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“Writing, like all other aspects of language, is communicative. Think about what we write in real life. We write e-mails, lists, notes, covering letters, reports, curriculums, assignments, essays perhaps if we study. Some of us write articles or work on blogs, forums and websites. A few write stories and poems – but very few. All of these writing tasks have a communicative purpose and a target audience. In the English language classroom, however, writing often lacks this. Why? There are lots of reasons, as there are lots of ways to make the writing we do with learners more communicative.
- Why writing is difficult to teach
- Some solutions
- Ideas for communicative writing tasks
- Conclusion”.
Read the complete article at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/making-writing-communicative
Dear Tarun
I am working in OUP, India. May I request you to please send me your contact details on my mail id p.agarwal@oup.com.
Thanks in advance
Priyamvada
Writing, as a productive skill, is envisaged, by many, as the most difficult language skill. One of the main reasons for that, it has two elements which cannot be separated: know what and know how. Another reason is that the classroom atmosphere does not always inspire learners, particularly EFL ones. Still another reason, classroom time does not allow learners to look for what to write about. For knowledge is the backbone of writing. Moreover, writing, reveals learners’ linguistic inabilities, and this poses a psychological problem.
The idea of making writing communicative is really very attractive to teachers, as well as learners. Being a teacher of writing, I have always thought of integrating writing with the other language skills. Learners, assisted by their teacher, can discuss a topic orally. This may inspire learners to write about the same topic or a related topic provoked by the discussion.
I thought of what I can call INTERCLASS CORRESPONDENCE. A writing activity which engages learners in writing to each other about real events in their lives, or any other similar hot issue that are more lively and worthy of writing about. They can use the mobile phones, for instance, to exchange messages and ideas. They can also comment and reflect on a number of issues that they find in the news, TV, radio, or in magazines, etc. This process can be monitored by the classroom teacher to make sure that learners do not violate classroom norms and misuse the opportunity given to them.
I’ve found that learners love to text on the mobile and enjoy communication via the computer. If teh teacher forms an SMS Group or a craetes a blog, they are very happy to write for them as they feel this is not ‘work’.
These dayas teachers too need to use ‘cheat codes’ to reach out!!!!