An Integrated Approach To Writing English Language Essay

An combine Approach To composing English linguistic process EssayThe first chapter of my physical composition ordinates forth three main issues an investigation of piece of music in congener to the opposite(a) verbiage skills, a comparison between committal to idea-for- piece of music versus indite-for- skill as salubrious as an analysis of the teachers roles and the students involvement in the process of pedagogy typography. By exposing these aspects, I demonstrate that writing should not be taught as an spaced language skill provided rather as a get off the ground of an integrated approach. Addition all(prenominal)y, I show how writing-for-writing is as square as writing-for- learn and how students head for the hills a crucial contribution in teaching writing and wee-wee responsibility for their experience learning.An Integrated Approach to physical composition and the Other Language SkillsContemporary methodological tendencies split the four language ski lls into two grand categories receptive skills and productive unmatcheds. The latter accommodates speaking and writing with their untold-debated differences. The process of writing presupposes the ace-valued function of graphic symbols or letters chained together in higher sentence sequences that respect a particular order and make water a coherent text.Writing is primarily linked to two other language skills speaking and recital. On the one hand, the association writing-speaking gives rise to treated debates about whether teachers should focus to a greater extent on teaching writing or teaching speaking. It may be argued that writing is not merely an nondescript extension of speech the former work out differs from the latter in four-fold ways as Donn Byrne cogently shows in the following tableSPEECH compositionTakes place in a context.Creates its own context.Speaker and listener(s) in contact. lector not present and no interaction possiblePerson communicate is speci fic.Reader not necessarily known to writerImmediate feedback give and expected.No immediate feedback possible.Speech is transitory.Writing is permanent.Sentences oft incomplete and sometimes ungrammatical. Hesitations and pauses common.Sentences expected to be carefully constructed and linked and organised to form a text.Range of devices (stress, intonation, pitch, speed) to sponsor convey meaning. Facial expressions, body movements, and gestures besides apply.Devices to help convey meaning are punctuation, capitals, and underlining (for emphasis).Fig. 1. Differences between speech and writing (Byrne 3). antecedent Byrne, Donn. Teaching Writing Skills. London Longman, 1993.Thus, the written language asks for a greater standardization of grammar and vocabulary whereas speech is varied according to eminences in regional dialects. Speaking ordinarily occurs as a spontaneous act tour writing is carefully planned. Then, speakers make use of their body language and articulation t o put across meaning except writers have to count on their words for the same purpose. Finally, speech has a to a greater extent inlump and instant character where the written discourse develops logically in a more formal and compact style.On the other hand, writing is related to reading as these two skills represent the basis of literacy. Nowadays, theoreticians such as S.B. Kucer and E. Delgado-Larocco knock over literacy as a multifaceted and active practice that encompasses sociocultural, cognitive, developmental, and cognitive factors (see Fig. 2 below). Consequently, for a person to be get by literate, he or she has to master all the abovementioned dimensions of literacy at the same time (Kucer 4). First, the cognitive influence dictates the writers wish to find, build, and divvy up meaning. Afterwards, the sociocultural component contains markers of social identity (ethnicity or gender). Third of all, the linguistic element puts forth the language used by the writer as th e conveyor of meaning. Last but not least, the developmental aspect includes the other three factors since literacy is a dynamic process, the writers / readers development never ceases (Kucer 5-6).Fig. 2. Dimensions of literacy (Kucer 59).Source Kucer, Stephen B. Dimensions of Literacy. A Conceptual Base for Teaching Reading and Writing in enlighten Settings. spick-and-span-sprung(prenominal) Jersey LEA Publishers, 2005.Moreover, the question of why and how writing should be taught arises. Since writing is a skill which is () difficult to presume (Byrne 6), it is obvious by now that instructors should set very clear teaching goals as concerns writing. In this sense, writing may be taught as a response to students require and diverse learning styles introvert learners do not feel at ease expressing themselves orally, so writing stick outs them to feel more self-confidence. But writing may equally be taught for reasons of memorization or retention and consequently it crackings students the confirmation for part of their learning progress. The most evident purpose for teaching writing seems to be the need for its presence in informal and formal examinations alike.In general, teaching writing is not meant to be an isolated practice. Instead, an utile student exposure to the inappropriate language is acquired through more than one medium as Eli Henkel points out in meaningful communication, people lock incremental language skills not in isolation, but in bicycle-built-for-two (quoted in Harmer 265). In the classroom, the teaching-learning environment tries to mimic real- bread and butter situations and this is the reason why lessons often integrate multi-layered language skills. In this context, writing invites us to gather and point our thoughts in order to clearly communicate them (Johnson 8).Teaching Writing-for-writing versus Writing-for-learningLanguage is the vehicle of thought. The essential hypothesis is that-being a language skill-writing mea ns writing a connected text and not just single sentences, that writers write for a purpose and a reader, and that the process of writing is a valuable learning tool for all our students (Raimes 11).Contemporary methodological trends dictate that writing should be taught interdependently with reading, speaking, and listening. There is no single approach to teaching writing but more. Writing may reinforce recently acquired language structures, it may advance the students mental and linguistic development, and it may also emphasize individual learning styles.Additionally, the type of writing teachers promote depends greatly on the learners age, level, and personal interests. In The Practice of English Language Teaching, Jeremy Harmer divides the teaching of writing in two broad categories writing-for-learning and writing-for-writing. The former type is defined as the kind of writing we do to help students learn language or to test them on that language (Harmer 330). Thus, writing-fo r-learning can ask students to build sentences using the Past stress Simple or the Going to Future for instance here, the aim is not to train students to write, but rather to help them remember (Harmer 330) a authorized grammar item. Learners build writing habits for language practice in this case-they come to grasp, retain, and acquire new language structures. similarly this, writing-for-learning promotes learners involvement in the lessons development and impression by raising their awareness and by making them responsible for their own learning.By contrast, writing-for-writing addresses specific writing genres such as narratives, ads, letters, postcards, job applications, reports, or articles whose construction we want our students to master. Therefore, if we are to build the students writing skills, it is advisable to use such writing-for-writing tasks as often as is appropriate (Harmer 330). This category focuses more on familiar, daily styles that the learners find useful and that they are likely to come across more frequently. Writing for fun or for pleasure is also included here since it allows students to acquire fellowship in their own beatnik self-experience proves valuable and motivates learners intrinsically, making them accumulate new language items more promptly and with more ease. There are countless types of writing of activities targeted for this type of writing, amongst which questionnaires, scenarios, puzzles, instructions, quizzes, diaries, headlines, or programmes. Unlike the controlled practice in class where pupils are asked to comply to certain(prenominal) composition rules, writing for fun does not require obeying specific conventions but rather using the language that learners have at their disposal. As a result, writing for pleasure enhances students creativity and underpins their level of proficiency in the foreign language.Furthermore, Art Young-in Teaching Writing across the Curriculum-d wholesomes on the same distinction between writing-for-learning and writing-for-writing, although he labels these categories differently writing to learn and writing to communicate.Fig. 3. Writing to learn and writing to communicate (Young 9).Source Young, Art. Writing across the Curriculum. New Jersey Prentice Hall, 1999.Young exposes the fact that on the one hand, writing to learn encourages students to weigh the time to keep new language items gradually through creativity and problem-solving skills. Thus, writing to learn sets forth the writers linguistic knowledge and principles in his attempt to explain the return to oneself (Britton quoted in Young 10). On the other hand, writing to communicate enables writers to dish out newly acquired structures with others, to explain the matter to others (Britton quoted in Young 10). This time, the reader or the receiver of the writers text is let and further supported to revise shared information or discover new perspectives.All in all, writing-for-learning and writi ng-for-writing are only two of the many possible ways of teaching writing. These two categories are not in return exclusive, so teachers should not focus solely on one of them at the expense of the other. Although writing-for-learning focuses more on content areas whereas writing-for-writing on compositional forms, they both represent invaluable tools for the teaching-learning process. Used jointly within pairwork or groupwork, these techniques let about the advantages of unimpeded communication, creativity, self-confidence and peer-reliability.Teachers Roles and the Students Involvement in Teaching WritingTeachers whose goal is to instruct students how to become proficient writers must always take into consideration the learners background and emotional makeup but also their animateness experiences that they bring to class. An efficient teaching of writing presupposes acknowledging the students active role in this process. Thus, a culturally kindly input offered by teachers embr aces and explores class diversity.Besides the open-mindedness to culturally diverse learners, teachers also play other crucial roles in the classroom such as resource, organiser, prompter, motivator, participant, and feedback provider. As resource, the teacher should be launch to supply information and language where necessary () offering advice and suggestions in a constructive and tactful way (Harmer 330), especially for longer writing tasks. delicate teachers operate with their expertise when it comes to teaching writing and make sure that they put across new structures in a significant and accessible way.When the teacher becomes organiser, he or she is involved in physically setting up the classroom environment so that students get to better assimilate the writing tasks. The teacher may require that the students work in pairs or in groups and that the class setting be cor serveing to the task (horseshoe, circle, groups of four desks or more, u-shape, or others). In this case, the teacher can also act as prompter, hinting at certain English structures to ensure a smooth ply of the activity he or she could pass from group to group and offer learners tips and cues.Assuming the role of motivator, the teacher tries to boost both the learners intrinsic and adventitious motivation since student motivation often proves to impede the acquiring of new English structures, whatever the taught skill may be. For teaching writing, motivation usually means giving students the advantage of choice without limiting their perspectives to a single activity. This is not to say that students may roam freely or inattention topics assigned by the teacher, but that they can rely on their life experiences, on their options in terms of English knowledge as well as on the prospect of a real audience (their colleagues, teachers, etc.) in order to successfully conclude an assignment. In this respect, one of our principal roles () impart be to motivate the students, () persuading t hem of the usefulness of the activity, and encouraging them to make as much effort as possible for maximum benefit (Harmer 330).Additionally, acting as participant, the teacher can share with the students his or her own experience as a writer. By doing this, the teacher exposes writing strategies and offers insight into techniques typically used by proficient, expert writers. Students have to opportunity to witness the teacher attempt with logic and coherence and thus, they become more confident in their own writing skills. Humbertson even recounts As I continued to write and share with my students, they connected and invested in their own literacy (11).Finally, the teacher as feedback provider is a position that I am dealing with in greater full point in my following chapter. However, mention should be made of the fact that teachers should respond positively and encouragingly to the content of what the students have written (Harmer 331). A prejudicious feedback discourages stude nts and makes them reticent to writing. It is generally accepted nowadays that the teachers feedback should highlight only one aspect that needs improvement every time English register, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, or word order.Nonetheless, the acclaimed student-centred teaching style of today does not obviously wrap exclusively around teachers roles in the classroom. Instead, this approach views teachers and students as partners or collaborators in the teaching-learning process. Students are as active a part of the writing practice as their instructors. By showing that they care and understand the learners needs and interests, teachers allow their students to become responsible for their own learning. Another instance of students involvement in teaching writing is the case of groupwork tasks when more proficient learners can race or help out less proficient ones. Regardless of the writing context in the classroom, the teacher can follow certain go to guarantee successful l earning outcomes design authentic and meaningful writing tasks, teach writing together with other language skills as part of an integrated approach, alternate teaching methods or techniques, create a sympathetic class atmosphere, and adopt a supportive attitude towards the learners.Overall, the first chapter of my paper has dwelled on aspects concerning first of all the relationship writing-speaking and writing-reading, then the similarities and differences between writing-for-learning and writing-for-writing, and ultimately the teachers responsibilities as well as the students participation in teaching writing. In this respect, I have revealed the fact that an integrated approach to teaching the language skills is the most appropriate technique to adopt in class, that writing-for-writing is as significant as and sometimes more constructive than writing-for-learning, and that good teachers know how to include students in the teaching-learning process by offering them a share of sel f-reliance, awareness, and motivation.