It is important to think about what you (as the teacher) are going to do with the learners writing. For example, use the wall space in the classroom to display letters, ideas, jokes, p[r]
(1)ICELT DISTANCE UNIT
(2)Teaching Writing and Responding to Written work Aims
In this module, we will explore the issues involved in teaching writing and will look at how to teach writing at various levels In addition, we examine how to mark written work
Aims
By the end of this unit you should
• Have developed awareness of what is involved in the skill of writing
• Have a better understanding of the purpose and value of writing in the English language classroom
• Be able to prepare effective and meaningful writing activities at the appropriate level for your learners
• have developed clearer understanding of how to give effective and appropriate feedback to your learners about their written work
Coursework in this unit:
(3)Part 1: Developing writing skills in the EL classroom (teaching writing)
Reflection
It is very important to consider your own feelings about writing in English This will effect how you teach writing in the English language classroom
1 Do you believe writing is a skill in its own right, which can be taught in the classroom through a range of tasks and activities or is it just a way of practising language structures?
2 Why your students write in their English classes? Make a list of all the reasons why you think that writing is important in English lessons
3 Do your students have to pass examinations in English? What types of writing are required by these examinations?
4 What type of 'texts' students write in their English classes? Make a list of typical writing tasks How much time they spend on:
a) writing sentences?
b) writing whole 'texts' e.g narratives and descriptions etc
5 Do you think that writing in English is a language problem or writing problem? Do you work with your students when they are writing, encouraging them to
revise and edit their work as they go along?
7 Do your students ever collaborate on writing tasks?
8 Do your students ever mark their own or each other's work?
(4)The purpose of writing and teaching writing
What is writing?
Task
What is the purpose of writing?
Think about how you use writing in your everyday life in your first language
Commentary
The purpose of most writing is to communicate with one or more readers (a friend, a relative, a colleague, an institution, a teacher etc.) Of course, we sometimes write for ourselves but even then, we read this material at a later date
As the main purpose is to communicate, the writer needs to send a clear message This will depend on:
• Knowledge of skills and strategies necessary to produce an effective piece of writing, i.e how to start, how to take notes, how to plan
• Awareness of how to use language according to situation
• Knowledge of how to sequence and organise written language
• Ability to use grammar correctly to convey precise meaning
• Awareness of the importance of presentation
Task
a) Think about the last 48 hours Make a list of the things you wrote in your own language?
b) Look at the list and answer the following questions:
* What was the aim? (i.e to remind, to apologise, to inform) * What was the audience? (the person who reads the text)
* What was the genre, or text type? (i.e, shopping list, a telephone message)
(5)Commentary
Nowadays we very little writing in our everyday life Most of it is short, for example, taking telephone messages, writing brief notes to friends or colleagues, writing emails etc But in all cases it is important to know the aim (a purpose), the audience and the text type This
should be reflected as far as possible in the classroom
However you may ask, as there is not such a great real-life need for formal written work, 'why we need to teach writing?' This leads us to our next point
What is the purpose of teaching writing? Task
(6)Some teachers in South America were asked 'What is the purpose of asking students to write? Here is what they said
Which views are similar to yours?
Guillermo, Venezuela
Isabel, Perú Luz Stella, México
Writing is a useful follow-up It helps to consolidate what has been learned
The main purpose of writing is accurate use of language - especially grammatical structures
I see writing as an end in itself Just as my learners want to be able to speak English, so they need to write too
Maria, Ecuador
Miguel, Colombia
I think one of the most important reasons for having students write is to be able to assess their formal knowledge
I use writing both to practise language and to encourage my learners to be creative
Writing is just another form of communication My learners expect to be given writing practice to improve their all-round English That's why I it
Eduardo, Chile
Juan José, Colombia
Blanca, Perú
Paola, Bolivia
Richard, Colombia
I make my students write things down They need it as a reference
Writing is more reflective that speaking I think it gives learners more time and they can be more accurate in what they write I think they expect to quite a lot of writing
The purpose of writing is simply to practise writing
(7)Commentary
There are a number of very good reasons why it is useful to include work on writing in English language classroom:
To consolidate and reinforce language work done in class: - most students find it useful
to see language written down and to practice a new structure at sentence level after they have studied it Writing is often used to help students remember new items of language
To develop writing skills - like reading, speaking and listening, writing is a basic language
skill Students need to know some of writing's special conventions (punctuation, paragraph construction etc) just as they need to know how to pronounce spoken English appropriately
To prepare them for exams - Many students have specific needs which require them to
develop their writing skills, for example examination preparation, expectation in schools of essay writing, project writing, poems etc
To assess - writing allows students to see how they are progressing and to get feedback
from the teacher As teachers we often use writing as a way to monitor and diagnose problems
To develop accuracy - using writing to develop ability in producing grammatically correct
sentences as well as following writing conventions of different text types (for example writing a formal letter compared to a postcard to a close friend), correct spelling, punctuation etc
To encourage the development of fluency - developing the students' ability to
communicate ideas and experiences creatively and confidently in a written form
For classroom management and to change the pace of the lesson - writing can give the
teacher a break It can quieten down a noisy class Although with collaborative writing it may even liven up the class
To encourage students to work together and share their ideas and experiences - writing
requires a different type of mental process - unlike speaking there is more time to think, reflect, prepare, make mistakes, find alternative and better ways of expression an idea or opinion Writing in class allows students to work together in the process of writing, through a process of generating and sharing ideas, making decisions on what to include in the writing, how to express ideas and revising what has been written
For enjoyment – there are many students who, with the proper support and guidance, can
(8)Writing in the English language classroom Attitudes to writing
Task
♦ How you feel about teaching writing? ♦ How your students feel about writing?
Commentary
Writing often receives less attention by teachers because it is at the bottom of the list of teachers' priorities: classroom time is limited and writing is time-consuming In addition, it is one of the most difficult things to tackle on the syllabus and students often not respond in the way that teachers want them to Some feel that writing 'takes care of itself', a less important issue that is best taken care of in the form of an occasional homework task
The situation is not helped by the negative feeling students often have about writing Do your recognise these:
(When they have only written lines.) Finished!
I don't know what to write about…
Why we have to writing, it's so boring!
Oh no not
writing…can't we just talk?
Many see it as hard work, boring, unrewarding and, perhaps because writing is often associated with homework and/or exams, not a lot of fun Motivation can be a huge problem for the teacher
This is not helped by teacher over-reliance on writing in the classroom for ‘speaking’ practice activities, which is generally not appropriate practise, and also connects writing to boring activities
(9)First we need to consider a number of factors:
– to motivate our students to write we need to provide a reason, especially a fun reason or a personally important reason If I asked you to write about your holidays, the probability is that you might give me a quick summary If I asked you more specific questions and gave you a reason for writing (for a wall display, for a short book recommending different holiday activities), you would probably produce a much more interesting piece of work Having a clear sense of 'audience' (who is going to read this) is also motivating This doesn't have to be the teacher, it could be the rest of the class for instance
– students respond better if they are given guidance Learners need more guidance than just a title to write successfully They may need help in how to approach their writing, in generating ideas, how to make notes, how to organise ideas etc
– allow your students to work together on writing As a group they can generate lots of ideas, select the content and organise their ideas The teacher can move around from group to group monitoring the work and helping with the process of writing Encourage your learners to ask you for advice By giving them the right to choose when they want your help, you are helping to develop their sense of responsibility in their own learning – The key to motivation is the choice and variety of activities Give learners plenty of
opportunities to try out different kinds of writing (letters, reports, articles, posters, and public notices for example) as well as 'the composition' Remember that form can be interesting as well as content Similarly give them activities that you know they will find fund
– As a teacher, be positive about writing, be supportive and flexible, and allow them
to be creative with their ideas.
Let's look at the types of writing activities done in the classroom
2 Types of writing activities Task
1 What types of writing you ask your students to do? How often to you writing activities:
(10)Commentary
Q1 Most writing in the classroom falls on a continuum from copying to free writing: Focus A - types of writing B - definitions and example activities
Copying Students copy from the board or from books
They generally copy grammatical structures, grammatical rules and items of vocabulary This provides the students with a written record of the language presented and practised in class
Written Exercises These exercises practise grammatical
structures For example, writing sentences from prompts following a particular structural pattern, answering questions using a particular structural pattern, completing sentences, matching halves of sentences and writing out a complete sentences, gap-filling using the correct tense or word
Guided writing Students are involved in a process of writing
and the teacher gives help during this process (thinking through ideas, ordering them, co-operatively preparing notes, writing draft copies, editing and writing final versions)
Controll ed (accuracy focus)
Freer (fluency focus)
Free writing Students come up with a topic and title for a
composition themselves and not receive any help from the teacher
Writing should be practised in the classroom everyday Even very short pieces of writing, with drawings to illustrate points should be encouraged and discussed If your learners are only writing at home, this means that they are always writing without support Of course writing tasks as homework are often essential because of pressures of time and curriculum, but make sure you prepare for them in class (See more discussion on guided writing)
What kinds of writing should students do?
Of course it will depend on the age, interests and level of the students but there are some very important factors to consider:
Students need time in the classroom for writing It is the teacher's task to select or design activities which support them through the process of producing a piece of writing (guided
writing)
(11)type of text (THE GENRE), for example a formal letter compared to an e-mail message to a close friend (different type of language and different layouts)
It is important to think about what you (as the teacher) are going to with the learners writing For example, use the wall space in the classroom to display letters, ideas, jokes, poems, stories, recipes etc that have been written by learners This public display of work is highly motivating and encourages learners to take pride in their finished product Furthermore, the written work can be extended to other members of the school For example your classes can write to other classes at the same level Projects can be displayed in a public space for all in the school This motivates learners to concentrate on presentation The learners should be encouraged to decide for themselves which work should be displayed and how- as a hand-written text, retyped text, in book form or poster form and with what kind of illustrations Try to keep a collection of old magazine pictures for learners to use to brighten up their work, or download images from the Internet
4 Analysing writing activities
Task
Look at the six example of writing activities taken mainly from coursebooks Identify the following characteristics for each writing activity:
a) aim b) audience c) genre
d) level (elementary, pre-intermediate, etc)
For some there may be some missing elements Here’s an example:
Write a one-page magazine advertisement for a new style of trainers (sneakers) that your company produces
a) aim: not specified (implied aim is to sell a pair of trainers to a prospective customer) b) audience: a potential customer
c) genre: a one page advertisement
d) level: pre-intermediate to advance (suitable for a range of levels) Writing activity A
You are a famous singer Make a poster for your concert
Commentary
Aim: to give information about a concert/to persuade Audience: music fans
Genre: poster
(12)Writing activity B
A friend is coming to stay with you Write a letter a suggest some things to
Dear…
I'm really glad that you are coming to stay at my house for a few days I'm sure you will like it here I've got lots of ideas for things to First of all why don't we … [Explain why this is interesting] Then we could….And how about……? Or perhaps you'd……
Anyway, we can decide all this later I'll be at the airport at 11.30 to meet you. See you soon
[Your name] Commentary
Aim: to make some suggestions Audience: a friend coming to stay Genre: a letter to a friend
Level: pre intermediate
Writing activity C
Design and write an information leaflet about your town/city for tourists
Commentary
Aim: to give information Audience: tourists Genre: leaflet/brochure Level: low-intermediate
Writing activity D
Work in groups of three to five As a group, you are going to write a story of a dream by completing the text below Before you begin, each student choose pictures from a set of pictures (they can be any small pictures, but one idea is to use Reward Pre-Intermediate Resource Pack (31) ) in an envelope You must include these pictures in your dream
I was sitting in front of the television late one evening, when I fell asleep and had a strange dream
In the dream I was… (Where were you? What were you doing?) Suddenly (What happened?)
To my surprise (What happened next?
(13)Commentary
Aim: to describe a dream (imaginary) Audience: classmates
Genre: a story of a dream
Level: pre - intermediate and above Writing activity E
Write a recipe for an interesting dish First list the ingredients you need Then describe how to make the dish
This recipe is for shepherd’s pie For this dish you need minced beef or lamb, onions,…… First you chop up the onions, and then fry them lightly in oil…
Exchange recipes and read them Is there a recipe you would like to try?
Commentary
Aim: to give instructions Audience: classmates Genre: a recipe
Level: pre intermediate
Lesson Planning
What writing lessons look like?
Writing is a productive skill like speaking Like speaking, writing activities not occur in isolation It is important to think what comes before it - pre-writing, and what comes after it -
post-writing
Task
Describe what might happen during the pre-, while- and post- stages of a writing activity What does the teacher do? What are the learners doing?
Commentary:
The Pre-writing stage prepares the learners to write The students could be asked to
brainstorm ideas on a particular topic and share experiences They may be shown models of a text and be asked to identify the conventions (language, form etc) of the particular text type
While-writing stage Learners produce their texts, from the ideas generated in the previous
(14)Post-writing - two things happen after writing:
Dealing with the product (displaying the poster, sending the letter, reading the poem to classmates etc) This might lead to a role play or some other type of speaking activity, or reading activity
Responding to the writing (evaluating, rewriting, appraisal of the form and ideas by the other learners or teacher) This will be looked at in detail in part
The focus of a writing activity
Writing is a complicated skill and it is impossible to deal with all aspects of what makes good writing at once It is therefore important to have a particular TASK FOCUS for each writing activity Task focuses could be:
Imagination development and vocabulary expansion
Types of writing that need imagination and a great variety of vocabulary are the creative types of writing such as:
• stories and fairy tales
• poems
• articles
• reviews
• personal communications
Form and organisation are also important, but a variety of vocabulary is crucial
Register of language (formal and informal expressions) Types of writing for which register is important include:
• typed letters
• business communications
As these often depend on a received communication, such as a letter from a business partner, the need for vocabulary brainstorming will be less important
The use of formulaic phrases
• beginning and endings of letters, (' Dear Sir/Madam', 'I look forward to hearing from you', yours faithfully, bye for now)
• internet language, as formulaic phrases are especially popular in chat and e-mail
• formal invitations Text organisation
• summary writing
• essays
• academic writing
• magazine articles
(15)Presentation and layout This is important for:
• letters
• applications and CVs (curriculum vitae)
• posters
• projects
• advertisements
You can also work with particular learners for whom presentation is a problem because of handwriting
Grammatical features of types of writing, joining sentences
It can be useful to have a grammar focus where there are useful patterns to look at, for example:
• the use of the past simple and past perfect in stories
• present perfect and past simple in newspaper articles or letters of application
(16)Task
Look at the following pre-writing activities (1-6) and decide: What the task focus is?
What the product will be (the text)?
What you could with the product (post writing task)?
Activity 1: Three words story
Put three words on the board: for example man, restaurant, ring
Tell the students they are going to write a story containing a man, a restaurant and a ring On the board, draw a table:
Man Restaurant Ring
Ask the learners what the man looks like, what he is wearing, what he does etc As they call out ideas, put them on the board Accept all of the ideas Now the same for 'restaurant' and 'ring'
As the learners to put a story together using some of the ideas on the board
Commentary
Task focus: This is a brainstorming activity for vocabulary expansion, especially adjectives
Product: a story
Post writing task: could be a cartoon strip for a wall or a drama activity in groups acting out the stories
Activity 2: Skeleton Thanks
Give the learners the following skeleton of a letter
Dear …………
Thank you for ……… It was wonderful I especially liked……… and
………
I hope……… and I look forward to……… Regards, Peter Smith
(17)Commentary
Task Focus: Formulaic phrases (often idiomatic e.g I look forward to hearing from you)
Product: relatively formal letter of thanks
Post writing task: the letters are displayed around the classroom and Ss vote on the most
imaginative gift and response; further writing - Ss have to email a friend and tell them about their birthday/Christmas etc and say what gifts they received, why they liked them/didn't like them; change the genre of writing Thanking informally e.g a letter to a close friend or an email and analysis of the formal and informal genres
Activity 3: Story gap-fill
This story outline can be put on the computer before a lesson or be as a paper copy It could also be done as a dictation (video clip)
Pedro was talking with his English teacher She was getting more and more upset
(Teacher to students: write the first few lines of the conversation)
When Pedro got home he went into the kitchen and said hello to his mother
(Teacher: describe her and what she was doing)
Pedro's mother called the family to the table and they all sat down to eat It didn't take long for Pedro's mum and dad to start arguing
(Teacher: write the first few lines of their argument)
Pedro left the table and went to his room, banging the door behind him…
(Teacher: what did he next?)
Commentary:
Task focus: language expansion and development of imagination, styles of writing, description etc
Product: a story and dialogues
Post-writing task: drama/role play (could be filmed or photographed used in picture story)
Activity Chopped story
Cut up a text into pieces, dividing at the end of paragraphs and label the pieces A-F in any order Divide the class into groups of Give a set of six chopped pieces to each group Groups must decide on the order of the sections and make themselves into a line, with the person at the front of the line holding the beginning of the text, and so on
Task focus: awareness raising activity about text organisation and cohesion between paragraphs
Product: model text
(18)Activity Getting a job
Show students a job advertisement (from the Internet, from a newspaper) and the following letter of application
Bogotá November 5th
Dear Sir,
I hope you don't mind me asking, but have to got any jobs? I saw your advert and I think I'd like to work for you
I'm really nice and clever as I passed all my exams at school and I've lots of friends I've done lots of jobs and I'll tell you about them when I come and see you in your office
Can I come and see you on Tuesday? I'm busy on Wednesday coz I'm going out with some friends Bye for now
Susan Tel: 624 3551
Learners discuss what is good and bad about the letter and whether the person would get an interview In groups, they plan and write a letter of application for the same or a similar job
Commentary
Task focus: register
Products: Letters of application
Post writing: competition for the best letter, students could imagine they are employers looking at letters and deciding who to interview, possibly writing a letter or reply or phoning to make an appointment for an interview, they could role-play an interview; could also be used as a text comparison 'look at the letter, which one is more effective?'; follow up by getting students to write two letters on a similar theme but to very different people For example, they could be teenagers writing to a head teacher explaining why they were absent from school and an e-mail to a friend saying what really happened
Activity - Write so it is true for you
Before class prepare a short text about yourself on any topic that you feel your students would be interested in For example:
Cats are my favourite animals
They are very intelligent and independent I especially like black cats
When I am with cats I like talking to them and stroking them I also like looking after them.
Read out one line at a time and ask learners to change the sentences so that they are true for them:
For example:
(19)After reading out a line give the learners some time to write down their version They will need time to think about the topic and make a decision as to what they should write down Make sure that the level of language is about the level of your learners and that the topic is one that your students can identify with
An alternative version of this (and for a higher level) could be used to encourage students to express their own opinions It could be used as an activity that leads into a discussion and a controversial reading As an example the teacher reads this sentence:
Human beings not treat animals well
And tells the students to re-write the sentence to reflect their own feelings Students may write:
Human beings must treat animals better because they are living creature too I think human beings treat animals very well
We should treat animals better and all become vegetarians
Commentary
Task focus: imagination development and vocabulary expansion Products: sentences expressing feeling about a given topic/issue
(20)A lesson plan
In this section you will see how writing activity F from Section 3 is incorporated into a lesson
Task
Read the plan and the attached materials carefully Can you identify the three main stages: pre-, while-, and post-, that we talked about at the beginning of this section?
Stage & Timing (approx)
Procedure Stage Aim
1 Set the
Context 10 minutes
Students are given a number of questions about dreams for discussion (see OHT 1) The teacher introduces the activity: 'Today you are going to write a story about a dream for the other students to read'
Lead in to topic Create interest
Give context for writing:
What (genre) / Who (audience) / Why (aim)
2 Provide model text and reading task
5 minutes
The teacher writes:
Who is Keri’s favourite TV star?
The teacher gives out a text (see HO1 - model text for writing activity This model provides an example of the type of writing and language the students will be expected to produce in the writing stage) and gives the students 45 seconds to find the answer to the question (Pedro el Escamoso)
Provide model text for Ss which is to be used in the writing activity that follows Set a 'gist task' to give students a purpose for reading and to gain an overall understanding of the text
3 Language analysis minutes
Teacher asks students to underline all the phrases in text which help to organise events in the story e.g I was sitting in front…, in the dream…, suddenly etc
They then compare their texts with OHT - the story skeleton (outline)
Focus on narrative markers
4 Setting up Writing task
5 minutes
The students are divided into groups (3-5) Each group is given an envelope containing a set of pictures (for example, from Reward Pre-Intermediate resource pack 31b)
Each student takes two pictures randomly from the envelope All of the selected pictures are spread out in front of the students
Stimulate Sts to write