Unit 12 Teaching Writing（省級課程-英語教學(xué)法）

1、Unit 12 Teaching WritingBy Xu ZHijian省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院1Aims of the Unit 1. What, why and how do we write? 2. A communicative approach to writing; 3. Problems in writing tasks in existing textbooks and classroom teaching;4. A process approach to writing; 5. Motivating students to write6. Designing

2、 writing tasks. 7. Writing through the Internet省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院2I. What, why and how do we write? 1. The purpose of writing classBy writing, students can learn the language and culture;By writing, students can improve their listening, speaking and reading abilities;By writing, students can impro

3、ve their thinking ability.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院32. The nature of writing in realityTASK 1 Think about your daily writing in Chinese and your experiences of writing in English. Fill in the table below with things that come to your mind first. When you finish, compare your ideas with your partner. The

4、things we write in reality: letters, journals, notes, instructions, posters, essays, reports, menus, filling forms, answering questionnaires省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院42. The nature of writing in realityThe reasons we write: To convey messages or just to keep a record of what is in our mindThe way we write

5、: Some people never put down a word before rehearsing the sentence many times in their mind, while other people write down anything that comes to their mind and then do a lot of editing and proof-reading.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院52. The nature of writing in realityComparing writing in our English teachin

6、g classroom with writing in reality:1) Writing in the ELT classroom (also as homework) is often seen as a means to consolidate language that is recently studied. 2) The students finish the task than the teacher assigned within the time limit and hand in the final product. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院6II. A

7、communicative approach to writing Communication writing means either writing for a specific recipient, or engaging in an act of creative writing. It is authentic writing tasks that have some communicative elements.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院71. Why should we adopt communicative approach to writing? 省級精品課程英

8、語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院Current methodology does recognise the place of written exercises as a means to consolidate language already studied.Current methodology also acknowledges that mechanical writing activities do not by themselves motivate students. 82.Writing for learning or writing for communication? 省級精

9、品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院At the stage of language learning, not everything can be purely communicative; that is, the learners do many activities while keeping an eye on certain language elements. So some writing activities can be between “writing for learning” and “writing for communication” 9Task 2 Read th

10、rough the following writing activities and decide which activities are writing for consolidating language, which are writing for communication, and which are perhaps for both. Try to give reasons for your decision. (P 209) 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院10Possible solutions to Task 2 Activity 1 is obviously “w

11、riting for consolidating language”. All the students have to do is to combine the sentence pairs into one sentence and make other minor changes. There is no communication in the activity.Activity 2 can be considered as “writing for communication” though the situation is imagined one. If the students

12、 write truly about the sightseeing possibilities in their locality, the activity promotes a lot of communication. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院11Possible solutions to Task 2 Activity 3 can be between “writing for learning” and “writing for communication”. It depends on whom the students are writing to. If th

13、e writing is to be read only by classmates, there is no communication. If the writing is to be read by other people, it is communication.Activity 4 is typical of imaginative writing. There is a clear recipient. So the students know whom they are addressing. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院12Possible solutions t

14、o Task 2 Activity 5 can involve true communication, especially if students feel free to make suggestions about the courses they are taking. However, very often students refrain from telling the truth because they do not want to hurt or offend their teachers. Activity 6 can be considered as between “

15、writing for learning” and “writing for communication”. If the things belong to the students and they want to sell them, then the activity becomes more communicative. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院13III. Problems in writing tasks The deficiencies of writing tasks in existing English textbooks :1. mainly accura

16、cy-based.2. designed to practice certain target structures.3. insufficient preparation before the writing stage.4. no sense of audience.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院14III. Problems in writing tasks5. no sense of authenticity.6. given ideas to express rather than being invited to invent their own.7. no opport

17、unity for creative writing, particularly for expressing unusual or original ideas.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院15III. Problems in writing tasks With a minimum of adaptation, writing tasks in existing textbooks can be made more creative and more communicative. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院16Below is a writing activity

18、 taken from SEFC. Lets look at the original task and then see how it can be adapted. WritingWrite about the sports which you like. Use phrases like these:I dont like .I enjoy .My favourite sport is I quite like .I prefer . to . I like . because省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院17Obviously there is no specific aud

19、ience for this writing task. The students may ask. “Why should I write about the sports I like? For what purpose? Who is going to read my writing?” Writing An E-friend has written to you and has described the sports that he/she likes most. Write an Email to him/her and tell him/her your favorite spo

20、rts too. we can adapt the above writing task as follows: 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院18TASK 4 Study the writing activities in Task 3 (P210)again and choose another writing task from one of the current school textbooks that you do not think are in line with the principles of a communicative approach to writi

21、ng. Adopting the activity and write out the detailed steps of how teaching can be done in the class. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院19IV. A process approach to writing 1. Whats process writing?Product-oriented method pays great attention to the accuracy of the final product but ignores the process, which the s

22、tudents go through to reach the final goal. the teacher provides to guide the students through the process that they undergo when they are writing. This kind of guidance should be gradually withdrawn so that the students finally become independent writers. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院20Focus on the process

23、of writing that leads to the final written product;Help student writers to understand their own composing process;Help them to build repertoires of strategies for prewriting, drafting, and rewriting;2. Features of process writing 21Give students time to write and rewrite;Place central importance on

24、the process of revision; Let students discover what they want to say as they write;2. Features of process writing 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院222. Features of process writing Give students feedback throughout the composing process (not just on the final product) to consider as they attempt to bring their ex

25、pression closer and closer to intention;Encourage feedback both from the instructor and peers;Include individual conferences between teacher and student during the process of composition.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院23 3.The procedures of process writing 1) Creating a motivation to write Only when students h

26、ave a clear purpose or a reason to write, will they feel motivated or anger to write.2) Brainstorming It is suggested that if a group of students work together to brainstorm topics and ideas, it will be more productive, because their thoughts can be inspired by each others ideas. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)

27、院24 3.The procedures of process writing3) Mapping Mapping helps students organize the ideas the brainstormed. A diagram or an outline can be used to do this.4) Free writing Free writing refers to the stage when students start writing freely about the topic following mapping, which can help students

28、develop fluency in writing. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院25 3.The procedures of process writing5) Outlining After students have gathered enough ideas, they need to write a more detailed outline. An outline usually illustrates the main organizing structure and the most important points of the essay.6)Drafting

29、 At this stage, the development of ideas are more important than getting grammatical structures, punctuation or spelling correct. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院26 3.The procedures of process writing7) EditingEditing may take two forms: peer editing and self-editing.8) RevisingTeachers guide students to make n

30、ecessary improvements in both organization and contents based on either self-editing or peer editing. 省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院27 3.The procedures of process writing9) ProofreadingStudents should be guided to read their writings again carefully for any mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or capit

31、alization.10) ConferencingIt is important for teachers to talk face to face with students about their writing, pointing out their strength and weaknesses.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院28 3.The procedures of process writingTask 6 Study the following description of a writing activity and see what features of th

32、e process approach to writing have been reflected in the activity. (P220)省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院29 V. Motivating students to write 1. How to motivate students to write?1) Make the topic of writing as close as possible to students s life.2) Leave students enough room for creativity and imagination.3) Pr

33、epare students well before writing.4) Encourage collaborative group writing as well as individual writing.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院30 V. Motivating students to write 1. How to motivate students to write?5) Provide opportunities for students to share their writings.6) Provide constructive and positive feedback.7) Treat students errors strategically.8) Give students a sense of achievement from time to time.省級精品課程英語教學(xué)法龍巖學(xué)院外國語學(xué)院31Task 9Read the f