Teaching
Writing
Its Importance, its Reasons, How to Teach it
By Kiersten Ellis
Pre-Service Teacher,
School of English
Faculty
of Social Sciences
Universidad
Latina de Costa Rica
Friday, April 29, 2016
Post 259
Why is writing so important? What are
the reasons for writing? How important is it to focus on teaching writing
specifically? How should writing be taught? What kind of writing should be
taught? These are just some questions that many teachers, scholars, curriculum
writers, and others may grapple with during their career.
In Chapter 8 of “How to Teach
English,” Jeremy Harmer (2007) directs the teacher to several aspects and concerns
about teaching writing. Harmer briefly
describes two main reasons for writing - writing-for-learning, or using writing
as a practice tool for other topics or subjects being focused on, and
writing-for-writing, or in other words writing in order to improve writing
skills specifically.
Some issues regarding writing that teachers often
face are deciding what genre or type of writing to have the students write, how
to teach or reinforce the correct English writing process, and how to engage
students in writing and motivate them to make it a habit. The order in which
writing activities take place should be considered carefully as well. One way
to go about it, for example, is to have intermediate students make corrections
in a piece of writing as simple as a post card or email. Then have the students
create their own pretend post card to a friend or family member telling about
their trip. Some writing sequences can be more connected, as in a process, such
as creating a written interview, giving it, and then producing the final
product of the interview questions and answers. Other writing activities that
can be used in a sequence manner is essay or report writing, which also can
teach the students about the writing process. Other useful writing dynamics
that do not necessarily involve sequences are ones that involve instant
writing. This is writing a response immediately after a question or statement is
posed to the students. Journal writing in class is a good example of this. Also
using music and pictures as writing prompts is a fun way of getting the
students to write. Or other written material can be used as a tool or
compliment for writing activities. Such texts as newspapers, magazines,
brochures, guides, or poetry can be used for this. Or to make things a little
more interactive the teacher can have students write interactively or to each
other. Something teachers need to take into account is how much correction in
written works to give and what color pen to use. Depending on the student, too
much can be discouraging and deter them from writing. Strategies must be found
in order to correct students in constructive or positive ways. Lastly, depending
on the students, the teacher may need to work with them on writing neatly and
legibly. This is pertinent to improve for other aspects of life, but
specifically in the classroom because if the teacher can’t understand what’s
written then he or she can’t correct or grade the work.
The biggest advantage of writing in an
English class, in my opinion, is that it is a form of producing creative,
natural communication with less stress and more thinking time than when
practicing speaking. Added thinking time is beneficial to allow the students to
get their thoughts together as well as to allow them time to think through the
structure, punctuation, and spelling of the things they want to say. They can
go back and edit as well. With this extra time and opportunity to edit and
improve mistakes one feels more calm and confident through this type of
communication. They know that their mistakes will be less or can be corrected.
Whereas when one is speaking and makes a mistake, the mistake is made. You can
correct yourself afterward, but it’s is still embarrassing and nerve wracking
for many. Many kinds of tasks can be performed involving writing in order to
practice or analyze all kinds of things, whether it be grammar, a writing style
or genre, grammar structures, or to discuss different topics. This provides for
variety in activities.
Some negative aspects of teaching
writing are that it’s very possible for the teacher to not vary the tasks
enough, or to branch out from the ordinary. If the teacher doesn’t change
things up some at least once in a while then the students will get bored of the
same routine or the same old activities. Also, depending on the task, many
writing assignments aren’t very interactive. Though writing is a useful way to
communicate, there should be a balance between the amount of writing and
speaking that the students are required to do. A foreign language student’s
education is incomplete if they can write very well but cannot carry or
understand a conversation. Another thing to watch out for that the book
specifically pointed out is that students can get very discouraged by written
corrections, especially in red pen. Teachers should watch out for this and be
careful of how they word feedback and suggestions or corrections.
Teaching writing is very important to
me. It is an essential tool for improving handwriting and spelling, especially
for language learners whose first language uses different characters or a
different alphabet. It’s also necessary for practicing grammar skills. It’s a
skill that can and should be practiced at all levels from beginner to high or
advanced students. It should be used in many different ways and through a
variety of activities. This is so important to keep students engaged and
growing. I also support teaching the writing process for paragraphs, essays,
and even reports or research papers. This type of formal writing is pertinent
to know how to produce for any other academic or business setting the students
may find themselves in at some point in the future. Not all teacher or student
has strong points involving writing and every group of students will be
different. As teachers grow and learn through experience we must find our
groove and what teaching style fits us best. Though we may not enjoy writing or
teaching writing it’s important to find a balance and fit it in to the
curriculum to some degree.
Reference
Harmer,
J. (2007). "Teaching Reading". how to Teach English. Person Longman
Friday, April 29, 2016
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