The content of teaching writing

Writing is a productive skill to send and keep messages with the help of written symbols. We write a variety of things: letters, e-mails, notes, postcards, lists, diaries, application forms, etc. When we write we should think about the reader/s: who they are, what our relation with them is. So we should choose the right content, language, style, layout, conventions.

In the classroom writing helps learners to assimilate letters and sounds of the English language, to combine letters in words, word combinations, sentences, paragraphs and texts, to assimilate its vocabulary and grammar, and to develop habits and skills in pronunciation, speaking and reading. Writing is a less stressful activity than speaking (for many learners who can’t speak in front of the class it is a way out). Writing includes penmanship (handwriting), spelling and composition. The latter is the aim of learning to write. It is important to differentiate between writing-for-learning (writing is a practice tool to work with the language: for practice grammar, vocabulary) and wring-for-writing (writing is the development of the learners’ skills as writers). The choice of the necessary kind of writing depends on learners’ age, level, styles of learning and interests.

Reasons for writing:

To pass information and opinions, ask questions, request or offer something, entertain, keep a record, organize our thoughts, assess, fill in an application form, so on.

The purposes for teaching writing:

1. To practice the language in written form: spelling, grammar, punctuation, word combinations, sentence, paragraph and text constructions. Writing gives learners more time to think over language than speaking does.

2. To reinforce the language learners have learnt

3. To improve penmanship (handwriting or script)

4. To help memorization

5. To record language

6. To be assessed (written work is more concrete than speaking task, so it fits to examination and correction).

Learners need to develop writing skills:

1. Penmanship: forming letters (capital and small), connected script.

2. Spelling: converting of speech sounds into their symbols – letters and letter combinations and the correctness of writing

3. Use of punctuation (capital letters for the beginning of a sentence, place names and so on; full stops – at the end of a sentence; commas -to mark the ends of phrases, clauses; question marks – to signal a question; apostrophe – to show an abbreviation or possessive.

4. Forming sentences: word order, endings, relationships.

5. Writing longer texts: coherence (parts fit together) and cohesion (the text has sense).

6. Using the appropriate layout (the layouts of letters, e-mails, and memo are very different. Learners need to know various elements that make up these types of texts).

7. Using the appropriate level of formality (formal, informal). Levels depend on relationships between people (friends, relatives, colleagues).

8. Study skills: making notes, keeping records.