ERIC Number: ED200044
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1979
Reference Count: 0
Teaching Writing Skills: Focus on the Process.
Current views of the writing process are explored, and implications are drawn from them for the teaching of writing skills in the second language class. Certain psychological processes seem to be common to most writing tasks, namely: (1) the conception stage; (2) the incubation stage, in which two mental processes are at work getting the facts and arriving at a synthesis in terms of the writer's own thinking; and (3) the production, or actual writing stage. A final element that could be added is the revision process in which the writer takes on the role of the reader. Another writing-process model incorporates these stages, and points out the need to edit continuously as one writes in order to bridge the gap between thinking, which proceeds at a rapid rate, and transcribing, a much slower process. According to a composite model drawn from the research literature, teacher input into the writing process is most effective in the pre-writing and the rewriting stages. Suggestions for this input are: (1) facilitating student recall of information; (2) specifying the context as clearly as possible; (3) helping the student ge* the data right in terms of his or her own intentions; (4) correcting student errors, preferably in an interview; (5) teaching the student how to edit; and (6) using controlled exercises. (AMH)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Opinion Papers; Guides - Non-Classroom
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the conference of the Canadian Council of Teachers of English (Ottawa, Ontario, May 1979).