Proposal of a system of lessons to develop fluency in writing in the students of 10th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre University School

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(1)University of Pedagogical sciences “félix varela” villa clara. term PaPer Title: Proposal of a system of lessons to develop fluency in writing in the students of 10 th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre-University School.. Authors: Yulismeidy Romero Rodríguez. Claudia Mena Marín. Reynier Creach Orellanes. Adviser: MsC. Sirelda Garcia Cabrera.. Course 2010-2011. 1.

(2) ThoughT: Writing is basically a process of communicating something (content) on paper, to an audience. If the writer has nothing to say, writing will not occur. Adewumi Oluwadiya.. 2.

(3) acnowledgemenTs: This paper is the result of the work of many people, but in the first place we would like to express our gratitude to our adviser Sirelda García for all her help and time dedicated to us. We have, indeed to thank our families and friends for all the support provided. At last, but not the least, we would like to express our thanks to all our student -teacher colleagues, particularly Dayana and Reynaldo.. 3.

(4) Resumen. La presente investigación fue llevada a cabo en el Instituto Pre- Universitario Wilfredo Pérez Pérez en Ranchuelo. La escuela seleccionada cuenta con una matrícula de 426 estudiantes y el grupo seleccionado come muestra está compuesto por 30 estudiantes. Durante la práctica docente fueron encontrados algunos problemas con la enseñanza del inglés. Una serie de reflexiones y consideraciones son presentadas en esta investigación para tratar de dar una solución al problema detectado.. 4.

(5) aBsTRacT. The present research was carried out in Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre-University School. The school selected has a population of 426 students and the group selected as a simple has a registration of 30 students. During the teaching practice many problems were found regarding the teaching of English, but this paper pretends to give a solution to the lack of fluency while producing a piece of writing. A series of reflections and considerations are presented in this research intending to give a solution to the problem under study.. 5.

(6) Résumé Cette recherche a été exécutée dans le 10me niveau au ´´Wilfredo Pérez Pérez PréUniversitaire avec une population de 426 étudiants. Les auteurs ont choisi comme échantillon le groupe numéro 1 avec une inscription de 30 étudiants. Pendant léntraînement de lénseignement en Anglais, on a trouvé des situations mauvaises avec cet aspect et les auteurs on trouvé aussi que les étudiants ont des problèmes avec la fluidité dans l’écriture. Un groupe de réflexions te de considérations et aussi un système de leçons. ont été. présenté dans cette recherche pour aider à trouver une solution pour ce problème.. 6.

(7) introdUction The curriculum of English for the Cuban Educational System establishes the importance of learning this foreign language. One of the reasons that support this fact is that the current world is distinguished by the whirling growing of the science as the most important productive force to impel the human and social development. Our educational policy persists in the formation of citizens who can take part, in a creative and active way, in the social progress. The subject also responds to the political, economic, social and cultural importance of the foreign languages nowadays. In this context, the English language plays a very important role to guarantee the relations among Cuba and other countries o f the world. The subject contributes to the scientific conception of the world in the students, since it views language as a social phenomenon and the relation among thought - languageculture. In the English curriculum of Pre university, the teaching of English has as a goal the development of the communicative competence; this is a concept that implies expressing, interpreting and negotiating meanings between two or more people or between a person and an oral or a written text. The teaching of English sho uld not only contribute to the functional linguistic efficiency, but also to the ability of constructing and reconstructing new knowledge; which means the development of habits and basic abilities in the students that permit them to communicate in the foreign language. That is why the students should: Comprehend oral and written texts, express orally and in a written form about topics related to the student’s social and familiar lives, and also write brief and simple messages. The most important achievement of the teaching of English is that the students learn how to communicate themselves with other people. It means that the teaching of writing in English should be aimed at developing this language skill as an instrument; that is, to reproduce oral language in the written form. Nevertheless, the syllabus program states that note taking, summarizing and composing simple texts are the sub – skills to develop in Pre-university. This contradiction is also present in the syllabus program of 10 th grade. 7.

(8) The present research, aimed at finding a solution to this contradiction, is carried out in “Wilfredo Pérez” Pre University School in Ranchuelo due to the fact that the students from 10th grade do not present the required level regarding the writing ability. The ma in problem lies on the lack of fluency while producing a piece of writing. There may be many causes affecting this aspect, but what has become evident is that the lessons that are being taught still do not help to meet the challenge. Although there is some research related to the teaching of this ability, students still have problems while composing, because they neither understand the ability of writing as a process nor feel attracted toward this skill. As it has been experienced by the researchers and confirmed by interviews and observations, the teaching of writing represents one of the major problems faced by foreign language teachers in the Pre university level. With the maxim of deepening into the problem, this research is made to corroborate the fact that there are plenty of problems regarding the teaching of writing at this level. Because of what has been said before, the present paper intends to give an answer to the following Scientific problem: How can the teacher of English contribute to the development of fluency in the students of 10th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre-University while producing a piece of writing? Object of Study: The teaching of writing in English Field of Action: The development of fluency in writing within the teaching learning process of English in10th grade. Objective: To implement a system of lessons based on the teacher’s experiences to improve the TLP of writing making emphasis on fluency. In order to carry out this research the following Scientific Questions were elaborated: 1.. What theoretical and methodological judgments support the development of. fluency in writing within the teaching learning process of English in 10th grade students of the Cuban Pre university level? 2.. What is the current situation of fluency in the teaching of writing within the. teaching learning process of English in 10 th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre university? 8.

(9) 3.. What system of classes should be designed to develop fluency while. teaching writing within the teaching learning process of English in10th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre university? The answers to those questions are covered throughout the following Scientific Tasks: 1.. Determination of the theoretical and methodological judgments that. support the teaching of fluency in writing within the teaching learning process of English in 10th grade students of the Cuban Pre university. 2.. Diagnosis of the current situation regarding fluency in the teaching of. writing within the teaching learning process of English in 10 th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre university. 3.. Designing Elaboration of a system of classes to develop fluency while. teaching. writing within the Teaching Learning Process of English in 10 th grade at. Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre university. The Population of this research is composed of 107 students who study in 10 th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre- University, and the Sample is composed of 30 students of Group 10.1. This sample was selected on purpose due to the fact that one of the authors of this investigation works in this group and also because the problem under study has a connotation in it. The following Variables were taken into consideration in this paper: . Dependent variable: the development of fluency within the teaching learning. process of English. . Independent variable: a system of classes to develop fluency while teaching. writing within to the students of 10 th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre-University School. The following Research Methods have been used in this paper: From the theoretical level: . Logical-historical: It permits the detailed study of the development of the. teaching of writing starting by the analysis of different research, experiences related to the topic and to study the problem according to the criteria of scholars and investigators.. 9.

(10) . Analytic-synthetic: It permits the detailed study of the development of the teaching. of writing to later apply these knowledge to the proposal of a system of classes to develop fluency while teaching writing in the Pre university level. . Induction-deduction: to determine generalizations and empiric laws to define and. confirm theoretical presuppositions from which other logical conclusions can be deduced and submitted to experimental testing. This has enabled the researcher to establish the relationship between writing, language teaching and its contribution to the teaching learning process of English. . Systemic approach; to explain the internal structure of the elements of the system. of lessons, and model the interrelatedness among them. From the empirical level: . Interviews: to determine the factual situation on the teaching of English regarding. materials and students’ willingness toward the ability of writing. . Document analysis: to diagnose the orientations about the teaching of writing and. methodological suggestions regarding the teaching learning process of English in 10 th grade. . Pedagogical test: To asses the current situation of the students regarding the. writing skill. . Teacher’s Diaries: To observe the student’s behavior to the English lessons, their. interest and involvement in the lessons and to observe the teacher’s role during the classes as well. . Teacher’s reflections: To reflect on the main problems regarding the writing ability. and also find a solution to them. From the mathematical level: . Percent analysis: to process and quantify the data obtained during the research.. This paper is structured in Introduction, Development, Conclusions, Bibliography and Annexes. The Development looks at the theoretical framework, identifies learning needs regarding the problem investigated and offers reflections and a solution to solve it.. 10.

(11) develoPment. 1. Theoretical and Methodological Foundations of the teaching of writing. The Development of Fluency. What is the history of the teaching of writing in Cuba? In the history of language teaching in Cuba, many methods and approaches have been used. With the audio-lingual method, introduced in Cuba in the 60´s, the teaching of writing was a synonym of the teaching of grammar or that of the structure of the sentence, which served as a support for the steadiness of the oral patterns of the language. The mechanical practice of the grammatical patterns only guaranteed the development of the linguistic competence and put aside the rest of the areas that conform the communicative competence. This way of teaching does not take into account the necessity of a communicative written practice. In the 70´s, the audiovisual method is introduced in the intermediate level. It presented the language using a sequence of pictures. The main emphasis of this method laid on the manipulation, memorization, and drilling of the linguistic contents in an oral way to transfer them later to similar situations to the ones presented in the dialogues used to present the contents. According to this method, the writing is introduced after 70 or 90 hours since it is considered to be the most suitable time for the students to assimilate the phonetic system of the language. The most widely used writing activities within this method are the use of dictation to exercise the phoneme –grapheme correspondence and also the composing of texts based on pre- established models, only allowing the students to introduce small changes in the final product. This way of teaching writing brings about the concept of writing as an instrument to achieve a specific task, limiting the students to express and develop their imagination in a written way. During the 80´s the communicative approach begins being used in order to banish the structuralism in the lessons and allowing the use of more communicative approaches. With the application and implementation of this approach not only the oral activities, but also the written ones reflect real purposes within communicative contexts. With the use of this approach, the focus of attention is not only the grammar and the vocabulary, but 11.

(12) also the communicative intention to solve real problems of communication. (Artiles. L; 2006: 1) What is writing? The Webster’s Dictionary defines writing as: The act or process of one who writes. The act or art of forming visible letters or characters. Writing is a communicative process, which involves the writer in decision concerning the expected reader of the text. Textual decisions depend on the writer’s perception of the audience. The writer must negotiate a match between the purpose of the text and the needs of the reader, as far as these needs can be predicted. Writing (as speaking, listening and reading) is a linguistic skill which is productive and interactive. Productive since the writer encodes a message using a graphic and orthographic system: the written word. Interactive because the message is written to be read by the reader(s) using a written text as the via or channel of interaction. Writing is the expression of meaning in a permanent medium – pen and paper-. The writer has choices at the surface level of Lexis, grammatical structure, collocations, cohesion, coherence, etc. , the writer also have choices about the type of text to use to convey the desired meaning. But, at the discourse level, i.e. at the interface between writer and reader, the writer cannot make choices freely: she or he must write for the reader. What are the approaches for the teaching of writing? The teaching of writing has long been a central element in all educat ional systems, and there are many, often conflicting, views of the best way of going about it. We might identify three principal ways of approaching the task: focus on form, focus on the writer and on the reader (Tribble; 1996: 37-38). The first approach is a traditional text-based approach which is still used in many materials. Teachers who focus on form often present authoritative texts for students to imitate or adapt and so are likely to use textbooks which give a good range of models. They will also tend to see errors as something that they have a professional obligation to correct and, where possible, to eliminate. In such a context, one of the teacher’s main role will be to instil notions of correctness and conformity.. 12.

(13) The teaching of writing at the intermediate level in foreign -language classrooms often reflects the teaching of basic sentence-level writing skills, with organizational skills added. In basic writing training, often a student is given an example sentence whose meaning explained; then the grammar pattern is taught; finally, the student is asked to write similar sentences using different content. At the intermediate level, the student is given an example paragraph to read; the overall organizational pattern of the paragraph is explicated; finally, the student is told to write a similar paragraph about a different topic. For example, students might be given a paragraph to read in which two people are compared in terms of physical characteristics.. Then the teacher will demonstrate the patterns for comparing the attributes or characteristics of things at the sentence level, and the overall organizational pattern of a paragraph of comparison, followed by exercises for practice. Finally, the students might be asked to write a paragraph of their own comparing two of their friends in terms of physical characteristics. This is the traditional “read-analyze-write” approach.. What are the shortcomings of the traditional approach? Practitioners of the modern approach to writing point out that the traditional approach is deficient in two important respects. First, the teacher views a student writing a s a product. She/he assumes that the students know how to write and uses what the student produces as a test of that ability. Second, the teacher focuses on form, i.e., syntax, grammar, mechanics and organization, rather than on content. The content is seen mainly as a vehicle for the correct expression of the grammatical and organizational patterns taught, and the correct choice of vocabulary. The second approach has developed in part as a reaction against this tradition and focuses on the writer as an independent producer of texts. It lays particular stress on a cycle of writing activities which move learners from the generation of ideas and the collection of data through to the publication of a finished text. Because of this emphasis, this approach is called the process approach to teaching writing skills. The third approach is more socially oriented and focuses on the ways in which writers and texts 13.

(14) need to interact with readers. In this approach, writing is seen as an essentially social activity in which texts are written to do thighs; if the reader cannot recognize the purpose of a text, communication will not be successful. This focus on the reader has come to be associated with what are often called genre approaches to writing. The writing itself can be very subjective (letters to pen pals, journal entries, simple poetry) or more objective (lists of various kinds, forms, charts, maps, compositions). The kinds of writing done will depend to a large extent upon the students´ ages, needs, and proficiency levels. However, it is generally best to begin with short pieces of writing before proceeding to longer ones. In all writing, students need to concentrate on the process and the involving product simultaneously. Murray explains: “…You let the students write…Writing must be experienced to be learned “(1982, pp.115-116). The writing process itself involves brainstorming for topics of interest, gathering information, allowing that information to settle into some sort of overall plan (clustering and other graphic organizers might be useful in planning) putting the words down on a paper, consulting with others, and revising. Revisions are particularly important to the writing process. According to Murray, they provide opportunities for the student to “stand back from the work the way a craftsman does to see what has been done… The most important discoveries are made during the process of revision” (1982, pp. 121-122). Because the effective writer frequently has to pause, go back, reread, rethink, consult with other writers, rewrite and write some more, he or she must be able to concentrate intensely on the composition without interference from the teacher or others who might want to help. Help may be needed before the actual writing begins in order to stimulate thinking, and again later once the student has had a chance to hammer out at least part of the piece alone. At that point the student can confer the teacher and/or peers as needed. Questions can be asked to stimulate further development of ideas. Strategies can be discussed in an attempt to redress breakdowns in communication. Students then need a chance to reshape writing if it has not communicated what was intended or if they feel challenged to move in other directions. Dialoguing with other writers, e specially peers. 14.

(15) can generate a great deal of enthusiasm for the writing process and can motivate thoughts and feelings that might otherwise remain unexplored. Students need to be reminded that errors are perfectly normal during the writing process. An inductive approach to errors is often the most effective way to deal with them. In later drafts the teacher might underline or lightly circle the word or phrase in which a problem appears and ask the student to try to identify it. Many errors can be related to meaning on a more global level. They can be guided by asking pertinent questions. For example, in responding to errors in verb tense the teacher might simply ask: “When did this occur?” Often the students will recognize the errors themselves without any lengthy explanation or further probing. In addition, if the teacher or the students quietly read aloud the writing during the individual conference sessions the error often become more salient and can be corrected more easily. However, sometimes brief explanations are needed in further dialogue with the students to lead them to a better understanding of their errors. Errors should be treated in a matter-of-fact way so that the students do not associate them with the quality of the ideas themselves. In addition, it is best not to focus on too many errors at once; much depends upon what the students might be ready for at any given time. For some students, specific activities on recurring errors might help; for others, rewriting and a simple discussion strategies may be enough to help them improve their writing. Error correction may sometimes be handled indirectly in writing just as it with oral production. For example, after students hand in their journals, instead of making errors, the teacher may simply react to entry in the margin by repeating the words that the student has used, but in correct form. Thus, the teacher’s comment serves as a model. For example, if the student writes:” On Tuesday my mother sick”, the teacher might respond with: “I’m sorry your mother was sick”. This particular type of correction often comes naturally to a teacher focused on the meaning and may work well, especially with reluctant writers during early stages of literacy development. The teacher at times may want to demonstrate the writing process. By this means, the students can experience vicariously the frustrations and joys that go into writing and at the same time be exposed to the forms and conventions of various types of composition. For example, watching the teacher execute a well-developed paragraph on the board or 15.

(16) on a transparency can be highly motivating as well as instructive. The teacher will have to choose a topic(the students may want to make topic suggestions), brainstorm for ideas, map out a brief preliminary plan, begin a first draft, provide transitions, erase, move materials, modify, consult with the students, rewrite, and use the dictionary. If the teacher does his or her thinking out loud during the process, they will more fully realize that even the teacher has to struggle to communicate. The modern approach to the teaching of writing involves a combination of the communicative approach and the process approach to writing. It is based on three assumptions (Chan 1986): 1.. People write to communicate with readers.. 2.. People write to accomplish specific purposes.. 3.. Writing is a complex process.. Thus, writing is seen as a communicative act. Students are asked to think of their audience, the reader, and their purpose for writing. Meaning is stressed, rather than form. And writing is seen as a process, which can be divided into three stages: prewriting, composing, and revision. Students are trained to use the methods that good writers use in writing. Below is an example of the process that good writers have been found to follow in writing (Raimes 1983:21): . They identify why they are writing.. . They identify whom they are writing for.. . They gather material through observing, brainstorming, making notes or lists,. talking to others and reading. . They plan how to go about the task, and how to organize the materials.. . They write a draft.. . They read the draft critically in terms of its content.. . They revise.. . They prepare more drafts, and then a final version.. . They proofread for errors.. 16.

(17) As Ann Rimes (1983:11) points out all approaches to writing overlap, and the teacher should not be so devoted to one approach that she /he exclude the others. A teacher should be eclectic, drawing from all methods available. A balanced approach to the teaching of intermediate writing skills should take into account all of the factors which are involved in good writing. Effective writing involves conveying a message in such a way as to affect the audience as the writer intends. Depending on the precise purpose in writing, this may, for example, involve seizing and maintaining the interest of the intend readers, conveying information clearly, delighting or amusing the readers or persuading them of a particular point of view. The writer needs to be able to imagine the readers and to assess their knowledge of the topic, their assumptions about the topic and their attitudes towards it and interest in it. The diagram below shows what writers have to deal with as they produce a piece of writing:. SYNTAX Sentence stucture, Sentence boundaries, Stylistic choices, etc. CONTENT Relevance, clarity, Originality, Logic, etc. THE W RITER´S PROCESS Getting ideas, Getting started, W riting drafts, revising. GRAMMAR Rules for verbs, Agreement, articles, Pronouns, etc.. MECHANICS Handwriting, Spelling, Punctuation, etc.. ORGANIZATION Paragraphs, Topic and support, Cohesion and unity. Clear, fluent, and effective communication of ideas. AUDIENCE The reader/s. PURPOSE The reason for writing W ORD CHOICE Vocabulary, Idiom, tone. 17.

(18) What are the steps of the teaching of w riting? Teachers who had been at the fore front of the development of the process approach have proposed methodologies which emphasize the creativity and unpredictability of writing. They have been aided by a significant body of research which has examined what happens while writers write, and thereby contributed to our understanding of the process of writing. The process approach has had such a widespread influence on the teaching of writing throughout the English speaking world that it needs to be conside red in some detail(García Cabrera. S; 2007) Prewriting (specifying the task/planning and outlining/collecting data/making notes.. Composing. Revising (recognizing/shifting emphasis/focusing information and style for your readership). Editing (checking grammar/lexis-surface features, foe example punctuation, spelling, layout, quotation, convention, references) Simple linear models of the writing process have however been criticized by a number of teachers and researchers as not giving a full picture of what successful writers actually do (Tribble: 1996). They have described the process of writing as recursive and complex, although there are identifiable stages in the composition of most extended texts, typically writers will revise some of this stages many times before a text is complete. That is why that the linear simplicity of the former model has to give way to something more convoluted, more complex, the following figure shows the whole process not as a fixed sequence, but as a dynamic and unpredictable process:. 18.

(19) NON-LINEAR. LINEAR. Pre-writing (specifying the task, planning, outlining, collecting data, making notes) Composing/drafting. Revising (reorganizing, shifting emphasis, focusing information and style for your readership). Editing (checking grammar/lexis/ surface features: punctuation, spelling, layout, quotation, conventions, references) Publishing. Contrary to what many textbooks advise, writers do not follow a neat sequence of planning, organizing, writing and then revising. For while a writer’s product - the finished essay, story or novel-is presented in lines, the process that produces it is not linear at all. What content should writers need to know in order to write? The range of knowledge that a writer requires when undertaking a specific task are established by Christopher Tribble in Writing (1996:43 & 67) and can be summarized in the following way: . Content knowledge: Knowledge of the concepts involved in the subject area.. . Context knowledge: Knowledge of the context in which the text will be read.. . Language system knowledge: Knowledge of those aspects of the language. system necessary for the completion of the task. . Writing process knowledge: knowledge of the most appropriate way of. preparing for a specific task.. What general principles and techniques can be used in the teaching of writing? In order to teach writing communicatively, the communicative principles must be used as guidelines for choosing, designing, or adapting materials for the teaching of the 19.

(20) intermediate-level writing skills. The authors would like to suggest classroom procedures for the balanced approach proposed make use of the following principles and techniques. 1.. Even though language learning is divided into four skill areas, i.e., reading,. writing, listening and speaking, the skills should not be treated in total isolation of each other. Thus, although writing is the focus of attention in the writing classroom, it should always be supported by other skills. 2.. The students should do as much of the work as possible, not the teacher. The. teacher’s role is to advise on procedures and to monitor the work that is going on. 3.. Students should work together on a lot of the activities through pair and group. work. Discussion is important in generating and organizing ideas and for discovering what it is that the writer wants to say, even though the actual writing may be done individually. 4.. When pair or group work is used, the teacher should monitor it carefully to see. that it is proceeding smoothly. On- the- spot correction and advice can be provided as appropriate. Although a lot of self- evaluation should be built in, students will want to have feedback on what they have written. However, this should be done after the students have tried to correct their work themselves. 5.. Students should be asked to exchange their compositions so that they. become readers of each other’s work. This is an important part of the writing experience because it is by responding as readers that students will develop an awareness of the fact that a writer is producing something to be read by someone else. And though analyzing and commenting on another person’s work, they will develop the ability to read their own writing critically. 6.. In correcting work, the teacher should:. a). Introduce a correction code with symbols for the different types of. errors. This encourages students to use their communicative competence, that is, the information inside their heads, to correct their own mistakes, or to ask questions to put them right. b). Focus on global rather than local errors. That is, attend to errors that. interfere with comprehensibility rather than errors that have little effect on the reader’s 20.

(21) ability to understand. In general, global errors involve poor sentence and paragraph organization, omitting needed information, misuse(including omission) of sentence linkers and logical connectors, breakdown in tense concord across sentences, and ambiguity of reference(including relative pronouns). c.Let students know how successful they have been in achieving the aims of the task by including a short overall comment. (Kral; 1994: 124).. What components should be present in a writing lesson? Each lesson should concentrate on one type of writing activity (see annex 1); for example, a letter of complaint, an accident report, etc. All the activities should lead up to the final writing activity. Here is one way that the activities in a unit can be organized so that a student is fully prepared to do the final writing task (Kral; 1994: 125). 1.. Input. The lesson should begin with a reading passage that is a good. example of the type of writing you want the student to b e able to produce. This closed reading passage is used to provide content that is shared by all students in the classroom. It provides subject matter for discussion and for composition topics. Students become familiar with the vocabulary, idioms, sentence patterns, and organization used. The students can learn a great deal about writing from closed reading. 2.. Language practice. After seeing an example of the types of language used in. the reading passage, students can be given training in the production of the grammar, vocabulary, idioms, sentence patterns, and organization needed for the writing purpose. This training is provided in four parts: a). Language summary. Students study charts which display the. language patterns and use many of the vocabulary terms that apply to the type of writing taught. b). Controlled writing. Students are given exercises in which a great deal. of the content and/or form is supplied. The student’s job is, for example, to fill in the missing information or to manipulate the order of the con tent. c). Outline. The student is presented with one or more patterns for the. overall organization of a passage of the type of writing being studied. This is often followed by guided writing practice. 21.

(22) d). Guided writing. This provides further practice using the grammatical. points or syntactic structures taught in the language summary, but gives the students more freedom to use the vocabulary, idioms, ideas, and organization introduced in the reading passage. This leads up to the relatively free writing of the stude nt’s final writing activity. 3.. Semi- free Writing. This is a type of activity in which the students, singly or in. pairs or in a group, use their own ideas to write a passage, although the ideas are controlled by the purpose that the teacher provides some help and by the need to use the grammatical and/or syntactic patterns taught in the unit. 4.. Revision. After the composition is written, it will be given to another student or. other students who make comments on the content and form. Then it is rewritten and submitted to the teacher for his/her comments. After the students revise the second draft, the third draft is handed in to the teacher as the final product.. What are the characteristics of good writing materials? In order to motivate the students it is very important that teachers know how to choose, design or adapt materials; the authors of the present research consider the following principles might be used as guidelines for the teaching of the intermediate -level writing skills. (Kral 1994, p.124.) 1.. Materials should be learning-centered rather than teaching centered. They should. focus on helping students to develop their own strategies for learning. 2.. Materials should be creative. They should provide stimulating activities to focus. student’s attention on the things to be learned. Audiovisual aids such as tapes, pictures, and diagrams should be used to activate the student’s awareness of the content as something real. 3.. Materials should be interesting. They should be related to student’s interests.. Moreover, there should be a variety of text types and activity types in the materials to motivate the student’s interest in writing. 4.. Materials should be task- based. They should use purposeful tasks to motivate. student’s learning and to make students see the usefulnes s of writing.. 22.

(23) 5.. Materials should be practical. They should deal with real- life communication. tasks.. What are the stages of a Writing lesson? There exist many opinions about the parts of a writing lesson. A very important approach of this topic is that, for teaching a writing lesson there must be three stages: a presentation stage in which the type of text the teacher wants the students to produce is presented and the teacher and the students analyze its part, its content, the target language used. A second stage or controlled practice stage in which the students substitute old information by new one; and a third part or free practice stage in which the students are going to use the language freely in order to create a new piece of writing; this part is sub-divided into before writing, while writing and after writing. In each of these stages the students should develop the particular sub-skills of writing. In the before-writing stage the students are supposed to: . Determine the topic.. . Focus the topic.. . Identify why they are writing and whom they are writing for: define the writing. purpose. . Gather materials through observing, brainstorming, making notes or lists, talking. to others and reading; that is: the planning of ideas. In the while writing stage, the students should: . Plan how to go about the task, and how to organize the materials; organize the. ideas, structure the information. . Write a draft. . Read the draft critically in terms of its content (reorganize, shift emphasis, focus. information and style for the readership). . Edit or revise (the use of words, grammatical structures, cohesive devices,. mechanics and punctuation, spelling; accurately, appropriately and correctly). . Proofreading for errors. . Publishing.. The after-writing stage is aimed at: 23.

(24) . Combining writing with other language skills.. What is prewriting? The teaching of writing to native English speakers and second –language learners has undergone a dramatic change in recent times. There has been a shift from the traditional product-oriented approach that dominated the language- teaching scenes for decades, to a process- oriented approach. The authors of the present research consider each of the stages of a writing lesson of vital importance to learn how to write properly in the foreign language, but the aut hors also consider that the problem under study (the lack of fluency in writing) is present in the student’s pieces of writing because no proper prewriting techniques are used to generate the ideas they will later put on the paper, that is why a great emph asis is made on prewriting in this research. Prewriting can be defined as any structural experiences that influence active student participation in thinking, talking, writing, and working on the topic under focus in a writing lesson. Such activities or experiences, which can be group work or individual effort, may be oral, written, or experiential in nature. They include the following: oral group brainstorming. clustering dialogue writing. looping. freewriting. cubing. fantasizing. debating. oral compositions. outlining. classical invention. oral reading. silent reading -. interviewing. extensive or intensive. visits to places of interest. lecturing. in the school locality. use of pictures to stimulate students.. Most of these prewriting activities can be successfully taught from the senior- primary to the graduate- school levels. The most effective way to do this is to guide students 24.

(25) through each of the activities in the classroom rather than just lecturing or telling them about the activities. Students should also be made to realise that prewriting activities are not merely gimmicks to get started. Most of the activities, like brainstorming, fantasizing, freewriting, etc., can be used over and over again when the actual composition/writing is being done.. What is the importance of prewriting? Writing is basically a process of communicating something (content) on paper to an audience. If the writer has nothing to say, writing will not occur. Prewriting activities provide students with something to say. According to DÁoust (1986:7): Prewriting activities generate ideas; they encourage a free flow of tho ughts and help students to discover both what they want to say and how to say it on paper. In other words, prewriting activities facilitate the planning for both the product and the process. Spack (1984:656) also asserts that prewriting techniques teach students to write down their ideas quickly in raw form, without undue concern about surface error sand forms. This practice helps their fluency, as they are able to think and write at the same time, rather than think and then write. According to Shaughnessy (1977), inexperienced or incompetent student- writers tend to slow down their pace of writing by insisting on a perfect essay from the onset. They try “to put down exactly the right word, to put the right word into the right phrase, to put the right phrase in the right sentence and so on”. Such students tend to hinder their own fluency and give themselves what Flower (1985:30) calls “writer’s block”- that is, they get stuck at a point in the writing process and cannot go on. Most students who easily fall prey to” writer’s block” can benefit from a prewriting therapy where they are required to generate materials, ideas, bits of texts, etc., to use in their writing later. They should be told to leave matters of correctness and form to the revision and editin g stages, when they can resee, rethink, and rewrite their pieces of writing to polish them as well as make it reader- based prose (Flower 1985:162). Many scholars, for example, Smith (1983) and Oyetunde (1989), recommend prewriting activities because stude nts tend to write more and better pieces of writing if they are taken through such activities 25.

(26) before writing them. Teachers of writing at all levels of the educational system in ESL situations ought to be familiar with most of the prewriting techniques ava ilable, and adapt and use them to meet the needs of their students. (See annex 2). What is fluency? The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language () defines fluency as: a smooth, rapid, effortless use of language. The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics () offers a series of characteristics of fluency in second and foreign language teaching. In second and foreign language teaching, fluency describes a level of proficiency in communication, which includes: . The ability to produce written and/or spoken language with ease.. . The ability to speak with good, but not necessarily perfect command of intonation,. vocabulary, and grammar. . The ability to communicate ideas effectively.. . The ability to produce continuous speech without causing comprehension,. difficulties or a breakdown of communication. Fluency is sometimes contrasted with accuracy, which refers to the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences but may not include the ability to speak or write fluently. (Longman Dictionary of… 1997 pp. 142-143). What is a system? According to Grijalbo´s Dictionary a system is defined as: An arranged and coherent whole of rules, norms or principles related to certain matter. Organized whole of things, means, ideas, etc., that contributes to a same goal. The Webster’s dictionary defines system as a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole. Von Bertalanaffy, who is considered the father of the theory of the systems; defines system as: A whole of interrelated elements. There exist other authors who have worked with this definition. The previous definition and some others that have been analyzed possess the following features: . The system is a way of existence of the objective reality. 26.

(27) . The systems of the objective reality can be studied and represented by man.. . Man also creates systems with fixed aims.. . A system is a whole of elements distinguished by certain kind of arrangement.. . The system has relative limits; they can only be separated to study them w ith. determined purposes. . Each system belongs to a wider system, it is connected, it is apart of another. system. . Each element of a system can be assumed as a whole.. . The idea of system is wider than the idea of the sum of the parts that compose it.. (Rodríguez 2010. pp. 35-36). . Then a system of classes is: A group of interrelated lessons to achieve a. common goal.. 27.

(28) 2. A system of lessons based on the teacher’s experiences to improve the TLP of writing making emphasis on the development of fluency. 2.1 Needs Assessments Revision of the syllabus program. (See annex 3): A revision of the 10 th grade syllabus was done to corroborate the treatment it gives to the treatment of the writing abilities. The main objectives of the syllabus regarding to writing are: . The students should express themselves orally and in a written way using the. corresponding communicative functions with the proper linguistic correction that does not interfere with the comprehension of the message with a greater richness in the language. . To narrate anecdotes, experiences and memories related to their lives during. childhood and adolescence. . To give and ask for advice and suggestions.. . To give instructions.. . To talk about health problems.. . To extract information of simple texts authentic and adapted about several topics.. Analysis of the Methodological orientations: The writing ability in the Pre- University level must be aimed at the development of certain skills, such as: note taking, summarizing of oral and written texts and also the composing of simple texts to narrate experiences and memorable activities like descriptions of personalities and places. The activities designed to achieve the previous goals must be derived from the oral work and from the reading texts as well. The writing tasks must be assigned as independent work to be checked for the teacher and to analyze the most remarkable mistakes. Before finishing any task and/or class it is very important that the students (reflect on their own development, which is a very important aspect while they reflect on their learning process.. 28.

(29) The students should write a simple text like a description of a place, and anecdote or a remarkable experience, their daily activities, etc., so as to demonstrate the skills acquired to organize the information. The following aspects should be taken into account: . Correspondence between the information and the topic.. . Linguistic correction (the use of grammatical structures, vocabulary, spelling. rules). . Coherent organization of the information.. . The amount of information offered to develop the topic.. The evaluation of the writing as such is made in an integrative way and the most important thing should be whether the message is comprehensible or not.. Analysis of the workbook. (See annex 4). While analyzing the workbook, the researchers have evidenced that there is an insufficient treatment of the writing ability as such. There are 68 exercises in the workbook which represent 100% of the activities in the whole workbook. The quantity of exercises to develop the skill is very poor; there are only five exercises in the workbook dedicated to the development of the skill which represent 41.2 % of the exercises. One of the exercises is to reproduce a paragraph giving information about a friend (Ex.2b p. 3). The other four exercises which represent 33.8% are dedicated to the development of writing as such. The project from page 24 is the only exercise that can be considered as a communicative one and the strategies given help to develop most of the particular sub skills of writing; and although the other three activities called: Writing Time offer the student the possibility of organizing the written information, no communicative purpose can be seen since they only demand the student to write paragraphs. The authors can conclude then that the amount of activities to develop the skill is not enough. Also most of the activities conceived to develop the skill do not help to develop. 29.

(30) the communicative competence in the students; and finally the great majority of the exercises7.4% treat the skill as an instrument.. Results of the interview to other teachers . (See annex 5):. While analyzing the results of the interviews carried out to other teachers, the authors of the present research have evidenced that other professors consider the writing skill of vital importance within the teaching of English, since it is a productive skill which can help and motivate the students to learn the foreign language and to develop the communicative competence. Most of them consider writing as a difficult skill which requires several steps or stages that cannot be missed out if we want the students to succeed while writing, although they do not know most of these stages. The teachers also agree that the students do not feel like writing when cannot appreciate any communicative purpose. They are not interested in just writing paragraphs since they can do that in other subjects like Spanish and History; they need more real activities in English. Finally, the teachers coincide the main problems the students have while composing a piece of writing are: the lack of fluency, the incoherent organization of the information and also that there exist plenty of problems with the use the grammatical structures, phoneme - grapheme correspondence and the use of punctuation.. Group interview. (See annex 6): In order to continue deepening into this research, the authors of this investigation also interviewed the students from the group used as a sample for this research. Most of the students affirm that they only have to write paragraphs. They also say that they see writing as a very difficult thing to do because they do not know how to continue the ideas. They also think, that their pieces of writing are not as beautiful in English as they might be in Spanish; since they do not know how to connect ideas in English. 30.

(31) They also comment they feel disappointed when they want express an idea in English and they do not know how to do it properly because their vocabulary is very poor; and they feel disappointed when they see the amount of errors they have made when the teacher checks their assignments. Finally, there is another section of students in the group who affirm that they do not even know how to write in Spanish and so they feel they will not be able to do it in English.. Results of the pedagogical test. (See annex 7). In order to assess the development by the sample of students while producing a piece of writing and to corroborate if they could use the language fluently, a pedagogical test was taken. This test consisted of writing an informal letter to a friend about their daily routines. In order to grade this test a series of aspects were taken into consideration. (See annex 7) Taking into account those aspects previously mentioned, the authors of this investigation could evidence that the main problems the students presented were: . A great lack of fluency, only a 30% of the students were able to go through the. activity fluently, the rest of them, a 70%, presented great problems regarding this aspect. . The 60% of the students presented difficulties while trying to connect the. sentences among them, however they did not affect the continuity of the ideas. . The 80% of the students presented problems regarding spelling, the use of the. grammatical structures required and the use of punctuation. The same percent of students did not have a coherent organization of the information due to the problems previously mentioned.. Regularities of the diagnosis: After having analyzed the results of the instruments applied in order to diagno se the current situation regarding the writing ability in the students of group 1 in 10 th grade at Wilfredo Pérez Pérez Pre-University School; the following regularities have been found:. 31.

(32) 1.. The syllabus program of 10 th grade establishes in the main goals the production. of written texts according to the communicative functions taught in the grade and also according to the level of language in the students. 2.. The methodological orientations of the grade state that the writing ability at this. level should be derived from the oral work and from the reading texts as well; that is to treat writing as an instrument. 3.. There exist in the workbook a poor number of activities dedicated to the writing. skill as such; the great majority of the exercises are dedicated to develop writing as an instrument. 4.. Most of the teachers consider writing as an important skill, although they do not. know how to work properly with the ability and they do not know most of the writing sub skills. 5.. The students feel demotivated when they are asked to write and cannot. appreciate any communicative situation; and also when they see the amount of mistakes they have made when the teacher checks their writing assignments. 6.. The main problems the students have while producing a piece of writing are the. lack of fluency, the incoherent organization of the information, the use of grammatical structures, phoneme-grapheme correspondence and the use of punctuation.. 2.2 The Proposal. The proposal of the present research, aimed at the development of fluency in writing, is a system of lessons composed of three sub-systems; each one having a different goal. The first sub-system is a presentation one, in which the type of text the teacher wants the students to produce, is presented and analyzed. The second sub -system is a controlled practice one, in which the students manipulate and practice the type of text given. The third sub-system is a free practice one; and this one is sub- divided into before writing, while writing and after writing; each of these sub divisio ns has a particular goals to achieve. (See stages of a writing lesson) The following diagram shows the elements discussed above: 32.

(33) Graphical representation of the proposal. Sub-system of Presentation lessons. System of lessons to develop fluency in writing. Sub-system of Controlled practice lessons Sub-system of Free practice lessons. Writing activities: Before, while after. 33.

(34) Teacher’s Diaries. Lesson 1: . The students could not recognize what the parts of an informal letter were,. that provoked a disturb of the discipline in the classroo m. . The teacher asked the students to begin writing a similar letter to Sally’s and. they began doing it, but they called the teacher several times since they were unable to do the activity. . The students took plenty of time to think about what they were go ing to write. in their final letters. . The teacher picked up the letters to check them all because he was running. out of time. . The teacher found plenty of errors while checking the student’s letters.. Lesson 2: . At the beginning of the class the students were having a hard trouble to. answer the questions the teacher asked them. . The teacher presented the letter and the students began to talk to their. partners. . The teacher began reviewing the parts of the informal letter and the. students continued talking to their partners.. Lesson 3: . The students were asked to read the letter and to identify the parts of them. Some. of them did not do the activity. . The students were asked to think about the activities for next vacation and write. sentences about them. Some of them could not do the activity. . The students enjoyed a lot the last activity.. 34.

(35) Teacher’s reflections. Reflection 1: During the first writing class taught to the students from group 10 th 1 the teacher realized the students could not recognize the parts of an informal letter and they began to misbehave. The teacher assumed the students knew the parts of an informal letter, so in the final lesson he decided to create a chart explaining each part of an informal letter. Once the students began to write the letter, similar to Sally’s, they had to call the teacher several times since they seemed to be unable to do the activity; then the teacher decided to create another exercise which consisted on showing the students a set of pictures of different people and below a chart containing information of those people and pick up one of them and use their date to fill in the blanks. When the teacher set the reason for writing, the students took plenty of time to think about what they were going to write in their final letters; the teacher decided that before he asked them to begin writing he should make the student’s ideas flow. So, he created an exercise in which the students had to brainstorm in order to have enough ideas to write. The teacher then realized the students did not know how to organize the information properly in their letters, and he suggested the students to follow an organization pattern so as to have the information organized. Finally, the teacher picked up the letters to check them all because he was running out of time, and while checking the letters he found plenty of errors, that is why in the final lesson he decided to ask the students to exchange their letters with their partners first to correct each other’s mistakes and then to rewrite them again to be finally checked by the teacher.. Reflection 2: While teaching the second lesson of writing to then students, the teacher realized that at the beginning of the class the students were having a hard trouble to answer the questions the teacher had asked them; so the teacher decided to change the approach of the questions. 35.

(36) Instead of asking them a direct grammar question, e.g.: What are the forms of the verb to be in simple past? he asked: Where were you yesterday night? Where was your mother? and the students found those questions easier to answer. Later when the teacher presented the letter to analyze it, the students began to talk to their partners and, then the teacher decided to present the letter disorganized for the students to put it in the correct order, that way they would not have the chance to talk; and instead of analyzing the parts of the letter himself, he asked the students to identify the parts of the text by themselves and comment on them for the whole class. Before the students began to write their letters properly, the teacher realized the students liked the activity he had oriented, and when he finally picked up all the students´ pieces of writing to be checked there were very few mistakes in the students´ letters.. Reflection 3: At the beginning of the lesson the students were asked to read the letter and identify the parts of them, and some of them did not do the activity. Then, the teacher decided to create another exercise for the students; before they identified the parts of the informal letter and talk about what to write in each part, the teacher asked them to do another activity in which they had to extract information from the text given to complete a chart. After that the students were asked to write sentences about their future plans and some of them were having problems in order to do the activity. The teacher then decided to give the students a controlled-practice activity in which they had to use the information given to make up sentences and he provide the first example. Then he asked the students to work in pairs and talk about their future plans. The before –writing activity seemed to like the students a lot, since they had the opportunity to outline things to do, places to visit and the teacher used pictures to motivate the students and provide them with ideas for their pieces of writing.. 36.

(37) conclUsions: The theoretical and methodological judgments that support the teaching of writing give the aspect under study, the development of fluency in writing, a great importance in order to develop this aspect in the students to the finally achievement of a communicative competence level. During the process of analysis of the current situation of the development of fluency in the students, many problems were found that may be affecting this aspect in the students. The final system of classes designed to give a solution to the problems under study was based on the teacher’s diaries about the situations in the classroom; and finally upon the teacher’s reflections of those situations as well.. 37.

(38) BiBliograPhy: -Chan , Michele M 1986. Teaching writing as a process of communication at the tertiary 1984.level. JALT Journal, 8, 1, pp. 53-69. -Tribble,Christopher 1996. Language Teaching, Writing. Oxford University Pr ess, pp. 3738. -Raimes, Ann. 1983. Techniques in teaching writing. New York: Oxford University Press. -Kral, Thomas. 1994.selected Articles from the English Teaching forum.Washington . D.C: Orion SVC/TRDNG. -D´ Aoust, C. 1986. Teaching writing as a process. In Practical ideas for teaching writing as a process, ed. C. B. Olson. Sacramento, California State Department of Education. -Spack, R.2002. Invention strategies and the ESL college composition student. TESOL Quarterly, 18, 4 pp. 649-68. -Shaughnessy, M. P. 1977.Errors and expectations: A guide for the teachers of basic writing. New York:Oxford University Press. -Flower, L. J. 1985. Problem-solving strategies for writing. New York:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. -Carr, M. 1986. Clustering with non-readers/writers. In Practical ideas for teaching writing as a process, ed. C. B. Olson. Sacramento, California State Department of Education. -Dakelman, B. 1973. Think tank and mind transportation: Teaching creative writing .English Journal, 62, p. 1272. -Johnson, M. 1986. Interviews- A good way to get started. In Practical ideas for teaching writing as a process, ed. C. B. Olson. Sacramento, California state Department of education. -Shuman, B. R. 1983. Teasing writing out of high school students. English Journal, 6 2, pp. 267-71. - Smith, F. 1992. Writing and the writer. London: Heinemann. -Rodríguez, A.T.M 2010. pp.35-36. -Von Bertalanffy, L.1986. Teoría General de los sistemas. 38.

(39) -García, S. 1997. Fundamentals for F. L. Teaching. - Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and applied linguistics 1997 pp. 142-143. - The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.. 39.

(40) annexes: Annex 1.. Unit title. Types of texts to write 1.. Writing notes and memos. 1.1. Explanations. 1.2. Arrangements. 1.3. Instructions. 1.4. Inquiries and requests. 1.5. Apologies and explanations. 2.. Writing personal letters. 2.1. Invitations. 2.2. Requests and inquiries. 2.3. Acceptances and refusals. 2.4. Arrangements. 2.5. Apologies and explanations. 2.6. Congratulations and commiserations. 2.7. Thank-you letters. 2.8. Expressing positive and negative emotions. 2.9. General personal letters. 3.. Writing telegrams, personal ads, and instructions. 3.1 Writing telegrams and telexes 3.2 Writing personal ads 3.3 Writing instructions Writing descriptions 3.1. Describing people. 3.2. Describing places. 3.3. Describing objects 40.

(41) 3.4. Describing human scenes. 3.5. Describing landscapes. 3.6. Describing habits and conditions. 3.7. Describing processes. 4.. Reporting experiences. 4.1. Reporting incidents and events. 4.2. Writing biographical information. 4.3. Narrating. 4.4. Reporting speech. 5.. Writing to companies and officials. 5.1. Form-filling. 5.2. Requests letters. 5.3. Letters of application. 5.4. Giving information. 5.5. Giving instructions. 5.6. Letters of complaint. 5.7. Letters of apology and explanation. 6.. Presenting facts, ideas, and opinions. 6.1. Paragraph writing. 6.2. Letters to newspapers. 6.3. Summary reports. 6.4. Personal and factual reports. 6.5. Essay-writing.. Some writing activities:. 1.. Write a report of a book you have just read.. 41.

(42) 2.. Write a review of a book you enjoyed and would like to recommend to other. people in class. 3.. Write an instruction sheet for something you yourself know how to do well (e.g.. prepare some kind of food). 4.. Write a narrative based on a picture or series of pictures.. 5.. Describe an occasion when you were disappointed (or afraid, surprised,. relieved…) 6.. Look out of the window and describe the view you see.. 7.. Describe someone you know very well.. 8.. Write an imaginary description of five people, based on photographs and some. information about their professions. 9.. Write an answer to a given letter of complaint.. 10.. Write a letter applying for a job as babysitter, stating your qualifications for th e. job. 11.. Think of a change you would like to see introduced in your country, home,. community or place of work/study. Write a recommendation to the authorities, explaining why it is desirable and suggesting how it might be effected. 12.. Read a newspaper article reporting a piece of news and notice the kinds of. information provided. Write a similar article of your own on an imaginary event. 13.. Imagine your ideal school. Describe it.. 14.. Describe the process represented in a flowchart or other kind of diagram.. 15.. Listen to a piece of music. Describe the plot and atmosphere on the film for which. it is to be the background music.. Annex 2.. Some prewriting techniques and strategies. Several prewriting techniques/strategies or invention techniques were listed above. These techniques/strategies have been found effective in teaching writing to native speakers of English. Several scholars, such as Zamel (1984), Spack (1984), Oyetunde (1989), and Oluwadiya (1990), have advocated for the inclusion of most of these 42.

(43) activities and techniques in an ESL writing programme. The techniques highlighted here are not exhaustive, neither are they meant to be a panacea for all writing problems. They should be seen and used as an alternative ways of stimulating and motivating students to write more and better pieces of writing. Oral group/individual brainstorming. This involves the use of leading questions to get students thinking about a topic or idea that is under focus. The questions could be written on the chalkboard and each student asked to th ink out answers to them. The teacher allows an interval of some minutes to let students think. Then he can randomly choose students to tell the class their answers, reactions or responses to the questions. The teacher writes the answers on the board. These answers are then copied by each student for subsequent use in his/her piece of writing as he/she deems fit. Brainstorming is therefore a group technique for stimulating creative thinking. Individual students can also use this technique to generate materi al for their writing, once they master it. In fact, competent/good writers use brainstorming to generate ideas, bits of text, etc., before they set out to write, and they continue to use it while writing. So brainstorming is a versatile thinking tool that can be used at any stage of the writing process.. Clustering. Clustering has been defined as a “prewriting technique that enables the writer to map out his/her thoughts on a particular topic or subject(s) and then to choose which ones to use” (Carr 1986:20).Rico (1986: 17) defines clustering as a “non-linear brainstorming process that generates ideas, images and feelings around a stimulus word until a pattern becomes discernible”. A teacher can go through the following steps in teaching students how to cluster: 1.. The teacher explains clustering is. It is akin to brainstorming, the difference being. that our focus/scope is narrowed down to a specific word(s) or idea (the stimulus word) in clustering. 2.. Next, the teacher circles the stimulus word(s) on the board-for example, energy-. and ask students to say all that comes to their minds when they see that word. All types of responses should be encouraged. The teacher clusters these responses on the board as they are made, with the nucleus word energy in the centre and all responses 43.

(44) radiating outwards. The teacher then tells the students that they often have many ideas floating in their brains and that the best way to harness such ideas is to cluster them quickly on paper; otherwise, some will escape their short-term memory. 3.. Now the teacher can ask the students to cluster a second word for themselves.. The clustering process should be timed- say, ten minutes. Then students can be asked to write a short paragraph using their clusters. 4.. After writing, ask students to give a title to what they have written. This technique. can be used at all levels to help create a sense of “can do “. Looping: This technique entails writing non-stop (without fear of errors or selfcensorship) on anything that comes to one’s mind on a particular topic (Spack 1948:656). After writing for a while, the writer stops, reads, and reflects/thinks about what he/she has written, and then sums it up in a single sentence. He/she can repeat this procedure two or more times to generate ideas or bits of text s for his/her writing.. Cubing: This activity involves a swift or quick consideration of a subject from six points of view: describe it. analyze it. compare it. apply it. associate it. argue for or against it. The students can be taken through a practical session where a subject is taken and materials and ideas are generated on it for use at later date. The teacher can give the following tips on what the students are expected to do when cubing to generate materials (Spack 1984:9): . Describe it: Examine the topic or subject closely and tell what you think it is all. about. . Compare the topic or subject to some others you have come across before, i.e.,. What is it similar to? Different from? . Associate it with something you are familiar with already, i.e., What does it. remind you of? . Analyse it by telling how it is made if it is an object. 44.

(45) . Apply it, tell what can be done with the object or topic, how it can be used to. improve the society or your learning, etc. . Argue for or against it, i.e., take a stand, give a reason(s), any that comes to your. mind, for supporting or being against the topic or object under focus. By the time the students have gone through these steps of cubing, they should have generated a lot of ideas and materials from which they can write their first drafts.. Classical invention: This technique is based on the Aristotelian notion of topics. Spack (1984:652) defines topics as different ways of viewing a subject. Winterowd (1973:702) defines topics as “probes or series of questions that one might ask about a subject in order to discover things to say about that subject.” Thus, a student using classical invention as a prewriting technique can ask and answer questions about the topic at hand that are grouped according to Aristotle’s topics:. definition comparison relationship circumstance testimony. The teacher can give the following tips on how o use classical invention: Definition: How does the dictionary define the object or notion or topic under focus? Comparison: What is the topic, word, object, etc., similar to? Why? What is the topic, word, or object different from? In what ways? Relationship: Ask questions about cause and effect. Circumstance: Ask questions about feasibility or practicability. Testimony: Ask questions about primary and secondary sources of occurrence or reording. Debating: This is the act of orally presenting two sides of an argument or topic. It can be used to generate ideas, thoughts, concepts, notions and about any topic or under focus. All the advantages that go with active oral use of language by students make 45.

(46) debating worthwhile for stimulating students to write. Oral language use enhances writing ability, for according to Wells and Chang (1986:30): “Oral monologue provides an opportunity to develop some of the skills of composing planning, selecting, marshalling and organising ideas - skills that are necessary for writing and it does so in a medium in which learners feel more likely to be successful.” Interviewing: This is another prewriting activity that students can be taught to use in generating ideas for writing. Johnson (1986:11) says that asking students to interview each other helps to establish a relaxed atmosphere for writing. The students can be given guidelines on what to ask to each other.. Procedure: Students are asked to interview someone sitting near them: Each student is given five minutes to ask questions and jot down notes about the other st udent’s background and interests before reversing roles for another five minutes. They can be given 15 minutes to organise a rough draft of their notes. Next, they read their drafts to their partners for reactions and suggestions so that misconceptions can be corrected and information can be added or deleted.. The teacher can end the hour/lesson with a few tips for revising what has been written such tips as focus on something special about the person’s hobbies, skills or unusual background, future goals, etc. This technique reduces the fear of writing and the feeling of inadequacy that students sometimes have. It gets them talking, laughing, and sharing their writing efforts. It is therefore a good way to get to know each student as well as to introduce th e concept of writing as a process. This technique can be used with all categories of student writers. Visit to places of interest and importance in the school vicinity: This is one prewriting activity that can be done across the curriculum. Two or more tea chers of different subjects can, in conjunction with the English- language teacher, organise trips to places of interest like the zoo, the local industries, and natural habitats in the next vicinity. Even important personalities in the society can be visited and interviewed for personality profiles for the school magazine, if there is one.. 46.

(47) Before the actual visit, teachers should give students some guidelines on what to look out for during such visits. There should also be an indication of the types of top ics the students will be required to write about at the end of the visits. Young people generally like outdoor life a lot, and this interest can be used to teach them anything in any subject area. Visits to places of interest enable students to use their f ive senses to interact with their environment, thereby creating ideas, concepts, and thoughts that they may want to verbalize in their writing later.. Fantasizing/Meditating/Mind transportation: These techniques are the same thing in practice; they only go by three different names. They require students to make a voyage into a fantasy world while they are sitting quietly in class (Dakelman 1973:51 -52 and Shuman 1983:52). The teacher first requires students to put away all the books, materials, etc., from their desks tops. Only their rough/first- draft exercise books/paper, pen or pencil, and erasers should be on their desks. Complete silence is required and maintained. Then the teacher offers possible topics, such as: . If you had one wish, what would you choose?. . If you were the president of this country, what would you wish to be. remembered for? If you were the Head-boy/Head- girl of this school, what would you wish to be. . remembered for? The teacher and the students then sit quietly for some minutes to reflect on such questions. Next, the teacher asks the students to write down in their exercise books all they fantasised or meditated about. These initial drafts are then responded to by pears and/or the teacher, then reworked and rewritten before being ha nded in for final assessment by the teacher. These techniques are well-suited for providing a mood that makes students want to write. Lecturing: This is one prewriting exercise that can be used to stimulate and motivate students to write across the curriculum. It involves the use of an “expert” in a field related to the topic under focus to do the lecturing rather than the English -language teacher him/herself. 47.