Techniques for Teaching Writing Skills - using controlled writing

Techniques in using controlled writing

What is ‘Controlled Writing’?
(also known as guided writing)

Raimes (1983), states that, unlike free writing, controlled writing takes place when learners are supplied with “a great deal of the content and/or form [such as] an outline to complete, a paragraph to manipulate, a model to follow, or a passage to continue” (p. 95).

 Sliva (1990) added that controlled writing assists in both preventing errors that apparently occur from first language interference and reinforcing proper use of second language patterns

What are some of the chief advantages of using controlled
writing in the classroom? 

1.ITS CONTROL AND FLEXIBILITY.

The advantages of the ability to control the specific outcomes of the writing activity cannot be overestimated.

This is an advantage both from the teacher`s and students` point of view.

From the teacher`s point of view controlled writing activities may take a relatively short time to create and are very easy to grade.

Thus, controlled writing activities allow the teacher to  engage students in writing activities without having to worry about  how they are going to have to correct it or access it.

In this way teachers can assign a fairly large amount of different kinds of controlled writing activities without having to worry about that tremendous time it is going to take for them to deal with the after effects.

From the students point of view controlled writing is  also good because it allows them to focus on one thing at a time.

If the teacher has done her/his job well and set up controlled writing activities to try to focus on problem areas the students have shown during the course of the class then the student should be practicing the points that they might need to develop more.

Thus, carefully planned use of controlled writing activities can allow a teacher to really get students engaged in a lot of very useful and different types of writing practice.

What are some of the representative controlled writing activities?

¢Controlled composition

¢Question and answer

¢Guided composition

¢Parallel writing

1.CONTROLLED COMPOSITION

When people think of controlled writing activities it is usually controlled composition that people generally think of first.

 These usually include texts that have had certain elements removed or  have certain elements which are not useful or somehow need to be changed.

In doing these we try to get our students to focus on a specific form focused problem and often things related to grammar or vocabulary. This is good for us because this is similar to the revision process in that both deal with changing a ready made text to make it better

2.QUESTION AND ANSWER

This technique is often used to as a way of getting students to build outlines in a more controlled way.

 It can also be used as a way of generating ideas and even sentences which can be turned into more  formal pieces of writing from spoken forms.

In this way, it is often related to interviewing and uses the results of the interview which are either tape/video recorded and transcribed or just noted down as a way of scaffolding the writing process.

This works well for us because it is a perfect seamless connection between speaking and writing.

In effect students need to turn speaking into writing. Fun!

3. GUIDED COMPOSITION

This refers to, as mentioned above, activities which engage the students in actually creating more open-ended compositions.

Different levels and amounts of control however can be introduced to make this in theory easier (more control - more close-ended) or more difficult (less control - more open-ended)

4.SENTENCE COMBINING

This one is easy to get a grip on as we have already done this in this class. Sentence combining gets the students involved in just what the name implies; sentence combining.

This can be tweaked by picking certain types of sentences to be combined or having them combine a certain number of sentences.

Thus even in something seemingly straightforward there are still possibilities for diversity. Again, like question and answer, this is often a way of converting the simpler even incomplete forms of speaking into the more complex forms of writing.

5.PARALLEL WRITING

Parallel writing is somewhat related to copying but with a twist. Instead of simply copying certain information, which is provided and possibly first needs to be written out (this step can be skipped), the student needs to change or add to the information from the model.

Thus, parallel writing can best be described as rewriting with different basic information, which again is provided.

  References:

¢Modul TSL 3107  Teaching Writing Skills In The Primary ESL Classrooms

¢Eman Elturki, the USA (2; April 2013) Controlled Writing: An Effective Traditional Practice for Developing ELLs’ Composition Retrieved From http://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr13/ex.htm on 21,July 2013

¢Stephen van VlackSookmyung Women`s UniversityGraduate School of TESOLTeaching Writing Spring 2007Raimes (1983), Chapter 7: Techniques in Using Controlled Retrieved From http://www.udveksling.com/TeachWrit/TeachWritWeek13 on 21 July 2013

Techniques for Teaching Writing Skills - all language skills

Teachniques in using all language skills

Techniques for Teaching Writing Skills - readings

Techniques in using readings

Techniques for Teaching Writing Skills - pictures

Techniques in using pictures

References:

Raimes, A. (1983) . Techniques in teaching writing. England:   Oxford University Press

http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922

http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2013/04/16/teaching-writing-to-young-elt-learners/

Genre Approach to Teaching Writing

What is a genre-based approach?

• This approach identifies that writing is a social activity with particular power relations and social conventions. The approach explicitly identifies the social and linguistic conventions of different types of texts.
• The approach usually includes the following:Familiarization, controlled writing, guided writing and then free writing

Categorization of Genres

1. Primary

diary entries, personal e-mails, personal letters, fables, ICQ messages 

2. Secondary

different kinds of reports, office memos, recipes, instructions, travel brochures, school essays, etc.

3.Creative

nursery rhymes, poems, riddles, limericks, parodies, mixed genres (e.g., a historical narrative + a fiction), etc. 

Principles for choosing genres for a writing syllabus or a writing class 

• Consider the cognitive and linguistic level of your students and decide the choice of the primary, secondary and creative genres.
• Consult guidelines laid down in the school / language curriculum to see which genres are expected to be covered in your writing syllabus and why they should be included.
• Strike a balance.  Make sure your range of genres will allow students chances to relate their personal life (homely genres) to learn the skills which they require to gain access to higher level of education and to experience fun, creativity and the beauty of sounds and words 
  

  Assign a suitable, meaningful topic which can go with the target genre. For instance, a personal letter can be assigned with a topic of relating personal feelings about an incident. 
  

 

Process Approach to Teaching Writing

What is process approach?

The process approach treats all writing as a creative act which requires time and positive feedback to be done well. In process writing, the teacher moves away from being someone who sets students a writing topic and receives the finished product for correction without any intervention in the writing process itself (British Council, 2003)


The changing roles of teacher and students

The teacher needs to move away from being a marker to a reader, responding to the content of student writing more than the form. Students should be encouraged to think about audience: Who is the writing for? What does this reader need to know? Students also need to realise that what they put down on paper can be changed: Things can be deleted, added, restructured, reorganised, etc. 


What stages are there in a process approach to writing?

Although there are many ways of approaching process writing, it can be broken down into three stages:

Pre-writing
The teacher needs to stimulate students' creativity, to get them thinking how to approach a writing topic. In this stage, the most important thing is the flow of ideas, and it is not always necessary that students actually produce much (if any) written work. If they do, then the teacher can contribute with advice on how to improve their initial ideas.

Focusing ideas
During this stage, students write without much attention to the accuracy of their work or the organisation. The most important feature is meaning. Here, the teacher (or other students) should concentrate on the content
of the writing. Is it coherent? Is there anything missing? Anything extra?

Evaluating, structuring and editing
Now the writing is adapted to a readership. Students should focus more on form and on producing a finished piece of work. The teacher can help with error correction and give organisational advice.


Classroom activities
Here are some ideas for classroom activities related to the stages above:

Pre-writing

• Brainstorming
  Getting started can be difficult, so students divided into groups quickly produce words and ideas about the writing.

• Planning
  Students make a plan of the writing before they start. These plans can be compared and discussed in groups before writing takes place.

• Generating ideas
  Discovery tasks such as cubing (students write quickly about the subject in six different ways - they:
  
  • 1. describe it
  • 2. compare it
  • 3. associate it
  • 4. analyze it
  • 5. apply it
  • 6. argue for or against it.

• Questioning
  In groups, the idea is to generate lots of questions about the topic. This helps students focus upon audience as they consider what the reader needs to know. The answers to these questions will form the basis to the composition.

• Discussion and debate
  The teacher helps students with topics, helping them develop ideas in a positive and encouraging way.

Focusing ideas

• Fast writing
  The students write quickly on a topic for five to ten minutes without worrying about correct language or punctuation. Writing as quickly as possible, if they cannot think of a word they leave a space or write it in their own language. The important thing is to keep writing. Later this text is revised.

• Group compositions
  Working together in groups, sharing ideas. This collaborative writing is especially valuable as it involves other skills (speaking in particular.)

• Changing viewpoints
  A good writing activity to follow a role-play or storytelling activity. Different students choose different points of view and think about /discuss what this character would write in a diary, witness statement, etc.

• Varying form
  Similar to the activity above, but instead of different viewpoints, different text types are selected. How would the text be different if it were written as a letter, or a newspaper article, etc.

Evaluating, Structuring and Editing

• Ordering
  Students take the notes written in one of the pre-writing activities above and organise them. What would come first? Why? Here it is good to tell them to start with information known to the reader before moving onto what the reader does not know.

• Self-editing
  A good writer must learn how to evaluate their own language - to improve through checking their own text, looking for errors, structure. This way students will become better writers.

• Peer editing and proof-reading
  Here, the texts are interchanged and the evaluation is done by other students. In the real world, it is common for writers to ask friends and colleagues to check texts for spelling, etc. You could also ask the students to reduce the texts, to edit them, concentrating on the most important information.

 References:
 BBC Council. (2003). Approaches to process writing. Retrieved from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/approaches-process-writing

Product Approach to Teaching Writing

What is Product Approach?






Product Approach Stages 

References: