Functional Tasks for Mastering the Mechanics of Writing and Going Just Beyond

1. Functional Tasks for Mastering the Mechanics of Writing and Going Just Beyond

2. Introduction 1. Communicative with any readers • Close or distant readers • Known or unknown readers 2. Important nowadays on whether A. Interaction of writing takes the form of a. Traditional paper-and-pencil b. Electronic mail writing

3. 3. Communicative activity in course • Be encouraged • Be nurtured; supported 4. Interactive process A. Between reader and writer via the text B. Placing value on a. The goal of writing b. The perceived reader audience

4. 5. Grice’s (1975) cooperative principle A. Writer a. Anticipate readers’ reaction b. Produce a text > clear, relevant, truthful, informative interesting, memorable B. Reader a. Interpret the text with proper regard > for writer’s presumed intention

5. 6. The efficacy of the communicative act A. Linguistic accuracy B. Clarity of presentation C. Organization of ideas

6. Early Writing Tasks: Coping With The Mechanics What do we teach? • Mechanics • Letter recognition • Letter discrimination • Word recognition • Basic rules of spelling • Punctuation • Capitalization • Recognition of whole sentences and paragraphs

7. Writing A. Important role in early reading a. Facilitate the development of > both the reading and writing skills Sound-spelling correspondences • Enable teacher to combine the teaching A. Phonetics units with graphemic units • Give students practice in pronunciation A. Along with practice in spelling

8. The English consonants • The sounds of consonant letters A. Depend on the environment a. in which consonant letters occur Ex: “c” /k/ & /s/ • c + (a, o, u, l, r)  /k/ : cat, coat, cup, clock, cry • c + e, i  /s/ : cell, city • c + h  /7/ : cheese • c + k  /k/ : chicken, duck (in the middle or the end)

9. The consonant letter of “h” A. Powerful in changing the sound a. varied environment e.g., “ch”  /ch/ : chopsticks “sh”  /S/ : sheep “th”  /θ/ : theme • Need to recognize these graphic clusters

10. Teach students from different writing systems A. Special writing exercises(see Appendix A)

11. The English vowels • The vowel letters in English A. Being more complex sound-spelling correspondences B. still have consistency and predictability • Basic Types of English Vowels A. Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) a. known as the environment for short vowels B. CV or CVCe (the end with silent “e”) a. known as the environment for long vowels

12. Inappropriate term of short and long vowel A. Associated with vowel length B. For the real difference: a. Phonetic quality e.g., pit and pin It seems than both two are short vowel. However, Pit is shorter than pin. Pit: Voiceless stop Pin: Voiced nasal

13. Environment A. Influence the quality of the vowel sound • The environment CVC in (a, e, i, o ,u) A. Occurs as simple lax (relaxed muscle) B. Nondiphthongized > pan, pen, pin, pot and but. However, • The CVCe environment A. Occurs as tense and diphthongized > pane, Pete, pine, rope, and cute. Diphthong : a vowel sound that starts near the articulatory position for one vowel

14. Monosyllabic words A. The rule that add the inflection (-ing) a. to the final syllable stressed verbs > needs letters doubling e.g., sit  sitting • Polysyllabic Words A. The same rule to any polysyllabic verb e.g.,begin beginning B. If the final syllable is not stressed a. doesn’t need letters doubling e.g., open  opening (stressed on the first)

15. The English vowels To sum up, • Not simple one-to-one letter sound correspondences • Its own consistency • Embedded in the combination of letters > with their immediate environments

16. How do we teach mechanics? • Aims to teach reading and writing mechanics • Enhance letter recognition > especially with different writing system • Practice sound-spelling correspondences > via all four language skills • Help the learner move > from letters and words > to meaningful sentences > to large units of discourse

17. Three types of recognition tasks: • Matching task • Writing task • Meaningful sound-spelling correspondence practice 2-1. Matching task • Enables learners develop A. Effective recognition habits > Based on distinctive graphic features. (See Appendix A)

19. 2-2. Writing tasks • Start with basic letter formation • Leads to meaningful writing of words and sentences. (Appendix B)

21. 2-3. Meaningful sound-spelling correspondence practice • Requires learners to focus on A. the pronunciation B. the written shape of the spelling patterns (Appendix C)

23. More advanced writing tasks: Developing basic communication tools • More advanced writing activities A. Shifting the goal • from the focus on the mechanics of writing • To basic process-oriented tasks B. Incorporating some language work a. morphological and discourse level • Enable focus on both accuracy and content of the message

24. A set of specifications of consideration • Task description – goal and its importance • Content description > Content area related to the task • Audience description > the intended audience, their background, needs, and expectation • Format cues – plan of overall structure • Linguistic cues > grammatical structure and vocabulary choices • Spelling and punctuation cues > attention on spelling rules, acceptable punctuation, capitalization conventions

25. Practical writing tasks • These writing tasks A. Being procedural in nature B. Have a predictable format (e.g. list) • Focus on spelling and morphology • Many types of lists A. “Things to do” lists B. “Things completed” lists C. “Message for my little sister” lists • Provides with an opportunity to combine > some spelling rules with morphological rules and with the logical creation of a meaning sentence

26. “Things to do” lists 1. useful to practice verb base forms e.g., A list for a group of students who are preparing a surprise birthday party Things to do • Buy a present for Donna (Sharon). • Call Donna’s friends (Gail). • Write invitations (Dan). etc.

27. “Things completed” lists 1. Useful to practice past forms of verbs 2. Regular and irregular formation: a. - ed (regular) b. the deletion of a final e before adding e.g., -ed : live  lived c. double letter + -ed when the end of the word is stressed e.g., -ed : can  canned d. replacement of y with i when the base ends is “consonant + y” e.g., -ed : try  tried

28. Things completed • Planned the games for the party • Wrote the invitation • Bought the present • Called the friends • Tried to call Donna’s mother

29. “Shopping” lists 1.practice the spelling of > the plural ending of countable nouns > the use of quantifiers • /s/: when the end of the word is voiceless, we pronounce /s/ : cups • /z/: when the end of the word is voiced, we read /z/ : models In spelling pattern, /s/ and /z/ are the same • /ez/: when the ends of the word are s, sh, ch, x, o, we pronounce /ez/ : oranges

30. Notes and messages 1. Practice brief and simple sentences > with proper punctuation > with a meaningful message 2. Design their own messages headings e.g., Messages for My Little Sister Wash the dishes in the sink. Feed the dog. Watch your favorite program on TV and have a good time.

31. Other types 1. Activities a. the filling in of forms b. the preparation of invitation > “greetings” and “thank you” All of these specification should focus on • orthographic, mechanical, and linguistic accuracy

32. Emotive Writing Tasks 1. Personal writing activity includes A. letters to friends B. narratives describing personal experiences C. personal journals or diaries • Letter Writing • Personal Experience • Journals and Diaries • Suitable for the more advanced stages • Journal and personal writing > reflect the learner’s proficiency level

33. School-Oriented Tasks • Important functions of writing • Students are required to a. write assignments, summaries, answers to questions, or a variety of essay-type passages All these activities • Given attention a. at the linguistic-accuracy level b. at the message-transmission level

34. Dialogue journal writing at the early stages 1. Enables students and teachers A. interaction on a one-to-one basis B. communicative event at the early stages a. of learning to write in a new language 2. Enables beginners A. generate some personal input B. receive the teacher’s direct feedback 3. Dialogue journal can be done A. via e-mail and the communication B. multimedia programs

35. Conclusion • Objective • Encouraging teachers A. Use a variety of writing tasks at all level a. particularly at the beginning level • Being a skill • Plan and rethink the communication process • Provides the opportunity to focus on • Linguistic accuracy • Content organization

36. The Major aim • The mechanics of writing are important A. At the initial stage of learning B. Establish a good basis in sound-spelling correspondences

37. Considerations for Teaching an ESL / EFL Writing Course

38. Steps for Teaching Composition • Called Product Approach • Principles of rhetoric and organization → rules for writing • A text for classroom discussion, analysis • Writing assignment • Read, comment on, and criticize papers

39. Process Approach • vs. Product Approach • Focus on general academic writing, personal writing (content course) • A cyclical approach 1.) drafting 2.) receiving feedback ( from peer or teacher)

40. Placement considerations • To sort students into levels of writing proficiency (homogeneous) • Prerequisite for curriculum planning (materials and methodologies) • Placement test 1.) produce one or more writing samples 2.) TOEFL Test for Written English / 100-point ESL English Composition Profile 3.) multiple-choice grammar tests (×)

41. Establishing Curriculum Principles • Based on skill levels • For beginning or intermediate-level 1.) the imitation of models 2.) short texts 3.) self-expression • For intermediate and advanced 1.) creation of self-generated texts

42. ESL / EFL Writing Class • As a workshop to learn to produce academic essays through mastering techniques for getting started → generating ideas → drafting papers → anticipating revising → utilizing feedback

43. The Writing Class • Syllabus Design • Techniques for Getting Started • Using Readings in the Writing Class • Writing Assignments • Responding • Goal-Setting • Shaping Feedback • Forms of Feedback • Error Correction

44. Syllabus Design • Take into account curricular goals and the particular students 1.) How much writing 2.) What the timelines 3.) What composing process 4.) What grammar and syntax 5.) What constitute progress 6.) How much readings 7.) How to grade

45. Techniques for Getting Started • Brainstorming → sharing their collective knowledge for their first drafts • Listing → individual activity / produce as lengthy a list as possible • Clustering → a key word or central idea • Free-writing (speed writing) → write without taking the pen from the page / provide an opening clause or sentence

46. Using Readings in the Writing Class • Models of what English texts look like • Input that helps students develop awareness of English prose style • Attention to particular stylistic choices, grammar features • Develop and refine genre awareness • Practice skills as summarizing, paraphrasing, interpreting, and synthesizing

47. Writing Assignments • Refer to as a “Life Cycle” 1.) Let students know the context and reasons 2.) Content be accessible and allow for multiple approaches 3.) Be un-ambiguous and comprehensible 4.) Further knowledge of content and skills 5.) Rhetorical cues for format of finished assignments 6.) Let students know how their output will be judged

48. Responding • What general goals • What specific goals on a particular piece of writing • What stage • What form • Who should provide • What students do

49. Goal-Setting • Teacher 1.) implementing a variety of response types 2.) training students to maximize feedback on future writing occasions • Student 1.) make the best use of commentary

50. Shaping Feedback • First draft → marginal and end comments • Second draft → further examined the second draft papers • Students should process and work with a teacher’s comments