Name : Nidia Faradis

Class : TBI 5D

Learning to Write in a Second Language and Culture

Many children at the beginning of the nineteenth century were required to do little
more than write their name. By contrast, today's children are entering a world in which they will
need to be able to make informed decision about their own lives and their role in a multicultural
and multilingual society.

SOME CHALLENGES FOR EL LEARNERS

Let consider some of characteristics of good writers and less effective writers: the first is
effective writers; likely to think about and plan their writing, they understand that writing is a
recursive process (continually revise and edit of their writing from first to final product), they
anticipate the reader's needs, they are aware of writing and speaking's linguistic differences,
and they understand the curtural purpose of the text. The second one is poor writers: they
focus on the mechanics of writing, they tend not to plan at a whole-text level, they are less able
to anticipate the language and content information, and they have difficulty revising and editing
their own work.

Some literacy practices presumption that EL learners have already developed strong
spoken-language skills in English, and these learners have internalized the same kinds of
understandings about how to use it as fluent English speakers of the same age.

WHAT IS A GENRE?

The notion of genre in English speaking cultures would encompass things as diverse as
the TV news, a lesson, a game show, a telephone conversation with a friend, newspaper report,
a written instructions, a written persuasive text, etc. We can say of each of them that it:
  Occurs within a particular culture, genres are culture and shared by members of that
culture. Learning a second language means learning the different kinds of spoken and
written genres needed to participate in the second language culture.
 A specific purpose, genres are structured, goal oriented, and have a specific purposes.
 Has a particular overall organizational structure.
 Is characterized by specific linguistic features. Narratives use the past tense, contain
dialogue, and describe characters, things, and actions by use of adjectives and adverbs.
Narratives is likely to be organized along a timeline and use time connectives to
structure the story: once upon a time, one day, and then, finally. Whereas, persuasive, or
opinion, text is likely to contain conjunctions and connectives that organize and
introduce the writer's arguments: first, second, in addition, however, therefore.

THE GENRES OF SCHOOL

These genres include Recounts, Narratives, Information Reports, Procedures, Arguments,

Discussions, and Explanations. Lets describe two of these genres (narrative and argument).

 Narrative, have a purpose, have a particular organizational structure: first, there is an

orientation. Then, there are number of events (lead to problem and complication).
Finally, there is resolution.
 Argument is used to describe a piece of writing that provides only one perspective on an
issue (that taken by writer).

EXPLICIT TEACHING ABOUT WRITING

Teach explicitly means that students are encouraged to reflect on how language is used
for a range of purposes and with a range of audiences, and that teachers focus explicitly on
those aspects of language that enable students to do this. Explicit teaching is related to real-life
use, so that understanding about language is developed in the context of actual language use.

THE TEACHING AND LEARNING CYCLE

 The teaching and learning cycle is not seen as an "add-on" to what you would normally
be teaching but is located within the regular curriculum. Derewianka (1990) have identified four
stages that referred to the teaching and learning cycle:

1. Building the field, the aim is to make sure that learners have enough knowledge of the

topic to be able to write about it. The focus is primarily on the content, or information,
of the text.
2. Modeling the genre, focus on the form and the function of the particular genre that the
students are going to use in their own writing. The aim is to build up students become
familiar with the purposes, overall structure, and linguistic features of the type of text
they are going to write.
3. Join construction, students are ready to think about writing, although they will not be
writing alone yet.
4. Independent writing, students write their own text, using the appropriate processes of
drafting and conferencing.

ADDITIONAL SCAFFOLDING FOR YOUNG LEARNERS AND EL BEGINNERS

Here are some of ways to support learners who are new to English: encourage learners
to continue to write in their mother tongue literacy, use picture sequencing with a group of
students, use a dialogue letter/dialogue journal between yourself and the EL learner, use
jumbled sentences, and use a writing framework.