Methodology L7

1. Methodology L7 Lecture 5 Teaching writing Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

2. Teaching writing • Written texts have a number of conventions that separate it from speaking. These conventions are: • handwriting • spelling • layout and punctuation. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

3. Handwriting • Many students whose native language orthographyn is different from English have difficulty to form English letters. Such students should get special training. • Handwriting is a personal issue. Students should not all be expected to use exactly the same style. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

4. Handwriting cont. • Badly-formed letters may influence the reader against the writer. • We should encourage students with problematic handwriting to improve it. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

5. Spelling • One of the reasons that makes spelling difficult for English students is that the correspondence between the sound of the word and the way it is spelt is not always obvious • There is sometimes a difference between the british and the American spelling. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

6. Spelling cont. Color and colour Theater and theatre • One of the best ways to help students improve their spelling is through reading. • We can also draw their attention to spelling problems and explain why they occur. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

7. Layout and punctuation • Different genres of writing obey or use different punctuation and layout conventions such as letters, reports, e-mails and advertisements. These differences are easily seen in the different conventions for the quotation of direct speech which different languages use, or in the way in which commas are used instead of or as full stops in certain languages. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

8. Layout and punctuation cont. • Different genres of writing lay out differently; business and personal letters are different from each other and e-mails have conventions all of their own. Newspaper articles are laid out in a specific way. • To be successful as writers in our own or another language, we need to be aware of these layouts and use or modify them when appropriate to get our message across as clearly as we can. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

9. Methods of Teaching Writing Process and product approaches to the teaching of writing In the teaching of writing, we can focus on the product of that writing or on the writing process itself. When concentrating on the product of writing, we are only interested in the aim of a task and in the end product. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

10. Methods of Teaching Writing cont. • Those who advocate the process approach to teaching writing, however pay attention to the various stages that writers go through to write any piece of writing. By spending time with learners on pre-writing stage, editing, drafting, redrafting and finally revising their work, the process approach aims to get to the heart of the various skills that should be employed when writing. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

11. Methods of Teaching Writing cont. • In its simplest form a process approach asks students to consider the procedures of putting together a good piece of work. • In reality, the writing process is very complex and the various stages of drafting, listing, redrafting and reviewing are done in a recursive way. We go backwards and move forwards between these various stages. Thus at the editing stage we may feel the need to go back to the pre-writing phrase and think again. We may edit bits of our writing as we draft it. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

12. Methods of Teaching Writing cont. There are different models with different components for the writing process • Drafting • Structuring • Generating ideas • Evaluating • Focusing • Reviewing Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

13. Methods of Teaching Writing cont. One of the disadvantages of getting students to concentrate on the process of writing is that it takes time, using the process approach needs a considerable amount of interaction between teacher and students and between students themselves. Teacher needs time to help students brainstorm ideas, draft a piece of writing, review, edit, perhaps changing the focus, generating more ideas, re-drafting, re-editing and so on. When process approach is handled appropriately it stretches across the whole curriculum. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

14. However there are times when the process approach for writing is not appropriate, either because classroom time is limited, or because we want students to write quickly as part of a communication game, or when working alone, we want students to compose a letter or a story on the spot. Methods of Teaching Writing cont. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

15. Writing and genre • In a genre approach to writing students study texts in the genre they are going to be writing before they embark on their own writing. If we want students to write business letters of various kinds we let them look at typical models of such letters before starting to compose their own. A genre approach for writing is very appropriate for students who study English for specific purposes. • Asking students to imitate a given style could be seen as extremely prescriptive. Imitation is only a first stage. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

16. Writing as a cooperative Activity • In language classes teachers and students can take the advantage of the presence of the others to make writing a cooperative activity. Group writing gives the chance to develop more detailed and constructive feedback. Cooperative writing works well with both process and genre based approaches. It is greatly motivating for students. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

17. Using the computer in teaching writing There are many good reasons for using computers for writing • A word-processing package removes the problem of poor handwriting • A word-processing package allows the computer user to edit his-her writing • Spellcheckers can ease the task of achieving correct spelling (training or learning). • If students are working in groups, a computer screen can be more visible to the whole group than a piece of paper might be. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

18. The roles of the teacher Although the teacher needs to play all or many of the roles previously discussed in the first lecture, when students are asked to write, the ones that are especially important are as follows: • Motivator • Resource • Feedback provider Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

19. Teaching Alphabet Writing When Arabic speaking students start learning the English alphabet, they are usually encountered with some difficulties. • The difference between the two ways of writing. • In both English and Arabic languages, there are many inconsistencies between the way a word is pronounced and the way it is spelled. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

20. Teaching Alphabet Writing cont. Steps for teaching the alphabet writing • Teacher draws 4 lines on the board and gives them numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 to help students distinguish the three different kinds of letters. The centrals, the ascenders and the descenders. When teaching for beginners, students should use four line copy- book for handwriting. • Teacher writes the letter clearly on the board putting arrows and numbers showing the direction and the sequence of writing. • Teacher describes (says) how the letter is formed while she is writing it. For the letter O, she says round left, round right. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

21. Teaching Alphabet Writing cont. • Teacher says the sound of the letter and students repeat • Teacher says the name of the letter and students repeat • Students write the letter in the air describing it, they may close their eyes. • Students are given practice which takes one or more of the following forms • tracing • coping • dictation • underlining the incorrect form Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

22. Teaching Word and Sentence Writing • Activities for Teaching Word and Sentence Writing are as follows: • Tracing • Coping • Dictation----- teacher dictates some words and students write them from memory • Completion ----teacher writes some words with some missing letters • Matching a picture with the appropriate sentence --- teacher presents three pictures with one sentence and students are asked to copy the sentence that corresponds to the picture. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

23. Teaching Word and Sentence Writing • Classifying -------words of two or more categories are written in one list, students should classify them into categories. Under the label of each category, students need to copy the words that belong to each of them. • Reordering ------ teacher gives students a word with jumbled letters or a sentence with wrong word order and students need to reorder them. Students have to rewrite them in the correct order. The way of applying it in class • Substitution -------- teacher writes a model sentence and reads it with students. Then, teacher gives students some prompts to form similar sentences. Teacher writes I do not like meat, then she gives the prompt MILK. So students need to write I do not like milk. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

24. Teaching paragraph writing Much work on punctuation, sentence organization and paragraph components is required from the teacher before students can start the process of paragraph writing • Activities for teaching paragraph writing 1-Sentence reordering----------- Teacher gives students some sentences in a random order about a particular topic. T. asks SS to rearrange the sentences to form a meaningful paragraph.. Dr. Hanaa El-Baz

25. Teaching paragraph writing • Answering guided questions ------Teacher gives some questions that revolve round a certain topic. Answering these questions, students will form a paragraph. • Using cue words ------- For example teacher gives students 5 groups of cuie words by using the words in each group students can form a sentence. The five sentences are around a particular topic. • Using a table, a map, or a graph ------students may be given a table, a map or a graph and then they are asked to write a paragraph depending on the ideas cited in one of them. The end THE END Dr. Hanaa El-Baz