Strategies
Of Writing
Two writing
strategies you may want to use in your lessons are free writing and revised
writing. Free writing directs students to simply get their ideas onto paper
without worrying much about grammar, spelling, or other English mechanics. In
fact, the teacher can choose not to even look at free writing pieces. To
practice free writing, give students 5 minutes in class to write about a
certain topic, or ask them to write weekly in a journal. You can try a dialog
journal where students write a journal entry and then give the journal to a
partner or the teacher, who writes another entry in response. The journals may
be exchanged during class, but journal writing usually is done at home. The
main characteristic of free writing is that few (if any) errors are corrected
by the teacher, which relieves students of the pressure to perform and allows
them to express themselves more freely.
Revised
writing, also called extended or process writing, is a more formal activity in
which students must write a first draft, then revise and edit it to a final
polished version, and often the finished product is shared publicly. You may
need several class sessions to accomplish this. Begin with a pre-writing task
such as free writing, brainstorming, listing, discussion of a topic, making a
timeline, or making an outline. Pairs or small groups often work well for
pre-writing tasks. Then give the students clear instructions and ample time to
write the assignment.
Tactful correction of student writing is essential. Written correction is
potentially damaging to confidence because it's very visible and permanent on
the page. Always make positive comments and respond to the content, not just
the language. Focus on helping the student clarify the meaning of the writing.
Especially at lower levels, choose selectively what to correct and what to
ignore. Spelling should be a low priority as long as words are recognizable. To
reduce ink on the page, don't correct all errors or rewrite sentences for the
student. Make a mark where the error is and let the student figure out what's
wrong and how to fix it. At higher levels you can tell students ahead of time
exactly what kinds of errors (verbs, punctuation, spelling, word choice) you
will correct and ignore other errors. If possible, in addition to any written
feedback you provide, try to respond orally to your student's writing, making
comments on the introduction, overall clarity, organization, and any
unnecessary information.
Consider the following ideas for
your writing lessons.
1. Types
of Tasks
Here are some ideas for the types of writing you can ask your students to
do.
a. Copying text word for word
b.
Writing what
you dictate
c.
Imitating a
model
d.
Filling in
blanks in sentences or paragraphs
e.
Taking a
paragraph and transforming certain language, for example changing all verbs and
time references to past tense
f.
Summarizing
a story text, video, or listening clip (you can guide with questions or
keywords)
g.
Making lists
of items, ideas, reasons, etc. (words or sentences depending on level)
h.
Writing what
your students want to learn in English and why
i.
Writing letters
(complaint, friend, advice) - give blank post cards or note cards or stationery
to add interest; you can also use this to teach how to address an envelope
j.
Organizing
information, for example making a grid of survey results or writing directions
to a location using a map
k.
Reacting to
a text, object, picture, etc. - can be a word or whole written piece.
2. Format
Clarify the
format. For an essay, you may specify that you want an introduction, main
ideas, support, and a conclusion. For a poem, story, list, etc., the format
will vary accordingly, but make sure your students know what you expect.
3. Model
Provide a
model of the type of writing you want your students to do, especially for
beginners.
4. Editing
Consider
giving students a checklist of points to look for when editing their own work.
Include such things as clear topic sentences, introduction and conclusion, verb
tenses, spelling, capitalization, etc.
5. Correction
Minimize the
threatening appearance of correction. Instead of a red pen, use green or blue
or even pencil, as long as it's different from what the student used. Explain
to the students that you will use certain symbols such as VT for verb tense or
WO for word order, and be very clear whether a mark (check mark, X, star,
circle) means correct or incorrect as this varies among cultures.
Carderonello and Edwards (1986:5) explain in their
book Raugh Draft as follows: specify that there are five components in the
process of writing, namely:
1. Inventing: Namely to find and generate ideas
/ ideas of students, what will students write or tell, steps can find ideas in
many ways such as reading, talking, brainstorming, questions, etc. mindmapping.
2. Planning: the stages of how students are
trying to determine how to convey ideas. This stage students will be raised the
issue, purpose, reader, text structure and tone of the text to be written.
3. Drafting: In this stage, students tried to
form a material or materials into text. Draft sustainable written, from draft
1, draft 2 and draft 3 to be the final result.
4. Revising: revise including adding a new
idea, another idea of eliminating some of the words or ideas that do not need
or reconstruct what has been written in the draft.
5. Editing: Editing is polishing a piece of
writing from various aspects such as, spelling, tenses, choice of words and
others.