Summary
Any attempt to reduce the teaching of writing to a system or
set of formulas, or to turn the process approach into a method with prescribed
techniques and practices should be avoided. The effective writing teacher
is not one who has developed a 'method' for the teaching of writing, but
one who can create an effective environment for learning. (Richards,
1990: 114)
In accordance with the above, the aim of this module has not been to give you 'prescribed methods and techniques' for teaching FL writing skills, but some suggestions for doing so. It is, however, hoped that you have encountered some new ways of looking at the old problem of writing, and have found some techniques and activities that you might like to try out in the classroom. Overall, it is hoped that you will have:
- gained insights into the teaching of FL writing by focusing critically on your own teaching situation;
- gained a more informed view of why your own students find writing difficult;
- come across a wide range of FL writing tasks appropriate to HE;
- acquired some useful techniques for encouraging the development of the writing process;
- encountered some helpful and varied strategies for providing feedback on writing to your students.
Most of all, it is hoped that this module will have challenged some of the commonly held assumptions about writing which you may have inherited from your own learning experience. To demonstrate this, look again now at the preliminary task which opened this discussion:
| I use writing tasks in the classroom… |
YES
|
NO
|
| 1. mainly as a follow-up activity, to consolidate language that has already been studied. | ||
| 2. to develop my students' accurate use of the language, especially grammatical structures. | ||
| 3. to assess my students' formal use of the language. | ||
| 4. to encourage my students to be creative. | ||
| 5. to get my students to practise the language they have learned. | ||
| 6. to change the pace and focus of the class. | ||
| 7. to encourage genuine communication between students. | ||
| 8. as a simulation of the kind of writing students will have to do in real life. | ||
| 9. to encourage students to look at each others' work and to share ideas. | ||
| 10. to give my students information about their mistakes. | ||
| 11. To develop my students' editing skills. | ||
| 12. I do not give writing tasks to students in class. |
Are there any answers to the above task that you would change as a result of working through this module?
Which answers would you change and why?
Which answers would you keep as they are?
If possible, discuss your changes with a colleague who is also working on this module.
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