C

TECHNIQUES IN
TEACHING WRITING
SKILLS
Sook Rui Sharl eena
Techniques in Teaching Writing Skills
Techniques in
Using Pictures
Techniques in
Using All
Language Skills
Techniques in
Using Reading

Techniques in
Using Controlled
Writing
Teaching
Practical Writing
Techniques in Using Pictures
Purpose Types
One Picture Many
Different Techniques
Picture Sets Maps
One Picture A
Sequence of Tasks

Diagrams, Tables,
Graphs and Charts

Purpose
A shared experience in the classroom
A need for common language forms to use in the classroom
A variety of tasks
A focus of interest for students
One Picture Many Different Techniques
Sample activities:
1. Description
- Pupils describe what they observe in the bedroom.
2. Description, comparison and contrast
- Pupils describe what they observe and exchange with their pair
3. Paragraph assembly
- Pupils discuss and decide on the sequence of description based on the
cards or sentence strips given.
4. Sentence combining
- Pupils combine two sentences using linking verbs
5. Paragraph completion
- Pupils decide and discuss their own ending.
6. Controlled composition
- Pupils are given a situation to be the basis of the composition.
7. Guided composition
- Pupils are given a sentence to begin with.
8. Role-play
- Pupils act out a situation based on a given scenario.


9. Questions and answers
- Pupils devise a series of questions.
- Pupils answer a series of guided questions.
10. Beyond the picture
- Pupils use their creativity and imagination to create their own version
of the bedroom.
One Picture A Sequence of Tasks
Sample activities:
1. Question and answer
- Pupils answer a series of questions.
2. Extract main point from given paragraph
- Pupils read a paragraph and list down the main points in it.
- Example:

Raju, Mary, Lily, Amir and Sam are having a picnic. Raju is busy barbequing meat
patties for the burger. Mary is preparing charcoal chunks to keep the barbeque
stove hot and burning. Lily is preparing the watermelons as dessert. Amir is having
a break from his hard work by having a piece of sandwich and a packet of Milo.
Sam has just arrived with a basket full of food.
3. Guided composition
- Pupils rewrite about the picnic but using different tenses.
- Pupils write about the picnic to their school bulletin.
Picture Sets
Sample activities:
1. Pupils write a list of sentences for each picture.
2. Pupils use linking verbs to join the sentences.
3. Pupils can be given jumbled pictures to be rearranged. They are
then asked to compose a story.
Diagrams, Tables, Graphs and Charts
Sample activities:
1. Pupils analyse and convey information obtained from
the graphics.
2. Pupils fill in the blanks in the charts or tables from the
stimulus given.
Maps
Sample activities:
1. Pupils give directions based on stimulus given.
2. Pupils describes the landmarks on the map.
3. Pupils read a paragraph of the map and transfers important
information to be inserted in a travel brochure.
Techniques in Using Reading
Copy
Examine Cohesive
Links
Examine Punctuation
and Grammar
Examine Sentence
Arrangement
Summarise Complete Speculate React
Copy
Mastery of new language
Example of activities:
Copy new words
Copy good or the best text as a model
Legible and error free
Copy various ideas to plan and organise a dialog or story
Copy a good piece of writing as a model for:
Dictation practice
Summary writing

Examine Cohesive Links
Pupils read passage and identify connectors, pronouns, adjectives
etc.
Pupils fill in the blanks with the suitable linking words. Example:

When I think of my father, I think of him at mealtimes. Then, he
always sat at the head of the family table and asked his children
a lot of questions. He asked us about our friends and our day at
school.
Examine Punctuation and Grammar
Helps pupils examine and learn the mechanics of writing.
Exposes pupils to derive rules and meaning from examining
punctuation.
Example of activities:
Punctuation
Pupils read a passage and discuss why each punctuation mark
is used.
Pupils fill in the blanks with the correct punctuation mark.


Grammar
Pupils read a passage and circle/underline the grammar item. Example:



Pupils fill in a grammar chart for tenses. Example:

She takes a bus and then walks three miles to her daughters school. She has
been doing this for four years.
Present
Tense
Past Tense

Past
Participle
Tense
Past
Continuous
Tense

Walk Walked
Walked Was walking
Swim Swam Swum Was
swimming
Examine Sentence Arrangement
Pupils choose a sentence that has the closest meaning to the question.
Example:




When I arrived at the house, my mother was sitting in her rocking chair.

Choose which sentence follows:
i) This chair was given to my mother when I was born.
ii) When I was born, someone gave my mother this chair.
Pupils examine and identify new and old information in a passage. Example:



In Sentence 2, the house is old information.
In Sentence 2, a large garden is new information.
(1) Our house had four bedrooms and two sitting rooms. (2) In front of the
house was a large garden. (3) In the garden, my father had planted a lot
of flowers.
Summarise
Pupils learn to extract important information from a passage and
try to rewrite it in a sentence only.
Pupils read a newspaper article and discuss which parts they
would print if they are the newspaper editor.

Complete
Pupils write the ending to a story or dialogue.
Pupils fill in the gaps in a passage. The gaps can comprise of
grammatical items such as verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs,
connectors.

Speculate
Pupils come out with possible actions or sequence of events for a
passage, story or dialogue.

React
Pupils create posters, advertisements or brochures based on the
passage.
USING ALL LANGUAGE SKILLS
Brainstorming
Guided discussion
Interview
Skits
Dictation
Note-taking
Story-telling
CONCEPT
Objective
to come as close as possible to real-life
communicative situations
Language skills
speak, listen, comprehend, react
Characteristics
immediate response from whats seen & heard
little opportunity for translation
not only use but play with the new language
Brainstorming
To say as much as they can about a topic
producing relevant vocabulary, making comments,
asking questions, making associations
as freely as they can in a short time
Teacher as a resource person
no monitoring grammar or pronunciation
Examples:
observe and talk
address a specific question
help find a topic / a direction
Guided Discussion
provide guidelines for group or whole-class
discussion
thinking is directed along predetermined lines
but how they come up within the established
guidelines are entirely their own
Examples:
give specific directions
provide reviews, models, examples
instruct to look at a picture, then ask Wh-
questions
assign roles among group members
Interview
Convey to others genuine information transmitted
to them by other students
Examples:
Work with class to devise a set of questions
Students make up their own questions
Find out specific information from each other
Provide interviewer with form on which information to
collect, others construct a description based on that
Write a report of the information gathered for the class
bulletin
Skits
Students act not as themselves but in an
assigned role
Writing follows as an outside report/summary of
what was said/done
Examples:
Developing skits from pictures, newspaper issues
Writing a dialogues
Writing letters
Writing a report of the overheard dialogues
Writing in response/continuation
Dictation
Teacher reads through a passage once, once
again slowly, then once more.
Students listen carefully & pay attention to
inflections, punctuations, spelling, capitalisation
Examples:
Pretend telephone conversation that gives
direction, students listen & write down
Teacher dictates, students fill in the missing
information in the given text with blank spaces
Teacher dictates, students write down as close a
version as possible (meaning > form)
Note-taking
Write down a summary of what the speaker
says, picking out the important information
Requires being alerted to non verbal cues
Given a skeleton outline to work with so their
listening is more directed
Examples:
Teacher reads aloud text, students take notes &
compare with each other
Students go out on the street / watch an event
together, take notes on what they observed &
compare with each other

Story-telling
Examples:
Read aloud a story, stop at the point where readers
are likely to want to know how it continues,
students write their version of the continuation
Give students a list of words, student begins a story
using those words, stop after few minutes, pass
paper to another student to finish the story
One student tells a story, stops at a point & points
to a peer to continue, goes on, all students write
what they remember of the story.


TEACHING PRACTICAL WRITING
Forms
Letters
Lists
Daily notes
Instructions
CONCEPT
Objective
To get things done
Eg: to apologise, invite, thank, sympathise, inquire
Characteristics
Involves what people write in their everyday life
Clear purpose
Specific audience

Forms
Opportunity to transfer information from one
format to another
Preserving meaning while varying the form
Practice for forming & re-forming concepts in the
new language
Example:
Forms and interviews
Forms and readings
Survey forms
Letters
Each language functions has its own associated
vocabulary, connotations, sentence structures,
appropriate choice of words, tone, level of formality
- To invite, explain, apologise, congratulate, complain,
inquire, acknowledge, thank
- Make students consider their audience as well as their
accuracy
Example:
Letters and forms
Informal letters
Pen pals
Lists
Functions to help people remember what to
do
Helps students be aware of the classification
systems of the language
Alphabetisise, group, classify
Example:
Brainstorm, write down, decide which categories
to be sorted into
Grouping ideas that are no longer in single words
but in sentences
Daily Notes
A record of the events of the day or their ideas
about those events
Personal writing
Not to be judged by another, thus they worry less
about correctness
fluency increases
Example:
Special notebook
Write as quickly and as much as one can about
any topic
Instructions
The writing of real instructions taps the
students skills
Whats he good at? What can he tell others how
to do?
Examples:
Interview each other, take notes on the steps in
the procedure, write down the instructions
Write instructions for each other on how to get
from school to their home
Treasure hunt
USING CONTROLLED WRITING
Controlled composition
Question & answer
Guided composition
Sentence combining
Parallel writing
CONCEPT
Writing for which a great deal of content or form is supplied
an outline to complete
a paragraph to manipulate
a model to follow
a passage to continue
focused practice in getting down words on paper

Controlled Composition
give a passage to work with, they make the
necessary changes but not add anything
focuses the attention on specific features of the
written language
grammar, vocabulary, syntax
indentation, punctuation, spelling
Example:
make changes in tenses/plurality of a given text
cloze text
substitute words with synonyms, positives with
negatives, post nominal adjective phrases with
phrases
Question and Answer
students are given a series of questions, the answers to which
form the text
Example:
based on a given list, notes, sequence of pictures, write a paragraph
by answering the questions in complete sentences
based on personal information like students likes, dislike, hobbies,
interest
Guided Composition
gives students some but not all the content
& form of the sentence they will use
Example:
discuss a picture and write 2 paragraphs, one
about the setting and one about the man
directed towards students own experience/
observation
simple outline
providing the first and last sentence
picture sequence
Sentence Combining
combining base sentences into one longer
compound or complex sentence
Example:
given pairs of simple sentences, discover possible
combinations, choose appropriate joining words
producing a new text by combining groups of
sentences to make up a paragraph
breaking down complex sentences into base
sentences to discover how sentences are
assembled
Parallel Writing
read and study a passage, then write their
own on a similar theme
use as a guide the vocabulary, sentence structure,
cohesive devices, organisation of model passage
Example:
listen to a textbook dialogue, write what has been
heard but as a narrative
read letters/dialogues/stories, write a parallel
passage based on a different set of given
information