Reflection activity 1
Nowadays, there is an increasing culture of accreditation in universities, and any language course is likely to be accredited in some way. Therefore, writing will be important in all of these courses, and should not be neglected even at basic levels.

• In the first case, you would probably have more freedom to design your own writing syllabus. You might well find that business clients are looking for writing skill development, so that there would be less need here to 'justify' inclusion of writing tasks.
  
  
• In the second case, you would be more constrained by the department because there would be clearly defined assessment requirements. Students would be preparing for end-of-year examinations, so you would have to take into account the syllabus. Many of these students would be instrumentally motivated, because they are taking a language with another subject. Some, however, might be intrinsically motivated by the language.
  
  
• In the third case, you would need to pay greater attention to the level of the students. Owing to their lack of confidence they would need to build up their writing skills gradually. However, because the course is intensive, there would be more time to make the writing task a more genuine one.

Reflection activity 3
Now that you have done this task, try to find where you 'belong' in this four point classification. Creme and Lea (2000) refer to at least four basic types of writer at university level:

• the 'diver' writer;
• the 'patchwork' writer;
• the 'grand plan' writer;
• the 'architect' writer.

The names suggest the style of writing adopted:

• The 'diver' writer goes straight into the writing without planning first, and by so doing, discovers the purpose of the writing and the argument.
• The 'patchwork' writer tends to write small parts of the text separately, before joining them together.
• The 'grand plan' writer has an intuitive awareness of what the structure of the writing will be without the need to articulate it.
• The 'architect' writer spends considerable time planning and brainstorming ideas.

Although FL writing tasks may be shorter than academic essays, these categories seem to be generally applicable to all types of writing. You will find that it is often best to obtain a balance between the 'diver' approach and the 'architect' approach. In the former, students tend to write everything down without thinking. In the latter, perhaps too much time will be spent on planning a text, and it may be difficult for students to get down to the writing itself. Perfectionism is indeed often a danger in FL writing and is perhaps unnecessary because mistakes nowadays are seen as more healthy. Furthermore, students may feel a strong sense of anxiety in putting their ideas down on paper and may feel 'protective' about their writing.

To address these problems, it may be useful to encourage different approaches to writing, so that your students gain a variety of experiences. For instance, timed compositions can be useful as a means of encouraging rapid thought, as exemplified by the 'diver' writer.

Reflection activity 4
Student 1 has difficulties moving from the planning stage to the writing stage. He or she realizes the need to be well organized and to construct a plan, but does not feel happy that the plan actually addresses the task.
ADVICE: The student may be helped by discussing the plan with other students or the tutor. Some work on connecting ideas may also be appropriate.

Student 2 seems to be dominated by the formal requirements of word length. This may be a problem because it can stifle creativity in the early stages of the writing process.
ADVICE: The student needs to do a first draft, and not to worry too much about word length at first. Some material can always be cut out of the assignment later on.

Student 3 has problems with connecting ideas.
ADVICE: He or she might be usefully assisted through some formal exercises in this area, but also by inviting feedback from others about the 'flow' of his or her writing.

Student 4 needs help with vocabulary enrichment. (See Module 10 on vocabulary.) This is an important part of the writing process.
ADVICE: It may be sensible to tackle the issue of vocabulary after the first draft has been written. If undue attention is paid to this at the first draft stage, it will hamper creativity and slow down the writing process.

Reflection activity 9
In these extracts, the student seems to be using revisions to add information. The first draft is:

• restricted to a bland description of the content of the research;
• basic and limited in scope;
• rather general.

In the second revision, the student:

• goes on to amplify the importance of Leicester;
• adds details of the Salman Rushdie affair;
• clarifies methodology, demonstrating that successive revisions involve breaking down thought processes into their individual components;
• provides better links between ideas.

Reflection activity 10

• Activities 3, 10, and possibly 6 are long activities and take up a lot of time.
• The rest are short, and could easily be incorporated into class time with little undue pressure of time.
• In any case, shorter activities of this nature are more helpful in developing confidence than longer ones, where the students are spending a lot of class time thinking. However, opportunities for collaboration and discussion are a very powerful means of injecting life and vibrancy into the writing classroom.
• All the tasks encourage the students to take responsibility for their own learning.