1. 1 Teaching writing: Issues from a British perspective Clare Furneaux The University of Reading, UK Oficinas de Escrita no Ensino de Línguas, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal 29 October 2004

2. 2 Why teach writing? 1. to use writing for teaching English? (the language: its grammar and vocabulary)? 2. to teach English for writing? (vs English for speaking – registers and appropriacy)? 3. to teach English writing? (vs writing in the learners mother tongue – cross-cultural issues)? 4. to teach composing (i.e. how to write)?

3. 3 A history of FL writing teaching A focus on product: Grammar translation method: accuracy Controlled-to-free: habit formation Paragraph pattern approach: organisation Grammar – Syntax- Organisation: organisation + grammar Communicative approach: purpose + audience

4. 4 Focus on process purpose + audience + the writers process. A process model (White & Arndt 1991): drafting structuring re-viewingfocusing generating ideas evaluating

5. 5 Focus on the reader English for Academic Purposes: content & audience The genre approach: rhetorical structure

6. 6 Teaching mother tongue English The National Curriculum (revised 2000) Attempting to standardise education and to address…

7. 7 Popular concerns Literacy skills of school leavers: Accuracy (inflnc of txtng? too much emphasis on communication alone?) Style (e-mail/chat appearing in other writing contexts) Poor readers of print (prevalence of hypertext in on-screen reading?)

8. 8 Primary School The National Literacy Framework: word, sentence, text strands for each year group The daily Literacy Hour: 15 mins whole class shared text work 15 mins whole class focused word work 20 mins group & independent work 10 mins whole class review/reflection

9. 9 Secondary School Framework for teaching English Literacy across the Curriculum Word, sentence, text levels defined by year Text level – writing: Year 7 (age 11): Plan, draft and present Write to imagine, explore, entertain Write to inform, explain, describe Write to persuade, argue, advise Write to analyse, review, comment

10. 10 English as a foreign/second/additional language Contexts: Language schools Schools Colleges Universities

11. 11 What writers need to know content knowledge: of subject area concepts context knowledge: of the social context in which the text will be read, including the readers expectations... language system knowledge writing process knowledge Tribble 1996

12. 12 University-level issues Native speakers need help with academic writing & study skills too. Critical thinking skills need to be taught. Plagiarism – from books, articles, websites, other students. Intended and unintended

13. 13 Writing teachers need to remember Students need help: with language with composing to see writing as discourse with a reader to read texts as apprentice writers to become evaluators of their own writing to become independent writers.

14. 14 Websites Department for Education and Skills (DFES) 1997- 2004 National Literacy Strategy (online) Available from: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/literacyhttp://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/literacy Department for Education and Skills (DFES) The National Languages Strategy http://www.dfes.gov.uk/languages/DSP_nationallang uages_activity.cfm National Association for the Teaching of English http://www.nate.org.uk/ http://www.nate.org.uk/ National Centre for Languages http://www.cilt.org.uk/

15. 15 References Tribble, C. 1996 Writing. Oxford: OUP. White, R. & Arndt, V. 1991. Process Writing London: Longman