Anne Wiseman The British Council

Overview Definitions Current Research in Writing in L2 Indicators for Teachers Some useful ideas 1. Definitions and research– the ‘what’ and why 2. Indicators – what we can take away from thsi research and implemnt int he c/room – the How Useful idea – also how. Add: will rleate to text book Want you to think critically Will NOT spend a lot of time on Assessment because a very large area which can spend a whole day on.

Definitions What is extensive writing? What difficulties do you face in teaching extensive writing? Elicit answers from audience Refer to Report form UAE NAP National Assessment Programme 2011- writing in Arabic and English not up to expected standards. Why?

Research Cognitive processes (Flower and Hayes) Krashen: writing can contribute to cognitive development Social –constructivist ( Johns 1990) Will look at just 3 areas of research related to writing: Cognitive processes involved – research by Flower and Hayes – e.g finding the topic, generating ideas +info, focussing, planning structure and procedure 2 Krashen and Lang acquisition In his later work Krashen (2003) investigates how writing can contribute to cognitive development. He summarizes research that shows how various writing activities, in particular note-taking and summary writing, are significant aids to learning §§. More on writing Krashen claims that writing competence, "the feel for what good writing looks like", arises through reading. Writing practice has no impact on competence. However, the quality of the learner's written end product, a school composition for example, can indeed be influenced by practice and the grammar/usage rules that the student has learned. Krashen devotes much attention to the writing strategies that have been found to be effective in improving writing quality. These include flexible planning, frequent revision, and postponement of editing. Krashen states further that practice, i.e., regular writing, correlates with creativity. It is wrong to believe that ideas and inspiration must precede writing; on the contrary, these often result from regular writing and the periods of incubation in between. When we write down ideas, the ideas become concrete. They are then more readily available for inspection and modification. Comments The important insight from Krashen's work is that neither competence nor performance is alone sufficient in the production of a good piece of writing. Extensive reading, regular writing practice and the acquisition of writing skills and strategies are all necessary to ensure a strong end product. 3. Social constructivist – text created by reader and writer together. A collaborative process taking into account the context and the process of writing itself. The Process writing approach. More on this next. More on all the above and how relate to the classroom next

Process Writing Process writing focuses learners on the different stages and aspects of writing as they have been observed in good writers. They then spend time on each stage to produce a collaborative piece of written work A collaborative process. Base don the idea that writing is not a one off process and is collaborative. Process base don understanding of cognitive process – try out idea, share ideas, draft, re draft, peer review, edit and final draft . How many stage to do is up to you. Associated problems of – noise, marking, getting groups to work together and fittign thsi into the curriculum /textbook.,

Writing Stages (P.Grundy) Pre –writing Planning Targeting Organising In-writing - Drafting - Evaluating - Editing - Re-writing So, what are the writing stages? Elicit These would be done collaboratively as a group, or individually.

What do writers need to know? Content knowledge Context knowledge Language systems Writing process Know what writing about The social context in which writing will be read - reader's expectations e.g if a letter to a gov’t official letter expect a formal style Language – lexis, syntax all that is necessary for completion of the task Knowledge of how to prepare for a writing task

Learning to write or writing to learn? A) An activity which actively engages learners in the process of writing B) Having to write in order to complete a task Elicit what they think the difference might be. Then click

TASK Look at the examples of writing tasks and decide which are type a) and which are type b)

Task Analysis Listen to the tape Report the conversation. The following verbs might help: Explain insist refuse Point out go on to say Begin like this: The speaker began by saying that although it appears that prices are going up , in fact….

Some factors to remember when setting writing tasks Tasks should: -involve real communication -be of interest and relevant to the learners -be motivating/fun! - ?? Ask audience for more suggesitons

Some ideas to start students writing Blogs Postie, Postie Picture sequence Consequences Newspaper articles Letters/e-mails/texts Continue the story…. Blogs- read out bit from IATEFL 2010 case study . Class blog Letters to each other in class. Must reply. Often do in TT when doing peer observation Sequence of magazine pictures. Make up a story around them ( do demo) Pass the paper: name 2 people, where they were, what he said to her, what she said t him, what happened next, what the Consequence was.

Questions?