Graphic Organizer on approaches to teaching writing.

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Contents
1 :
I n t r o
d u c t i
o n p 2: Analysis3: Problems and possible
solutions.
3.1: Problems with the Product approach and possible solutions.
p.63 . 2 : Pr o b l e ms wi t h t h e Pr oc e s s a p p r o a c h a n d p o s s i b l e
s o l u t i o n s p. 7 3.3: Problems with the Genre approach and possible solutions. p.8
4: Conclusion5:Bibliography6:Appendix 1: Samples of lesson ideas
My questions

Have I linked the theory to enough practical examples?

Should I include more of my own voice?

How can I improve my problems and solutions section, which I feel is still a little shaky? I
was thinking about learning styles e.g. visual/ auditory/ kinaesthetic/ read and write as well as
educational background e.g. Japanese culture has traditionally focus more on accuracy. Many
Asian students I have taught are used to the grammar translation or audio lingual methods
(which have now fallen out of favour somewhat in comparison to the relatively new more
communicative approaches) so perhaps a totally processes based approach may initially
Liz Camilleri PA82
be met with some resistance etc.. The teacher could perhaps slot in more familiar tasks with
less familiar ones so that the student/s feel less overwhelmed.1: Introduction
Even native speakers need systematic instruction to learn to write. Compared to speaking,
writing has more standard forms of grammar, syntax and vocabulary; it is planned and is
often more complex than speech since it cannot rely on pitch, stress, rhythm and body
language to convey meaning.
1
This assignment will examine and contrast three popular methods that have emerged since
the late 70s. These are: the Product, the Process and the Genre approach. I chose this topic
to help me make more systematic choices when planning writing lessons.
2: Analysis
2.1: The Product Approach The product (or model text) approach came about in the late 70s
to early80s and sees writing as being primarily about linguistic knowledge .Attention is
given to the appropriate use of vocabulary, syntax and cohesive devices
2
. In EFL contexts, it is rooted in Behaviourist theory and requires the learner to manipulate
fixed patterns which are learnt by imitation. Proponents of the product approach see the
composing process as being linear and consisting of four stages
3
which is in line with the teaching structure of Present, Practice and Produce which emerged at
around the same time. These stages are:
Stage 1
: Familiarization this makes students aware of certain features of a particular text. In a
typical product oriented class, if students were learning about how to write a job application
or covering letter, learners would first be asked read a job advert and a model letter of
application
1
Raimes, A. (1983) Techniques in Teaching Writing. (Oxford American English, p.5).
2
Pincas (1982) as cited in: Badger, R. & G. White. (2000)
A process genre approach to teaching writing
ELT journal Volume 54/2 April 2000 ( OUP, p. 153).
3
Pinacas, A. (1982). Teaching English Writing. Macmillan, p. 26 as cited Unit 3 Section 2, p.
31 of The Distance Delta Reading Materials.
Liz Camilleri PA83

for that job.
4
They would then be directed to look at certain linguistic features, such as the type of
vocabulary used.
Stages 2 and 3
: Controlled and Guided writing these stages aim at
giving learners guided practice with increasing freedom to help them practice. Here learners
would probably be given a gap fill exercise where
they would be asked to fill in the gaps of a similar job application letter. .
Stage 4
: Free writing This is where the learners are finally given a free reign and can produce an
application letter for a similar advert by imitating the sample text. Critics of this approach
include Hairstone (1982, p. ????) who states that :Writing is messy, recursive, convoluted and
uneven. Writers plan, revise, anticipate and review throughout the writing process, moving
back and forth among the different operations involved in writing without any apparent plan
.Regardless of its shortcomings it is still used in many EFL classrooms. Course books such as
The Successful Writing series, use plenty of model texts and encourage controlled practice
before giving freer reign which is firmly in line with this method of instruction.
5
2.2: The Process Approach This method places emphasis on the cycle of writing, rather than
a fixed linear approach such as the earlier Product approach. It has much in common with
communicative-task based instruction which is currently popular within communicative
pedagogy. Unlike the Product approach which is more interested in the written outcome, the
Process approach focuses on the thinking processes that are involved with writing. A Process
based lesson would get students to:
4
This example will be used with all three processes to help the reader compare and contrast
them.
5
Evans, V. (2000) Successful Writing: Intermediate, Express Publishing and Successful
WritingProficiency, Express Publishing.
Liz Camilleri PA84


generate ideas and brainstorm what a letter of application might include.

write out a brief plan.

write a first draft.

review the draft (either by themselves, with their peers or their teacher).

re-work their letters until they are happy with them .The process approach is more time
consuming as the writer has to write and re-write their work. The process itself helps organise
the writers thoughts. White and Arndt (1991, p.12)
6argue this is because there is a close link between writing and thinking.2.3: The Genre
Approach Recent studies
7on writing have strengthened the case for taking a genre approach to writing
8. This is based on the idea that writing is aided by understanding the salient features of these
genres such as the differences in style and language and layout. The genre approach teaches
that people reading a discursive essay for example, expect it to start with a question ,then
explain why the question is valid. Next, they would expect the writer to present a number of
differing arguments before the writer giving their own opinion in the conclusion. A piece of
writing that does not follow the expected layout or schematic structure for the expected
context of communication could lead to an unsuccessful piece of writing.
9: Problems and possible solutions

White, R. & Arndt, V. (1991) Process Writing. Longman.
7
Such as those by Hyland, ( 2000) and
8
Harwood, N. (2002) The Sample Approach: Teaching writing to Cambridge Examination
ClassesHumanistic Language Teaching Magazine downloaded from
http://www.hltmag.co.uk/sept02/mart4.htm on12/10/06.
9
Tribble, C (1996). Writing. OUP
Liz Camilleri PA85

3.1: Problems with the Product approach and possible solutions.

The Product approach sees planning as only happening in the initial stages, though there is
proof that it actually happens throughout.
10
Most people find that their writing significantly improves in terms of presentation and
progression of ideas not only by devising a plan but also by experimenting with different
approaches.

Since few people are naturally gifted writers, I would combine the product and process
approaches and get students to brainstorm ideas, then write a draft and after that, check and
re-examine their work and/ or that of other students, ignoring the punctuation and grammar
for the time being but paying attention to the layout and how they structure their information.
They should also keep in mind the audience they are writing for. This lesson would be split
up into three or four thirty minute sections over a period of a week .In all, they would write a
total of three drafts, slowly refining their work with their teachers and classmates
suggestions. Once they are happy with their final draft, I would ask them to check it for
punctuation and grammar errors which were not given too much emphasis before (unless they
truly impeded comprehension).

Models can have the potential to intimidate students both at low and high levels as they are
often too perfect. This can lead to student giving up. I have seen model essays for advanced
classes which I doubt I could have written as proficiently. I often use several examples rather
than just one sample from students who have passed a similar course. This gives a more
realistic example and helps motivate students.

The task may be boring or dry this de-motivates the students who in turn see writing as a
boring activity. The teachers should where possible personalise the task to make it as
meaningful to the student as possible. Brainstorming, to find out what the students

10.Zamel, 1983 as cited in Harwood, N. The Sample Approach: Teaching writing to
CambridgeExamination Classes
Liz Camilleri PA86

know before launching into the lesson gives lower levels a chance to plan first.

The study of models can result in the writer sacrificing style for content. I have seen this
happen in class where a group of Japanese Intermediate students all created the same letter,
showing very little originality. This may have been due to the approach used and the
educational background of the learners. I would therefore make sure I showed a variety of
models to show students that there is no one way of writing but several ways and that each
person has their own unique writing style. I would put students into groups and get each
group of students to swap their work with another student. Next, they would be asked to
evaluate the piece of writing based on criteria such as task achievement, accuracy,
appropriateness and range of language as well as the layout. Once the pieces of writing have
been handed back I would ask the students to look at their writing and based on the feedback,
see if there was anything they would like to change. I might to give more focus to the ideas
generated and thinking processes involved, rather than just lifting whole chunks of text. 3.2:
Problems with the Process approach and possible solutions

Some learners are not proficient writers in their own language and struggle to put their
thoughts on paper. I found this out when I spoke to some students of mine sitting for the FCE
exam. Many said that they hardly ever wrote in their own language and had no prior
experience when it came to writing a formal letter for example. This is particularly
challenging for the teacher and students. I would advocate group writing where you pair up
several stronger students with the weaker learners. Peer teaching would help them notice
successful techniques that other writers use.

Students are sometimes unable to come up with suitable ideas related to the chosen topic.
This therefore depends a lot on the topics chosen. The teacher must bear in mind the students
various life experiences as well as personality and interests. A group of young adults might
know very little about knitting for example and I doubt they would be motivated to write a
report on this. However, they would probably jump at the chance to get write a report on the
local night club scene and would generate a lot more ideas.

Planning takes time, which many students, such as those sitting for exams like CAE or
IELTS complain they dont have much of. One technique I have found helpful is to get
students at the beginning of the course, to write down several discussion titles or topics and
put them in a box. Once or twice a week, when there are a few minutes to spare, the teacher
or students pick out one of the titles and working in teams, the students have to write down a
quick plan of their paragraphs. They then discuss their plan with other groupsand see if they
came up with similar ideas. As their confidence and speed increases, the students start to do
the task individually. I also draw on Edward De Bonos PMI thinking tool
11
which helps students look at an issue from different angles.3.3: Problems with the Genre
approach and possible solutions.

It can sometimes be difficult to convince students that it is not just control of the language
used that is important but also the style and lay out of the text too. Arabic intermediate
students I have taught have often not been able to understand that good grammar is not the
only thing needed for a successful report or narrative and that one has to take into
consideration factors such as the layout and intended audience. Initially, they often use
language that is overly formal and see planning and organising the text as a waste of time. I
find that one way of helping them is to pair them with learners have who them a checklist to
4: Conclusion
11
De Bono, E. in The Six Thinking Hats, talks about the PMI thinking tool, a useful way to
help brainstorm the plusses, minuses and interesting points surrounding an issue. It has been
shown to encourage divergent thinking and creativity.
Liz Camilleri PA88
Although the product, process and genre approaches are in theory seen as separate, in
practice, this is often not the case. Writing is learnt formally, but it does not develop as a neat
accumulation of features. Novice writers develop partly on the basis of models and plans, as
well as by using individual intuition, some experimentation and feedback. Some writers
consider the product-process approach to be a false dichotomy.
12
This is because many writing tasks seem are a hybrid of these supposedly opposing
approaches. They may, for example, include controlled and free tasks concurrently .This
assignment has shown that that no single approach is better than the other, each invariably
has its strengths and weaknesses. I believe that rather than limiting ourselves, we should be
able to pick and choose different parts to suit the individual needs and learning styles of our
classes






A Process Genre Approach to Writing Transactional Letters
By James Frith
Introduction
It is through the mastery of writing that the individual comes to be fully effective in
intellectual organisation, not only in the management of everyday affairs, but also in the
expression of ideas and arguments.
(Tribble 1996:13)
Writing is inexorably linked with power, especially in the workplace, and for many of our
students, the workplace is where they use, or want to be able to use English, hence the focus
on transactional letters. In this assignment, I am going to be looking at how we can guide our
students on the road to the mastery of writing through the process genre approach, a blend
between the genre approach, which I shall briefly describe later, and the process approach,
which is worth explaining before we start, it being the approach which is probably most
widespread in current classroom practice.
The process approach focuses, naturally, on the process of writing, as opposed to the end
product, which had always been key to the product approach. Learners are encouraged to
become collaboratively involved in planning, organising, drafting, revising (through
conferencing) and editing. Language is concentrated on at a discourse level, in contrast to
the sentence level focus of the product approach, and meaningful communication and
quantity over quality are other features of this approach. The product approach has its
methodological roots in imitation and mechanical grammar exercises (Nunan 1991).
I chose to look at the process genre approach because I have never felt comfortable with the
prohibition of models in the process writing classroom and so I was naturally intrigued by the
alternative suggested, although not named, by Tribble (1996). Typical problems students
have in my experience are related to format and appropriateness of language. The process
approach attempts to deal with these inductively, whereas I have always found a deductive
model-based approach more effective. Other typical problems for learners involve lexico-
grammatical errors, erroneous use of logical connectives and insufficient planning. This last
point meant that a return to the product approach was never on the agenda for this particular
writer.
These problems will be dealt with in the following sections, but now I would like to analyse
some of the broader issues for learners involved in writing transactional letters. I shall do this
by looking at what a skilled writer needs to know in terms of; the audience and their
relationship to them, the type of letter and its content, the purpose for writing and writing
skills.
What knowledge does a successful writer need?
Who?
A writer needs to know who the audience is and what their relationship with them is. This is
sometimes called the tenor of the communication and will affect the style of writing.
Depending on factors such as social dominance and social distance, linguistic choices will be
made. These may be grammatical choices, for example the use of the passive, or lexical
choices, for example the level of lexical density, the tendency to use low frequency lexical
items or the use of a nominalised style (Tribble 1996) in more formal writing. This raises two
issues for learners. Firstly, they need to be capable of making a stylistic choice based on the
context of the writing. Even assuming that they can do this in their mother tongue, cultural
differences may mean that rather different choices would be made in the students L1.
Students also need to be capable of implementing their choices, thus requiring complex
knowledge of language systems.
Richards (1990) states that a good writer will produce reader based prose, that is, that s/he
will produce clear, unambiguous text by considering the readers perspective, predicting what
questions s/he may ask his/herself as s/he is reading the text and taking into account any
shared knowledge. In terms of coherence, this means that there must be an orderly
development of ideas, continuity and no irrelevance, appropriate emphasis on ideas and a
sense of completeness (Richards 1990). For the learner it can be very problematic to consider
the readers perspective, particularly when, as is so often the case in the classroom, the reader
is not only absent and distant in time and space (Nunan 1991), but does not even exist! This
can additionally cause motivational problems.
What?
Richards (ibid.) idea of coherence takes us to our next focus; that a writer needs to respect
the accepted textual form according to the genre s/he is writing in, sometimes referred to as
the mode. A reader will expect a particular layout and schematic structure of the discourse
depending on the context of the communication and a failure on the writers part to provide
this could lead to an unsuccessful piece of writing (Tribble 1996). Tribble (ibid.) also goes so
far as to suggest that the success of the piece of writing relies more on making an appropriate
choice here than it does on having a full control of the language system. In the case of
transactional letters, a problem-solution pattern of discourse is favoured. This, however, may
not be the case in our students cultures. Middle Eastern students I have taught seem to have
enormous trouble with organisation of ideas and it can sometimes be difficult to persuade
students that it is not just the control of the English language system which is important.
Spanish students seem to have problems with issues of layout in transactional letters,
especially where the norms are only slightly different in Spanish.
While discussing the structure and organisation of a text, it is necessary to mention cohesion.
Cohesion can be effected lexically (through reformulation or use of lexical fields or,
particularly in speech, through repetition), through conjunction or grammatically (use of
pronouns, articles, substitution, tense or ellipsis) (Thornbury 1997). In my experience,
students tend to have problems with articles (especially learners whose L1 does not have
them), tense agreement, overuse of repetition (acceptable in some languages) and use of
conjunctions. This last item is, I feel, inadequately dealt with in coursebooks which tend to
overload students with logical connectives of various functions but do not sufficiently explain
when or when not to use them at a discourse level.
Finally in this section on what a writer is writing, the subject matter, or field needs to be
referred to. Writers need to have the relevant content knowledge (Tribble 1996). This is
rarely a problem for students writing transactional letters in the learning environment where
the content is usually provided and/or non-specialist and we can probably assume that in the
working environment our students already have this knowledge.
Why?
A writer needs to know the purpose or function of his/her is writing in order to make it
meaningful. Hedge (1988) cites purpose as indispensable in kindling motivation. Genre
analysts consider it pivotal to genre. Swales (1990:58) defines a genre as: (comprising) a
class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative
purposes. Badger and White (2000) add that:
Genres are also influenced by other features of the situation, such as the subject matter, the
relationships between the writer and the audience, and the pattern of organisation.
( Badger and White, ELT Journal, April 2000:155)
So far then, we have been concentrating on the genre related knowledge that writers need, but
what of writing process knowledge?
Writing Process Knowledge
This can be most effectively explored through describing the process writing approach, where
linguistic skills are emphasised over linguistic knowledge. In this approach learners are
encouraged to go through the same stages as skilled writers do. Richards (1990) identifies
three key stages leading to publication: prewriting or rehearsing; drafting; and revising. The
prewriting stage includes consideration of the audience and the purpose of the letter,
generation of ideas and organisation of the text (Hedge 1988). It is important to note that this
process is not considered as being linear (see, for example, White and Arndt 1991).
Although this approach may seem, at first sight, the ideal solution to the above-mentioned
issues, it has attracted a great deal of criticism. Tribble (1996) points out that it does not
provide EFL/ESOL students with knowledge about genre conventions while Badger and
White (2000) add that there is insufficient input in terms of linguistic knowledge and propose
a marriage between this approach and the genre approach.
Solutions The Process Genre Approach
As already suggested, this is a hybrid of the process approach, discussed above, and the genre
approach, which we will turn to now. The genre approach bears more to a passing
resemblance to the product approach in that a model text is analysed and perhaps some
controlled writing is carried out focusing on aspects of vocabulary or syntax. This is followed
by some guided writing before a final free writing stage. Both approaches view imitation as
important in learning. The main difference and the key aspect of the genre approach is that
the model texts are seen as belonging to specific genres defined by social contexts and
purposes (Badger and White 2000).
The process genre approach, according to Badger and White (ibid.), involves the provision of
a situation from which the learners are helped to identify the purpose and consider the field,
mode and tenor of the text they are about to produce. Texts within the genre (in our case
transactional letters with a particular function) will have been selected and researched by the
teacher who then encourages student research into the genre (Tribble 1996). Language
awareness activities may be carried out. Perhaps with the help of flow-charts, the students
will plan and organise their ideas before drafting and revising with the purpose and audience
in mind. These latter stages will probably not be linear and students may jump between them
as they find necessary. The collaborative aspect of process writing (as highlighted by
Richards 1990), which in my experience has always suited the learning styles of most of my
students, is maintained, as is the learner-centred approach (ibid.), particularly if the situation
is chosen wisely.
Let us now look at the stages in a little more detail, relating them to the issues we raised in
the previous section and suggesting some practical ideas for the classroom. First we need to
select, or ideally involve the students in selecting, a situation which provides motivation and
a clear purpose. Perhaps this could be a letter requesting information from an English-
speaking company or institution or a letter that a student needs to write for work.
Alternatively, students tend to become highly involved if asked to write to each other,
although this does require an amount of characterisation in order to create the social distance
inherent in professional transactional letters.
Ideas could then be generated by looking at a sample letter from the genre and producing a
question related to each piece of information included. They could then ask each other these
questions. Another means of brainstorming, which I have found works with some learner
types, is through quickwriting.
The students can now be encouraged to consider the (real) audience and make stylistic
choices together, before later being given the opportunity to compare their choices with those
made by a skilled writer in the sample letter(s). At this stage, students can be lead to notice
how these stylistic choices are implemented through tasks which may involve highlighting
noun phrases (to raise awareness of nominalised style), or comparing with a spoken
equivalent to the text (a wonderfully clear way of raising awareness of low-frequency
vocabulary or sentence complexity). A production stage could follow in the form of solid,
traditional transformation, word ordering or gap filling exercises. Translation into L1 is
another technique that could possibly be used with monolingual classes.
Before looking at the sample texts the students could also be given the opportunity to
consider the discourse structure and layout of the genre. Then later, with the samples, they
could be asked to produce reusable templates for a standard letter in the genre. Together they
could be asked to order a jumbled text, or match or give titles to each paragraph, depending
on its function. (Again, these ideas are commonplace, due to their effectiveness.) With more
than one sample within or across genres (perhaps inferring sources), students are more likely
to appreciate the conventions. Analysis could then take place of a particular type of cohesion
present in the texts which the group have previously found problematic. Some good ideas
may be to ask students to find lexical sets or, with the logical connectives deleted, sketch the
progression of the stages in the arguments (Crewe 1990:324) before attempting to replace
the connectives and comparing their version with the original.
Based on this research the groups will then work together to prioritise (through ranking) and
organise their ideas into a plan, with the teacher explaining the value of this exercise or
giving a demonstration with a commentary of his/her thought processes, although this could
be difficult to administer. The students should aim for clarity and logical progression at this
stage and could be encouraged to use logical connectives neither at this stage nor the drafting
stage in order that due care is taken to achieve this. Crewe (1990) sensibly advises that
connectives should be present to express cohesive relationships that already exist in the
writer's thinking (ibid.:320) and not to create relationships.
Drafting could involve the interesting idea of groups of students quickwriting individual
sections of the letter, or the learner-centred peer counselling, where students write
individually, but have an assigned partner to discuss problems with during the drafting
process.
The revising stage could involve students reading each others work and offering (positive
and negative) feedback on the clarity of the message, which if prepared carefully, can reap
great rewards. The students could decide on key criteria to assess the work. They could also
discuss the biggest problems they had with the draft and say what they would add/remove if
they had to. In rewriting, suitable logical connectives could be inserted where the message
requires a greater degree of clarity.
Conclusions
We have looked at a variety of solutions, within the process genre approach, to the issues
raised at the outset and throughout the discussion. Many of these solutions are commonplace
in our classrooms. In fact, the approach itself smacks of common sense. Perhaps all that is
new is an ordered structure to the approach and recognition that model texts have their place
in a process writing approach.
Although the lexico-grammatical problems will not disappear overnight, we have highlighted
the greater importance of respecting the conventions of genre through a process which
mirrors the way I have written this assignment.
I am sure that this new awareness will have an important influence on my future teaching. It
has helped me to gain insight into how to use model texts in an organised way, and how to
use them to raise awareness of and practise key language areas in the relevant genres. What is
more, I have learned some useful techniques to create motivating, collaborative,
communicative, learner-centred writing activities which involve raising the learners
awareness of what is involved in successful writing.
Bibliography
Badger, R. and White, G. 2000. A Process Genre Approach to Teaching Writing. ELT
Journal, 54/2: 153-160.
Crewe, W. J. 1990. The Illogic of Logical Connectives. ELT Journal, 44/4: 316-325.
Flowerdew, J. 1993. An Educational, or Process Approach to the Teaching of Professional
Genres. ELT Journal, 47/4: 305-316.
Hedge, T. 1988. Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press
McCarthy, M. 1991. Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Nunan, D. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall
International
Richards, J. C. 1990. The Language Teaching Matrix. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Thornbury, S. 1997. About Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Tribble,C. 1996. Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press
White, R. and V. Arndt. 1991. Process Writing. Harlow: Longman