Embedded Files
In the realm of language acquisition, writing stands as a cornerstone macro skill in teaching English. It transcends mere transcription of thoughts onto paper; rather, it's a multifaceted process that encapsulates creativity, communication, and critical thinking. Proficiency in writing not only empowers individuals to express themselves effectively but also serves as a conduit for understanding and engaging with the world around them. As educators, honing this skill in learners, be they children or adults, is pivotal in shaping their ability to navigate and succeed in various personal, academic, and professional domains.
Types of Writing Strategies:
Writing strategies encompass a spectrum of approaches that facilitate effective communication through the written word. These strategies include pre-writing techniques, such as brainstorming, outlining, or mind mapping, which aid in organizing thoughts before pen meets paper. Drafting involves transforming these ideas into coherent sentences and paragraphs, often utilizing varied sentence structures and vocabulary to convey meaning effectively. Revising and editing strategies enable refining and polishing the content, focusing on clarity, coherence, grammar, and style. Lastly, publishing or sharing written work fosters confidence and provides an audience, encouraging learners to refine their writing for different purposes and audiences.
- Focus on the overall aim of the lesson
When selecting writing tasks for our EFL classroom our main focus should be on whether these activities promote the overall aim of our lesson. For example, in exam oriented classrooms we may need to boost our learners’ skills with regard to a particular type of writing or register or focus more on composition writing. Other EFL classrooms, depending on the students’ level could benefit more from creative writing tasks or from interactive writing activities that promote student cooperation and boost student talking time.
2. Activating schemata / Pre-teaching key linguistic features
2. Activating schemata / Pre-teaching key linguistic features
In order for the writing tasks to be successful, we need to make sure our learners have the adequate knowledge of lexis related to the topic they will be focusing on. Selecting and pre-teaching language chunks can be very beneficial. We also need to activate our learners’ relevant background knowledge on the subject through some discussion and brainstorming during the lead-in stage.
We need to make sure that our learners will know what to say on the subject and how to express themselves in the foreign language. For certain topics we might have to supply our students with key language and provide all the necessary information they need in order to familiarize them with the topic and activate their relevant schemata. Using a variety of realia and stimuli during the lead-in stage is important as well as pre-teaching certain lexical chunks or L2 structures that will facilitate the writing process. We must provide our students with all the necessary input they will need in order to focus on their creativity and on expressing their thoughts in the L2. We must also make sure our learners have received adequate training and exposure to the rules that underlie the different types of register and genres.
The importance of extensive reading (turning input into output)
The importance of extensive reading (turning input into output)
We should also keep in mind that successful writing in the TL should go hand in hand with extensive reading. For input to become intake and then output, our learners need a lot of exposure to the TL. Instilling the ‘reading bug’ to our learners is one of the greatest achievements of a language teacher. We need to make them want to read in the TL not because they have to but because they want to. This starts in the language classroom by choosing interesting texts, relevant to their age, level and needs. Texts that focus on topics that might trigger our learners’ interest will automatically boost their intrinsic motivation will turn reading in the TL into an enjoyable process. it is when our learners will have received the necessary input that they will begin to feel confident enough to turn it into output and freely express themselves creatively in the TL.
3. Pre-teaching register/writing style
3. Pre-teaching register/writing style
Our main focus should be on helping our learners develop the basic writing skills in the TL and receive adequate training in the different forms of writing that they may encounter not only in their language exams, but also in real life situations. It is thus important to focus on all different types of register, both formal and informal and introduce them to the different structures used through a sufficient amount of TL input. We must make sure we use authentic materials and language at this point and that our learners have received the adequate practice before having to produce a similar piece of writing. Focus on vocabulary use, on the richness of lexis, on the structure and organization of the written work and its accuracy in terms of language and content are all important points to pay attention to in order to help our learners improve their writing skills.
4. Promoting learner motivation: focus on our learners’ age and interests
For Penny Ur (1996), activities that combine ‘purposeful and original writing’ will foster the learning process and will significantly boost learner motivation. We must give our students a reason to want to express their thoughts and ideas in the L2 and turn writing into a fascinating process for them. We need to increase our learners’ willingness to get actively involved in the lesson and use the TL in a more relaxed and playful way. Our learners need to feel motivated enough and discover new lexis and L2 structures on their own in order to appropriately convey meaning in the target language.
Through this process of helping students find new ways to express themselves in the L2, learner autonomy is being promoted. Our students do not only ‘discover’ new vocabulary and grammar but they also develop an intuition of how certain types of texts are being constructed. Ur (1996:169) stresses the positive impact to language acquisition of this ‘journey of self-discovery’ through imaginative writing. When students find the task and the topic interesting, challenging and relevant to their age, they will ‘strive’ harder than usual to ‘produce a greater variety of correct and appropriate language’ in order to express their ideas.
5. Boosting student interaction / writing as a collaborative activity
Writing tasks can also promote student cooperation. By working in pairs or groups in order to write a role play or a story for example, our students will combine their imagination and their knowledge of L2 lexis and grammar and will learn from one another. As Beck (2012:37) points out, through writing learners consider the ‘meaning’ and ‘implications’ of their written output and learn to be responsive to the writing of others ‘in an informed and playful way’.
6. Task authenticity
As Harmer (2001:259) points out, the term creative writing suggests ‘imaginative tasks’, such as writing poems and stories, whose ‘end result’ is to promote effective learning and maximize learner motivation. For Beck (2012:35) creativity and authenticity in the writing tasks does not only help students ‘develop their language skills’, but it also promotes our learners’ introduction to the TL’s cultural contexts and writing culture.
When it comes to unleashing learner creativity the options are endless: storytelling, article writing, rewriting a story, students alternating the end of their favorite book, pretending to be a famous writer/actor/singer/politician, writing imaginary replies to fan letters, writing stories based on pictures/songs, etc.
Below you can find a selection of EFL writing tasks that can easily be adapted to each classroom’s specific level and needs.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse