approaches to student writing

APPROACHES TO STUDENT WRITING

Presented byPeter Allan

Process and Product

• When writing, we can concentrate in the product of that writing or in the writing process itself.

• If we are interested in the aim, then we are focus on the product and not in the process of writing itself.

• Many teachers pay more attention to the process where the stages of writing go through, like pre-writing, editing, re-drafting and publishing. In a second language, it is more important to edit and re-draft than

in your mother tongue.• It is though, time consuming to brainstorm, editing, re-drafting, and interaction between the teacher and the students

Genre• Genre represents the norm of different types

of writing like, letters or poems, any other kind that instantly you will understand

by its construction.• A genre approach is specially appropriate for students of English for specific purposes.

Creative writing• Creative writing suggest imagination,

concocting stories, poetry, plays. • Creative writing is a journey of self-discovery

and self-discovery promotes effective learning, but there is always a danger that students could feel writing imaginatively difficult as a painful and demotivating experience.

Suggestions to create an appropriate reader audience for those piece of product pride:

Blogs (internet) Bulleting Boards Magazines Newsletters Comments Box Parents Evening

Writing as a cooperative activity• When writing in groups, the creativity increases

as there are many participants involved in the activity

• Teachers can attempt to promote a feeling of positive interdependence in a number of ways, including: a) Students have a common goal b) Students are all rewarded if the group achieves its goal

c) Students work together to overcome an obstacle

d) Each student has unique resourcese) Each student plays a different role (perhaps

rotating) f) Students share a common identity as members of their group

Some skills that are practiced and improved with cooperative writing projects:

• Peer editing• Peer teaching• Appropriate critiquing• Error correction• Consensus building• Agreeing/Disagreeing appropriately

• Summarizing• Analyzing/Synthesizing• Negotiating• Goal setting• Problem solving• Persuading• Vocabulary building

Verbal and non-verbal communication & behaviorally:• Confidence building• Increased motivation• Lowered affective filter• Self reliance• Increased enjoyment of writing

Building the writing habit• Some students could be unenthusiastic and

unconfident to write for their level of English or the lack of writing in class. Teachers has the mission to create such habit on

them to make writing a normal activity in classrooms as part of their process of learning.

Ways to incentive writing habits• Writing Prompts No matter the age of the students, writing

prompts can spark creativity. These can be printable worksheets that you pass out in class or read aloud. Writing prompts can complete the sentence style or even add what happens

next in a story that students have read.

• Journals Writing confidence often increases as students

gain experience. Journals are a great way for children to get

experience and to establish writing habits. Use the journal to reflect on recent field trips. Use pictures for recent

assignments or topics to create new journal entries.

• Games For those students who are reluctant to write, make

writing a game. The key is to focus on the game aspect and not the

writing. Play games such as "Fortunately/Unfortunately," which you begin by saying something a statement:

"Fortunately, I won the lottery.“ Then, have students write an accompanying "Unfortunately" sentence.

This will generate lots of giggles, because some students will give silly responses or have your students write the new rules .

• Lists Writing activities can be far more than formal

sentence structure and spelling. Have your students create lists of anything -- what

they want to be when they grow up, places they want to see, things they like to get at the grocery store.

Provide calendars, and have the students write down important dates, including birthdays, holidays and special schools observances.

Writing for learning and writing for writing

• Make a difference between them:Writing for learningIt is the kind teachers do to makestudents learn the language. (sentences in the present tense, future simple, etc)Writing for writingIt is the one teachers develop to improvetheir writing abilities.(letters, poems, reports, advertisement, etc.

The Roles of the Teacher

• Motivator Teachers should create the right conditions to

make students write.• Resourceful Teachers should be able to supply the right information when students are working extensive writings.

• Feedback Provider Teachers should respond positively and

encouragingly to the content of what students have written.

THANK YOU