Often characterized as the “Cinderella” of the four language skills, writing is one of the most difficult and challenging areas that teachers and learners of a foreign language have to tackle with. It is though undoubtedly one of the most important skills that learners of a foreign language need to possess. In the last decades, there has been a gradual increase in the status of writing as a skill. The current developments towards a discoursal approach to language teaching along with the development of learner-centered syllabuses have shifted the emphasis toward students’ practical needs. With regard to writing, teachers begin stressing the valuable role of “process” and “genre” writing in the classroom, and course book writers have as their main priority the construction of purposeful, authentic writing activities that reflect the communicative principles (Reid, 1993). What is more, the mastering of certain text-types is viewed nowadays as a skill learners need to develop (Tribble, 1996).
Suggestions for the development of writing skills
Awareness raising
In their effort to help students improve their writing, teachers need to primarily raise their students’ awareness of the various strategies that can be employed when composing an essay. Since writing is not a skill “readily picked up by exposure” (Tribble: 11), it is necessary for students to receive some guidance on how to match appropriate strategies to each writing situation. In the particular classroom situation, students, among other issues, had to be guided how to detect and use elements that make stories interesting and stimulating. They needed to be made aware of the fact that grammar, syntax and vocabulary are not the only essential elements for a well-written text. Over-concentrating on such aspects of the essay may lead them to totally ignoring other equally important areas related to the content of their written work. Only when students begin viewing writing as a “process of self-discovery” will “effective learning take place”. (Gaffield-Vile, 1998, cited in Harmer, 2001: 259). As Tribble (1996: 118) suggests, students have to be reinforced to “learn to write” as opposed to “write to learn”. It is important for learners to be consciously aware of the fact that their writing tasks do not primarily focus on accuracy or the production of a grammatical pattern; priority is given to content and self-expression.
Teachers as ‘readers’
The role teachers adopt in the writing classroom also has a significant impact on the development of the students’ writing skills. As Raimes (1983a ) points out, teachers should stop responding to the piece of writing as “item-checkers”, and become “real-readers”. Instead of merely being evaluators of the students’ work, teachers should primarily act as readers, actively reacting to the message of the students’ text. Teacher response should therefore expand from being “descriptive” to more “personal and reactive” (Reid: 205). Teachers are not the “experts” who expect from students to “demonstrate knowledge” learned as part of a class “for the purpose of achieving a satisfactory grade” (Reid: 217). Rather, learners should be made aware of the role of teachers as an “audience” expecting to be informed, persuaded and entertained by them.
Teachers as feedback providers
Apart from their roles as “readers” and “evaluators”, the role of teachers as “facilitators” and “coaches” are equally important in the promotion of writing skills. Despite them having to act as “a real audience” in order to promote motivation in writing, teachers inevitably offer students more “response” and “intervention” than an ordinary reader (Radecki and Swales, 1988, cited in Reid, p.217). The teacher’s response will be effective when the teacher communicates feedback that is “detailed enough to allow students to act, to commit to change in their writing” (Reid, p.218). Among a variety of teacher responses, Reid proposes “dialog journals” and “mini-conferences during class workshops” as examples of effective feedback.
Focus on needs
Focusing on the specific needs and interests of the students can also prevent learners from being negatively predisposed toward the writing process. In the particular intermediate classroom, it was important for learners to be aware of the necessity of developing writing skills for their future success in the language exams. As Nunan (1991: 88, referring to Zamel, 1987) comments, the writing class should take into account “the learners’ purposes for writing”, which transcend that of “producing texts for teacher evaluation”. To achieve a genuine interest of the learners toward writing the focus of tasks should shift from language to ideas and content. Viewing writing primarily as a means of communication, Raimes suggests that the teaching of writing should stress the students’ ideas and how they express those ideas rather than stressing grammar. For Raimes (1983: ) , writing activities are pointless if students have “no intellectual or emotional investment in what they are writing about”.
Interesting, stimulating topics
For the promotion of writing skills, it is also important to provide learners with stimulating topics to write about. Motivation will be promoted through the development of activities that engage students and arouse their interest by enabling them to express and develop their ideas. By choosing a topic that involves the students, the teacher is providing them with a context within which effective learning on the target area can be undertaken. It is therefore essential to construct writing activities that engage students as persons and capture their imagination.
A real audience- Identifying a purpose
Providing a real audience for students to direct their writing is essential in the promotion of writing skills. As Harmer (2001, p. 260) suggests, an “appropriare reader audience” will “bolster the product pride” that students may feel when they have written creatively. For Raimes (1983), the presence of “a real reader”-not a “judge”- will help learners “establish the goal of their writing”, i.e. “communication with the reader”. Ur (2000) suggests the construction of class magazines as well as the display of students’ writing up on a bulletin board as ways of creating a “real” audience for the students’ writing tasks. As a further option, Harmer (2001: 260) adds the setting up of classroom websites where students’ work could be published. An authentic and personally relevant context in which to write will motivate students and thus engage them in the writing process. Students will show more interest in tasks where there is a more genuine purpose to write as well as a stronger sense of the audience they address.
Collaborative writing-Peer evaluation
Reid (1993: 155) refers to the use of “collaborative and group activities” in the ESL writing classroom as “the most influential composition teaching strategy over the past decades”. As Raimes (1983:18) points out, group work is especially beneficial for second language learners, who need more “time and opportunity” to “practice” using the language with others. As Harmer (2001: 260) points out, with cooperative writing, the “generation of ideas” becomes more lively while reviewing and evaluation are enhanced.
Students “benefit” from helping each other with vocabulary, grammar, content and organization and from speaking and listening to each other during the construction of the writing task. Reid (1993: 155) proposes the use of activities such as “interviewing classmates”, “sharing experiences” and “listing one’s strengths and accomplishments” as group tasks that will build self-confidence in the students, lower their inhibitions, and thus lead to successful collaborative work. Using each other’s resources and working towards a common goal, learners “develop their communicative skills” and fulfill the “linguistic need for interaction” (Raimes 1983: 18).
Learner involvement in the activities leads to the promotion of a positive, long-term learning experience. Apart from uniting and integrating all skills, collaborative activities strengthen the positive classroom climate and thus increase students’ motivation to learn. Writing in groups can be very rewarding as an activity since it does not only promote motivation, but also research, discussion and “group pride in a group accomplishment” (Harmer 2002: 260).
The use of peer-correction can also be valuable to the particular learners, taking into consideration the general positive climate existing in the classroom. Students can work together on their first drafts, giving each other “feedback on content, language and organization” (Ur 1996: 172). As Tribble (1996: 107) suggests, by having their peers evaluating their work, students are provided with a “more motivating context” in which to write than “writing for an entirely fictitious audience”. What is more, review and peer discussion will help students understand the “interactive relationship with their readers” and thus make them “aware” of the “responsibility for providing verbal means” that will enable their readers to decode the intended meaning (Reid 1993: 207).
Adopting a process approach
As Raimes (1991: 11) points out, “there is no one way to teach writing but many ways”. To her view, it is important for teachers to be “eclectic” and adopt a critical stance towards the current approaches. Successful teaching of writing can only be achieved if the teachers use the various approaches as guidelines, choosing only those aspects that are suitable for their classroom context and their learner’s needs.
With regard to the particular group of students the application of a product approach would be inappropriate, since it would focus on areas these students were already competent in (i.e. knowledge about the structure of language).Instead, the implementation of some of the techniques of the process approach in the classroom, could have a positive impact on their writing skills. Focusing on the creative, individual writer, process writing becomes for students a method of “discovering” new ideas (Raimes 1991: 11). For Hamp-Lyons (1991, cited in Hyland, 2003: 29), process research has made collaborative writing, group discussions and mixed portfolio assessments “commonplace practices” in the “methodological repertoire” for writing. As part of the process approach, Raimes (1991:10) mentions the use of prewriting activities such as discussion, reading, debate, brainstorming and list making. Instead of merely writing a composition in a “restricted time” and handing it in for the teacher to “correct”, process writing encourages students to “explore a topic through writing”, showing to the teacher their drafts and receiving feedback on the content of what they write (Raimes 1991: 10). As Tribble (1996) argues, “a process approach” can make it possible for “apprentice” writers to become more “effective at generating texts”. With the incorporation of process teaching in the writing classes, writing can become “freer” as a result of “student discovery activities”, “journal writing” and “lowered anxiety levels” (Reid 1993, p.32).
Reading
Wide exposure to “appropriate models of written language” is also crucial for the improvement of writing skills. Byrne (1988: 9) views reading as the important counterpart of writing and “exposure” to language as an important prerequisite in the development of efficient writers. To his view, “reading” is an “essential pre-condition” for the development of writing skills, since “true understanding” of a text lies in a recognition of the “devices” employed by the writer to convey his message. It is therefore necessary for learners to receive an adequate exposure to the written language. Through the study of texts learners will be able to notice not only how writers organize their ideas, but also how they maintain contact with their readers. Analysing texts will enable them to detect the strategies writers employ in order to achieve their goals and get their meaning across.
Critical thinking-Problematizing
Implementing a “liberating” approach to teaching will further motivate students in practicing the writing skill. It is important for students to stop being passive recipients of the input provided by the teacher. Writing tasks should therefore be designed to foster critical thinking, making learners investigators of the writing process as well as active participants of a “problematizing” or problem-posing educational setting (Freire, 1989).It is of extreme importance for the teacher to promote the creation of an interactive classroom in which learners will have the ability to communicate freely their ideas on the writing skill. Viewing “dialogue” as one of the keys to the process of learning, Freire notes:
Through dialogue, the teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but the one who is himself taught in dialogue with students, who in turn while being taught also teaches. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow. (Freire, 1989: 67)
· Conclusion
On the whole, in order to help students gain confidence in writing it is essential to follow “a writing process that takes the student from insecurity to success” (Cimcoz, par 1). Focusing on grammar and sentence structure is not the key to making better writers of our students. As Cimcoz (par 1) concludes, focus must be given on what students and any writer needs i.e. an “understanding of their capacity to write, motivation, self-confidence and courage”.
Since writing is learnt and not taught, as Hyland (2003: 23) argues, the teacher’s role is to be “non- directive” and “facilitating”, creating “an encouraging, positive and cooperative environment” which will foster the learner’s writing skills. Only when the students will feel that they are actually writing and not merely doing exercises, will writing become an enjoyable and creative experience (Byrne, 1988: 22).
To prevent a negative attitude toward writing, the teacher should consider what students actually mean when they say “boring”, and the possibility that students are actually expressing their insecurity and lack of confidence in completing the writing task.
REFERENCES
Badger, R. & G. White (2000) “A process genre approach to teaching writing”. ELT
Journal, Vol. 54/2, April 2000, Oxford University Press
Byrne, D. (1988) Teaching Writing Skills. London: Longman
Freire, P. (1989) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum Publishing.
Harmer, J. (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman
Hyland, K. (2003) Teaching and Researching Writing. London: Longman Pearson
Nunan, D. (1991) Language teaching methodology : a textbook for teachers. London :
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Raimes, A. (1983) Techniques in Teaching Writing Oxford: OUP
Reid, J. (1993) Teaching ESL Writing. Englewood NJ: Prentice Hall Rengents
Tribble, C. (1996) Writing Oxford: OUP
Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge:
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