Introduction

Relative to all other academic activities, writing requires more basic skills than perhaps
any other. Even during their earliest handwriting exercises, student must combine complex
physical and cognitive processes to render letters precisely and fluidly.
The novelty of this Master Degree Thesis is to stress as writing tasks become more
difficult, students must call on an increasingly wide range of skills to not only write legibly,
logically, and in an organized way but also to invoke rules of grammar and syntax. This
combination of requirements makes writing the most complex and difficult use of language.
It is probably no accident that many adults have chosen jobs that limit the amount of
writing they have to do. Unfortunately, children have no such luxury. From first grade on, they
write nearly every day and they are asked to do more with this skill than with any other except
reading. And as students progress through school, writing requirements from homework
assignments and class work to note taking and tests increase across the curriculum. Even
newer high-stakes tests are moving towards requiring more answers in the form of short
paragraphs and essays.
The major goal of this paper is to establish tasks that develop writing skills and facilitate
the process of writing.
The problem solved in this Master Degree Thesis is to prevent writing disability which
can be devastating to a childs education and self-esteem and can dramatically limit what that
child can achieve later in life. School requirements demand a high level of writing proficiency,
and a student who struggles with an unrecognized writing disability will find it increasingly
difficult to express his knowledge on many subjects, as the writing process itself will stand
firmly in the way of learning.
The objective of this Master Degree Thesis is to develop a Training Program that will
develop, facilitate

and increase the level of expressing the thoughts in written form.The

important aspects of writing:

Writing is the primary basis upon which the student works, learns, and is judgedin
school, college, in the workplace, and in the community;

Writing expresses who the student is as a person;

Writing is portable and permanent. It makes the thinking visible;

Writing helps the student move easily among facts, inferences, and opinions without
getting confused;

Writing promotes the students ability to pose worthwhile questions;

Writing fosters the students ability to explain a complex position to readers, and to
himself;

Writing helps others give feedback;

Writing helps the student refine his ideas when he gives others feedback;

Writing requires to anticipate the readers needs. Writing ideas down preserves them so
that you can reflect upon them later;

Writing the students ideas permits the student to evaluate the adequacy of his argument;

Writing stimulates the student to extend a line of thought beyond his first impressions or
gut responses;

Writing helps the student understand how truth is established in a given discipline;

Writing equips the student with the communication and thinking skills he needs to
participate effectively in democracy;

Writing is an essential job skill.

The thesis consists of three parts: Introduction, two Chapters, Conclusions, Bibliography

and Appendix.
Chapter I. Writing skills gives a theoretical framework on the process of writing, on
receptive skills and productive skills as productive skills are speaking and writing. Here are
presented the forms of writing: expository, narrative, descriptive and persuasive writing; the
types of writing: academic and creative; it is given the notion of writing style and a four-step
instructional method for teaching writing strategies.
Chapter II. Model for Improving Student Writing Skills presents the Model for
Improving Student Writing Skills. To write well, students need to apply appropriate processes
and to apply the rules of writing, such as grammar rules. In this chapter is given clear, specific
feedback about what to do in the process of developing writing skills and what to do differently
in the future. Within this chapter was elaborated the training program Developing writing
skills based on the tasks that give clear instructions on how to pursue in the process of writing.
The pedagogical experiment conducted with the VIth form students proved that writing skills can
be developed and mastered through the specific educational program.Conclusions to the chapters
bring a synthesis to theoretical material presented in the Chapter I and resolutions achieved in
the Chapter II.

Chapter I.Writing skills

1.1.The definition of writing
The writing process is the series of overlapping steps that most writers follow in
composing texts. Also called the composing process. The writing process is an approach to
writing that entails the recursive phases of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
In composition classrooms before the 1980s, writing was often treated as an orderly sequence of
discrete activities. Since then--as a result of studies conducted by Sondra Perl, Nancy Sommers,
and others--the stages of the writing process have come to be recognized as fluid and
recursive.Beginning in the mid-1990s, research in the field of composition studies began to shift
again, from an emphasis on process to "a 'post-process' focus with the emphasis on pedagogical
and theoretical examination of culture, race, class, and gender" (p.22, Edith Babin and Kimberly
Harrison, Contemporary Composition Studies, Greenwood, 1999).Composing has been variously
described as "thinking on paper," "the making of meaning," and "deciding what one wants to say
and how one is going to say it."In his article "The Post-Process Movement in Composition
Studies," composition researcher Bruce McComiskey points out that "social approaches to
writing instruction view composing as a process (no less than expressivist and cognitivist
approaches do), yet the difference is that these approaches define composing as a social (not
individual) process" [Flower, p.21]
English writing is thought to be an essential skill for success in the modern global
economy [Davis]. Many experts would go as far to say that without certain knowledge of
English reading skills and English writing skills, a career would be somewhat limited if it
pertains to doing business in English-speaking countries at even a rudimentary level.Therefore, it
is recommended that English writing become part of the arsenal of any global businessperson
who wishes to advance his or her career in the global marketplace. The good news is that while
English reading and English speaking are best taught in either an online forum or an in-class
course designed for learners interested in English, English writing can be taught at a pace
consistent with the initial writing ability of the learner of English writing.
Good writing is essential for success in school and the 21st Century workplace. Writing is
a complex combination of skills which is best taught by breaking down the process [Wardle
Elisab.p. 12]. The writing process involves a series of steps to follow in producing a finished
3

piece of writing. Educators have found that by focusing on the process of writing, almost
everyone learns to write successfully. By breaking down writing step-by-step, the mystery is
removed and writers block is reduced. Most importantly, students discover the benefits of
constructive feedback on their writing, and they progressively master, and even enjoy, writing.
Steps in the Writing Process:
1. Pre-writing: This is the planning phase of the writing process, when students
brainstorm, research, gather and outline ideas, often using diagrams for mapping out
their thoughts. Audience and purpose should be considered at this point, and for the
older students, a working thesis statement needs to be started.
2. Drafting: Students create their initial composition by writing down all their ideas in an
organized way to convey a particular idea or present an argument. Audience and
purpose need to be finalized.
3. Revising: Students review, modify, and reorganize their work by rearranging, adding,
or deleting content, and by making the tone, style, and content appropriate for the
intended audience. The goal of this phase of the writing process is to improve the draft.
4. Editing: At this point in the writing process, writers proofread and correct errors in
grammar and mechanics, and edit to improve style and clarity. Having another writers
feedback in this stage is helpful.
5. Publishing: In this last step of the writing process, the final writing is shared with the
group. Sharing can be accomplished in a variety of ways, and with the help of
computers, it can even be printed or published online.
Teaching the writing process empowers students by asking them to talk about their
writing at every step of the writing process. Students submit work according to a set schedule of
lessons and assignments, and instructors provide feedback on the work, mixing encouragement
with constructive criticism. Students apply these comments to the next step in that assignment.
Both exchange comments about the writing, creating a conversation between instructor and
student both about the content of the writing and about the process of doing the
work.Historically, educators have struggled with the challenge of teaching students how to write
well, traditionally focusing on the finished product. Since the 1970s, writing instruction has
been changing. Teachers no longer emphasize the finished product; instead, they teach the
writing process. One of the strengths of the structure of the writing process is its usefulness
for a wide range of diverse learners. Students are taught a variety of styles to structure their
thinking, ranging from analytical outlines to highly visual graphic organizers. Students explore
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ways for organizing and visualizing their ideas that is the most effective for them. For instance,
many right-brained visual thinkers find the highly-graphical spatial bubble-diagram organizers
most effective in the pre-writing stage. Verbal thinkers like to use lists, charts and free writing to
organize their thoughts.
The writing process begins with brainstorming. Some advanced writers will try to start with
a prewriting outline or collection of ideas that exists only in their head, but they are required to
put it in writing, either by way of a graphic organizer or in a more linear format, like listing or
free writing. Students also create a topical outline to help organize their ideas, and the advanced
students are required to develop a working thesis statement. The goal is for students to become
personally invested in their work.Because writing is recursive and any of the steps can be
repeated, most academic or professional writers recognize that writing can be a messy process.
Teachers and students alike regard rough drafts as sloppy copies due to the number of changes
and corrections that are noted on them. During the writing process, the writer moves fluidly back
and forth between the tasks that contribute to creating the final written product. For instance,
once they draft their essay, the first step in revision might be to realize that the structure does not
work. The initially conceived structure might be incomplete, poorly organized, or include too
many divergent ideas that dont support their topic or thesis. At this point, the writer might return
to the key points in a graphic organizer or outline as a way of reconsidering the structure. The
writers might add, delete or change things on their outlines, while also rereading their essay and
editing some of the passages to improve content and clarity. If the writer decides on a new
structure, whole paragraphs may be moved around, deleted or rewritten. Having someone else
read the revised writing helps the writer see if it needs further revision. When the writer is
satisfied with content and organization, its time to proofread for any issues in grammar, usage
and mechanics. Finally, the writer will fine-tune the writing, maybe rework some of the
transitions as a final editorial revision, and then publish the work to their audience. The process
is complete.
For many students, writing can be intimidating, upsetting and mystifying. Parents who try to
teach writing find that their children can be defensive about any criticism on their writing, and
without any kind of teachers guide, critiquing their childrens writing can be a surprisingly
difficult process and source of friction. IN present times the emphasis is on the process of
writing rather than the finished product, much of the sensitivity about receiving constructive
criticism is eliminated; in fact, comments from students indicate they love the feedback[Elbow].
By approaching writing as a process, instructors encourage students to postpone closure on a
5

piece of writing until they have explored all of its possibilities. Breaking the act of writing down
into distinct steps enables students to maintain perspective on their writing, to understand that the
feedback is about a specific aspect of their writing, and to discover they can master and yes, even
enjoy writing!

The productive skill- writing

The goal of foreign language study is to learn a language in order to read its literature or
in order to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from
foreign language study [p.5 Richards]. Writing is an essential skill in our everyday lives and that
makes it a really important aspect of our teaching too. Students need to know how to take notes
as well as how to write essays and letters, which makes this basic skill as important as speaking
or listening. The productive skills are speaking and writing, because learners doing these need to
produce language. They are also known as active skills. They can be compared with the receptive
skills of listening and reading.
Learners have already spent time practicing receptive skills with a shape poem, by
listening to it and reading it. They now move on to productive skills by group writing their own,
based on the example. The teacher has two main roles; the first role is to facilitate the
communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants
and the various activities and texts. The second role is to act as an independent participant within
the learning-teaching group. The latter role is closely related to the objectives of the first role and
arises from it. These roles imply a set of secondary roles for the teacher; first, as an organizer of
resources and as a resource himself;...[p. 167, Richards J. C., Rodgers T. S. Approaches and
Methods in Language Teaching (Second Edition). Cambridge: CUP, 2001. 270 p.] When the
student learns a language, he develops both receptive skills and productive skills. Receptive
skills include understanding when the student listens and when he reads. He receives the
language and decodes the meaning to understand the message.
Productive skills are speaking and writing. The student uses the language that he has acquired
and produce a message through speech or written text that he wants others to understand. When
a student islearning English he is learning all of these skills. He will be strong in some and
weak in others. The student may have different strengths and weaknesses.
Another example of receptive and productive skills is related to the study of vocabulary.
It is easy to develop the receptive vocabulary. The student can study words independently,
memorizing the definitions, the word forms, the collocations and different uses of the words in
context. The students receptive vocabulary can grow and when he sees a list of words to study in
his class, he might recognize some of them already. He will see many new words in his reading
6

texts or hear some in the listening exercises but the words he studies are ones that he should try
to use when he writes or speaks.Independent practice can help him practice his receptive skills.
Just like the example of vocabulary, to do extra reading and extra listening on his own to
improve your receptive skills. Improving your productive skills by himself is more difficult. The
student can write something alone but he can improve more when someone reads what he
writes. He can speak to himself in a mirror, but it is better practice speaking to another person.
However, just like the example with vocabulary, the more that the student develops his receptive
skills, the more that they can affect his productive skills in a positive way. Reading more will
help him write better. Listening more will help the student improve his speaking skills.
Productive skills improve from stronger receptive skills. This term, makes the decision to do all
he can outside of class and take advantage of his time inside of class and he will improve both
his

receptive

and

his

productive

skills!

Certain activities, such as working with literature and project work, seek to integrate work on
both receptive and productive skills. It demnads the coolaborative work between the teacher and
students [The Vermont Writing Collaborative: Writing for Understanding, p.xiii. Authentic
Education, 2008. ].
Writing is a visual form of communication, either printed in hard-copy or in electronic
form. It follows conventions that are mutually understandable by the writer and the reader, even
if these conventions change over time or are used with specific meanings in smaller speech
communities (e.g., special texting rules used by a group of teenagers). Writing is considered a
productive skill because the writer creates new language and does not only interpret existing
information.Here are some common terms used in the discussion of writing:
different media in which we write (letters, computers, cellphone texting, etc.) that
require different styles of writing and different communicative conventions
content
ideas ("the story") that the author intends to convey to the audience
type of expressive style a piece of writing has (e.g., poetry, short story, lecture
genre
notes, etc.)
lexicon
vocabulary that is needed to convey the author's intended meaning
formal aspect of language (e.g., subject-verb-agreement, tense, aspect markers,
grammar
references, etc.)
implicit messages a text conveys to the reader; shared expectations for
pragmatics communication by a social group (e.g., ways to greet in a letter, appropriate ways
of phrasing ideas, etc.)
orthography the way to write letters or symbols of written language; handwriting
mechanics punctuation, spelling (accuracy), capitalization, etc.
Writing skills are important because they are a good way to reinforce what a student has
medium

learned as they will benefit from seeing new vocabulary in written form.Speaking and listening
are natural, though, and as such they do not strictly need to be learned. For example, if an
English person moves to France, they will eventually learn to speak French just from being
7

around native French speakers. They will, however, struggle to write in French. Consequently,
writing can be frustrating and disliked. When we speak, we do not really think about the
grammatical correctness or the mechanics of what we are saying. Everything flows as speech
happens rather quickly; we do not repeat our speech to check for mistakes or the appropriateness
of what we are saying. Writing, on the other hand, does not flow smoothly. We write a few lines,
re-read them, edit what we've written if necessary, and then carry on the process - we are
constantly checking for correctness.
For these reasons teachers need to make writing an enjoyable activity that our students
will not want to avoid. The teachers need to encourage students, initially at least, to write without
worrying about the correctness of everything they put to paper - get them to generate ideas and
then edit their written English afterwards. It is also important to be involved every step of the
way as leaving the students to produce a written piece of work with little help can be a rather
daunting prospect for them. Furthermore, to help the students become self-sufficient writers,
rather than marking a student's work in red pen and handing it back to them it is much better to
meet individually with them to discuss the strong and weak points of their work.For students to
improve their skills in written English, they need to attain correctness and accuracy in:

Grammar;

Vocabulary;

Spelling;

Punctuation;

Layout conventions;

A range of sentence structures;

Linkage of information across sentences and paragraphs to develop a topic;

Appropriate register for the type of writing;

Awareness of the conventions in different genres of writing, such as letters, poems,

essays etc.

Writing Style
Perhaps we should base our teaching on the assumption that, for a great deal of time
anyway, language production consists of piecing together the readymade units appropriate for a
particular situation and that comprehension relies on knowing which of these patterns to predict
in these situations[p.133, Richards].
Writing style is much like any other type of style in that it helps the students express who
they are. It is how the writer chooses to express himself or herself through writing. Each person
8

has their own personal fashion style, whether they mean to or not. The clothes and accessories
that students choose to wear each day can define personal style. If someone throws on a T-shirt
and jeans with some old flip flops, they are expressing a casual and laid back style. On the other
hand, if someone chooses a button-down shirt and leather shoes, they are showing the world that
they mean business. The same goes for writing. Just like clothes, writing can express a specific
style. There are four main types of writing - expository, persuasive, descriptive, and narrative and each one has a specific style.

Expository writing is a general category that includes all types of essays (with the
exception of persuasive essays). The main purpose of expository writing is to explain a concept
or idea while including details for support. Such writing is usually based on a subject and
therefore requires facts, not opinions, for examples and supportive detail. This type of writing is
generally used in textbooks or 'how to' articles and essays. As such, these essays and articles
follow an organized and logical sequence. An expository style of writing is more formal and
straightforward, so the casual language or slang that you would use with friends is not
acceptable.
Slightly similar to expository writing, persuasive writing is usually found in article and
essay form. It also relies on specific details and examples for support; however, persuasive
9

writing does not rely heavily on facts. In a persuasive piece, the writer is often expressing an
opinion and trying to persuade the audience to do something or to agree with the writer's point of
view. It must be clear and concise, but it can also be a bit more forceful and dramatic to help
convince the reader. For example, sometimes writers will exaggerate their details to affect the
reader in a more emotional way than in an expository essay.
Fiction and poetry are filled with descriptive language, since the purpose is not to inform
but to entertain. Someone may read this type of writing to enjoy the beauty of the language and
writing itself. Therefore, this style tends to use more adjectives and adverbs, as well as figurative
language and imagery, to create detail that allows the reader to envision the scenery and events in
their minds.
Like descriptive writing, narrative writing aims to entertain the reader; however, instead
of trying to entertain the reader with beauty of its language, the writer is trying to tell a story. If
an author adopts an expository writing style to tell a story, the author can quickly bore the reader.
Narrative writing will use more descriptive language and imagery, because the author wants the
reader to imagine the characters, scenes, and setting in order to become part of the story's world
and to connect to its plot. Narrative writers can also change their style depending on the type of
story. For example, if a writer wants to create a suspenseful story, they might use short, choppy
sentences to build up to the most exciting moment. Therefore, the genre or category of the
narrative can influence the style of writing as well.
Academic and Creative writing
There are actually only two major styles a student needs to know.

10

All in all, academic writing is more restrictive than creative writing. Thats as much as a
student needs to know about writing styles. However, lets consider also the following styles
they stretch beyond the sphere of scholarly writing:
Technical writing-involving a lot of specific terms, technical writing has a set structure.
Business writing-business writing is looser, yet it also follows the laws of the formal
style.
Casual writing-allowing the author to use a mixed approach and rich vocabulary, casual
writing is the most democratic of the all styles.
Despite the numerous and quite different types, writing styles are still homogeneous enough
for you to remember them well. Writing is a skill that is required in many contexts throughout
life. However, academic writing does many of the things that personal writing does not: it has its
own set of rules and practices.These rules and practices may be organized around a formal order
or structure in which to present ideas, in addition to ensuring that ideas are supported by author
citations in the literature.In contrast to personal writing contexts, academic writing is different
because it deals with the underlying theories and causes governing processes and practices in
everyday life, as well as exploring alternative explanations for these events. Academic writing
follows a particular tone and adheres to traditional conventions of punctuation, grammar, and
spelling.
The Structure of academic writing is a beginning, middle, and end. This simple structure is
typical of an essay format, as well as other assignment writing tasks, which may not have a
clearly articulated structure.
The Academic writing elements
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Referencing:A significant difference between academic writing and other writing genres is
based on the citation and referencing of published authors.
Abstract thought:Traditionally, academic topics have focused on abstract things, like ideas and
concepts, which cannot, necessarily, be given in a concrete or physical form. While writing
meeting minutes or covering letters of CVs draw on physical, practical, and functional tasks,
academic writing is often more likely to focus on abstract processes and relationships. Yet,
despite the abstract, non-material structure of some academic topics, the student may be able to
borrow concrete and physically oriented words to explain these abstract ideas and the
relationships between them.
Academic tone:Like all varieties of writing, academic writing has its own tone, which dictates
the choice of words and phrasing.
The audience:It is important to remember who the student is writing for. Being conscious of
academic tone suggests that the student is aware of his audience and respect the formality
normally associated with academic writing.When writing academically, he must target a more
general audience than just your lecturer and/or marker. He should assume that his readers will be
intelligent thinking people, but they may not be specifically informed of your topic. Do not
presume that the reader knows all the terms and concepts associated with the work.
Punctuation and grammar:In academic writing the student should always follow rules of
punctuation and grammar, especially as the end-user or consumer of his writing, unlike a friend,
is likely to be very different from him and will not always know to what he is referring. Hence, it
is vital that the student is clear. Punctuation and the conventions of grammar are universally
known systems (within English speaking cultures) that maintain clarity and avoid ambiguity in
expression.
Academic writing is also used for publications that are read by teacher and researchers or
presented at conferences. A very broad definition of academic writing could include any writing
assignment given in an academic setting.Some are self-explanatory and some have a brief
explanation.Here is a list of documents where academic writing is used:

Books and book reports;

Translations;
Essays;
Research paper or research article;
Conference paper;
Academic journal;
12

Dissertation and Thesis - These are written to obtaining an advanced degree at a college

or university;
Abstract - This is a short summary of a long document;
Explication - This is a work which explains part of a particular work;

There are some things to remember about the characteristics of academic writing;

Planning - There is a certain amount of planning before the student starts writing the

paper; so, it will be analytical and organized;

Outline - A proper outline is a must for academic writing. An outline will not only help
the student formulate his thoughts, but will sometimes make him aware of certain
relationships between topics. It will help him determine the pertinent information to be

included in his paper;

Tone - A formal tone is used. The student does not use slang words, jargon, abbreviations,

or many clichs;
Language - The language in the paper needs to be clear and words need to be chosen for
their precision. A thesaurus is a good tool to help you pick just the right words to explain

the issues;
Point-of-view-The point of view in the third person, as the focus of academic writing is

to educate on the facts, not support an opinion;

Approach - Deductive reasoning is a big part of academic writing as the readers have to
follow the path that brought the student to his conclusion;

Deductive reasoning and an analytical approach are important in academic writing. Much
planning and forethought are needed to have a well organized paper.There's no great mystique
about an "academic writing style". The most important thing is to keep the students writing clear
and concise and make sure that he gets his ideas over in a comprehensible form. It's clear
expression of these ideas that will impress the tutor, not a string of long, inappropriate words
found in the student s dictionary. A wide range of vocabulary is of course important, but the
student must use the right word, and shorter ones are often better than longer ones.
The most important thing to remember is generally to try to avoid everyday, informal
language, especially colloquial expressions and slang. Also, spoken language is naturally full of
hesitations, repetitions, grammatical errors and unfinished ideas. In the student s writing,
however, structure is much more important: sentences should be complete and ideas arranged
into paragraphs or sections, and the student should aim for perfection in his grammar and
spelling. However, especially if English is not his first language, he must not become too
obsessed with this, to the point perhaps of copying word for word from his sources. Whats
13

important is that the student clearly show his understanding of the subject and his ability to
manipulate information to answer a specific question or complete a specific task, and as long as
any grammar errors he makes dont impede this, then it shouldnt be a problem.
The stages of academic writing

An academic paper has three distinct sections - the introduction, body and conclusion:

INTRODUCTION: In the introduction, the student must grab the readers attention and
identify the thesis of the paper. It can be done this by starting with: Several questions, A
quote from a famous work or person, Some interesting facts or information, A definition
of an important term related to the work

BODY: This is the main part of the work and the paragraphs must be clearly written and
be arranged in a logical order, like chronologically or in order of importance. Each initial
sentence links the preceding paragraph and the whole section flows smoothly.

CONCLUSION: In the conclusion, the student re-emphasizes the thesis and summarizes
all the main points. The conclusion consists of one paragraph which shows the final
conclusion to the reader.

Defining Creative Writing

Traditionally referred to as literature, creative writing is an art of sorts - the art of
making things up. It's writing done in a way that is not academic or technical but still attracts an
audience. Though the definition is rather loose, creative writing can for the most part be
considered any writing that is original and self-expressive. A news article, for example, cannot be
considered creative writing because its main goal is to present facts and not to express the
14

feelings of the writer. While a news article can be entertaining, its main purpose is to present the
facts. Creative writing is most popularly understood to be writing that comes from the
imagination, writing that is not true. Creative writing is the very fine art of making things up, in
the most attractive, apt and convincing way possible. Its the telling of lies in order to reveal
illuminating and dark truths about the world and our place in it. There is a tendency to think of
Poetry, Fiction and Plays. Of course, some creative writing is partly based inspired by real events
or based (auto)biography.The purpose of creative writing is to both entertain and share human
experience, like love or loss. Writers attempt to get at a truth about humanity through poetics and
storytelling. When students would like to try their hands at creative writing, the first step is to
use the imagination. Types of creative writing include:

Poetry;
Plays ;
Movie and television scripts ;
Fiction (novels, novellas, and short stories) ;
Songs ;
Speeches ;
Memoirs;
Personal essays.

Some nonfiction types of writing can also be considered creative writing. Memoirs and
personal essays, for example, can be written creatively to inform the readers about their life in an
expressive way. Because these types are written in first person, it's easier for them to be creative.
Techniques used in creative writing include:
Character development ;
Plot development ;
Vivid setting ;
Underlying theme ;
Point of view;
Dialogue;
Anecdotes ;
Metaphors and similes;
Figures of speech ;
Imaginative language ;
Emotional appeal ;
Heavy description ;
Examples of Creative Writing:
a) Poetry and Songs:
A poem or a song tends to be more elusive, or mysterious, because it has limited space.
Because of its spatial limitations, however, it can make leaps in subject and time, and it doesn't
15

have to rely on narrative structure. In poetry and songs, literary devices, like similes and
metaphors, can be used to take the readers to surprising places.There are used shocking
comparisons; how immediately is captured the reader's attention. The goal of the poems is to
build the idea of life as an eyeball and makes the reader really try to visualize it.
Teaching Writing Stages
Before distinguishing the writing stages it should be paid attention on a four-step instructional
method for teaching writing strategies [Eagle].The steps are these:
1.Identifiying a strategy worth teaching. Identifying strategies worth teaching means

looking for strategies that will be genuinely helpful. In the case of struggling writers, strategies
worth teaching are the ones which will help them overcome their writing difficulties. The best
way to identify such strategies is by talking with struggling writers, asking them about how they
write, what they think about while writing, and what they see as difficulties. Additional insight
can be gained by studying student papers to infer where writers are having difficulty and by
observing writers at work.
2.Introducing the strategy by modeling it
Introducing strategies by modeling them generally means some form of composing out loud in
front of students. It canbe done with groups or whole classes by writing at an overhead projector.
The teachers speak their thoughts while writing, calling particular attention to the strategy they
are recommending for students. Sometimes they ask students to contribute to the writing the
teacher is doing, to copy the writing for themselves, or to compose a similar piece of writing in
connection with the writing the teacher is doing. They also model writing strategies during
individual conferences with students.
3.Scaffolding students learning of the strategy
Scaffolding the learning of a writing strategy means helping students to try the strategy with
teacher assistance. This is best done in a writing workshop. The workshop setting is ideal for
giving varying degrees of assistance according to individual needs. It is also ideal for conferring
with individuals and for setting up partnerships and peer groups so that students can assist each
other in the learning of strategies. Even when a writing workshop is not used, some amount of
in-class writing with teacher assistance is necessary to make sure that writers practice using the
strategy being taught.
4.Repeated practice and reinforcement
Helping students to work toward independent mastery of the strategy through repeated practice
and reinforcement means giving them opportunities to use the strategy many times with
decreasing amounts of assistance each time. The idea here is that it is better to teach a few key
16

writing strategies well than it is to teach many of them insufficiently. Students value and master
the things they do repeatedly. In a way, this gets back to identifying strategies worth teaching
look for ones that are crucial to writing processes, such as strategies for planning particular types
of writing, or for structuring texts certain ways. Then model, practice and repeat.
A novel or a play, on the other hand, has plenty of time to unfold. Therefore, fiction
usually contains plot and character development. As a creative writer, the story must captivate
readers, create a relationship between the readers and the characters. This requires both physical
and emotional details so that readers will empathize with the action and whatever pain or
pleasure the characters undergo.

The writing stages are:

a)Brainstorming.In order to write a paper for a class, students need ways to move from the
received knowledge of the course material to some separate, more synthesized or analyzed
understanding of the course material. For some students this begins to happen internally or
through thinking, unvoiced mulling, sorting, comparing, speculating, applying, etc. that leads
them to new perspectives, understanding, questions, reactions about the course material. This
thinking is often furthered through class discussion and some students automatically, internally
move from these initial sortings of ideas into complex, logical interpretations of material at this
point. But, for more students, their thinking will remain an unorganized, vague set of ideas
referring to the subject. Many will have trouble moving beyond this vague sense or simple
reaction toward ideas that are more processed, complex, or deep. It can be fostered by moving
to a deeper understanding by providing opportunities to externalize and fix their ideas on paper
17

so that they may both see their ideas and then begin to see the relationships between them. The
following activities will help students both generate and clarify initial responses to course
material:

Free-writing: Choosing of a topic, idea, question the student would like to consider. It
can be a specific detail or a broad concept-whatever you are interested in exploring at the
moment. Do not concern with spelling, grammar, or punctuation. The goal is to generate
as much as the student can about the topic in a short period of time and to get used to the
feeling of articulating ideas on the page. Its ok if its messy or makes sense only to the
student. The student can repeat this exercise several times, using the same or a variety of
topics connecting to his subject. Read what the student has written to see if he has
discovered anything about his subject or found a line of questioning hed like to pursue.

Clustering/Webbing: Putting of a word the student would like to explore in the center of a
piece of paper and put a circle around it. As fast as the student can, free-associate or jot
down anywhere on the page as many words as the student can think of associated with
the center word. If the student gets stuck, go back to the center word and launch again.
Speed is important and quantity is your goal. Dont discount any word or phrase that
comes to the student, just put it down on the page. Jot words for between 5-10 minutes.
When the student is finished he will have a page filled with seemingly random words.
Read around on the page and see if he has discovered anything or can see connections
between any ideas.

Listing: On a piece of paper list all the ideas the student can think of connected to
subjects he is considering exploring. Consider any idea or observation as valid and
worthy of listing. List quickly and then set the list aside for a few minutes. Come back
and read the list and do the exercise again.

Cubing: This technique helps the student look at your subject from six different points of
view (imagine the 6 sides of a cube and you get the idea). Take the topic or idea and 1)
describe it, 2) compare it, 3) associate it with something else you know, 4) analyze it
(meaning break it into parts), 5) apply it to a situation you are familiar with, 6) argue for
or against it. Write at a paragraph, page, or more about each of the six points of view on
your subject.

18

Journalistic questions: Write these questions down the left hand margin of a piece of
paper: Who? What? Where? When? How? And Why? Think about the topic in terms of
each question.

What? So What? Now what? To begin to explore an idea first ask the student, What do I
want to explore? and write about that topic for a page or more. Then read what the
student has written and ask So what? of the ideas expressed so far. Again, write for a
page or more. Finally ask the student, Now what? to begin to think about what else the
student might consider or where he might go next with an idea.

Defining terms: Although this suggestion is simple and may seem obvious, it is often
overlooked. Write definitions for key terms or concepts in the student s own words. Find
others articulations of the terms in his course readings, the dictionary, or through
conversations and compare the definitions to your own.

Summarizing positions: Sometimes its helpful to simply describe what the student knows
as a way to solidify his own understanding of something before he tries to analyze or
synthesize new ideas. The student can summarize readings by individual articles or he
can combine what the student thinks is like perspectives into a summary of a position.
Try to be brief in the description of the readings. Write a paragraph or up to a page
describing a reading or a position.

Metaphor writing Metaphors or similes are comparisons sometimes using the words
like or as. For example, writing is like swimming or the sky is as blue as map
water or the keyboard wrinkled with ideas. When the student creates a metaphor, he
puts one idea in terms of another and thereby creates a new vision of the original idea.
Sometimes it may be easier to create a metaphor or simile may help the student
understand his view of an idea before he can put it fully into sentences or paragraphs.
Write a metaphor or simile and then explain to someone why the metaphor works or what
it means to the student.

Applying ideas to personal circumstance or known situations: Sometimes ideas come

clearest when the student can put them in a frame that is meaningful to him. Take a
concept from his reading assignments and apply it so a situation in his own life or to a
current event with which the student is familiar. The student may not end up using this
19

application in your final draft, but applying it to something the student knows will help
him to understand it better and prepare him to analyze the idea.
b)Organising.Some students have something on the page to work with, they can begin the
decision-making process crucial to developing a coherent idea or argument. At this point,
students will choose which ideas most appeal to them, which ideas seem to fit together, which
ideas need to be set aside, and which ideas need further exploration. The following activities will
help students make decisions as they shape ideas:

Drawing diagrams: Sometimes it helps to look for the shape the ideas seem to be taking
as the student develops them. Jot down the student s main ideas on the page and then see
if he can connect them in some way. Do they form a square? A circle? An umbrella with
spokes coming down? A pyramid? Does one idea seem to sit on a shelf above another
idea?

Making charts or piles :Try sorting the student s ideas into separate piles by putting
ideas on note cards or scraps of paper and physically moving them into different piles or
by cutting and pasting ideas into a variety of groups on the computer screen or by making
charts that illustrate the relationships between ideas. Common charts include timelines,
authors around a dinner table, and comparison/contrast charts.

Scrap pile: Be prepared to keep a scrap pile of ideas somewhere as the student works.
Some people keep this pile as a separate document as they work; others keep notes at the
bottom of a page where they store scrap sentences or thoughts for potential use later on.
Remember that it is sometimes important to throw out ideas as a way to clarify and
improve the ones the student is trying to develop along the way.

Shifting viewpoints (role-playing) :When the student begins to feel he has some
understanding of the idea, it sometimes helps to look at it from another persons point of
view. It can be done this by role-playing someone who disagrees with his conclusions or
who has a different set of assumptions about his subject. Make a list or write a dialogue
to begin to reveal the other perspective.

Applying an idea to a new situation: If the student has developed a working thesis, test it
out by applying it to another event or situation. If the student s idea is clear, it will
probably work again or the student will find other supporting instances of his theory.

20

Problem/Solution writing: Sometimes it helps to look at the student s ideas through a

problem-solving lens. To do so, first briefly outline the problem as the student see it or
defines it. Make sure the student is through in listing all the elements that contribute to
the creation of the problem. Next, make a list of potential solutions. Remember there is
likely to be more than one solution.

Theory/application writing: If the student s assignment asks him to develop a theory or

an argument, abstract it from the situation at hand. Does his theory hold through the text?
Would it apply to a new situation or can he think of a similar situation that works in the
same way? Explain ideas on paper of to a friend.

Defining critical questions : the student may have lots of evidence or information and
still feel uncertain what he should do with it or how he should write about it. Look at the
student s evidence and see if he can find repeated information or a repeated missing
piece. See if the student can write a question of a series of questions that summarize the
most important ideas in your paper. Once the student has the critical questions, the
student can begin to organize his ideas around potential answers to the question.

Explaining/teaching idea to someone else :Sometimes the most efficient way to clarify
the student s ideas is to explain them to someone else. The other person need not be
knowledgeable about his subject-in fact it sometimes helps if they arent familiar with the
topic-but should be willing to listen and interrupt the student when he or she doesnt
follow. As the teacher teaches the student s ideas to someone, else he may begin to have
more confidence in the shape of his ideas or you may be able to identify the holes in
argument and be more able to fix them.

Lining up evidence: If the student thinks he has a good idea of how something works,
find evidence in course material, through research in the library or on the web that
supports his thinking. If the student s ideas are strong, he should find supporting
evidence to corroborate his ideas.

Rewriting idea: Sometimes what helps most is rewriting an idea over the course of
several days. Take the central idea and briefly explain it in a paragraph or two. The next
day, without looking at the previous days writing, write a new paragraph explaining the
ideas. Try it again the next day. Over the course of three days, the student may find his
ideas clarifying, complicating, or developing holes. In all cases, the student will have a
better idea of what he needs to do next in writing his draft.

c)Drafting.As students have been working with their ideas, they have been making a series of
choices about their ideas that will lead them to feel ready to put them in a more complete,
21

coherent form; they will feel ready to write their ideas in something closer to the assignment or
paper form. But for most, the tough moments of really writing begin at this point. They may
still feel that they have ideas but have trouble getting them on the page. Some will suddenly
be thrust into writing a paper mode and be both constrained and guided by their assumptions
about what an assignment asks them to do, what academic writing is, and what prior experience
has taught them about writing for teachers.These exercises may ease their entry into shaping
their ideas for an assignment:

Clarify all questions about the assignment: Before the student begins writing a draft,
make sure the student has a thorough understanding of what the assignment requires. He
can do this by summarizing his understanding of the assignment and emailing his
summary to teacher. If the student has questions about points to emphasize, the amount of
evidence needed, etc. get clarification early.

Write a letter describing what the paper is going to be about: One of the simplest, most
efficient exercises the student can do to sort through ideas is to write a letter to himself
about what he is planning to write in the paper. He might start out, My paper is going to
be about. And go on to articulate what evidence have to back up his ideas, what parts
still feel rough to him about his ideas. In about 20 minutes, the student can easily have a
good sense of what he is ready to write and the problems the student still need to solve in
your paper.

Write a full draft Sometimes the student doesnt know what he thinks until he sees what
he has said. Writing a full draft, even if the student thinks the draft has problems, is
sometimes important. He may find his thesis appear in his conclusion paragraph.

Turn the ideas into a five-minute speech Pretend the student has to give a 5 minute speech
to his classmates. How would the speech begin? Whats the main point? What key
information would be included? How much detail does the listener need to give? What
evidence will be most convincing or compelling for the audience?

Make a sketch of the paper Sometimes it helps to literally line up or order the evidence
before writing. The student can do so quickly by making a numbered list of his points.
The ideas should flow logically from one point to the next.

22

Make an outline If the student has successfully used formal outlines in the past he may
use one to structure his paper. If he didnt use outlines, then it might be useful to try some
of the other techniques listed here to get the ideas on the page.

Start with the easiest part If the student has trouble getting started on a draft,it should be
written what he feels is the easiest part first. Theres nothing magic about starting at the
beginning, unless that iss the easiest part for the student.

Write the body of the paper first Sometimes its helpful NOT to write the beginning or
introductory paragraph first. It should be paid attention to what the student has to say in
the bulk of his draft and then go back to craft a suitable beginning.

Write about feelings about writing Sometimes its helpful to begin a writing session by
spending 5-10 minutes writing about the feelings the student has about the assignment.
Doing so can help him set aside uncertainty and frustration and help him get motivated to
write his draft.

Write in alternatives (postpone decision-making) the student may need to test out more
than one idea before he settles into a particular direction for a paper. Its actually more
efficient to spend time writing in several directions i.e. trying out one idea for awhile,
then trying out another idea, than it is to try to fit all of ideas into one less coherent draft.
The writing may take the form of brief overviews that begin, If I were going to write
about XYZ idea, I would until the student is able to see which option suits the
assignment and his needs.

Write with a timer Sometimes what the student needs most is to get all of his ideas out on
paper in a single sitting. To do so the student should set a goal for the portion of his draft
that he must complete during the allotted time and not to get up from his seat until the
timer goes off.

d)Revising.As students use language to shape ideas, they begin to feel the need to test their ideas
or move beyond their own perspectives. Sometimes the students have ideas that make good sense
to them, but seem to lose or confuse readers. Once students have a complete draft of a paper,
they need ways to share their ideas to learn points where their ideas need further development.
With feedback from an audience, students are better able to see the final decisions they still need
to make in order for their ideas to reach someone. These decisions may be ones of word choice,
organization, logic, evidence, and tone. Keep in mind that this juncture can be unsettling for
23

some students. Having made lots of major decisions in getting their ideas down on the page, they
may be reluctant to tackle another round of decision-making required for revising or clarifying
ideas or sentences. Remind students that ideas dont exist apart from words, but in the words
themselves. They will need to be able to sell their ideas through the words and arrangement of
words on the page for a specific audience.

Talk your paper The student should tell a friend what your paper is about and pay
attention to his explanation. Are all of the ideas he describes actually in the paper? Where
did he start in explaining his ideas. Does his paper match his description? Can the listener
easily find all of the ideas he mention in his description?

Ask someone to read the student s paper out loud to the audience Ask a friend to read
the student s draft out loud to the audience. The student must ask the questions if the
audience understood what they heard, what were the main ideas, the purpose.

Share the draft with the teacher and a classmate Most teachers are willing to read a draft
of a paper. The teacher gives them the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the
draft, the students are asked to exchange papers with a classmate several days before the
due date.

Look at the sentences Often the student will need to analyze his draft of the sentence
level. To do so, they must break the paper into a series of discrete sentences by putting a
return after each period or end punctuation. The students may try reading the sentences
starting with the last sentence of the draft and moving up. Doing so will take them out of
context and force the student to see them as individual bits of communication rather than
familiar points.

Discuss key terms in the student s paper with someone else After completing a draft, its
sometimes helpful to look back at the key terms the student is using to convey his ideas.
Its easy, in the midst of thinking about an idea, to write in loaded language or code in
which certain key words come to have special meaning for the student that arent
necessarily shared by a reader.

Outline the student s draft After the student has a complete draft, he must go back and
outline what he has said. Next to each paragraph the student must write a word or phrase
that summarizes the content of that paragraph. He might also look to see if he has topic
sentences that convey the ideas of individual paragraphs. If he cant summarize the
24

content of a paragraph, he probably used multiple ideas in that paragraph that may need
revising. He must respond on questions: How does the list flow? Is it clear how one idea
connects to the next?

Underline the main point the student must highlight the main point of his paper. It should
probably be (although it will depend on the assignment) in one sentence somewhere on
the first page. The students draft should not read like a mystery novel in which the reader
has to wait until the end to have all the pieces fit together.

Ask a reader to judge specific elements of the student s paper Share the student s draft
with someone and ask them to read for something specific i.e. organization, punctuation,
transitions. A reader will give more specific feedback to the student you if you give them
some specific direction.

25

Conclusions to Chapter I
Writing skills are important because they are a good way to reinforce what a student has
learned as they will benefit from seeing new vocabulary in written form.Writing style is much
like any other type of style in that it helps the students express who they are. It is how the writer
chooses to express himself or herself through writing. Each person has their own personal
fashion style, whether they mean to or not.The forms of writing are: Expository writing is a
general category that includes all types of essays (with the exception of persuasive essays). The
main purpose of expository writing is to explain a concept or idea while including details for
support. Slightly similar to expository writing, persuasive writing is usually found in article and
essay form. It also relies on specific details and examples for support; however, persuasive
writing does not rely heavily on facts. Fiction and poetry are filled with descriptive language,
since the purpose is not to inform but to entertain.
Like descriptive writing, narrative writing aims to entertain the reader; however, instead
of trying to entertain the reader with beauty of its language, the writer is trying to tell a story. The
types of writing are: academic and creative. Academic writing has its own set of rules and
practices. These rules and practices may be organized around a formal order or structure in
which to present ideas, in addition to ensuring that ideas are supported by author citations in the
literature. An academic paper has three distinct sections - the introduction, body and conclusion.
Creative writing is an art of sorts - the art of making things up. It's writing done in a way that is
not academic or technical but still attracts an audience. Though the definition is rather loose,
creative writing can for the most part be considered any writing that is original and selfexpressive.Teaching writing strategies are: Brainstorming, drafting, organizing and revising.
The steps that are used in a writing process are:
1. Identifying a strategy worth teaching
2. Introducing the strategy by modeling it
3. Scaffolding students' learning of the strategy.
4. Repeated practice and reinforcement

26

Chapter II.Model for Improving Student Writing Skills

Specific Strategies for Improving Student Writing Skills
The educational program can help students improve their writing skills by:

increasing student motivation to have good writing skills;

providing instruction in writing processes and rules;

providing writing practice;

providing constructive feedback about the students' writing.

With high motivation, students will find ways to improve their writing and will persist in

the effort. To write well, students need to apply appropriate processes, such as starting early, and
to apply the rules of writing, such as grammar rules. Writing practice helps most when students
receive clear, specific feedback about what to do the same and what to do differently in the
future.These strategies are organized according to the order in which an academic might
implement them. Following each strategy is a word that describes whether the strategy targets
motivation,instruction, practice or feedback.The teacher must know:
1. Emphasize to students that good writing skills are important, both to their satisfactory
completion of the unit and to their future careers. Encourage students to improve their writing
skills.(Motivation)
2. Provide students with an anecdote about the implications of substandard writing or the value
of good writing. For example, the teacher may talk about a job candidate who missed selection
due to his or her poor writing.(Motivation)
3. Read aloud quality writing done by a former student, and encourage students to listen to its
flow. With the permission of the writer, name and praise him or her. (Motivation, Instruction)
4. Encourage students to pay close attention to the grammar and punctuation they see in
textbooks and other books and articles, as well as in any sample paper. (Instruction)
5. Encourage students to complete a writing unit and refer students to writing skills web sites.
(Instruction)
6. Explain to students that certain writing skills are fundamental to almost all types of writing,
but there are also purpose specific writing skills and styles.(Instruction)
27

7. Tell students: With practice and feedback on performance, writing becomes better. Learning
most complex skills involves many attempts; students need not feel discouraged if they are not
instantly accomplished writers in a specific genre. Once a certain level of skill has been reached,
the process of writing becomes increasingly enjoyable.(Motivation)
8. Describe to students the process used to write journal articles and reports and how using the
process benefits the student. This process might include starting with an outline, completing
several drafts of the document, checking the writing against the requirements, and asking another
individual to proofread the document. (Motivation, Instruction)
9.Give students handouts containing important writing rules and web sites with content such as
UNE's writing fact sheets are good sources of concise rules regarding grammar and punctuation.
(Instruction)
10.Teach students one important rule relating to grammar or punctuation in each lecture or in
each unit.(Instruction)
11. Give students a course-related worksheet, have them write a summary of its content, and then
ask them to critique each others writing.(Practice , Feedback)
12. Toward the end of a lecture, ask students to spend five minutes writing a summary of the
content of the lecture. Next, have students critique each other's writing. (Practice, Feedback)
13. Give a writing assignment and in the marking criteria set aside a specific number of points
for writing quality. Give students a copy of the marking criteria before they begin writing.
(Practice, Motivation)
14. Explain to students before they complete a writing assignment the most common writing
errors

made

in

the

past

as

well

as

the

rules

the

errors

violate. (Instruction)

15. Provide students with a list of poorly structured sentences from assignments of prior years.
Ask the students to improve the sentences, and then discuss the improvements as a class.
(Practice, Feedback)
16. Provide students with a checklist of writing-process suggestions they can apply to a written
assignment. Ask them to submit a completed checklist with the assignment. (Instruction)
17. To the extent feasible, correct writing errors on student papers and provide printed statements
of important rules violated by the errors.(Feedback, Instruction)
28

18.Encourage students to learn the rules they violated in making the errors.(Instruction)
19. Praise students freely for excellent or improved writing. (Motivation)
Teaching writing requires both ingenuity and experience[p.12, Davis, B. G. (2002).]as
well as a bag of tricks that combines tried-and-true ideas with new strategies and
technologies. And with this in mind, there is a list of strategies both old and new that help
students get a handle on teaching writing in a way that helps each students.
1. Old: Journaling. Sometimes students just need to put pencil to paper and daily journaling is
a great way to teach them how to express themselves through the written word.
2. New: Blogging. A classroom blog is a great way for students to interact with each other in an
informal, written way. Use a tool like SchoolNet to start a classroom blog and allow students to
post their own thoughtful articles, questions and comments.
3. Old: Classroom Discussion. A good old-fashioned classroom discussion is still one of the
best ways to teach kids to dig deeper and enhance comprehension, which can, in turn, transfer to
their written work.
4. New: Online Literacy Tools.Web-based literacy tools ( WriteToLearn) meet individual
instructional needs for all students including struggling readers, providing teachers an effective
method of supplementing their classroom instruction.
5. Old: Writing Circles. Group your students according to reading level and watch them
motivate and push each other as they work through a difficult text and respond through writing
and discussion.
6. New: Online Book Clubs. Find an online forum where children discuss books and ask your
students to contribute their thoughts and reactions in writing. Or, it can be started a just-for-theclass book club with students using Facebook.

Teaching writing methods

1.Prewriting :Prewriting gives the students the tools and foundation for successful writing.
Prewriting alleviates students anxiety freeing their minds to focus on words after generating
ideas instead of completing both steps simultaneously. Prewriting gives the students confidence
and direction as they write not to mention improve the quality of their ideas and organization in
their writing.
2.Brainstorming:Brainstorming is an activity with which most people are familiar. The object in
brainstorming is to compile as large a list as possible of potential examples for a given topic.
This is a great activity to do in small groups or with the entire class. Brainstorming a list of ice
29

cream flavors is an easy one to start with when introducing the concept. Naturally, one idea will
spark another, so it is helpful to have students working together when brainstorming. Give the
students permission to be as creative as they like. Anything goes with brainstorming. Challenge
the students to come up with as many examples as they possibly can for whatever topic they are
given.
3.Free writing:Free writing is an individual activity for getting thoughts from the students head
on to paper. Free writing is simply putting on paper every thought that is going through the
students heads. Like with brainstorming, anything goes. The goal of this activity is to never let
the pen or pencil stop writing. The students must understand that though they will begin with a
particular topic in mind, it is okay to veer off on tangents as they write. Spelling and grammar
are not important for this activity; it is ideas that they are trying to grasp. Give the students a set
length of time for this activity. Primary level students may write to two or three minutes; older
students can probably write for five to ten minutes.
4.Journalistic Questions:Journalistic questions approach a topic in a more structured manner.
First, are reviewed the question words: who, what, where, when, why and how. Then, are made
up questions starting with each of these words. For example, on topic habits are asked the
following questions Who has good study habits? Who benefits from good study habits? What
are the good habits? Where do people with good study habits study? Where to they keep their
books? Where do they organize notes and homework? When do they study? When do they
complete assignments? ... There are an infinite number of questions that can be asked about any
given subject. This activity can be done either individually or in groups with success. Students
must write answers to each question. When finished prewriting, they must organize their
thoughts in preparation for writing.
5.Cluster Mapping:Cluster mapping, also called idea webbing, is a great way to show
relationships between ideas. Cluster mapping is also part idea generation and part organization,
so students will know exactly how to group their ideas once they are ready to write. Students
must write the topic in the center of the page and put a circle around it. Then with younger
children, let them think of questions about the topic. Each question should be written in a bubble
connected to the central topic. Students must spread these bubbles out over the page as they will
be adding to each additional ideas. Then, the students are to answer the questions connecting still
smaller bubbles to the bubbles containing the questions. If their question was What do spiders
do? then they might make connecting bubbles saying they capture flies, they spin webs, they
scare nursery rhyme characters, etc. With students who have more knowledge about their central
30

topic, their bubbles connected to the central idea should include subtopics and/or details about
the subtopics. A student may start with spiders as the central theme, make a connecting bubble
with the subtopic of diet, then connect bubbles to that subtopic with different types of insects on
which spiders feed. Generally speaking, each of the subtopics would be one paragraph in a
composed piece of writing with examples and support for the idea surrounding it.
6.Flow Charting:Flow charting is similar to cluster mapping in that it shows relationships
between ideas. However, flow charting is most effective when examining cause and effect
relationships. With the central theme drug abuse in the center of the page, to the left students are
to make list of causes for drug abuse with arrows pointing at the central idea. What causes drug
abuse? Peer pressure, medical need, parental example and boredom are all potential causes of
drug abuse. Each would therefore be in its own box in the diagram with an arrow pointing from
it to the central idea of drug abuse. Then are to be examined the effects of drug abuse and place
those in separate boxes to the right of the central idea each with an arrow going from the central
idea to it. Homelessness, loss of jobs, failure in school, isolation, further abuse and addiction
may all be results of drug abuse. When writing, students can focus on either half of the diagram
(causes of drug abuse or effects of drug abuse) or follow the cause and effect pathway from
cause to effect and cause to effect. Depending on the topic, students may create a chain of cause
and effect relationships and choose to write about the series.
7.Double/Triple Entry:Double or Triple Entry is another focused brainstorming activity. This is
especially useful when comparing and contrasting two or three topics or when exploring two or
three areas of one topic. With this prewriting method, students must make two (or three)
columns on their paper. Each column should have a topic which focuses the idea generation. For
example, if the students were going to compare love and hate, they might label columns
similarities and differences and list their ideas in the appropriate sections. If the students are
writing about their ethnic heritage in comparison to another, they could have them label one
column with each culture. When finished, students should have a good idea of the points on
which they can compare or contrast their topics.
The elements of Writing Instruction Method are:grammar, inquiry, peer assistance,
prewriting activities, process writing, product goals, sentence combining, strategy instruction,
study models, summarization instruction, word processing. The average effect size is seen in the
following chart:

31

Scaffolding students writing [Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). A meta-analysis of writing
instruction for adolescent students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 445-476.]

Prewriting

This involves students engaging in activities (such as using a semantic web or

brainstorming ideas) designed to help them generate or organize ideas for

Inquiry

their composition.
This involves engaging students in activities that help them develop ideas and
content for a particular writing task by analyzing immediate and concrete
data (e.g., comparing and contrasting cases or collecting and evaluating

Procedural

evidence).
This involves providing external supports (such as prompts, guides, hints, or

facilitation

heuristics) designed to facilitate one or more writing processes, such as

planning or revising.

Peer assistance

This involves students working together to plan, draft, and/or revise their

when writing
compositions.
Study of models This involves students examining examples of one or more specific types of
text and attempting to emulate the patterns or forms in these examples in
Product goals

their own writing.

These involve assigning students specific goals for the written product they

Feedback

are to complete.
This involves students receiving input from others about the adequacy of

their written product.

Alternative modes of composing
Alternative

Word processing This involves students using word processing computer

32

modes of

programs to compose their composition.

composing:

Metacognition in the writing process

Metacognition is an individuals knowledge of their own cognitive processes and their
ability to control these processes by organizing, monitoring and modifying them as a function of
learning. It refers to the ability to reflect upon the task demand and independently select and
employ the appropriate reading, writing, math or learning strategy[Graham, p.33]. Metacognition
is an important aspect of student learning. It involves self regulation, reflection upon an
individuals performance strengths, weaknesses, learning and study strategies. Metacognition is
the foundation upon which students become independent readers and writers. It also underlies
students abilities to generalize math problem solving strategies.
The English classrooms are full of students who have not developed metacognitive strategies.
They are dependent learners who are not aware of what they need. They rely upon teachers and
tutors for constant support. There should be integrated and infused Metacognitive Writing
Strategies into content:

Learn material more efficiently ;

Retain information longer ;

Generalize skills .
Studies of the learning process have found that students are more able to learn complex

skills when they can think metacognitively, that is, when they think about their own thinking
and performance so they can consciously monitor and change it. In fact, studies have found that
successful writers engage in an internal dialogue in which they talk to themselvessometimes
even muttering aloud-about audience, purpose, form, and content. They ask and answer for
themselves certain questions: Who are they writing for? Why? What do they know and what do
they need to find out? They maintain this ongoing internal dialogue as they organize ideas, plan,
draft, edit, and revise. Successful writers guide their thinking with metacognitive strategies that
help them write purposefully.
This basic research has led to strategies for teaching writing that help novice writers learn
how to engage in this kind of self-talk and self-monitoring. In one study, teachers of fourth- and
fifth-grade students were taught how to implement these strategies in their classrooms. The
33

teachers analyzed texts for their students, modeled the writing process, guided students as they
wrote, and provided students with opportunities for independent writing over the course of a
year. Those students who engaged in these kinds of self-regulating metacognitive strategies and
who were able to explain their writing process improved their academic performance.
While there were significant differences in the writing knowledge between those students
with and those without learning disabilities within the comparison group, the students with
learning disabilities in the metacognitive group were just as able to describe and use the
writing strategiessuch as the ability to organize, evaluate, and revise their papers in
appropriate waysas were the general education students in the comparison group. Sometimes,
the students with learning disabilities who had received this strategy instruction even outscored
the general education students. (Source: Englert, Raphael, & Anderson in Socially Mediated
Instruction: Improving Students Knowledge and Talk about Writing. Elementary School
Journal, 92(4), 411449).
Carnegie Mellon, professor Dr. Marsha Lovett identifies the three major steps in teaching
metacognition as:
1. Teaching students that their ability to learn is mutable;
2. Teaching planning and goal-setting; and
3. Giving students ample opportunities to practice monitoring their learning and adapting as
necessary.
The goal of teaching metacognition is to equip students with the tools necessary to monitor
their own learning. They can create goals for themselves, attempt to meet those goals, and revise
their plan.Metacognition can be used to help students master all subjects. For example, while
tackling a reading assignment, a student can monitor his own comprehension by questioning the
text and effectively taking notes along the way. To prepare for a writing assignment, a student
can brainstorm using popular models like word webs and graphic organizers. Metacognition is
particularly effective when integrated with technology. Students can use graphic design programs
to create diagrams and organizers. They can communicate on social networks or in collaborative
documents while doing their homework to share thoughts and ideas on the assignments. Some
teachers even require their students to keep blogs, so they can record what they know, what they
want to know, and what theyve learned, and easily share that process with their peers.
Developing Writing Skills Model

34

Planning
Drafting

Academic

Researchin
g
Refine
position
Reposition
Redrafting

Writing
skills

Brainstor
ming
Drafting
Free
writing
Creative

Flow
charting
Double
Triple entry
Cluster
mapping
Organising

35

The training program Developing Writing Skills

The training program Developing writing skills was designed to help students acquire
writing skills and practice writing fluency as well as story-writing skills. It offers free practice of
narrative tenses and sequential linking words, and helps foster cooperation and a sense of
achievement as students work together to prepare and write their stories. It also solves the
problem of giving up valuable class time to lengthy writing exercises and stops writing being
such a lonely experience.
Activity 1. Writing a story
The students must be aware of the steps they should proceed while writing a story:

Procedure: Step 1

Tell the students they are going to write a story entitled A Wonderful Day and that they
are going to be the narrator in the story.

Draw 4 big circles on the board. In the first circle write Who am I? and ask your
students to decide on the main character of the story (You could use a picture to stimulate
imagination):

How old am I?
What do I do?
What do I look like?
What am I like?
Who are my friends?
36

What family have I got?

What kind of relationship do I have with them?
What do I like doing?
Etc.
Write up their ideas.

Step 2

In the second circle write Morning and ask the students to decide what I did to make it
such a wonderful day and write up their ideas.

Repeat the procedure for the third and fourth circles substituting Morning for
Afternoon and Evening.

Step 3

Put the students into groups and tell them each group is going to write one part of the
story: morning, afternoon or evening.

Step 4

Give the students about twenty minutes to discuss together and write their part of the
story then collect the strips back and arrange them together .

I find it helps if you read the text aloud and the students follow. Go over the text with the
students and tell them what you think they did well.

If you want you can also analyse the texts for errors.

Activity 2: Postcards: Using postcards in class can be a motivating writing task and add a level
of stimulation for students. My students have always been very fond of this activity as they don't
have to write too much and it involves a level of communication and imagination.

Preparation: a stack of postcards (1 or 2 for each student)or provide a piece of paper and get the
students to draw their own picture on it. Alternatively, if your students have Internet access and
email addresses they can write e-cards.
37

Procedure:

Give out the postcards (one for each student or pair of students) or get the students to
choose an e-card.

Ask the students to look at the picture on the postcard and imagine that this is something
they saw whilst on holiday. If the students are drawing their own pictures, get them to
draw something from their last holiday.

Now ask them to write the postcard to a friend telling them about their imaginary holiday
and how the picture relates to it.

Once they have written the cards ask them to exchange them with someone else (if you've
used e-cards, they can email them to someone else in the class).

Ask the students to read the postcard they have received and then write a response to it.

During the activity it is best to concentrate on communication rather than accuracy, but at
the end of the activity you can collect up the cards and see what errors were made and
prepare a correction slot for the next class.

Activity 3: A business letter: learners attempt to re-write an inappropriately informal business

letter in a more appropriate, formal style.

Procedure:
38

In order to get students thinking about business letters, ask how many reasons they can
think of for writing this type of letter. Give a couple of examples, then get students to
brainstorm in pairs, before feeding back to the class.

Give learners the inappropriately informal letter (Worksheet 1). Ask a few simple
comprehension questions.
o Have they been in contact before?
o What's it about?
o What are the problems with the system?

Then ask what's wrong with the text. (Too informal, doesn't follow letter-writing
conventions). Elicit some of the kinds of things they will need to change to make it more
formal (vocabulary, sentence structure, layout, paragraphing, greeting and close).

In pairs, students re-write the letter to make it more appropriate as a formal letter. Don't
help them too much at this stage - the idea is that students write the best letter they are
capable of using their existing language resources. This creates a need for the
conventional letter-writing language which may be 'missing' from their current
knowledge.

Give students[Elbow, Peter, p.11] the model letter and ask them to compare it with their
letter. Emphasize that the model is only one possible way of re-writing the letter - this can
lead to a discussion on whether any differences are equally correct. Ask the students to
identify language from the model which they could use to improve their letter. In this
way, some of the conventional sentence frames which are so common in business letters
are 'fed in'.
At this stage you might also wish to draw attention to the conventional greetings and

endings for formal letters. (In British English, if the name of the person is used, e.g. Dear Mr.
Jones, then the ending is Yours sincerely. If you don't know the name of the person you are
writing to, then the letter begins Dear Sir / Madam, and ends Yours faithfully.) It may also be
worth highlighting the punctuation used here, i.e. a comma after the greeting, as this can vary
between languages. In addition, some students are not familiar with the form of address Ms,
which refers to a woman without specifying her marital status.
Activity 4. Writing poems: begin by brainstorming topics related to the future through acrostic
poems or pictures. Ask your students to imagine they're living in the year 2100. What's life like?
What can they see around them? How far has space and technology advanced?

Example poem:
lying saucers
39

piter

ime machines

AstronaU

ts

MaR

tians

GeneticE

ngineering

Here are the poems below as a model for the students:

When I look into the future
There are robots
There are aliens
There are saucers in the sky

But there aren't any birds.

When I look into the future
There's a memory stick in my head
There's a tracking device under my feet
There's a monitor behind my eyes
But there isn't a computer.

Example structure:

When I look into the future

There 's/are
There 's/are...
There 's/are

But there isn't/aren't any

On a more personal note, the future could be explored through the senses. You could use
this example as a model to elicit ideas from your students. Play some relaxing
background music and ask them to close their eyes and imagine the sensations as they
think of different words.

Example:

My / The future is (yellow)

It tastes like (pasta)
It smells like (a lemon)
It sounds like (a mandolin)
It feels like (a cat)

It looks like (the sunrise)

Ask students to complete the sentences below to generate ideas for a poem about their
own future dreams. Here are two possible structures for their poems:
40

In my future life
I might
I could
I may..

But I'll definitely

In my future life
I'd like to be
I'd like to...
And
Then

Please
Here's a poem on a lighter note as an example of what they could produce.
In my future life
I'd like to be a cat,
I'd like to sleep for 12 hours
Then dance around my flat.
I'd like to play by moonlight
And sunbathe in the sun,
I'd like to climb a palm tree
And catch my tail for fun.
I'd like to dine on fresh fish
Then drink a sea of milk,
I'd like to live-that's my last wish
Please ban all dogs from Earth!

Writing a haiku
It is easy to learn to write a haiku, but it can take a lot of practice to learn how to do it
well. These lessons will give the students the basics for writing your own haiku. Its up to you to
practice by writing a lot of them so you will get very good at it.A haiku is an unrhymed threeline poem. It is based on a traditional Japanese poetic form. Though there are different ways to
write haiku, the traditional pattern in English is to write the first and last lines with five syllables
each, and the middle line with seven syllables. In other words, the pattern of syllables looks like
this:

41

Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
Heres another way to visualize the same thing:
12345
1234567
12345
Most often, haiku poems are about seasons or nature, though can be written haikus about
anything. One more thing to keep in mind is that the last line of a haiku usually makes an
observation. That is, the third line points out something about the subject you are writing
about.Lets see how we can put these few rules together get your started writing your own haiku
poems.
Haiku About Seasons
First it is selected a season: spring, summer, fall, or winter. Then it is made
an observation.The pattern is of 5, 7, 5.
Winter is coming.
Snow will be arriving soon.
We should rake the leaves.
Writing a cinquain

42

Activity 5. Writing a narrative: Students often get muddled when writing a narrative because
they concentrate too much on the plot of the story. As a result tenses and syntax suffer. This
activity helps students both with a storyline and with the tenses.
There should be identified the following steps in writing a narrative:

43

It should be kept in mind the structure of a narrative:

A sample activity:
Preparation: Make copies of these questions for each pair / group of students
1. What was Mr. Jones's job?
2. What was he going to do?
3. Why?
4. What was the weather like?
5. What did he decide to do after that?
6. What didn't he want to do?
7. Why?
8. What was the surprising end?
NB: The teacher chooses which tense to focus on depending on the class (for example you
could ask What did Mr. Jones used to do? or What would he like to do next? What has he done
that no-one else knows about? etc.). also the teacher may ask about different vocabulary too
instead of the weather e.g. What was he wearing at the time?
Procedure

Tell students that there is a text for them to read but unfortunately it is lost or at home!
However, there are still the comprehension questions.

Give out the questions to each pair of students and ask them to
o read all the questions and then
o write the answers to them.

The answers should have some connection with each other and should be in note form
only.

44

Now, using their answers, they have to construct a story about Mr Jones. Either now or
previously the students need to have appropriate linking words (however, all of a sudden,
so... etc).

When the students have finished writing swap the stories with another pair. They should
read the text and see if they can answer the comprehension questions.

Put the stories up around the classroom for everyone to read and get them to decide
which one is the best / funniest / most unusual?

Using postcards in class can be a motivating writing task and add a level of stimulation
for students. My students have always been very fond of this activity as they don't have to
write too much and it involves a level of communication and imagination.

Writing can be much more motivating if the writer has a chance to play a role. In this activity the
students will have the chance to write to an imaginary romantic partner.
Activity 6. Writing Role-play
Writing role-play demands a lot of energy and collaborative group work. This massive work can
be represented through the following chart:

Preparation
Photocopy the role cards for the student. You can download the role cards below.
Procedure:

Draw three pictures on the board of three people (two women and one man) Sue, Jane
and Paul at a party.
45

Read the situation from the role play to students to explain how they all met.

Divide the class into four groups and tell them that it is now two weeks after the party
and that the people have started to write letters to each other.

Give out role cards to each group for them to read, or ask each group to leave the
classroom one by one and show them a role card. Explain to them that they have to write
a letter (they can do this alone, in pairs or in groups). Make sure that the different groups
don't talk to each other.

Give the students time to write the letter but be sure to give them a firm time limit.
Remind them that they must finish the letter with the last line provided.

When they have finished the letters you can either ask them to read the letters aloud or
you can regroup them (if they have written letters alone) into groups of four. The
important thing is that they must read the letters in the correct order to tell the story.
When the letters have been read you can take them in to mark or you can follow this up
by getting a different partner to respond to the letter so that the students keep exchanging
the letters.

Activity 7. Writing predictions: This is a creative-writing exercise in which the teacher moulds
the story but allows plenty of scope for the students' creative expression. It includes the
following stages:

46

Procedure

The students work in pairs or groups of three. The teacher dictates a part of a story and
then gives instructions on how the students should continue the next part of the story in
their pairs. This usually involves adding description or dialogue.

Once the students have added a part to the story, the teacher once again dictates the next
part and asks them once again to add more.

This process can continue for 5 or 6 paragraphs or until the students lose concentration.

The present perfect is a tense that many students have problems with. Most course books
provide only controlled grammar sentences where students choose the correct tense.

This activity leads students into writing a short story using the past simple, present perfect
simple and continuous, but in a more creative way.
Procedure

Tell the students they are going to write a short story.

Get the students to read the following questions and decide, with a partner, what the
missing words are, but not answer the questions now.
47

Monitor well to check they understand the activity. There are no 'correct' answers, they
should use their imagination.

1. What is his / her name?

2. What is __________ about them? (e.g. strange / unusual / nice...)
3. What was their --problem last year?
4. What happened?
5. Why have they become so __________ ?
6. How many __________ have they -__________ ?
7. Who have they been __________ recently?
8. What have they been __________ for the last five years?

Now the students, working in pairs still, have to answer the questions. The answers
should link the questions together to form the basis of a story.

Next ask students to draw their characters. This is fun and brings the character to life.
Students can laugh at each other's drawings.

Using the notes above, students put the story together. They can add more information if
they wish but they should not make it complicated.

Students then swap their story with another pair to edit. They read the story and underline
any errors they notice, or question any word or phrase they don't understand.

The stories are returned to their owners who make changes as necessary depending on the
comments that were made by the editing pair.

By slowly guiding them through the stages the end result is their own and usually grammatically
correct.
Activity 8.Chatting:This activity simulates chatting a popular (online) communication
process which has features common to both speaking and writing.
It can be used in the language-learning classroom for students who still find it too
difficult to speak without first having a little thinking time, and also as a means of moving
students away from being overly concerned with accuracy, and focusing more on successful
communication. The students really enjoy this activity, especially the fact of being allowed to
write notes in class!

48

Procedure

For the first time the teacher spends a few minutes discussing online chatting with
students, highlighting some of the key features through concept-checking questions, such
as: Do you spend a long time thinking how to formulate each message when chatting?;
What is more important when chatting, writing everything correctly, or communicating
quickly?.

The teacher pre-teaches some useful emailing / chatting abbreviations. Basic items could
include: u=you; 2=too; c=see; 8=ate, (and any more you / your students might know).
Students should also be encouraged to use contractions, and forms such as gonna,
wanna.

Then the teacher arranges the classroom so that each student is sitting back-to-back with
a partner.

It is choosen a suitable subject for students to chat about, such as: Discuss your
favourite sports. Subjects requiring students to reach a solution are particularly effective,
for example: Arrange to meet up with your partner at the weekend and decide what you
are going to do together.

Explain to students that in order to communicate, they write a message on the first line of
their paper, say Hi, how are you?, and send it over their shoulder to their partner, who
will respond and pass the paper back as quickly as possible.

Set a time limit for the activity, say fifteen minutes, and then students start chatting.

Whilst students are chatting, the teacher stands back and observes, only getting involved
if anybody seems to be interfering with the communication process by taking too long to
write back.
49

At the end of the chatting session the teacher asks students to report back - either on the
content of their chat or on how successfully they communicated. More advanced students
can analyse their messages and discuss how in this situation communication is more
important than accuracy.

Another follow-up activity can involve students talking aloud with their partner about the
same subject they chatted on (i.e. redoing the activity, but without that extra thinking
time).

Activity 9. Describing people: This is an activity which is really useful for helping learners to
write more fluently and can also help to diagnose problems with students' written work and
ability to formulate questions. It can be used it at the beginning or end of a class as a fun filler, or
as an integral part of the lesson.

Give out a sheet of A4 paper (219mm x 297mm) to each student and ask them to watch
and follow your instructions.

Hold up your paper and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again and then again. Press
hard on the paper and then open it out. The folds should have divided the paper into eight
rectangles. Use the fold lines to tear the page into eight rectangular pieces of paper.

50

Once they all have their eight pieces of paper, ask the students to write their names in the
bottom right-hand corner of each piece.

Next ask them to think of another person in the class and to think of a question they
would like to ask them.

Tell them to write the name of the person on the top left-hand corner and then to write the
question on the piece of paper.

Once they have done this, tell them to pass the paper to the person the question was
intended for.

Students then read any questions they got and start to write replies.

Students who didn't get a question can start writing another question for someone else.

Get the students to keep writing and answering questions until all their pieces of paper
are used up.
In the early stages it is needed to prompt the students to keep writing and also to make

sure they are using English, but try not to interrupt ones who are busy writing or to correct
anything at this stage. This is a good way of diagnosing problems with your students writing.
You can collect up all the pieces of paper at the end and look through them for common mistakes
to focus on next lesson. It is important however to respect your students privacy and anonymity
as some of the communications between them could be quite personal.
Activity 10. Songs: using songs in the classroom is great as the students enjoy it a lot! This
activity is really good and involves group work and the four main language skills. The students
respond to music and write a story.
Procedure

First, choose different types of songs (rock, pop, country music, etc).

Divide the class in groups (of 4, for example) and give each group a blank piece of paper.

Ask them to make a cross on it dividing the paper into four equal parts. Tell them to
number the parts from 1 to 4 (in this case).

Explain that each student in the group will use one part of the paper.

Play the CD/tape with the first song and ask student number 1 to draw something on it
according either to what he/she feels or something related to the lyrics.

Change the song and follow the same procedure with the others.

After they finish drawing, say that they are supposed to make up a story following the
sequence of their drawings. Give them time to prepare it then ask everybody to present
their story to the class. Explain that each student is going to tell his/her part of the story.
51

This activity can be used at all levels. The skills used are writing, speaking and reading. The
grammar aim can be the present tense, present continuous or simple past.
Activity 11. Writing a letter: This activity would follow input work on writing in a particular
style - for example, an informal letter inviting a friend to visit your home town for a holiday.First
it is presented the structure of a letter:

Preparation: Set up the context for the letter, or do a layout on the board to make sure that
everyone knows how to lay out an informal letter.
Procedure

Put the students in pairs or groups of three.

Give them a large piece of paper and say, 'Right, everyone, I want you to write your
address, write the opening greeting and then stop. And you do it immediately and you do
it straight onto the paper.' And they do that. Then you say, 'OK now you're going to write
the letter. But as you write it, at some point you'll hear me say 'Freeze!' and when I say
'Freeze!', I mean 'Freeze', even if you're in the middle of a word - you stop writing. If
you're in the middle of a sentence you stop writing.'

The students begin to write. I check that everyone has written something before I say
'Freeze!' for the first time. I try to hurry the ones along that are lagging behind a little.

When I say 'Freeze!', I transfer each paper to the next group so that everyone's working
with another piece of paper with a letter on it. I give the following instruction which is to
read, correct, improve and continue. So, they work on the letter that they've received and
then they continue that letter.
52

A bit later I say 'Freeze!' and off we go again. Transfer letters, read, correct, improve and
continue.

It's always good to get the paper back to the original group just before the ending and again
the same instruction - read, correct and improve and this time you say 'close'. So they bring it to
a final.
Activity 12. Argument essays: used action research to help students organize their argument
essays and so improve their writing. Firstly, the students are taught to fill in the scheme that is
represented below. They come up with ideas and arguments and organize the ideas logically.

To improve students' poor performance when writing argument essays, it can be investigated
this problem by analysing the students' writing. This analysis made her think that a possible
cause of the problem was that students did not know how to organize argument essays or
paragraphs in such essays. So, it can used the following solutions:

Explain the overall organisation of an argument essay to students.

Explain paragraph organisation.

Give students a list of connectives which they could use in their essays. Make sure that
they understand the relationships that are implied by these connectives.

Give students a model argument essay. Once they have read it, ask them to draw a spiderdiagram of the essay in the following way:
o Firstly, identify the thesis. Write it in a circle in the middle of a blank piece of
paper.
o Next, identify the claims or statements that are made to support this thesis. Write
these around the thesis.
o Then identify and list the details and examples which are given to support each
claim/statement.
53

o Finally, write relevant connectors between the thesis and the claims/statements
and between the claims/statements themselves.

Give students a topic. Once they have completed pre-writing activities, like discussing
the topic or reading about it, ask them to write a statement of their point of view of the
topic. Then ask them to develop a spider-diagram around this statement.

Ask students to use this spider-diagram to write their essay.

Designing the experiment on Developing the writing skills

Performing the research I used the following test- retest model which consists of the following
stages:

In the stage of preparation materials I determined the treatment group and control group
which are two classes of VIth Form that study English language at Mihai Eminescu
Highschool and started to design the Training Program Tasks that develop the writing skills
for the treatment group. In this stage I also worked on hypothesis of the experiment that is
WRITING SKILLS CAN BE DEVELOPED THROUGH A SPECIALIZED TRAINING
PROGRAM

that contains a set of task-based activities intended to develop and facilitate the

writing process. The students must be taught to be aware of the stages of writing process,
techniques that are used during the writing process, writing styles.
In the pilot testing I diagnosed the initial level of writing skills and I discovered that the
both groups: the treatment and control groups scored the similar averages. Treatment group had
the score of ., and control group..
Pilot testing Writing skills
54

Treatment Group
40%

Control Group
30%

Writing skills

200%

100%

150%

30%
40%

100%
50%
0%

1
Treatment Group

Control Group

During one academic year I have implemented the training program Developing writing
skills in the treatment group and at the end of the program I have retested the writing skills for
the treatment group and control group. As a result I obtained much higher results for the
treatment group, but the results for the control group have not changed, as they have not
participated in the training program. The results can be seen in the following tables:
The treatment group and the grades for each activity for the entire training program Developing
writing skills
N
r

Code

A
1

A
2

A
3

A
4

A
5

A
6

A
7

A
8

A
9

A1
0

A1
1

A1
2

A1
3

A1
4

A1
5

A1
6

A1
7

A1
8

A1
9

A2
0

Over
all

C101

8,30

C102

8,40

C103

8,20

C104

1
0

1
0

10

10

10

8,95

C105

8,15

C106

8,25

C107

8,20

C108

1
0

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

9,35

C109

8,05

1
0

C110

7,95

1
1

C111

7,80

1
2

C112

7,90

1
3

C113

7,85

1
4

C114

10

10

10

10

9,15

C115

10

10

10

8,95

55

The control group and the grades for the activities in the educational program demanded by the
curriculum:
N
r

Cod
e

A
1

A
2

A
3

A
4

A
5

A
6

A
7

A
8

A
9

A1
0

A1
1

A1
2

A1
3

A1
4

A1
5

A1
6

A1
7

A1
8

A1
9

A2
0

Over
all

C201

6,00

C202

7,75

C203

7,85

C204

1
0

1
0

10

8,45

C205

8,00

C206

8,00

C207

1
0

1
0

8,75

C208

7,45

C209

10

8,00

1
0

C210

10

10

8,45

1
1

C211

7,95

1
2

C212

7,00

1
3

C213

7,70

1
4

C214

8,25

1
5

C215

7,90

The progress of the treatment group throughout the training program can be seen more clearly if
I am to compare results with the control group in the following chart:

Retest Control and Treatment Groups

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

control group

treatment group

In this diagram can be seen the progress of the treatment group while accomplishing the tasks
from the training program Developing Writing Skills compared to control group in pilottesting and re-test.
56

Overall score
80
80

40

60
30

40

40

20

Treatment Group

0
Pilot-testing

Control Group

Retest-test

Control Group

Treatment Group

The control group has a progress of only 10% (in pilot-testing it accumulated 30 % and in
retest- 40%), but the treatment group has a progress of 40 % (in pilot-testing it accumulated 40%
and in retest- 80%).
Conclusions to Chapter II
The educational program Developing writing skillscan help students improve their writing
skills by:
increasing student motivation to have good writing skills;
providing instruction in writing processes and rules;
providing writing practice;
providing constructive feedback about the students' writing.
These strategies are organized according to the order in which an academic program
might implement them. Following each strategy is a word that describes whether the strategy
targets

motivation,

instruction,

practice,

or

feedback.

The

teacher

must:

1. Emphasize to students that good writing skills are important, both to their satisfactory
completion of the unit and to their future careers. Encourage students to improve their writing
skills. (Motivation)
2. Provide students with an anecdote about the implications of substandard writing or the value
of good writing. For example, the teacher may talk about a job candidate who missed selection
due to his or her poor writing.(Motivation)

57

3. Read aloud quality writing done by a former student, and encourage students to listen to its
flow. With the permission of the writer, name and praise him or her.(Motivation, Instruction)
4. Encourage students to pay close attention to the grammar and punctuation they see in
textbooks and other books and articles, as well as in any sample paper. (Instruction)
5. Encourage students to complete a writing unit and refer students to writing skills web sites.
(Instruction)
6. Explain to students that certain writing skills are fundamental to almost all types of writing,
but

there

are

also

purpose-specific

writing

skills

and

styles.

(Instruction)

7. Tell students: With practice and feedback on performance, writing becomes better. Learning
most complex skills involves many attempts; students need not feel discouraged if they are not
instantly accomplished writers in a specific genre. Once a certain level of skill has been reached,
the process of writing becomes increasingly enyoable.(Motivation)
8. Describe to students the process used to write journal articles and reports and how using the
process benefits the student. This process might include starting with an outline, completing
several drafts of the document, checking the writing against the requirements, and asking another
individual to proofread the document. (Motivation, Instruction)
9. Give students handouts containing important writing rules and web sites with content such as
UNE's writing fact sheets are good sources of concise rules regarding grammar and
punctuation. (Instruction)
10. Teach students one important rule relating to grammar or punctuation in each lecture or in
each unit.(Instruction)
11. Give students a course-related worksheet, have them write a summary of its content, and then
ask them to critique each others writing.(Practice, Feedback)
12. Toward the end of a lecture, ask students to spend five minutes writing a summary of the
content of the lecture. Next, have students critique each other's writing. (Practice, Feedback)
13. Give a writing assignment and in the marking criteria set aside a specific number of points
for writing quality. Give students a copy of the marking criteria before they begin
writing. (Practice,Motivation)
14. Explain to students before they complete a writing assignment the most common writing
errors

made

in

the

past

as

well

as

the

rules

the

errors

violate. (Instruction)
58

15. Provide students with a list of poorly structured sentences from assignments of prior years.
Ask the students to improve the sentences, and then discuss the improvements as a class.
(Practice, Feedback)
16. Provide students with a checklist of writing-process suggestions they can apply to a written
assignment. Ask them to submit a completed checklist with the assignment. (Instruction)
17. To the extent feasible, correct writing errors on student papers and provide printed statements
of important rules violated by the errors.(Feedback, Instruction)
18. Encourage students to learn the rules they violated in making the errors. (Instruction)
19. Praise students freely for excellent or improved writing. (Motivation)
During one academic year it was implemented the training program Developing writing
skills in the treatment group and at the end of the program when it was retested the writing
skills for the treatment group and control group there were obtained much higher results for the
treatment group, but the results for the control group have not changed, as they have not
participated in the training program.

59

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63

Appendix
Level:
Time:
Purpose:

Intermediate
45 minutes
To simplify writing an account of a news story
by using ideas from the class.

Preparation:
Over a week tear out pictures from the
newspaper. It can be local, national or
international news. With a small class (under 15
students) you should offer one picture per
student. With more than 15 students you can
have one picture per pair. You should stick each
picture on an A 4 sheet of paper.
Lesson outline:
1. Give out the pictures. If you have more pictures than students in the class let them choose
which they want.
2. Tell them to look at her/his own picture and write down four or five words or phrases that
immediately come to mind. They write their ideas on the sheet beneath the picture.
3. They pass the paper on to their neighbour who reads the words/phrases and adds four or
five of her/his own. Then the picture is passed on again and other words/phrases are
added. This procedure is repeated about eight times. It becomes increasingly difficult for
the students to come up with additional ideas, but in my experience their contributions
will be more interesting towards the end.
4. When each picture with about 30-40 words/phrases is given back to the original student
she/he has got a resource with which to write a short report on the picture.
Variation for advanced classes:
While the pictures are going round the students should decide whether their words are fact or
opinion and write them into different columns on the sheet. When they have got the 30-40
words/phrases back they have to order them and write their account accordingly.
LESSON 2
Level:
Time:
Purpose:

Intermediate
40-45 minutes
As an interim stage between question and
answer and free writing.

Preparation:
None.
Lesson outline:
1.Give the class a topic that interests them and write it on the board, e.g.
64

My best friend
Places I have been
A teacher that I have experienced
2.Let them write one short sentence at the top of an A 4 sheet of paper, e.g.
My best friend is called Anna.
Last year I went to Mexico.
When I was at school my class teacher was Mr. Evans.
3.They pass the paper on to the next student, who then writes 15-20 questions about their
statement. (Don't be tempted to reduce the number of questions that they have to write the last
ones on their list are the most interesting.) Tell them to leave a space between each question. At
this stage you should go round correcting any mistakes they have made.
4.The papers are passed on again. The students read the statement and the questions that go with
it and she/he answers them all (inventing answers as she/he wishes). The answers go in the
spaces left between the questions. As before you point out any errors that occur.
5.Once more the papers are passed on. The task now is to write an account based on the
statement, the questions and answers she/he receives.
6.You might want to set this for homework or for the next lesson. With a weak class I would
recommend you to take the papers and check the questions and answers and give them out next
lesson for the account to be written.
In this activity the students do not have to concentrate on the content, which frees them to work
on style and expression.
The accounts are each given back to the student who wrote the original statement. After having
read the account they can comment either in writing or orally to the whole class.
LESSON 3
Level:
Time:
Purpose:

Lower intermediate
40-45 minutes
To revise adjectives and adverbs in a context
that is provided by the students. These grammar
items usually occur spontaneously in the
following activity.

Preparation:
Tell the students to bring in a photo of a friend
or one of their family.
Lesson outline:
1. Get the students to pass on the photo to the next student without telling her/him who it is
or making any other comment.

65

2. Looking at the photo they have to write notes about the person. Physical appearance
age / height / figure / build / hair character and personality. Give the students enough
time and go round helping with words.
3. Get them to pass the papers to the next student, but not the photo.
4. They have to read the notes of the previous student and write an account of the person in
the photo (without seeing it).
5. The photo goes back to its owner together with the account. Each student has to present
the photo to the class and say whether or not the account is accurate.

A Funny Story
Last week something really funny happened. It was Saturday morning, and my sister and I were
getting ready to go to the grocery store with my mother. When we were almost ready, my mother
suddenly stopped.
Oh no! she said.
What? I asked her.
I cant find my keys! Where are my keys? she yelled.
My mother looked very worried. She thought she had lost her keys, and she was worried that my
dad might get angry. She started running around the house, looking for her keys.
Mom! I said.
Not now! she said, running around the house. I need to find the keys!
Uh, Mom! I said again.
What!? she stopped and looked at me with an angry face.
Your keys are in your hand! I said.
My mother looked in her hand, and there they were. She was holding they keys the whole time.
My mother looked very embarrassed, and my sister and I couldnt stop laughing!

Prepare to Write!
Write complete sentences to answer these questions:
1. Think of a funny story that happened to you. Write the first sentence of your story:
________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
2. What are some past tense verbs you can use in this story? Write five past tense verbs
that you can use below:
66

1. ___________________
2. ____________________
3. ____________________
4. ____________________
5. ____________________
*****************************
On the next page, write about a funny story that happened to you.
In your essay, include the following:
Quotations (___)
Indents
Indention

When you start a new paragraph you need to indent this means that you move about 5
spaces in.

---->Last week something really funny happened. It was Saturday morning, and my sister and I
were getting ready to go to the grocery store with my mother. When we were almost ready, my
mother suddenly stopped.
---->Oh no! she said.
---->What? I asked her.
---->I cant find my keys! Where are my keys? she yelled.
Quotations
Quotations are the words that people say. When you write quotations, you need to:

put quotation marks (___) around their words

put the punctuation (,.?!) inside the quotation marks
put a comma before the quotation if there is no other punctuation before it
start the quotation with a capital letter

Wrong: My mother said, Lets go!

Right: My mother said, Lets go!
Wrong: Where is my cat? asked Meg.
Right: Where is my cat? asked Meg.
Wrong: The teacher yelled Sit down!
Right: The teacher yelled, Sit down!
Wrong: John asked, can I go home?
Right: John asked, Can I go home?

Sample Essay My Favorite Place

67

Usually when you ask people what their favorite place is, they will talk about a distant place
maybe a beach or a beautiful mountain. But my favorite place is not far away at all. My favorite
place is the forest behind my house.
Although the forest behind my house is not very big, when I was little I thought it was huge!
There are so many interesting places to play and hide. I can sit on the big rocks and have a
picnic, I can climb the tall trees, or I can look for lizards and other little animals. Even though I
have played there many times, I can still spend all afternoon running, playing, and hiking in the
forest behind my house.
The forest behind my house is a magical place. If I am in a bad mood, I will go there to be alone
and think. When I was little, I liked to imagine that there were magical people who lived in the
forest. When I grow up and have children, I hope that they can live near such a special place, too.
Circle any words that you dont know, and look them up in a dictionary.

Sentence Pattern
Although/Even though
Examples:
Even though I studied hard, I did not pass the test.
Although my phone was expensive, I think it was worth it.
Although she is overweight, she is not unhealthy.
Even though she eats healthy food, Jane often gets sick.
Even though my boyfriend makes me angry, I still love him.
Rewrite these sentences, using although or even though (the first one is
done for you):
1. Im sick, but I will still go to work.
Even though Im sick, I will still go to work.
2. Its hot outside, but I still want to go jogging.
3. Learning English is hard, but I enjoy it.
4. Jack is a vegetarian, but he sometimes eats fish.
5. I like the weekends, but I like going to school too.

Sentence Pattern
68

(not) at all
at all means not even a little, and you usually put it at the end of a negative sentence (a
sentence with not).
Examples:
Brian: Are you hungry:
Dave: I just ate dinner. Im not hungry at all.
Amanda: Do you know any about Chinese history?
Sandra: No, I dont know anything at all about Chinese history?
My friend said there was a big storm last night, but I didnt hear anything at all.
Rewrite these sentences using at all
1. The doctor gave me some pain medicine, so I dont feel any pain, not even a little.
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
2. I heard that this movie is a comedy, but I didnt think it was even a little funny.
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
Answer these questions using at all
Amy: Do you have any homework today?
You: _____________________________________________________
Derek: Can you lend me 20 dollars?
You: _____________________________________________________

Correct the Errors

The essay below has 5 errors. Rewrite it below, and correct the errors.
My favorite place is my grandmothers house. I started visit my grandmother on the weekends
when I was younger. Last weekend, we play games and go hiking! Although my grandmother is
82 years old, but she is very fun and active. My grandmother at all does not act like an old
woman. I always have fun when I visit her house, and that is why my grandmothers house is my
favorite place.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
69

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Prepare to Write!
Write complete sentences to answer these questions:
1. What is your favorite place?
___________________________________________________
2. Why is this your favorite place?
__________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3. How often do you go to this place? (Once a week? Twice a year?)
__________________________________________________
4. What can you do in this place? What can you see in this place?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
*****************************
On the next page, write an essay about your favorite place.
In your essay, include these sentence patterns:
Although/Even though
(not) at all

70

71

72