Writing, Teaching of

Writing, specifically the teaching of writing, has been exposed to a variety of subjective questions, including ways to teach writing, what constitutes good writing, and ways to keep up with trends in the field. Historically, writing has also been included in the early curriculum, although the need for writing has never been questioned.

Approaching writing from a utilitarian point of view would consider sentence-level reinforcement, extended prose, and vocabulary as basic elements of writing. In some programs, there is more emphasis on contextual meaning.

The teaching of writing is also connected closely with reading. Practice in using cohesive devised and discourse markers; in relating rhetorical determinants such as audience, topic, and purpose; in organizing texts into various rhetorical structures; and in deciding how much information should be made explicit and how much should be inferred, all contribute to the process of comprehension.

Communication with other people in the social world is the third reason for the teaching of writing. Although the communicative approach has a strong oral bias, directing meaningful discourse to a particular audience for a specific purpose is as relevant in writing as in oral expression. Personal or occupation-related correspondence is a genuine need for many students. Collaborative means of producing and monitoring writing of various types and genres also stimulates authentic communication between student writers.

Overall, research suggests that the teaching of writing is an effective means of eliciting the use of vocabulary and grammatical structure, of practicing reading comprehension, and encouraging communication. Writing instruction at the discourse level (“the rhetorical approach”) basically consists of the paralleling of formulaic patterns. Rhetorical modes (narration, description, exposition, and argumentation) are demonstrated as consisting of component paragraphs (introduction, body, conclusion), which are composed according to “rules” governing the organization of sentence elements (topic sentences, support sentences, transitions, conclusion, etc.).

The patterning method is based upon analysis of texts composed by others. On the other hand, the communicative approach acknowledges the social function of text, meaning the dynamic effect exerted by the relationship between the author's purpose in writing and the audience. Textbooks feature functional tasks (inviting, explaining, addressed to specific audiences) in various forms (messages, reports, advertisements, different types of letter writing) and combine these with rhetorical-syntactic patterns listed above. The experiential approach draws upon the need for communication and is based upon students' personal knowledge and affect. Descriptive writing is encouraged by means of group discussions of the individual's personal memories, sensory experiences, and observations. Dialogues and monologues lead to reasoned arguments.

Writing is a complex, recursive process that is subject to false starts, trial and error, and constant revision. Drafting and revising, self- and peer editing, and review are valuable means of improving text. Writing is no longer regarded as a tiered skill, moving from smaller to larger pieces. Research suggests that information contained in a higher processing stage can influence the production of a lower stage, as well as vice versa.

With regard to current curriculum design, it is doubtful that one “best” method exists. Prescriptive product methodologies have been criticized for being too simplistic. For example, rather than developing from thesis statement to support, Standard English text is varied in structure. Instructional approaches that prompt students to focus on a single aspect of their writing, such as syntactic errors, may have the disadvantage of directing learners' attention away from considerations of the complexity of their composing. However, expectations as to the qualities of “good” writing exist, and it is the instructor's responsibility to convey this to the student.

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