The Nature of the Writing Process

<Product Versus Process Approaches

Product-Oriented Approaches

Process Approaches

* Focus on the final product, the coherent error free text. * Focus on the tasks in which the learner imitates, copies and copies and transforms models provided by the teacher or the textbook. This is called reproductive language work.

*Focus on the steps involved in drafting and redrafting a piece of work. *Focus on quantity rather than quality, and writers are encouraged to get their ideas onto paper without worrying too much about formal correctness in the initial stages. They then share their work with others, getting feedback on their ideas and how they are expressed, before revising.

Process Writing
Stephen Marcus,-a specialist in the use of technologyin

writing, maintains that process writhing really became feasible with the development of word processing. Martin(1985)- argues that factual writing fosters the development of critical thinking skills, which in turn encourage the individual to explore and challenge social reality. Rodrigues-argues that the unfitted writing process approach has been just as artificial as the traditional high school research paper. Raimes deals with the issue by teaching two types of writing:

Writing for learning and Writing for Display

>Writing for Learning *with prewriting, drafts ,revisions and editing >Writing for Display *examination writing A shortcoming of the debate around these issues is that process and product have been seen as either/or rather than both and entities.

 White and Arndt(1991)-view writing as a complex

cognitive process that requires sustained intellectual effort over a considerable period of time. They suggest that producing text involves six recursive procedures before actually producing a first draft.

Procedures involved in producing written text

Drafting
Structuring Reviewing Focusing Generating ideas Evaluation

Social,Collaborative nature of the composing process nature of the composing process:

1.Discussion(class,small group, pair) 2.Brainstorming/making notes/asking questions 3.Fastwriting/selecting ides/establishing a viewpoint 4.Rough drafting 5.Preliminary self-evaluation 6.Arranging information/structuring the text 7.First draft 8.Group/peer evaluation and responding 9.Conference 10.Second draft 11.Self-evaluation/editing/proofreading 12.Finished draft 13.Final responding to draft

Spoken Versus Written Language Written language emerged from spoken language ,it is more than talk written down Halliday(1981),according to him, writing emerge in societies as a result of cultural changes that created new communicative needs. These could not be readily met by the spoken language. (People need permanent records that could be referred to over and over again). This lead to the emergence of a new form of language: writing

He suggested(1985)-suggest written language is used for the ff. purposes: *Action( e.g.: public signs, products labels, television and radio guides, bills, menus,telephone directories, ballot papers, computer manuals) *For information (e.g.: Newspapers ,current affairs magazines, advertisements, political pamphlets) *for entertainment (e. g .:comic strips, fiction books ,poetry and drama ,newspaper features ,film subtitles) *These different purposes for language will be reflected in the charactericstics of the texts themselves:

Can you tell the difference?

Study the following extracts from McCarthy and Carter(1994) and decide which has been taken

from a spoken text and which from a written text. 1no, itll shut. So ,try it now. Its better.. 2are erased awy.Now,wouldnt you like to change your image 3.our answers to these questions may not be definitive or complete ,but even if 4so, you know ,up I get temper 5and should be adjusted clockwise to reach the slowest speed while still

answer:
Numbers 1 and 4 suggested spoken language Numbers 3 and 5 were thought it as writing Number 2 was felt neutral.

Some linguistic exponents identified the informant as characteristic of spoken language included the use of 1.Colloquialisms:( far from it,little so-and-sos) 2.Discourse markers(now,well, and you know) 3.contracted verb forms(itll,its)

Lexical Density
The number number of content words per clause expressed

as a ratio of content words to function. Spoken and written language also differ in the ratio of content words and grammatical words. Content words (content words include nouns and verb) Grammatical words (include such as prepositions, pronouns ,and articles) Example:Spoken Good writers reflect on what they write. Written reflection is a characteristic of good writers

Functional Grammar and Writing

Halliday(1985)-language and function is described. >A functional grammar is essentially a natural

grammar ,in the sense that everything in it can be explained, ultimately ,by reference to how language is used.

Genre Theory and Writing

- Are typified by a particular structure and grammatical

forms that reflect the communicative purpose of the genre in question. - Ways in which genre theory has been used in writing pedagogy and researh.

Disadvantaged School Project (DSP)

It was set to improve the academia writing skills of

children in inner city schools. AIMS: To perform effectively in written class assignments Make effective notes Do independent research Complete written homework discussions about writing

1. 2.

3.

The project worked toward these goals by implementing an innovation teacher education package Assessment criteria were asked to evaluation the project Schematic structure: Is the schematic structure appropriate to the genreof the text Topic development: Does the writer explicitly identify the topic and is the topic developed. Reference: Does the writer use reference appropriately?

 THE SNAP PROJECT

- It was initaited to develop a systematic procedure for

diagnosing the strength and weaknesses of students in their control over in order to succeed in school. Aims: - Schools with high proportion of immigrant students - To develop a procedure for quantifying, qualitative information

Criteria in evaluating students writing: 1. Explanation- is a factual text used to explain the processes involved in the evaluation of natural and social phenomena. 2. Recount- related a series of events. The focus of a recount is on events rather that on character development and plot, as in narrative.