Teaching Writing - A Guide for Primary Stage Students PDF

Writing is a complex activity. Understanding this complexity is the key to effective teaching of writing. In this chapter, I will present a brief historical overview of various approaches to teaching writing, including the controlled approach, process approach, and genre approach. Essential to imple...

Writing is a complex activity. Understanding this complexity is the key to effective teaching of writing. In this chapter, I will present a brief historical overview of various approaches to teaching writing, including the controlled approach, process approach, and genre approach. Essential to implementing these approaches is understanding the recursive nature of the writing process and knowing what constitutes competent writing. Indeed, writing competence encompasses not only word choices, sentence variations, punctuation choices, and other linguistic tools for cohesion and coherence, but also ways to structure and develop arguments at the micro and macro levels. It is important to adopt a writing pedagogy that explicitly trains students in the kinds of thinking processes that are conducive to good writing. To this end, this chapter presents the socio-cognitive approach to teaching writing. I will discuss guiding principles and pedagogical implications of the approach. I will also highlight strategies for enhancing the quality of second language writing, drawing upon insights from the literature of writing research. When I teach the Second Language Academic Writing course to English majors at my university, I often learn from my pre-service student teachers that they are unaware of the various approaches to teaching English-as-a-second-language writing. This is not surprising perhaps, as many pre-service teachers are trained as English Language teachers, rather than writing teachers (Cheung, 2011; Lee, 2008). Many of us learn how to teach writing through imitating our favourite writing teachers, or through mentorship by senior colleagues in our workplace. Nevertheless, it may be beneficial for teachers to have a systematic understanding of different approaches to teaching academic writing. There have been paradigm shifts in approaches to teaching academic writing over the last few decades (Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti, & Woodrow, 2009). From the mid-1940s to mid-1960s, controlled composition was practiced widely in writing classes. Such a teaching approach aims to improve the accuracy of students' written works, based on a behaviorist view that repetition and imitation will lead to habit formation (e.g., writing\ grammatically correct sentences). An example of controlled composition is for teachers to give sample sentences of a chosen structure, and then students are tasked to write a few sentences following that pattern. Later in the mid-1960s, English Language teachers realized that students needed to focus not only on grammatical accuracy of the sentences they produced but also the functions of writing. Thus, teachers adopted a rhetorical function approach where they shifted the teaching focus from sentence level accuracy to a discourse level that emphasized the purposes of writing such as description, comparison, and contrast. Since the 1970s, the process approach to writing has gained popularity. Instead of focusing primarily on the form/correctness of the writing, teachers now encourage students to pay attention to macro-level communicative purposes. The aim of the process approach is to let the students' ideas decide the form of a piece\ of writing (Silva, 1990).\ Given that writing is socially-situated in nature, yet another approach to writing instruction was introduced to help students acquire the genres that they needed to master in order to succeed in writing about specific topics. Under this genre approach, through reading model texts from a subject area and guided practice, students master the language, text structure, and discourse practices for specific kinds of communication. We should take note that understanding the genre approach depends on genre traditions, such as English for Specific Purposes (UK), New Rhetoric (USA), and Systemic Functional Linguistics (Australia). These three genre traditions differ in\ both form and function (Hyon, 1996).\ Despite the variety of writing approaches that teachers have developed and adopted in their\ classrooms, a common underlying objective is to make sure that students recognize that they write in order to accomplish certain deliberate functions. Against this background, this chapter will present a practical approach to teaching writing. This approach manifests a socio-cognitive pedagogy that explicitly trains students in key thinking processes that are conducive to developing and expressing ideas while considering their audience. Drawing upon insights from the literature of second language writing research, I will discuss guiding principles and pedagogical implications of the approach. I will also highlight basic but effective strategies for enhancing the quality of second language writing. 12.2 Second Language Writing\ What makes a successful essay? In a study on various ways writers can write good essays,Crossley, Roscoe, and McNamara (2014) suggest that "Successful writing cannot be defined simply through a single set of predefined features. Rather, successful writing has multiple\ profiles" (p. 184). Specifically, some successful writers compose longer essays (Crossley,Weston, McLain Sullivan, & McNamara, 2011) with more infrequent vocabulary (McNamara,Crossley, & Roscoe, 2013), and fewer grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors (Ferrari,Bouffard, & Rainville, 1998). Other successful writers produce essays with more syntactically complex sentences (Crossley, et al., 2011) and with a better control of text cohesion (Crossley, et al., 2014). Hence, besides a basic goal to write texts accurately, free of grammatical errors,student authors should consider stylistic factors such as choice of words, sentence complexity,text cohesion, and length of their essays.\ In fact, achieving good composition is a complex and difficult task for both native speakers and\ non-native speakers of English. Even if one writes in one's own language, discipline is requisite\ for precision and form; hence going through multiple revisions of drafts is the norm rather than exception. This difficulty to achieve the mastery of words, even if one is familiar with these words, was pointed out by Widdowson (1983, p. 34):\ For the moment let us note that getting the better of words in writing is commonly a very hard struggle. And I am thinking now of words which are in one's own language. The struggle is all the greater when they are not.\ In order to teach writing effectively, teachers must therefore be explicitly cognizant of the skills and processes that are involved. This view treats writing as a profession, a qualification to be attained with discipline and hard work, rather than an innate ability or subconscious habit. Indeed,\ "even in one's native language, learning to write is something like learning a second language...\ No one is a 'native speaker' of writing. For the most part, everyone learns to write at school\" Leki, 1992, p. 10). In other words, we need to let students know that few authors possess an in-born 'native' command of writing English as a lingua franca (Canagarajah, 2006). If students\ want to write well, they need to learn the skills explicitly and adopt deliberate strategies to enhance their writing competence. In what follows, I will outline some of the skills that are basic to competence in writing. I will also discuss the non-linear process of academic writing that teachers can introduce to students in writing classrooms to raise their awareness of how writing develops. Then, I will suggest some\ practical methods for enhancing students' writing performance in second language classes.\ 12.3 Writing competence\ Writing competence is about composing an effective piece of written work to fulfill a specific purpose. For example, when writing an entertaining and engaging story, students adopt a narrative style and rhetorical moves in order to fulfill the requirements of a specialized context (e.g., classroom practice, take-home assignment, or in-class examination). Once students are aware of the importance of the purpose, audience, and context of the writing, they can employ the following basic academic discourse skills to achieve effective implementation.\ a. Paraphrase and direct quotation Paraphrase is to present an original writer's ideas with different word choices and sometimes rearrangements of word/sentence order from an original text. Direct quotation is used when\ students want to retain the original wordings and form of the quoted texts. Students should be explicitly taught that the paraphrased portions must be adequate when they paraphrase. In other\ words, the meaning conveyed by the original author must be captured in essence and not distorted. Whenever students paraphrase or directly cite an original text, they need to acknowledge the original source both in the body of the essay and the reference list. Students\ should not only include the last name of the author and the year of the publication, but also the page number(s) if available. They should put direct quotation marks around the original texts.\ Students need to be explicitly taught that they cite or paraphrase for good reasons, such as to put their paper in a particular context, to define key terms to establish common ground between the\ reader and writer, to back up their own position, or sometimes to substantiate that opinions on particular topic are divided so as to set the stage for further arguments. b.Lexical Variety Lexical variety is an important part of successful writing because it can make an essay appear sophisticated and interesting. Lexical variety refers to "interesting word choice or effective use of vocabulary in writing" (Ferris, 2014, p. 89). Texts with greater lexical variety tend to score higher and leave a better impression with the readers. Students can consult a built-in thesaurus and dictionary in word processing software, consider the sentence context, and maintain aconsistent level of formality if they want to improve lexical variety in their writing (Ferris, 2014,\ pp. 100-103). However, lexical variety alone is insufficient for creating a good essay. Other aspects such as content, development of ideas, quality of argumentation, correct use of grammar,and mechanics are equally important.\ c.Passive voice teachers typically advise students against the passive voice in writing and advocate a rather purist use of the active voice. In academic writing, however, the passive voice can be preferred sometimes, at least for two reasons. First, appropriate use of the passive voice can enable writers to focus on a specific object for its importance, away from the actors who play a secondary role only. Ferris (2014) gave a good example to illustrate this point. "Conducted simultaneously in labs on four different continents, the experiment yielded results with international significance"\ (p. 175). In this example, the writer draws the reader's attention to the experiment as a cornerstone of noteworthy results, independent of the actors who carried it out. A second reason for the use of the passive voice is to let writers deliberately distance themselves from their statements. By downplaying their identities through the passive voice, they could increase the statements' objectivity, which is again often appropriate in scientific writing. d\. Thinking processes: Information focused approach vs. knowledge transformation approach The information-focused approach vs. the knowledge transformation approach to writing explains differences in the thinking processes used by novice vs. experienced writers (Bereiter &Scardamalia, 1987) during different stages of their compositions. The information-focused\ approach is often used by novice writers, who have a tendency to note down all the facts and information they have about a topic, without establishing a focused macro rhetorical goal before\ they start to write. The macro rhetorical goal is something that a writer wants to achieve in his/her essay overall (Chandrasegaran & Schaetzel, 2004, p. 46). It is a writer's intention to perform a series of speech acts to influence the reader into thinking favourably of the writer's thesis. It persuades the reader into agreeing that the thesis has been supported by the arguments\ and explanations put forth in the essay. We should let students know that the macro rhetorical goal is not the same as the thesis itself. The thesis refers to the main topic of the essay only.\ The information-focused approach vs. the knowledge transformation approach differentiates the\ novice and experienced writers throughout different stages of the composition, from planning, to\ organizing, to writing/revising their essays. In the planning stage, novice writers tend to ask\ themselves: What they know about the topic, whether they have sufficient points for inclusion\ into the essay, where they can find more information, or how to make a piece of information\ relevant to the essay topic. On the contrary, experienced writers are more concerned about the Page 7 7\ rhetorical situation (i.e., purpose, audience, and context) in writing their particular piece. They\ think carefully about what information and rhetorical moves will best fit the rhetorical situation.\ This is to say, they consider and rank different pieces of information or moves in how they may\ help to achieve the macro rhetorical goal, and use this strategic thinking to guide the inclusion or\ rejection of materials.\ In the organization stage, novice writers tend to present information in a chronological order. In\ contrast, experienced writers tend to consider how different organization of the information helps\ them fulfill their rhetorical goal. They make sure that the organization structure satisfies the\ rhetorical situation. They anticipate what the reader would like to know in their essays, or their\ possible agreement/disagreement with certain parts of the writing. In other words, in the writing\ process, they take into account proactively the reader's expectations and reactions.\ In the writing/revising stage, novice writers often have difficulty in deciding what to say next (in\ the next sentence). They tend to re-read the previous sentence/clause before they decide how to\ proceed. They are usually too concerned about mistakes in grammar and spelling. Hence, they\ tend to use simple vocabulary and sentence structures. In general, they are likely to be\ preoccupied with the micro-level issues of writing. On the contrary, experienced writers, when\ deciding what to say next, refer to the macro rhetorical goal, which is at a strategic level that\ anticipates the reader's expectations and possible agreement/disagreement. They ensure that the\ organization and content will help them achieve the goal, and they choose words that are suitable\ for the overall rhetorical situation. They tend to re-organize or re-write texts in larger units (e.g.,\ paragraphs) guided again by the macro rhetorical goal.\ It should be noted that writers exhibit different thinking processes in the information-focused\ approach and the knowledge transformation approach to writing. In practice, it is very difficult,\ if not impossible, to observe how "novice writers make the cognitive transition to a knowledge\ transforming model, nor do they spell out whether the process is the same for all learners"\ (Hyland, 2011, p. 19). Depending on the genres, writers, even experienced ones, would\ sometimes make use of the information-focused approach simply because it is more suitable, e.g., Page 8 8\ when they write information reports or entries in an encyclopedia. In this kind of writing, the\ author's job is to explicate and pass on the information they know about their topics.\ e. Structuring and developing argument at the macro and micro levels\ From the previous section, we learn that an awareness to include information that suits the\ macro-rhetorical goal can help us structure and develop arguments at the broad discourse level of\ an essay. Apart from developing argument at the macro level, the Toulmin Model of\ Argumentation sheds light on how to structure arguments at the micro level. The elements in this\ model of argumentation include (i) claim -- a statement that the arguer wants to show is true; (ii)\ data -- the evidence offered in support of the claim; (iii) warrant -- an assumption that underlies\ the claim; (iv) backing -- evidence for the warrant; (v) qualifier -- something which is added that\ in some way limits the applicability of scope of the claim; and (vi) reservation -- a statement or a\ situation which, if true, renders the claim invalid (Toulmin, 1958). Teachers need to explicitly\ teach students how to structure and develop arguments at both the macro and micro levels of\ their essays.\ 12.4 Writing process\ Traditionally, many writing teachers explicate the writing process as a linear process (Grabe &\ Kaplan, 1996). For example, Paltridge, et al. (2009) identifies four distinct sub-processes in\ writing. First, in the conceptualizing stage, writers generate and select ideas that they can use in\ their writing, and organize the ideas in a neat way (e.g., an essay must have an introduction,\ body, and a conclusion). The second sub-process is called formulating, which means putting\ ideas into sentences. The third sub-process is revising, where writers rewrite and improve the\ essays. The revisions can be related to the content, grammar, and mechanics. The fourth sub-\ process is reading. Writers read the essay's instruction. They read to gather information for the\ essay topic. They re-read their writing to make sure that they are answering the essay's prompts.\ The linear process model may "underconceptualize and oversimplify" the writing process (Emig,\ 1971, p. 98). This oversimplification may be problematic because it can be inflexible and limits Page 9 9\ the freedom to explore, whereas writing in practice could be an unstructured process of self-\ discovery.\ More recently, some writing scholars suggest that writing is a recursive, non-linear activity.\ Clark and Ivanič's (1991) work highlights that both novice and experienced writers go through\ various stages of the writing process several times and may not follow a fixed and particular\ order. Clark and Ivanič (1991) identify 16 (equally important and inter-related) stages of the\ writing process, involving the following: accumulating knowledge and opinions (e.g., doing the\ necessary reading to gather information about a particular topic, or gathering primary data\ through surveys and interviews to find out the participants' opinions on a particular topic);\ deciding how to take responsibility: whether to mask or declare the writer's own position (e.g.,\ using first person pronouns vs. passive constructions in presenting the writer's view); analyzing\ the assignment (e.g., the question prompt and the instruction words, and the purpose of writing\ the assignment); planning (e.g., information to be included in the assignment so as to achieve the\ macro-rhetorical goal of the paper); establishing goals and purposes (e.g., setting the macro-\ rhetorical goal of the essay, and the goal of each paragraph); establishing the writer identity (e.g.,\ showing the writer's commitment to a particular position/argument); drafting (e.g., putting\ together the ideas to construct an argument); considering constraints of time and space (e.g.,\ deadline of submission of work and the word limit); formulating the writer's own ideas (e.g., the\ writer's own opinion on that particular topic); experiencing panic, pain, and anguish (e.g., going\ through the complicated and difficult process of writing); experiencing pleasure and satisfaction\ (e.g., finishing the assignment, and learning something new from the writing experience);\ revising (e.g., making sure that the arguments are persuasive, and the macro-rhetorical goal is\ achieved); considering the reader (e.g., making the writing reader-friendly and anticipating\ possible counter-arguments from the reader); clarifying writer commitment to his/her idea (e.g.,\ confirming the writer's stance about a particular issue); putting knowledge of the language to use\ (e.g., choosing language that can help the writer achieve the macro-rhetorical goal of the paper);\ and making the copy neat (e.g., checking the overall presentation of the paper).\ 12.5 Writing Tasks Page 10 10\ The Australian 'teaching and learning cycle' for genre instruction outlines the teaching of writing\ in three distinct stages: modelling, joint construction of text, and independent construction of text\ (Cope & Kalantzis, 1993). At the modeling stage, teachers introduce the text type, purpose,\ audience, context of the text, as well as the vocabulary, grammar, and organizational structure,\ which are used in realizing that particular text type. For example, when teaching the genre of a\ complaint letter, teachers can make use of a short authentic letter from a local newspaper.\ Teachers can jumble the paragraphs, and then ask the students to rearrange the paragraphs and\ write down the proper order of a jumbled text following the situation-problem-solution-\ evaluation structure. Students can undertake this task individually if the class size is small, or in\ small groups when the class size is big.\ After the modelling phase, teachers move on to another stage called the joint negotiation of text.\ This stage includes negotiation of ideas between teachers and students. Teachers can include\ activities such as class discussions and role plays, so as to help students brainstorm and gather\ possible ideas for writing. Teachers and students co-construct an essay in the same genre that\ they learned earlier in the modelling stage.\ The stage of independent construction of text comes after the joint negotiation of text. Teachers\ should explicitly tell students the purpose of writing the particular essay, which may be neglected\ by some novice teachers. After brainstorming some ideas on the essay topic, students will\ independently compose their own essays. When the first draft is completed, teachers may\ conduct in-class trained peer review sessions and teacher-student conferencing sessions outside\ of classroom hours. These sessions are important because teachers and peer reviewers will be\ able to provide constructive feedback and suggestions to the student writers. Teachers must\ provide training to students before they conduct the peer reviews, as trained peer review\ feedback can positively affect the quality of post-revision drafts and the student-writers' revision\ types (Min, 2006). Student writers will be able to identify the areas of improvement, which they\ may act on when they revise their written work.\ 12.6 Enhancing Second Language Writing Performance Page 11 11\ Students who are determined to improve the quality of their academic writing should be\ "prepared to change their habitual approach to writing" (Chandrasegaran, 2001, p. vi). In other\ words, some students would need to move away from the information focused approach to\ writing (i.e., merely giving information about what they know about the topic without\ considering the readers). Instead, they need to adopt an alternative approach to writing that\ emphasizes an awareness of the purpose and audience of the writing. Students would need to\ learn to become aware of the thinking processes that take place in the writing. Recent research\ has indicated that the socio-cognitive approach to writing can be effective in enhancing student\ performance in writing English as a second language. In the following, I will discuss practical\ strategies that teachers can introduce to students in the writing classroom with an objective to\ improving the students' performance in writing.\ a. Using socio-cognitive approach to writing\ Cognitive and genre theories are common approaches to teaching academic writing to students at\ upper primary and secondary schools, and in university-level ESL writing courses. However, the\ cognitive approach to teaching writing focuses on idea generation and planning strategies. This\ approach neglects socio-cultural factors, such as the target readers' possible reaction to texts\ (Hyland, 2002). The genre approach to teaching writing focuses on rhetorical moves and\ organization structure (Sawyer & Watson, 1989), rather than the thinking processes that are\ involved in the enactment of the discourse moves (Chandrasegaran, 2013). The prescriptive\ nature of a genre approach to writing may inhibit students' creativity (Hyland, 2002).\ Motivated by the limitations of cognitive and genre approaches to writing pedagogy,\ Chandrasegaran (2013) suggests a socio-cognitive approach to writing, which takes into account\ the socio-cultural contexts, thinking processes in enacting each genre practice, and reader\ expectations, to overcome the shortcomings of the cognitive and genre approaches. Studies have\ suggested that the use of a socio-cognitive approach to teaching writing has positive results in\ improving the students' writing. For example, Graham, Harris, & Mason (2005) pointed out that\ third-grade struggling students in the United States, who were explicitly taught the thinking\ processes and the structure of genres, wrote "longer, more complete, and qualitatively better" Page 12 12\ narratives and persuasive writing (p. 234). This is a result of the self-regulatory thinking\ processes embedded in the three-step planning strategies "Pick my ideas; Organize my notes;\ Write and say more" (p. 217), with peer support and collaboration in the planning stage. With\ explicit teaching of genre and a socio-cultural approach to writing, Chandrasegaran and Yeo\ (2006) found that Secondary three (i.e., ninth-grade) students in Singapore showed an\ improvement in writing narratives in terms of setting the rhetorical goal. In recent studies,\ Chandrasegaran (2013) and Chandrasegaran, Kong, and Chua (2007) found that secondary three\ (i.e., ninth-grade) students in a Singapore school improved in expository writing. Specifically,\ through teachers' guided class discussions and explicit teaching of thinking processes in the\ enactment of genre practices, the students raised their awareness of the social context of the texts,\ as well as reader and writer roles, and they showed improvements in discourse moves such as\ stating and elaborating claims as well as countering opposing views.\ Thinking processes, embedded in knowledge transformation, are important in implementing the\ socio-cognitive approach to writing. These thinking processes refer to how students plan,\ organize, write, and revise their essays. They help determine what information should be\ included in the essay in order to fit the macro rhetorical goal. Once the different pieces of\ information are determined, presenting them in a coherent form is a challenge to many students\ during the writing process. Understanding the features of a coherent text is the subject of the next\ section.\ b. Understanding features that make a text coherent\ Knowledge of coherence is an important factor in the students' ability to produce coherent texts\ (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987). Research studies have shown that teachers need to help students\ understand the meaning of coherence from a narrow sense (i.e., connectedness between\ sentences) to a broader sense (i.e., linking the ideas in a text at a discourse level to create\ meanings for the readers) (Johns, 1986; Lee, 2002). Coherence may seem like an abstract\ concept that is difficult to teach and learn. However, it is possible to describe coherence in a\ structural framework. It has five common features: Macro-structure, information structure,\ proposition development, cohesive devices, and metadiscourse markers (Lee, 2002). Macro- Page 13 13\ structure is about the outline of a text. For example, the outline of a complaint letter is situation-\ problem-solution-evaluation. The outline of a story is onset-complication-resolution. Information\ structure is about presenting old (given) information before introducing new information. For\ example, teachers can show two sentences to students: (a) Peter has two children. (b) They are\ John and Mary. In this example, the writer should present the sentence with "two children"\ (given information) before introducing "John and Mary" (new information) to refer to the "two\ children." Proposition development can be challenging to many ESL students, as they tend to\ state the proposition without elaboration of ideas. For example, "Free public transport is good to\ the residents." This statement is a proposition without elaboration of ideas. Student writers are\ advised to add support to the statement such as "With money saved on transport, residents can\ now spend more money on other goods and services." Cohesive devices help establish\ relationships between different sentences. Examples of cohesive devices include pronouns,\ conjunctions, repetition, superordinates/hyponymy (e.g., animals/cats), and synonyms/antonyms.\ Another feature that can used to develop coherence in writing is metadiscourse markers, which\ some students commonly confuse with cohesive devices. Metadiscourse markers are used to help\ readers organize, interpret, and evaluate information. Examples of metadiscourse markers\ include logical connectives (e.g., therefore, but), sequencers (e.g., firstly, secondly, finally),\ certainty markers (e.g., certainly, no doubt), and hedges (e.g., can, may, it could be the case\ that...).\ c. Adopting good editing strategies\ Careful editing is important because a well-crafted essay gives a positive impression to the\ reader that the writer is competent. Second language writing researchers (see for example, Ferris,\ 2014) suggest useful strategies for good editing that can enhance the effectiveness of the written\ work. First, students should try to finish their writing earlier rather than wait until the last minute\ before starting. It is because good writers rely on effective editing and will allow sufficient time\ for it. Second, it is advisable to read the composition aloud. When writers read aloud their texts,\ they are more likely to detect problematic sentences, e.g., those containing missing words or\ unneeded repetitions of ideas. Through reading aloud, student writers can more easily identify\ the bad sentences. Third, students may consider using a word processor's editing tools to check Page 14 14\ for grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors. These word processors can identify some of\ the surface level errors effortlessly. Students may consider the software's suggested corrections.\ If they are not sure about certain corrections, they can check the dictionary or other tools. Lastly,\ for long term writing development, students are advised to keep track of their error patterns.\ They can keep a log book and record their recurring errors. They may aim to address a few errors\ at a time and review appropriate grammar rules if necessary. Students may be overwhelmed if\ they have to address a large number of errors in their compositions every time.\ 12.7 Pedagogical Principles of the Socio-cognitive Approach to Academic Writing\ The process-oriented approach and the genre approach to teaching writing have been widely\ adopted in writing classrooms for the past two decades. These approaches have not included the\ setting of the macro-rhetorical goal in writing and have not emphasized the thinking processes\ involved in the enactment of the genre practice. For every essay, we should include only one\ macro-rhetorical goal. It is crucial to establish the macro-rhetorical goal of the essay because it\ specifies the angle that the essay is going to take and directs the path of the whole essay. It is\ important that we explicitly teach students the thinking processes in planning, organizing,\ writing, and revising their essays. In the following, implications and associated pedagogical\ principles (see bullet points below) of the socio-cognitive approach to academic writing are\ suggested.\ a. Teachers need to explain the purpose of writing to the students\ Make sure students understand that establishing the macro rhetorical goal and purposes of\ writing is an essential part of the writing process.\ Ensure that students recognize the functions of academic writing. After that, they may begin\ to appreciate its importance in writing.\ Plan activities that require students to identify the purpose of writing at the modelling, joint\ construction, and independent writing stages.\ b. Writing lessons would address the knowledge-transformation approach to writing Page 15 15\ Teach the knowledge-transformation approach to writing with a focus of establishing the\ macro-rhetorical goal of the essay.\ Explicitly teach students the thinking processes in planning, organizing, writing, and revising\ the essay using the knowledge-transformation approach to writing.\ Create class activities that raise students' awareness of the differences between the\ information-focused approach and the knowledge-transformation approach to writing.\ c. Second language writers' writing performance can be enhanced by understanding\ coherence in a broader sense\ Teach the features of a coherent text at a discourse level and highlight the differences in\ meaning between metadiscourse markers and cohesive devices in writing.\ Encourage students to self-edit their texts by reading aloud and self-evaluating their writing\ using a coherence checklist.\ Plan peer review activities, focusing on the development of coherence in writing. Peer\ reviewers can also comment on the macro-rhetorical goal of their peer's essays.\ d. Writing is a complex activity\ Teach students that writing is a non-linear process involving many stages, not limited to\ conceptualizing, formulating, reading and revising.\ Recognize that students will encounter difficulties during the writing processes such as\ 'setting the macro rhetorical goal,' 'establishing writer identity,' and 'considering the reader.'\ Plan group activities that heighten students' awareness of the nature of writing. Help students\ develop an understanding that pre-writing, drafting, and revising cannot be separated from\ each other into neat independent stages.\ Traditional approaches to teaching L2 writing -- the controlled composition approach, the\ rhetorical function approach, the process-approach, and the genre approach -- have strengths but\ may not be sufficiently effective as writing pedagogy. Teaching students the rhetorical moves\ and organization structure as well as helping students in idea generation and planning is\ necessary but not sufficient in writing classrooms. The reason is that these devices alone do not\ consider reader expectations, socio-cultural factors, and key thinking processes involved in the Page 16 16\ writing. The more recent socio-cognitive approach is a comparatively strategic approach to\ teaching writing, which highlights the importance of explaining the purpose of writing to the\ students in terms of social impact. This is to say, students write not only because they are told to\ write, but they write in order to fulfil a social function through the writing. For example, the\ function for writing a story is to entertain the readers or make the readers admire the characters\ of the story.\ Knowledge-transformation is an important implementation device in the socio-cognitive\ approach to writing. Teachers need to explicitly teach students how to establish the macro-\ rhetorical goal of an essay. When students plan, organize, write/revise, they need to ensure that\ the relevant information helps them achieve the macro-rhetorical goal. By adopting the socio-\ cognitive approach to writing, students consciously define their goal as impact on the intended\ readers. In organizing and presenting their ideas, they need to learn how to make a text coherent,\ which includes but goes beyond using cohesive devices. In this regard, they need to have a good\ understanding of the macrostructure of the genre, information structure, proposition development,\ and the appropriate use of metadiscourse markers.\ Writing teachers should emphasize to students that a good piece of writing cannot be produced in\ one draft; it has to go through multiple times of revision. It is also very important for students to\ adopt self-editing strategies in all their written work. They can read aloud their writing so that\ they can detect the problematic parts of their writing. They have to start to plan their writing\ early and finish their writing early so that they have sufficient time to revise their work. During\ the self-editing process, they would need to revise both the surface level errors such as grammar\ and mechanics, as well as issues at the discourse level, such as how they present themselves in\ their writing, the tone they use, the development of ideas, the contextualization of ideas, and the\ use of language, data, and evidence that their readers find persuasive. Self-editing would result in\ student ownership of and responsibility for learning (Swaffield, 2011).\ Some writing researchers have found that students benefit from trained peer feedback reviews\ (Min, 2006). The positive results of the related studies indicate that peer feedback leads to better\ texts and improves the quantity and quality of peer talk. The peer feedback helps students to Page 17 17\ clarify any possible confusion the readers may have, and help refine the language used in the\ writing. Peer feedback activity is useful because students can readily relate to their peers'\ opinions on the same topic. When students review their peers' essays, they learn from their peers\ about how to make the writing reader friendly. Giving peer feedback is also good in training\ their critical thinking. In most situations the peer review activity enhances students' ability to\ revise and improve their writing. Given that many students are quite tech-savvy these days,\ teachers may consider using peer assessment software (e.g., Peerceptiv TM ) to implement the peer\ review activity. The computer-mediated peer feedback system may motivate students by\ allowing them to give and view peer feedback on multiple drafts of their writing anytime and\ anywhere when there is Internet access. More importantly, computer-mediated feedback solves\ the problem of saving 'face,' which can be an issue if peer reviews are carried out on a face-to-\ face basis. With the use of the peer assessment software, students' names could be anonymized.\ Thus, they are more likely to give their honest peer feedback as their names would not be\ disclosed to their peers. The computer-mediated feedback may motivate students socially to\ revise their written work, since this feedback is generally obtained from a wider readership that\ includes not only the teachers but also a peer group of significant size. Students, indeed authors\ in general, will pay more attention to their writing because of a broad readership.\ 12.8 Conclusion\ "No one is a 'native speaker' of writing" (Leki, 1992, p. 10). Teachers need to let students know\ that there are no 'native-like' standards when it comes to academic writing. In teaching writing,\ we need to explicitly teach the writing processes and the specific strategies to enhance students'\ writing competence. It is useful for writing teachers to learn the various approaches to teaching\ writing. However, teachers need to understand that helping students in idea generation and in\ planning as well as teaching the rhetorical moves of the particular genres alone are inadequate in\ helping students improve their writing. Teachers also need to teach students the socio-cognitive\ approach to writing, which takes into consideration readers' expectations, socio-cultural contexts,\ and thinking processes involved in planning, organizing, and writing/revising the essays.\ Teachers need to make clear to the students that writing is a recursive, complex activity. In order\ to move forward, we need to re-read and revise our writing. A good piece of writing has to go Page 18 18\ through multiple times of revision. This applies not only to novice writers, but to experienced\ writers as well. Understanding this can help clarify a misconception that many students may\ have -- that only non-proficient writers will need significant revisions to their work.\ The socio-cognitive approach to writing ensures that students will establish the macro-rhetorical\ goal of the essay, and all the information in the essay contributes to achieving this purpose. For\ the readers, they will be able to grasp the one thing or one key message that they can take away\ from the essay.\ References\ Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1987). The psychology of written communication. Hillsdale, NJ:\ Lawrence Erlbaum.\ Canagarajah, A. S. (2006). Negotiating the local in English as a lingua franca. Annual Review of\ Applied Linguistics, 26, 197-218.\ Chandrasegaran, A. (2001). Think your way to effective writing (2nd ed.). Singapore: Prentice\ Hall.\ Chandrasegaran, A. (2013). The effect of a socio-cognitive approach to teaching writing on\ stance support moves and topicality in students' expository essays. Linguistics and\ Education, 24(2), 101-111.\ Chandrasegaran, A., Kong, C. K. M., & Chua, D. F. (2007). Intervention in the teaching of\ expository writing. Unpublished research report. Singapore: Centre for Research in\ Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education.\ Chandrasegaran, A., & Schaetzel, K. (2004). Think your way to effective writing (3rd ed.).\ Singapore: Pearson/Prentice Hall.\ Chandrasegaran, A., & Yeo, S. C. (2006). Teaching character depiction in narrative writing. In T.\ S. C. Farrell (Ed.), Language teacher research in Asia (pp. 7-20). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.\ Cheung, Y. L. (2011). Teacher training for effective writing instruction: Recent trends and future\ directions. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences Journal, 15(1), 531-534.\ Clark, R., & Ivanič, R. (1991). Consciousness-raising about the writing process. In C. James, &\ P. Garrett (Eds.), Language awareness in the classroom (pp. 168-185). London: Longman. Page 19 19\ Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (1993). Introduction: How a genre approach to literacy can transform\ the way writing is taught. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), The powers of literacy: A\ genre approach to teaching writing (pp. 1-21). Bristol, PA: Falmer Press.\ Crossley, S. A., Roscoe, R., & McNamara, D. S. (2014). What is successful writing? An\ investigation into the multiple ways writers can write successful essays. Written\ Communication, 31(2), 184-214.\ Crossley, S. A., Weston, J., McLain Sullivan, S. T., & McNamara, D. S. (2011). The\ development of writing proficiency as a function of grade level: A linguistic analysis.\ Written Communication, 28(3), 282-311.\ Emig, J. (1971). The composing processes of twelfth graders. Urbana, IL: National Council of\ Teachers of English.\ Ferrari, M., Bouffard, T., & Rainville, L. (1998). What makes a good writer? Differences in good\ and poor writers' self-regulation of writing. Instructional Science, 26(6), 473-488.\ Ferris, D. R. (2014). Language power: Tutorials for writers. Boston, New York: Bedford/St.\ Martin's.\ Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & Mason, L. (2005). Improving the writing performance, knowledge,\ and self-efficacy of struggling young writers: The effects of self-regulated strategy-\ development. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30(2), 207-241.\ Grabe, W., & Kaplan, B. K. (1996). Theory and practice of writing: An applied linguistic\ perspective. New York: Longman.\ Hyland, K. (2002). Teaching and researching writing. Harlow, UK: Pearson.\ Hyland, K. (2011). Learning to write: issues in theory, research, and pedagogy. In R. M.\ Manchόn (Ed.), Learning-to-write and writing-to-learn in an additional language (pp. 17-\ 35). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.\ Hyon, S. (1996). Genres in three traditions: Implications for ESL. TESOL Quarterly, 30(4), 693-\ 722.\ Johns, A. M. (1986). Coherence and Academic Writing: Some Definitions and Suggestions for\ Teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 20(2), 247-265.\ Lee, I. (2002). Teaching coherence to ESL students: a classroom inquiry. Journal of Second\ Language Writing, 11(2), 135-159. Teaching writing to primary stage students Teaching writing to primary stage students is a crucial aspect of their education that lays the foundation for effective communication skills. Here's a detailed and elaborate guide on how to approach this task: ### 1. **Understanding Developmental Stages** - **Cognitive Development**: Recognize that primary stage students (typically ages 5-11) are in a stage of concrete operational thinking. They benefit from hands-on, visual, and interactive learning experiences. - **Motor Skills**: Focus on developing fine motor skills necessary for writing. Activities like cutting, coloring, and manipulating small objects can help. ### 2. **Creating a Positive Writing Environment** - **Encouragement and Support**: Foster a safe and supportive classroom where mistakes are seen as part of the learning process. - **Writing Tools**: Provide various writing materials (pencils, markers, paper types) to make writing enjoyable. ### 3. **Introducing the Writing Process** - **Stages of Writing**: Teach students the stages of writing: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. - **Modeling**: Demonstrate each stage using a sample topic. Think aloud as you work through your own writing to show your thought process. ### 4. **Building Vocabulary and Ideas** - **Word Banks**: Create class word banks or theme-specific vocabulary lists to help students expand their vocabulary. - **Picture Prompts**: Use images or illustrations to inspire writing. Ask students to describe what they see or create a story around the image. ### 5. **Writing Genres** - **Narrative Writing**: Start with personal stories or experiences. Use prompts like \"A day at the park\" or \"My favorite animal.\" - **Informative Writing**: Teach how to share facts about a topic. Use research projects on animals or places. - **Persuasive Writing**: Introduce basic persuasive techniques by having students write about their favorite food or game and why it's the best. ### 6. **Structuring Writing** - **Story Structure**: Teach the components of a story (beginning, middle, end) using graphic organizers like story maps. - **Paragraph Structure**: Introduce the concept of a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence. Use simple frameworks to help them organize thoughts. ### 7. **Engaging Activities** - **Shared Writing**: Collaborate with students on a piece of writing, allowing them to contribute ideas while you write. - **Writing Centers**: Set up stations with different writing activities (journals, story starters, letter writing) to keep engagement high. - **Peer Review**: Implement buddy systems where students can share their work and provide constructive feedback to each other. ### 8. **Incorporating Technology** - **Digital Tools**: Use educational software or apps that focus on writing skills, spelling, and grammar. - **Online Publishing**: Create a class blog or online anthology where students can publish their work and share it with others. ### 9. **Assessment and Feedback** - **Formative Assessments**: Use informal assessments like observation and checklists to gauge student understanding and progress. - **Feedback**: Provide specific, positive feedback along with constructive suggestions for improvement. ### 10. **Encouraging Reading to Improve Writing** - **Reading Aloud**: Read a variety of genres to expose students to different writing styles. - **Writing Response Journals**: Encourage students to respond to what they read in writing, connecting their thoughts to the texts. ### 11. **Involving Families** - **Writing at Home**: Encourage families to engage in writing activities at home, such as keeping a family journal or writing letters to each other. - **Showcase Events**: Organize events where students can share their writing with families, fostering a sense of pride and accomplishment. ### Conclusion Teaching writing to primary stage students involves a multi-faceted approach that incorporates developmental understanding, structured processes, engaging activities, and supportive environments. By focusing on these elements, educators can cultivate confident, capable young writers who enjoy the process of expressing themselves through writing. ##### You said: mention detailed and elaborate information abut how to teach writing for primary stage students and give examples ###### ChatGPT said: ChatGPT Teaching writing to primary stage students (ages 5-11) involves a thoughtful approach that considers their developmental needs and engages their creativity. Here's a detailed guide, including specific examples: ### 1. **Understanding Developmental Stages** - **Cognitive Development**: Students in this age group are transitioning from preoperational to concrete operational stages, meaning they learn best through hands-on experiences. - **Example**: Use manipulatives (like blocks) to represent ideas when brainstorming story elements. ### 2. **Creating a Positive Writing Environment** - **Encouragement and Support**: Foster a classroom culture where students feel safe sharing their ideas. - **Example**: Start each writing session with a "Compliment Circle" where students share positive feedback about each other's writing. ### 3. **Introducing the Writing Process** - **Stages of Writing**: Teach the steps: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. - **Example**: Use a class story to demonstrate each stage. For instance, brainstorm ideas for a story about a lost puppy, draft it together, then revise it as a group. ### 4. **Building Vocabulary and Ideas** - **Word Banks**: Create themed word banks to expand vocabulary. - **Example**: If writing about animals, create a word bank with words like "habitat," "diet," and "endangered." ### 5. **Writing Genres** - **Narrative Writing**: Start with personal experiences. - **Example**: Prompt students to write a story about their "Best Day Ever." Use a story map to outline characters, setting, problem, and resolution. - **Informative Writing**: Teach students to share facts. - **Example**: Research and write about their favorite animal. Encourage using subheadings like "Habitat" and "Diet." - **Persuasive Writing**: Introduce basic persuasive techniques. - **Example**: Have students write a letter to the principal explaining why recess should be longer, including reasons and supporting details. ### 6. **Structuring Writing** - **Story Structure**: Use graphic organizers. - **Example**: Implement a story map for narrative writing. Outline the main parts of the story: beginning (introduction of characters), middle (conflict), and end (resolution). - **Paragraph Structure**: Teach topic sentences. - **Example**: Have students write a paragraph about their favorite food. Guide them to start with a topic sentence, followed by supporting details. ### 7. **Engaging Activities** - **Shared Writing**: Collaborate on a piece. - **Example**: Write a class book where each student contributes a page about their favorite season. - **Writing Centers**: Set up stations for different activities. - **Example**: One center for journaling, another for creating comic strips, and another for writing letters. - **Peer Review**: Implement buddy systems. - **Example**: Pair students to exchange drafts and provide feedback using a checklist (e.g., "Does the story have a clear beginning?"). ### 8. **Incorporating Technology** - **Digital Tools**: Utilize educational software. - **Example**: Use tools like Google Docs for collaborative writing, where students can co-create a story and edit in real time. - **Online Publishing**: Create a class blog. - **Example**: Post student writing pieces online, allowing them to share with family and friends. ### 9. **Assessment and Feedback** - **Formative Assessments**: Conduct ongoing assessments. - **Example**: Use checklists to assess key elements of their writing (like grammar, structure, and creativity) throughout the writing process. - **Feedback**: Provide specific feedback. - **Example**: Instead of saying "good job," say "I loved how you described the setting in your story. It made me feel like I was there!" ### 10. **Encouraging Reading to Improve Writing** - **Reading Aloud**: Share various genres. - **Example**: Read picture books that exemplify strong narrative structure. Discuss how the author builds characters and settings. - **Writing Response Journals**: Have students respond to readings. - **Example**: After reading a story, ask students to write a different ending or describe how they would feel if they were one of the characters. ### 11. **Involving Families** - **Writing at Home**: Encourage family involvement. - **Example**: Send home a "Family Writing Challenge" where families write a story together and return it to share in class. - **Showcase Events**: Organize writing events. - **Example**: Host a "Writer's Night" where students read their work to families, celebrating their achievements. ### Conclusion By using this comprehensive approach, educators can create an engaging and supportive environment for primary stage students to develop their writing skills. Incorporating a variety of activities, genres, and feedback methods ensures that students feel empowered and excited about writing. ##### You said: give many examples for teaching writing for primary stage pupils ###### ChatGPT said: ChatGPT Here are various examples and activities for teaching writing to primary stage pupils, organized by type of writing and related activities: ### 1. **Narrative Writing** - **Story Maps**: Use a graphic organizer to outline a story. Students can fill in sections for characters, setting, problem, and solution based on a prompt (e.g., \"A day at the beach\"). - **Picture Prompts**: Show students a series of pictures and ask them to write a story based on the images. For example, a picture of a lost puppy can inspire a narrative about its adventure. - **Personal Stories**: Have students write about a memorable event in their life, such as \"The best birthday party I ever had.\" ### 2. **Descriptive Writing** - **Descriptive Words Exercise**: Provide a common object (like an apple) and have students list as many adjectives as they can to describe it before writing a descriptive paragraph. - **Sensory Details Chart**: Ask students to create a chart with columns for sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste, then write a descriptive piece about their favorite place. - **Show and Tell**: After a show-and-tell session, students can write descriptions of the objects brought in, focusing on details that make them special. ### 3. **Informative Writing** - **Fact Sheets**: Students choose an animal and create a fact sheet with headings like \"Habitat,\" \"Diet,\" and \"Fun Facts.\" They can present this information in a poster format. - **How-To Guides**: Have students write a step-by-step guide on how to do something they know well, like making a sandwich or riding a bike. - **Research Projects**: Assign topics related to science or social studies, such as \"The Water Cycle,\" and have students gather facts and write a simple report. ### 4. **Persuasive Writing** - **Letter Writing**: Students write letters to the school principal advocating for longer recess or a new playground, using persuasive language and reasons. - **Class Debate**: After discussing a topic (e.g., \"Should school uniforms be mandatory?\"), students write a short persuasive paragraph outlining their viewpoint. - **Advertisements**: Have students create a poster advertisement for a fictional product, using persuasive language to convince others to buy it. ### 5. **Poetry** - **Acrostic Poems**: Students create acrostic poems using their names or a theme word (e.g., "SUMMER") and write a line for each letter. - **Shape Poems**: Teach students to write poems that form the shape of the object they are describing (e.g., a poem about a tree in the shape of a tree). - **Word Banks**: Provide a word bank of sensory words, then have students write a poem about a season or an event using those words. ### 6. **Creative Writing Prompts** - **Story Starters**: Give students a sentence to start their story, such as \"One rainy day, I found a mysterious box in my backyard\...\" - **"What If" Scenarios**: Present students with imaginative scenarios (e.g., \"What if animals could talk?\"), and have them write a story exploring that idea. - **Character Creation**: Have students create a character profile (name, age, likes/dislikes) and write a short story featuring their character. ### 7. **Collaborative Writing** - **Group Stories**: In small groups, students take turns adding a sentence to a story, building on what the previous student wrote. - **Writing Workshops**: Organize peer review sessions where students share their drafts with partners and provide constructive feedback. - **Class Book**: Collect individual stories or poems from each student to compile into a class book that can be published and shared. ### 8. **Interactive Writing** - **Shared Writing**: Collaboratively write a story or a class newsletter on a whiteboard, allowing students to suggest ideas and see the writing process in action. - **Sentence Frames**: Provide sentence starters for students to complete, helping them structure their thoughts (e.g., \"My favorite animal is \_\_\_ because \_\_\_\"). ### 9. **Using Technology** - **Blogging**: Set up a simple class blog where students can publish their writing pieces and comment on each other\'s work. - **Digital Storytelling**: Use apps like Book Creator to have students create digital storybooks, incorporating text and images. ### Conclusion These examples provide a variety of engaging activities tailored to primary stage pupils, helping them develop their writing skills across different genres and formats. By incorporating creativity and collaboration, students can build confidence and enjoy the writing process! Assessment (1) use chatGpt to search for answers for the following questions: What are blogs, their benefits and how to create your own.