From
Writing to Composing, by Beverly Ingram and Carol King
Basic differences between these two distinctly
different types of activities, writing and composing:
1. A composition is rarely, if ever, finished in
one work session, whereas a writing assignment is usually
completed on the first try.
2. With composing activities, the teacher should
generally ignore, and similarly encourage students to disregard, surface-level
problems in grammar and mechanics until the content has been reworked
several times and is ready for editing. With writing activities,
however, the teacher should expect students to pay close attention to
such details and correct the assignments the first and probably only
time they are turned in.
3. Composing has a purpose beyond learning the language
and an audience other than or in addition to the teacher. A writing
assignment, on the other hand, is done only to practice English and only
for the teacher's scrutiny.
4. A good composition deserves to be shown off in the
class newspaper or on the classroom wall; a writing assignment probably
does not.
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The role of guidance:
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Guidance should not imply tight control over
what the learners write.
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Using the text as our basic
format for practice. we can teahc within its framework all
the rhetorical devices.
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The text provides a setting within which they can
practise, for example, sentence completion, sentence combination,
paragraph construction, etc.
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Making writing tasks more
realistic, by relating practice to a specific purpose
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Involve writing activities within lesson interesting
contexts and integrate them with other reading, listening and speaking
activities
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Always derive a writing activity
from some prior activity such a conversation of something read.
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Variety: We need
a whole range of activities,
each appropriate to specific goals and
needs.
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Visual Material:
It provides a more open-ended framework for
writing activities. Diagramas and tables are valuable for developing
organisational skills
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a) Teach the learners how to write
b) Provide adequate and relevant experience of the
written language
c) Show the learners how the written language
functions as a system of communication.
d) Teach the learners how to write texts.
e) Teach the learners how to write different kinds of
texts.
f) Make writing tasks realistic and relevant.
g) Integrate writing with other skills.
h) Use a variety of techniques and practice formats.
i) Provide appropriate support.
j) Be sympathetic!
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The main features of a writing
programme:
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Writing activities should satisfy
inmediate needs by providing the learners with opportunities for
handling, through the medium of writing, language which they have
learned orally.
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Writing activties should also be
forward-looking by beginning to familiarize the learners with patterns
of language typical of the writtem medium: in particular, some of the
devices needed for linking and sequencing sentences.
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Writing activities should also
give the learners opportunities to communicate through writing and,
equally important, simply to enjoy writing.
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The role of the teacher:
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Decide how to present the activity
to the class. (on the boardm or overhead projector, etc)
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Prepare the students orally. (Make
sure, through a number of worked examples, that students know what they
have to do)
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Decide how the writing task should
be carried out. (In pairs, small groups, individually.)
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Decide on correction procedures. (teacher,
peer or self-correction)
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Copying as a writing activity:
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Copying is held to be valuable
because it helps to teach spelling or to reinforce sentence structure.
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Copying is an aid to retention; a
way of making a record of something
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Meaningful copying; example: first
they draw a map of a house and are asked to write down different
furniture; then they are asked to dictate it, to organise the vocabulary
in rooms, to put them in alfabetical order, etc.)
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Other copying activities: Putting
a list of words in alphabetical order, putting a list of words in their
correct sequence (days of the week, months), Putting words in categories
(food, animals, clothes), Doing puzzles, Playing Bingo (two lists of
words, students copy some of them, then the teacher reads some of them
aloud, the first whose words are read wins)
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Reinforcement activties:
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Dialogue writing: Writing parallel
dialogues with the help of keywords.
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Completing a dialogue, choosing
from a list of jumbled sentences.
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Parallel writing: For this type of
activity the students are given a model text of some kind and are asked
to write a similar text with the help of cues. These may be verbal or
visual. The text may recycle items of spoken and written language and
can be used as an intriduct
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(Interesting ideas):
Since lower level students have relatively little language,
they need a variety of structured writing activities that will give them
something to say about a given topic and the language to say it with
before confronting a composition assignment on the same topic.
After putting their basic ideas on paper, they need
composing activities that will guide them through the process of rereading,
rewriting, revising, and correcting their work until the final
compositions communicate their ideas as clearly and accurately as possible.
A strong oral component is essential for lower-level
students because they still need basic vocabulary on many topics.
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