WORKSHOP
ON
TEACHING WRITING
Danilo T. Dayag, Ph.D.
Department of English and Applied Linguistics
De La Salle University-Manila
E-mail: danilo.dayag@dlsu.edu.ph
Objectives
At the end of the lecture-workshop, participants should be able
to:
1. Explain the nature of writing based on findings of empirical
research;
2. Describe the process of writing, keeping in mind that the
process is recursive and cyclical;
3. Survey different strategies which reflect the recursive nature
of writing; and
4. Discuss issues and concerns in putting up a viable writing
program.
Task 1
In at least one paragraph, complete the
following:
Getting a college degree is important because
_____________________________. __________
____________. ___________________________
____________________. ___________________
________________. ______________. ________
________________________________________.
Task 2
In groups of five (maximum), reflect on your
writing activity by responding to the following
questions and by justifying your answers:
1. Before you started writing, did you have a
clear plan of what to say on paper?
2. When you were writing, was it clear to you
how you would say what you wanted to say?
Task 2 (continuation)
3. When you were writing, were you concerned
about correct grammar and mechanics
(punctuation, spelling, etc.)? Or, were you more
concerned about what you were going to say than
about correctness of grammar, spelling, etc.?
4. Did you have a target audience in mind when
you were writing?
5. When you were writing, were you also thinking?
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
•Teaching Writing as Product
“Until the 1970s, most writing pedagogy emphasized
learning and assessing a sequence of essential skills: forming
letters, building vocabulary, identifying parts of speech,
diagramming sentences, mastering grammar and punctuation,
and following paragraph types and genres of writing according
to prescribed conventions. This approach was largely
product-centered and print-based; that is, it focused on the
finished exemplar of student work with little or no attention
to the purpose or process of producing it.” (National Writing
Project & Nagin, 2003, pp. 19-20)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
•Teaching Writing as Product
“The emphasis on correctness as ‘the most significant
measure of accomplished prose’ was rooted in a nineteenthcentury model of language development and a pedagogy of
memorization and skill drills. It also assumed that reading
should be taught before writing and that instruction in the
latter should focus on extrinsic (linguistic and stylistic)
conventions of writing and eradication of errors.” (National
Writing Project & Nagin, 2003, p. 20)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
•Teaching Writing as Process
Research has shown that “writing is recursive, that it does not
proceed linearly but instead cycles and recycles through
subprocesses that can be described this way:
1. Planning (generating ideas, setting goals, and organizing)
2. Translating (turning plans into written language)
3. Reviewing (evaluating, revising, editing) ”
(NWP & Nagin, 2003, p. 25,
emphasis supplied)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
•Teaching Writing as Process
“Even for an experienced writer, the cycling occurs
in no fixed order. Writers may create and change
their goals as they move through these phases,
depending on their topic, rhetorical purpose, and
audience.” (NWP & Nagin, 2003, p. 25)
A Flowchart of the Writing Process
(Hyland, 2008, p. 100)
A Flowchart of the Writing Process
(Hyland, 2008, p. 101)
• Writers have goals and plan extensively.
• Writing is constantly revised, often even before any text has
been produced.
• Planning, drafting, revising, and editing are recursive and
potentially simultaneous.
• Plans and text are constantly evaluated by the writer in a
feedback loop.
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
•Teaching Writing as Process
“The writing process is anything a writer does from the time
the idea came until the piece is completed or abandoned.
There is no particular order. So it’s not effective to teach
writing process in a lock-step, rigid manner. What a good
writing teacher does is help students see where writing comes
from: in a chance remark or an article that really burns you
up….” (Donald Graves in NWP & Nagin, 2003, p. 23)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
Teaching Writing as Process
“Subsequent research found that writing could develop
higher-order thinking skills: analyzing, synthesizing,
evaluating, and interpreting. The very difficulty of writing is its
virtue: it requires that students move beyond rote learning
and simply reproducing information, facts, dates, and
formulae. Students must also learn how to question their own
assumptions and reflect critically on an alternative or an
opposing viewpoint.”
(NWP & Nagin, 2003, p. 23)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
Teaching Writing as Process
It emphasizes that:
• “the activities involved in the act of writing are
typically recursive rather than linear;
• writing is first and foremost a social activity; and
• the act of writing can be a means of learning
and discovery.”
(Vandenberg, Hum, & Clary-Lemon, n.d., p. 2)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
Teaching Writing as Process
“From an instructional standpoint, argues
George Hillocks, Jr., writing should be a
form of inquiry.” (NWP & Nagin, 2003, p.
23, emphasis supplied)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
Teaching Writing as Process
Some Inquiry Strategies:
•collecting and evaluating evidence
•comparing and contrasting cases to infer similarities and
differences
•explaining how evidence supports or does not support a claim
•creating a hypothetical example to clarify an idea
•imagining a situation from a perspective other than one’s own
(NWP & Nagin, 2003, p. 23)
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
Some Writing-as-Process Strategies
•Brainstorming (Pre-writing): webbing, treeing, flowcharting
•Freewriting
•Inquiry strategies
•Peer response
•Sentence combining
•Writing portfolio
Rhetorical Purpose
Writing may serve any of the following
purposes:
1.To inform
2.To persuade
3.To argue
4.To narrate
5.To describe
6.To entertain
The Writer’s Audience
•Writers address real and imaginary audiences in
their work.
• Audiences can include the writer himself or
herself (as in a journal or diary), friends (letters, emails), a teacher, peers in school or the
community, or a distance audience unknown to the
writer.
(NWP & Nagin, 2003, p. 26)
The Writer’s Audience
“Students mature as writers by
understanding how to write for
different audiences, contexts, and
purposes.”
(NWP & Nagin, 2003, p. 26)
The Writing Prompt
The writing prompt should clearly
state the topic, rhetorical purpose, target
audience of the writing task, as well as
the features of the output expected of the
students.
Sample Writing Prompt
The RH Bill is a controversial proposed law being
debated in both chambers of the Philippine Congress.
Proponents of the bill argue that, as a possible solution to the
overpopulation problem that the country is facing, it will
contribute to national development. The anti-RH group,
however, maintains that it will promote abortion, which
contradicts Catholic beliefs in this largely Catholic nation.
What are your thoughts about the issue?
Sample Writing Prompt (continuation)
In an essay of at least three paragraphs,
write to your congressman of your district to state
your position on the issue. Use adequate and
appropriate evidence (e.g., statistics, facts, etc.) to
support your claims.
TASK
Think of a good topic for an
argumentative essay. Prepare a writing
prompt for a class of advanced EFL/ESL
students.
The Nature of Writing Pedagogy
Beyond the Writing Process
(Writing as Situated in a Context)
“The ways in which writing gets produced are
characterized by an almost impenetrable web of
cultural practices, social interactions, power
differentials, and discursive conventions governing
the production of text.” (Joseph Petraglia in Vandenberg,
Hum, & Clary-Lemon, n.d., p. 4)
Scoring or Marking Essays
Issues:
•Which of the drafts should be
marked?
•On what basis is an essay marked?
(Scoring rubric)
Establishing an Effective Writing Program
(NWP & Nagin, 2003, pp. 87-105)
Essential strategies for creating and
sustaining a successful writing program:
1. As learning leaders, administrators need to work with their
faculty in providing vision and leadership.
Devising
long-term plans for improving writing; crafting policy
statements; assessing the status of writing and of teaching it;
enlisting teacher leaders for improving teaching writing;
committing time and providing the necessary resources, etc.
Essential strategies for creating and sustaining a
successful writing program:
2. Samples of student writing and teachers’
assignments can be done to generate valuable data
for assessing the state of writing in the school or
district. In addition, a survey of the state of writing
in the school or district may be conducted to come
up with a collective vision of what needs to be
changed.
Essential strategies for creating and sustaining a
successful writing program:
3. Administrators should take the lead in building
flexibility, community, and long-term planning.
flexibility rather than orthodoxy, respect for
teacher as professional, a sense of authentic school
community, teamwork, a bottom-up rather than
top-down approach to developing the program
Essential strategies for creating and sustaining a
successful writing program:
4. Administrators and teachers can explore
effective practices through ongoing professional
development .
Through discussion groups, sharing sessions,
workshops, and other in-service training programs
Essential strategies for creating and sustaining a
successful writing program:
5. Administrators can exercise their leadership in
promoting writing across the curriculum.
Writing is a part of all content areas rather
than a discrete subject.
Writing as a tool for
inquiry, critical thinking, and active learning in
diverse subject areas (NWP & Nagin, 2003, pp. 87-105)
Elements of a Writing Program
•Background and Rationale
•Specific Objectives
•Strategies/Activities
•Time-Frame
•Expected Outcomes/Outputs
•Success Indicators (Metrics)
References
Kroll, B. (2003). Exploring the dynamics of second language writing.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hyland, K. (2008). Writing theories and writing pedagogies.
Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching, 4(2),
91-110.
The National Writing Project & Nagin, Carl. (2003). Because writing
matters: Improving student writing in our schools. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Vandenberg, P., Hum, S. & Clary-Lemon, J. (n.d.). Relations,
locations, positions: Composition theory for
writing teachers (Critical introduction).
Thank you for actively
participating.