Developing Writing Skills (2009) PDF

DEVELOPING WRITING SKILLS
From Theory to Practice
(Revised Edition)
By
Drs. Abdul Muth’im, M.Pd.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
LAMBUNG MANGKURAT UNIVERSITY
BANJARMASIN, 2009
i
Perpustakaan Nasional: Katalog dalam Terbitan (KDT)
Developing Writing Skills – Abdul Muth’im,

Department of English Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education, Lambung Mangkurat University Banjarmasin 2009
x+179 halaman, 15,5 x 23 cm

ISBN: 979-17098-7-4
Editor: .........
Layout: Mahfud
Cover Design: Hambali
Revised Edition: April 2009
Published by:
Department of English Education,

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education,
Lambung Mangkurat University Banjarmasin.
ii
FOREWORD
Praise to God the Almighty and the Merciful who has given
His love, guidance, and knowledge to the writer so that he finally
could accomplish this great job, i.e. writing a course book for Writ-
ing Class. By the accomplishment of this course book the writer
hopes that this text book may be useful for students who are inter-
ested in developing their writing skill in general and more specifi-
cally for those who are endevouring to improve their writing com-
petence in English.
The writer is fully aware that this book is far from being per-
fect. However, the writer also realizes that this book comes to exist-
ence because of the help of many people. That is why the writer
wants to extend his great gratitudes and appreciation for them. The
gratitudes are especially extended for the following:
1. Prof. Ir. H. Rasmadi, M.S., Rector of Lambung Mangkurat Uni-

versity who always encourages and supports all lecturers and
staff of the university to attain progress and improvement in
all fields of expertise.
2. Drs. H. Rustam Effendy, M.Pd., the former Dean of the Fac-
ulty of Teacher Training and Education who was very enthu-
siastic to encourage lecturers to write book.
3. Drs. H.A. Sofyan, M.A., the present Dean of the Faculty of

Teacher Training and Education who always sees something
from bright sides.
4. Drs. Daud Pamungkas, M.Pd., the chair of SP4 project who

seems never be tired to motivate fellow-lecturers to write book.
5. Sainul Hermawan, S.Pd., M.Hum, the secretary of SP4 project

who is always helpful any time his ideas as well as his skill in
computer and multi media are needed.
iii
6. Prof. Dr. H. Darmansyah, M.A., Dr. Fatah Yasin, M.Pd., and
Drs. Fatchul Mu’in, M.Hum. as the chair and members of the
committee of selection for this project who have given me
chance to write this course book.
7. Dr. Jumadi, M.Pd., a brilliant lecturer of Indonesian language

who is always very generous to share his ideas and opinions
about education in general and especially something which is
related with language.
8. Anyone who cannot be mentioned one by one in this book.
May God the Almighty and Merciful bless and reward all your
kindness.
iv
Foreword for the Second edition
The enthusiastic response given by English students and En-

glish teachers to the publication of this book is beyond the imagina-
tion of the writer. In less than two months the book was sold out.
Even, many more English students and English teachers in South
Kalimantan are still looking for it.
It is based on this and the encouragement given by my colleagues

in the English Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Educa-
tion, Lambung Mangkurat University, this second edition is writ-
ten. In this edition, there are some changes and additions made. For
example, the word Skill in the title of the first edition is written in
singular form, while in fact, the skill covers a lot of sub-writing skills.
That is why the title now is Developing Writing Skills, with -s in it.
Thank you very much is extended for Professor M.P. Lambut who
reminds the writer for this.
In this second book, more elaborations about psychological prob-

lems and cognitive problems are also added. This is intended to give
more notion and understanding of these two problems in their rela-
tions to difficulty of writing. Also, few information is added to the
problems of linguistic.
The most prominent difference between the first edition and

the present edition is the availability of Chapter XI. In the first edi-
tion, Chapter XI is not available, while in the second edition the
writer adds Chapter XI to the book. This chapter specifically dis-
cusses the way to assess writing task.
In this chapter, four models of assessing student writing task

are given. First, the guideline for assessing writing task of university
students. The second is the guideline of assessing writing task of
SMP/MTs students. The third is the guideline for assessing writing
v
task of SMA/MA students. And the last is the guideline for assess-
ing writing task of SMK students.
The addition of Chapter XI is not without reason. The most

significant reason to add this chapter is that it is the request from
most English teachers who participated in PLPG of different batches.
They said that they had diificulty in assessing students writing task.
The source of difficulty, they claimed, was the unavailability of the
guideline.
By adding Chapter XI, hopefully, the publication of this book

can help English teachers and also future English teachers (students
of English Department, now) assess students writing task more pro-
fessionally.
Banjarmasin, February 2009
Drs. Abdul Muth’im, M.Pd.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENT
FOREWORD ......................................................................................... iii

TABLE OF CONTENT ....................................................................... vii
CHAPTER I : A GLANCE OF WRITING ......................................... 1
A. Introduction ................................................................................. 1
B. The Meaning of Writing ............................................................ 2
C. Functions of Writing .................................................................. 2
D. Genre of Written Language ...................................................... 5
E. Writing Activities ........................................................................ 5
F. Purpose of Writing ..................................................................... 6
CHAPTER II : WRITING IN ENGLISH ............................................ 7
A. Introduction ................................................................................. 7
B. Problems of Writing in English ................................................ 8
1. Psychological Problems ....................................................... 8
2. Linguistic Problems .............................................................. 9
3. Cognitive Problems ............................................................ 10
C. Stages in Developing Writing ................................................. 12
CHAPTER III : COPYING ................................................................. 15
A. Introduction ............................................................................... 15
B. Imitative Copying ..................................................................... 17
a) Copying Word ..................................................................... 17
b) Copying Phrase ................................................................... 18
c) Copying Clause ................................................................... 19
d) Copying Sentence ............................................................... 20
e) Copying Paragraph ............................................................ 21
C. Meaningful Copying ................................................................ 22
a) Disguised Words Copying ................................................ 22
b) Copying from the Board ................................................... 23
c) Making Notes ...................................................................... 24
vii
d) Wishper Writing ................................................................. 25
e) Writing the Missing Words from a Story ....................... 26
f) Picture-Cued Tasks ............................................................ 27
g) Form Completion ................................................................ 28
h) Converting Numbers and Abbreviations
to Words ............................................................................... 29
CHAPTER IV : REPRODUCTION .................................................. 31
A. Introduction ............................................................................... 31
a) Writing What Has been Listened and Read ................... 32
b) Writing down Sentences Dictated ................................... 33
c) Writing Response to Question .......................................... 34
d) Writing a Complete Sentence Based on a Story ........... 35
B. Reproducing .............................................................................. 36
C. Describing Pictures ................................................................... 44
CHAPTER V : RECOMBINATION ................................................. 45
A. Introduction ............................................................................... 45
B. Making Substitutions of Words and Phrases ...................... 48
C. Transforming Sentences .......................................................... 50
D. Expanding Sentences within Limited Learned Phrase ......... 53
E. Substituting Pronouns for Nouns .......................................... 62
F. Substituting Single Words for Groups of Words ................ 63
G. Making Recombination around a Theme in a Picture .......... 65
CHAPTER VI : GUIDED COMPOSITION .................................... 67
A. Introduction ............................................................................... 67
B. Completion Exercises ............................................................... 69
C. Replacement Exercise ............................................................... 70
D. Expansion of a Simple Sentence ............................................ 72
E. Answering Questions Based on a Text Read or Heard ........... 73
F. Paraphrasing and Summarizing ........................................... 75
G. Rewriting a Story, or a Part of a Story, from
Different Angles ........................................................................ 80
viii
H. Rewriting Story in Dialogue Form ........................................ 83
I. Rewriting Dialogue as a Narration ....................................... 86
CHAPTER VII : COMPOSITION ..................................................... 91
A. Introduction ............................................................................... 91
B. How-to-do Passage ................................................................... 94
C. Narration .................................................................................... 95
D. Descriptions ............................................................................... 97
a. Describing a Place of a Scene ........................................... 97
b. Describing a person ............................................................ 98
E. Argumentation .......................................................................... 98
F. Casual Writing ........................................................................ 101
CHAPTER VIII : PARAGRAPH ..................................................... 109
A. Introduction ............................................................................ 109
B. Subject and Topic .................................................................. 110
C. Parts of Paragraph ................................................................ 113
D. Outlining ................................................................................. 112
E. Techniques of Support .......................................................... 120
a. Showing Facts ................................................................... 120
b. Describing Physical Description .................................... 121
c. Giving Example ................................................................. 123
d. Telling Personal Experience ............................................ 125
F. Coherence within Paragraph ............................................... 126
a. Transition Signals ............................................................. 126
b. Types of Transitions Signals ........................................... 127
1. Sentence Connectors ................................................... 127
2. Coordinators................................................................. 128
3. Subordinators ............................................................... 128
4. Prepositions and Determiners ................................... 128
CHAPTER IX : METHOD OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT 129
A. Introduction ............................................................................ 129
B. Process ..................................................................................... 130
C. Extended Definition .............................................................. 133
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D. Comparison-Contrast ........................................................... 134
E. Classification ........................................................................... 137
F. Cause-Effect ............................................................................ 138
CHAPTER X : ESSAY WRITING ................................................... 143
A. Introduction ............................................................................ 143
B. Definition ................................................................................. 144
C. Parts of Essay .......................................................................... 147
D. Functions of Paragraphs ...................................................... 148
a. Introducing Paragraph .................................................... 148
b. Content Paragraph .......................................................... 155
c. Concluding Paragraph .................................................... 154
E. Transitions between Paragraphs ........................................ 159
F. Coherence Devices ................................................................ 161
a. Transition ............................................................................ 162
b. Paragraph Hook ................................................................ 166
CHAPTER XI : ASSESSING WRITING ......................................... 169
A. Introduction ............................................................................ 169
B. Means of Assessment ............................................................. 170
C. Subjective Test ........................................................................ 170
D. Assessing Writing .................................................................. 171
x
CHAPTER I
A GLANCE OF WRITING
A. Introduction
Writing is one of the skills that must be learned and carried

out by students of any level of education. Your small sister or our
little brother who goes to elementary school must have writing
assignment from her or his teacher(s) at school. Your younger
brother or younger sister who attends junior high or senior high
school is not different. They also have writing assignment from
their teacher(s). Let alone you, who study in college or university,
you certainly have abundant of writing assignments that you
cannot escape from. In short it can be said that anyone who has
ever enjoyed education must have the experience of writing.
There is no single student who never learns and carries out writ-
ing activity during his or her school days.
1
Developing Writing Skills
B. The meaning of writing
Lots of definitions have been given by the experts. River

(1968), for example, defines writing in different angles. If it is the
act of putting down in conventional graphic form something which
has been spoken, it is called notation. If the student is asked to
discriminate various sounds, it is called spelling. If it involves
students in grammatical exercises, the construction of simple dia-
logues, and uncomplicated translation exercises, it is called writ-
ing practice. And when it refers to the expression of ideas in a
consecutive way, according to the graphic conventions of the lan-
guage, it is called composition.
Byrne (1984), other expert, defines writing as the produc-
tion of a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order
and linked together in certain ways. For Troyka (1987), writing is
understood as a way of communicating a message to a reader for
a purpose. Hammond (1989), on the other hand, defines writing
as a complex task which requires everything from getting your
spelling right to making your voice distinctive enough to be heard.
C. Functions of Writing
Which writing activities have you experienced and what

kinds of writing are you involved in now do not matter. One thing
is clear that writing activity and the product of writing can be
used as a major tool of learning (Hairston, 1986). According to
him writing may be made use of as an important means of learn-
ing in the sense that it:
(1)functions as a tool for discovery
(2)generates new ideas by helping you to make connections
and see relationship
(3)helps you to organize ideas and clarify concepts
(4)allows you to distance yourselves from the ideas and evalu-
ate the ideas
(5)helps you to absorb and process information
(6)enables you to solve problems, and
2
A GLANCE OF WRITING
(7)makes you active learners rather than passive receivers of

information. How can writing functions those things, let us
analyze them one by one.
Writing functions as a tool for discovery. That’s true. Usu-
ally, writing mostly starts with a topic. In order that the writer is
able to develop the topic well, he or she has to explore every thing
possible to answer the question at all cost. Then, he starts to hy-
pothesize, collect data, analyze the data he collected, and draw
the conclusion. In the course of doing all those things, the writer
discovers something for his or her writing.
In addition to function as a tool of discovery, writing also
generates new ideas by helping the writer to make connections
and see relationship. How can this happen? It very often happens
that once a writer gets an idea of a topic, it may lead to other idea.
From a topic ‘education’ for example, the writer may write Kinds of
Education, Levels of Education, Problems of Education, etc.
Beside the two functions above, writing also helps the writer
to organize ideas and clarify concepts. Very often, a writer has a
lot of ideas in his mind. However, he has difficulty in organizing
those ideas. He has problem in stating which idea should be written
first, then what is the next, and so forth. He also has difficulty in
deciding which is the major idea and which one is less important.
In presenting conflicted ideas or disagreement of an idea put
by different sides, a writer usually puts and evaluates the argu-
ments of both sides. By doing this, he is able to distance himself
from the conflict. He will be neither proponent nor opposing for
the two sides of the conflicted ideas or disagreement.
Writing cannot be separated from reading. It is by reading
that the writer gets information. Reading helps the writer to ab-
sorb and process information. Without any information in his
mind, he cannot write anything. Then, the information he has
collected from his reading is processed and presented again to
the reader(s) through his work, that is, writing. That is the way
how a writer does his job.
Speaking, for some of us, may become a big and serious prob-
lem. We may have difficulty in expressing our ideas, opinions,
3
feeling, wants, wishes, etc. orally. We may feel ashamed or feel

nervous talking in front of other people or publicly. In this situa-
tion, writing may become a good helper for us. How come? Yes.
Writing enables us to solve the problem since we do not have to
be in front of other people expressing what we have in our mind.
We just sit in front of computer or in front of pieces of paper in
our room and write down whatever we want there at our will
without being afraid of other people watching.
Writing makes us active learners rather than passive receiv-
ers of information. Once we produce a piece of writing, we will
not stop reading and re-reading the work. Anytime we read our
work, we always find something that needs addition, revision, or
change. For example, in our writing we used a term that was not
explained because we assumed that our readers have already
understood what we meant. However, when we re-read it again,
we decide to explain the term because it will help the readers
understand the writing better. In other case, we may find unnec-
essary repetition of words or phrases so that we need to delete
them. Or, the illustration we gave in our composition did not re-
ally clarify what we meant in our writing, so we want to change
with other illustration that is more appropriate to the concept or
idea we meant in our essay. By this way we will actively learn
and receive information.
This might be in line with what Troyka (1987) claims that:
· writing gives you unique opportunities to explore ideas and
acquire information.
· by writing you come to know the subjects well and make
them your own.
· when you are writing, the act of writing allows you to make
unexpected connections among ideas and language.
· as you write, thoughts emerge and interconnect in ways
unavailable until the physical of writing began.
· writing creates reading which, in turn, creates a permanent,
visible record of your ideas for others to read and ponder.
· writing is a powerful means of communication, for reading
informs and shapes human thought.
4
A GLANCE OF WRITING
D. Genres of Written Language
Genre, according to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary

(1995), is defined as “a particular style or type, especially of works
of art or literature”. In general, there are at least three genres of
writing. The first genre is academic writing, the second is job-re-
lated writing, and the third genre personal writing. Among those
three genres, the most common ones that a second language writer
usually produces might be academic writing and personal writ-
ing. The kinds of writing that belong to these two genres, accord-
ing to Brown (2004), include the following:
E. Writing Activities
Developing writing competence needs a number of activi-

ties. In this case, Omaggio (1986) differentiates two writing ac-
tivities. They are: (a) skill-getting and (b) skill-using.
In the first phase, skill getting, students are involved in what
she calls (1) writing down, i.e. exercises which include copying or
reproducing the learned materials which concentrate on the con-
ventions of spelling, punctuation, grammatical agreements, and the
like, and (2) writing in the language, in which students engage in a
5
variety of grammar-practice activities of a controlled nature with

the purpose to reinforce their growing knowledge of the linguistic
system.
In the second phase, skill using, students are involved in
flexible and creative language use. This covers (1) flexibility mea-
sures, and (2) expressive writing. In the former stage, students be-
gin to write within a framework (including information exercises,
sentence-combining practice, expansions, embellishments, idea
frames, and similar activities). Whereas in the latter, the activities
include guided and free compositions that fulfill the normal pur-
poses for which we write in the real world.
F. Purpose of Writing
Writing can be done for various purposes. It can be used as a

means of telling events or narrating something or someone. This
kind of writing is called narrative. Writing can also be used as a
way of describing thing or people. This type of writing is called
descriptive. It can also be made use of informing or explaining
thing or phenomenon. This kind of writing is called expository
writing. And finally, writing can also be used as medium of per-
suading people to do something, to change one’s opinion or ideas
or convincing people that what is said right or accepted. This
kind of writing is called argumentative.
After having information about writing briefly, it is your
choice to decide the type of writing and the activities you want to
accomplish?
6
CHAPTER II
WRITING IN ENGLISH
A. Introduction
As stated in previous chapter that writing may mean (1)

copying or reproducing the materials that have been learned, (2)
practicing controlled grammar exercises, (3) writing within a
framework, (4) writing guided composition, and (5) writing free
composition.
What kind of writing have you ever experienced when you
were educated? Copying or reproducing? Practicing controlled
grammar exercises? Writing within a framework? Writing guided
composition? Or, writing free composition?
Practicing controlled grammar exercises is not something
strange either for you. You had this experience quite intensively
when you were at the first years of your writing classes in En-
glish Department. Experiences of writing within a framework and
writing guided composition have also been part of your life as
7
students. As the result, many of you can write within a frame-

work quite well and you can produce a good guided-composi-
tion as well.
However, the story of success is not as pleasing as other kinds
of writing when you are to write a free composition in English.
Many Indonesian learners still have difficulty in writing a free
composition in English. The question is “Why?”
B. Problems of Writing in English
To answer this question it might be useful to see what Byrne

(1984) suggests. According to him, this problem may originate
from three sources: (1) psychological problems, (2) linguistic prob-
lem, and (3) cognitive problem. Further, he elaborates as follow:
1. Psychological problems
Speech is the natural and normal medium of communica-
tion for us in most circumstances and accustoms us both to
having someone physically present when we use language and
to getting feedback of some kind. Writing, on the other hand,
is essentially a solitary activity and the fact that we are re-
quired to write on our own, without the possibility of interac-
tion or the benefit of feedback, in itself makes the act of writ-
ing difficult.
The difficulty may originate from what psychologists call
as “personality disorder”. This psychological term refers to the
pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors, consistently exhibited
by an individual over a long period of time, that strongly influences
the way that individual perceives the world and himself/herself”
<http://psychologyinfo.com>.
Among the personality disorders that may cause some-
one has difficulty in writing are: borderline personality, nar-
cissistic personality, and obsessive-compulsive personality.
Borderline personality causes someone to have difficulty
in writing because this condition makes him in tremendous
instability, especially in relationship and in mood. The insta-
bility in relationship or mood with the object of his writing
8
WRITING IN ENGLISH
(person or thing) may cause him inconsistent in his writing.

As the result, once, he may write the thing or the person he is
describing as if he were part of the thing or the person he is
writing. On the other time, he may write about the person or
the thing as if he were the biggest enemy of the thing or the
person he is writing.
Whereas narcissistic personality causes someone to have
difficulty in writing because a person of this kind loves him-
self/herself very much so that he has little positive regard for
others other than in a superficial manner. Someone who loves
himself/herself very much usually has difficulty to feel what
other person feels, especially if he/she never experiences the
feeling. What is right for others is what is right for him/her.
And what is wrong for others is what is wrong for him/her.
So, everything is centered on him/her.
In addition to the two personalities above, other person-
ality that causes difficulty for someone to write is obsessive-
compulsive personality. This is because this kind of person is a
perfectionist, and obsesses about details to the point of follow-
ing rules for the sake of the rules. It means that this kind of
writer will not write about something or someone unless he is
sure that every information he gets is perfect. This person will
not write until every detail of the object of his writing is in his
hand. A condition that does not exist in real world.
2. Cognitive Problems
We grow up learning to speak and in normal circum-

stances spend much of our time doing it. We also appear to
speak without much conscious effort or thought and gener-
ally we talk because we want to about matters which are of
our interest or relevant to us socially or professionally. Writ-
ing, on the other hand, is learned through a process of instruc-
tion: we have to master the written form of the language and
to learn certain structures which are less used in speech, or
perhaps not used at all, but which are important for effective
communication in writing. We also learn to organize our ideas
9
in such a way that they can be understood by a reader who is

not present and perhaps by a reader who is not known to us.
Finally, writing is a task which is often imposed on us,
perhaps by circumstances. This not only has a psychological
effect; it may also cause a problem in terms of content-what to
say. Being at a loss of ideas is a familiar experience to most of
us when we are obliged to write. The condition of being “obliged
to write”, in many cases, can bring a writer into a situation
described as cognitive problems.
What are meant by cognitive problem? According to the
same psychologists quoted above, cognitive problems are “dif-
ficulties in processing information, including such mental tasks
as attention, thinking, and memory. Cognitive problems are
also referred to as cognitive deficits or cognitive dysfunction.
Cognitive problems encompass difficulties in many areas,
including:
¾ Difficulty concentrating or paying attention (short attention

span)
¾ Memory loss or difficulty remembering things (especially
problems with short-term memory)
¾ Problems with comprehension or understanding
¾ Problems with judgment and reasoning
¾ Impaired arithmetic, organizational, and language skills (such
as not being able to organize thoughts, find the right word,
or balance a checkbook)
¾ Problems performing multiple tasks
¾ Behavioral and emotional changes, such as irrational behavior,
mood swings, inappropriate anger or crying, and socially
inappropriate behavior (disinheriting)
¾ Confusion
3. Linguistic Problems
Oral communication is sustained through a process of in-

teraction and, except in special circumstances, such as lecture,
all the participants help to keep it going. Because speech is
normally spontaneous, we have little time to pay attention ei-
10
WRITING IN ENGLISH
ther to organizing our sentence structure or to continuing our

sentences: to some extent the latter is maintained through the
process of interaction. We repeat, backtrack, expand and so
on, depending on how people react to what we say, while
incomplete and even ungrammatical utterances are tolerated.
In writing, we have to compensate for the absence of these
features: we have to keep the channel of communication open
through our efforts and to ensure, both through our choice of
sentence structure and by the way our sentences are linked
together and sequenced, that the text we produce can be in-
terpreted on its own.
Some of the linguistic problems faced by the students in
writing are: spelling, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, and
rhetoric. Spelling is related to capital and small letter; punc-
tuation is related among others to period, comma, colon, semi-
colon, etc.; grammar is related among others to concord and
agreement, word-order, tenses, etc.
Spelling becomes the source of writing problem in English
because English spelling is not the same as the spelling of
students’ native language. In bahasa Indonesia, one sound
is usually represented by one spelling. For examples, sounds
/a/, /u/, /i/, /e/, /o/ are represented by the following let-
ters respectively: ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘i’, ‘e’, and ‘o’. However, one letter
does not necessarily represent one spelling of sound in English.
For instance, letter ‘u’ is sometimes spelled /u/ such as in the
words bush and butcher; at other time it may be spelled as sound
/ë/ as found in the words but and umbrella; and in the other
occasion, it may also be spelled as sound /yu/ as seen in the
words university and union. The same thing also happens to
letter ‘i’. For instance, it is sometimes spelled as sound /i/ as in
words sit, kid, and drink; in other case it may be spelled as
sound /ai/ as in words bite, like and kite. To make the situa-
tion worst, there are sounds in English that can not be repre-
sented by only letter. Two of these sounds are /u:/and /i:/.
Sound /u:/ may be represented by letters ‘oo’ such as in the
word ‘fool’ and ‘shoot’; while sound /i:/ may be represented
by letters ‘ea’ as in the words ‘heat’ and ‘speak’, or it may be
11
represented by letters ‘ee’ as in the words ‘see’ and ‘meet’; or it

may be represented by letters ‘ei’ as in the words ‘perceive’
and ‘receive’.
Other linguistic problem that may cause English learners
to have difficulty in writing is grammar. Two linguistic items
related to this are word-order and tenses. As it is known, In-
donesian generally has word-order rule as D-M (Modified-
Modifier) while English mostly has Head-Modified word-or-
der rule. D-M rule puts the word explained in front of the word
which explains. In other words, the rule requires that what is
modified comes before what modifies. For example, ‘tenda biru’
the word ‘tenda’ which means ‘tent’ is modified by the word
‘biru’ which means ‘blue’. Whereas, in English the same idea
is stated as ‘blue-tent’, not ‘tent-blue’.
The other linguistic item of grammar that becomes prob-
lem most for Indonesian learners in writing English is tenses.
One of the causes of this problem is that English has so many
tenses which do not have their equivalence in bahasa Indone-
sia. For example, in conveying a message, a writer in English
may express it different tenses. The writer may express it in
Past Tense, Present Tense, or Future Tense. The choice of tense
depends very much on the time and completeness of the ac-
tion or state. And to make it more difficult, the number of tenses
that students should master in English is sixteen. It is clear
then that English grammar which does not exist in bahasa In-
donesia put Indonesian students learning English to write have
more troubles in writing English.
C. Stages in Developing Writing
For many Indonesian students, you might be included, writ-

ing a free composition in your own language is still a problem, let
alone writing free composition in English. The problem could be
doubled. In addition to common problem faced by any writer,
that is, thinking the message that is going to be sent, you also
have to think about the medium of communicating the message,
that is the language by which the message will be conveyed.
12
WRITING IN ENGLISH
Unfortunately, the convention of writing in English language is

very much different from the conventions of writing in Indone-
sian language. For example, the orthographical system of English
is different from the orthographical system of Indonesian lan-
guage. Also, the syntactical system of English language is not the
same with the syntactical system of Indonesian language. So as
with the lexical system. The lexical system of English language is
also different from the lexical system of Indonesian language. With
this condition, you come to English class of writing. It is under-
standable why River (1968) claims that “unless the students trained
systematically, some will never reach a high standard in compo-
sition in the foreign language”.
To pursuit this objective, you, as students should certainly
have strong motivation, perseverance, be ready to work hard,
and can stand for a long time consuming activity. Moreover, if
you want to become proficient and professional writer in a for-
eign language, these conditions must be with you. To cater these
conditions, River (1968) suggests, “To be able to write in the for-
eign language the student must be trained systematically through
five stages of development: (1) copying, (2) reproduction, (3) re-
combination, (4) guided writing, and (5) composition”. A com-
plete explanation of the five stages will be discussed in the fol-
lowing chapters.
13
14
CHAPTER III
COPYING
A. Introduction
The first stage in developing writing skill as suggested by

River is copying. However, many foreign-language teachers of-
ten despise copying (sometimes called transcription) as an un-
worthy and unchallenging for adolescent students. This attitude
is unfortunate and ignores the fact that there are many aspects of
another language which are very strange to the students and with
which they need to familiarize themselves very thoroughly if they
are to write the language confidently. Where there is a new script
to be learned this attitude is not so prevalent, because the neces-
sity for accurate copying for purposes of recognition and repro-
duction is too obvious to be ignored. Where the script is the same
as in the native language, and where there are many similarities
between the two languages, careful copying helps to overcome
15
the interference of native-language habits by focusing the student’s

attention on the differences. The work set for copying should con-
sist of sections of work already learned orally and read with the
teacher. As the students are copying, they should repeat to them-
selves what they are writing. In this way they deepen the impres-
sions in their mind the sounds the symbols represent, and they
have further repetition practice of basic dialogue or pattern sen-
tences. After they have had some practice in copying accurately,
with correct diacritical and punctuation marks, they may con-
tinue to copy as an aid to memorization. At this stage, they re-
peat a sentence to themselves as they copy it, and then try to say
it over to themselves two or three times without referring to the
script.
In languages where sound-symbol combinations are particu-
larly complicated, copying activities may be continued side by
side with more advanced writing practice. Students who have
made lists of sentences containing different spellings of the same
sounds may copy these lists several times, concentrating on the
variations in spelling. If they are assigned lists of words to be
learned because of peculiarities of orthography, they may be asked
to copy the words several times as they are learning them, thus
imprinting the graphic outlines more firmly in their minds. In the
early stages credit should be given for accuracy in copying in or-
der to encourage students in careful observation of details.
Following are some of the examples of copying activities start-
ing from the very imitative copying to rather ‘meaningful’ ones.
16
COPYING
B. Imitative Copying
1. Copying words
17
2. Copying phrase
18
COPYING
3. Copying clauses
19
4. Copying sentences
20
COPYING
5. Copying paragraph
21
C. Meaningful Copying
22
COPYING
23
24
COPYING
25
26
COPYING
27
28
COPYING
29
30
CHAPTER IV
REPRODUCTION
A. Introduction
During the second, or reproduction, stage the student will

attempt to write, without originality, what he has learned orally
and read in his textbook. This he will be able to do all the more
successfully if he has been trained in habits of accuracy during
the copying stage. If sounds writing habits are to be firmly estab-
lished, the learning situation must be continually structured so
that the students will write correctly, not incorrectly. For this rea-
son the student will at first be asked to reproduce without a copy
only the sentences and phrases which he has learned to copy. As
a first step he will be asked to rewrite immediately each sentence
he has copied without reference to his copy or to original. He will
31
then compare this version with the original for correction. Next
he will be asked to write down sentences he has memorized, read,
and copied as they are dictated to him. When dictation proce-
dures are employed it is as well for the teacher to realize that he is
calling for the exercise of two skills at once: listening comprehen-
sion and writing. Since all the skills are finally integrated in lan-
guage knowledge, this is not necessarily a disadvantage, but the
teacher must be aware that he is requiring more of the student
than a simple exercise in writing. Where particular difficulties of
spelling are being emphasized, the spot-dictation procedure may
be adopted: a complete sentence will be read, but only the word
or words, which are repeated, will be written. Some teachers sup-
ply an outline with blanks to avoid confusion in spot-dictation
exercises.
At a further stage the teacher will call for the writing of a
learned phrase as a response to a question he is asking, or as a
description of a picture he is showing. Here he is requiring a clear
understanding of meaning, and memory for learned response, as
well as ability to distinguish aurally and write accurately. Fur-
ther practice in reproduction may take the form of the writing of
pattern-drill responses of the repetitive type, as a variation from
the oral repetition or reading of these. Where audio-lingual texts
are not in use, the students will be asked to reproduce, at a cue
from the teacher, pattern sentences that have been practiced orally
in classroom activities and studied in the textbook. In no circum-
stances, at this stage, will the writing activity on the part of stu-
dent require variation of learned phrases since the emphasis is
entirely on accuracy of reproduction.
a) Writing what has been listened and read.

Instruction:
In this exercise, you will have ten sentences to reproduce. How-
ever, the ten sentences will not be distributed all at once. First, the
teacher will distribute sentence 1. After one minute, the teacher will
ask you to turn the stripe down and ask you to write the sentence
you have read on your notebook. Then, the teacher will distribute
the next sentences with the same way, and you also have to do the
32
REPRODUCTION
same way too. After you finish writing all sentences, compare your
sentences with the original sentences on the stripes. If there is mis-
take on your sentences, correct them and re-write them as the origi-
nal.
1. His name is John.
2. He was born in United States.
3. He was born on October 10, 1991.
4. He is a student.
5. He studies in Senior High School.
6. His father is a doctor.
7. His mother is a teacher.
8. He has one brother and no sister.
9. His brother is twelve years.
10.They are happy family.
b) Writing down sentences dictated

Instruction:
Write the sentences the teacher is going to dictate to you on
your notebook. The teacher will read them three times. In the first
reading, you just listen carefully: no note taking or writing is al-
lowed. In the second reading, you may start writing. The third
writing is provided for checking what is missing or incorrectly writ-
ten.
1. Cendrawasih is a name of restaurant in my city.
2. Actually, it is not a big restaurant.
3. It is only a medium-size restaurant.
4. However, it is very popular for tourists coming to this
city.
5. What makes this restaurant special is the menu it serves.
6. The menu it serves is mostly Banjarese foods.
7. Two of them are fried ‘seluang’ and baked ‘papuyu’.
8. Seluang and papuyu are available only in South
Kalimantan.
33
9. Other tasty Banjarese food is ‘gangan asam’.

10.So, if you visit South Kalimantan, don’t forget to taste its
delicious traditional foods.
c) Writing response to question
Instruction:
Answer the following questions by using the phrases below in
your response.
1. at five o’clock 7. fishing or gardening
2. good sleep 8. after classes
3. very tired 9. in bookstore
4. to the mall 10. last semester
5. with my friends 11.very much
6. tourist guide 12.international language
Questions:
1. What time do you get up everyday?
2. How was your sleep last night?
3. Why did you go to bed early?
4. Where did you go yesterday afternoon?
5. Who did you go to the mall with?
6. How do you spend your leisure time?
7. Did you have something to eat before or after classes?
8. Where did you buy this dictionary?
9. When did you visit the museum for the last time?
10.Do you like English?
11.What will you do if you can speak English?
12.Why do you study English?
Response
1. ………………………………………………………………
2. ………………………………………………………………
3. ………………………………………………………………
4. ………………………………………………………………
34
REPRODUCTION
5. ………………………………………………………………
6. ………………………………………………………………
7. ………………………………………………………………
8. ………………………………………………………………
9. ………………………………………………………………
10………………………………………………………………
11……………………………………………………………….
12………………………………………………………………
d) Writing a complete sentence based on the story
Read this passage carefully:

Jim arrived home and discovered that he had forgotten
his door key. He rang the bell, but nobody came to open the
door. He rang again, and waited, but still there was no an-
swer. He walked around the house to see if he could find an
open window, but they were all locked. It was beginning to
rain and he didn’t know what to do. Dorothy, his wife, had
obviously gone out, and he didn’t know where she had gone
to, or when she would return. He waited for half an hour. Still
nobody came. Finally, feeling wet and cold and angry, he
picked up a big stone and threw it through the kitchen win-
dow and was climbing through the kitchen window. Just he
had unlocked the window and was climbing through it he
heard the front door open. His wife had come back!
(Taken from Guided Composition by L.A. Hill).
Students are then asked to reproduce the passage by

a) Completing these sentences:
1. Jim couldn’t enter his house because ……..
(Jim couldn’t enter his house because all of the doors in his
house were locked).
2. He realized that his wife ………..
(He realized that his wife had gone out).
35
3. He decided to break a window because …….

(He decided to break a window because he felt wet, cold
and angry).
4. He broke the kitchen window by …….
(He broke the kitchen window by throwing a big stone).
5. He was climbing through the window when ……
(He was climbing through the window when he heard
the front door open).
b) Relate this incident as Dorothy might tell it.
Begin like this:
Jim, my husband, always arrives home from work
at 6 p.m. One evening I had to go out unexpectedly,
………..
The students may write like this:

Jim, my husband, always arrives home from work
at 6 p.m. One evening I had to go out unexpectedly, so I
locked all the doors and brought the keys. I didn’t call him
because I was sure I could go home before he arrived. Unfor-
tunately, I couldn’t. When it was 6:20 I hurriedly went home.
I was surprised to see someone was climbing my kitchen win-
dow. I was almost calling police station when I suddenly re-
alized that it was my husband.
B. Reproducing Activities
Practice 1
Instruction:
Now, do the same thing about the following:
One Sunday morning in winter I went for a walk along

the seashore. It was a cold day and the beach was deserted. At
the end of the beach I was sitting down to rest when a small
white dog suddenly appeared and lay down at my feet. I
stroked its head and it licked my hand. When I started to walk
36
REPRODUCTION
home it followed me and I could not get rid of it. It had collar
on, but there was no name on the collar, so when I got home I
rang up the nearest police station. I told the sergeant in charge
that I had found a small white dog, and that I would keep it
until its owner claimed it. I gave him my name and address.
Two days later a lady came to my home to claim the dog. She
said she had lost it because it hated riding cars, and on that
Sunday it had ju mped out of the open window of her car
without her noticing it. She offered me 50p, but of course I
refused to take any money. She called the dog “Scotty” and it
followed her as obediently as it had followed me. I was quite
sorry to lose such a friendly little animal.
a. Complete these sentences:

1. While I was out for a walk …….
2. All the way home ……
3. I reported the matter to the police-station because …..
4. The owner said she had lost her dog because …..
5. Before the lady took her dog away she ……
b. Relate this incident as it might be told by the dog’s owner.
c. Imagine the conversation between the man who found the dog
and the police sergeant. Write about ten lines of dialogue.
Practice 2
Instruction:
When we were sixteen my twin brother and I spent a week

climbing the mountains in the Lake District. One day, just as
we reached the summit of a mountain called Great Gable, early
in the afternoon, it began to rain, and with the foolish opti-
mism of youth we decided to take a short cut back to the farm-
house where we were staying. It looked possible on the map,
but there was no footpath. After half an hour the clouds sud-
37
denly came down and reduced visibility to about two yards. It

was impossible to go on, and we sheltered as best we could
under an overhanging rock. Three hours later the clouds were
as thick as ever and we were feeling cold, hungry and very
miserable. Moreover, it was beginning to get dark. Fortunately
we had told our landlady, Mrs. Menton, where we were going,
and we hoped that if we were not back by nightfall she would
raise the alarm and send out a search party. From time to time
we shouted, but there was no answer. Then, at last, the clouds
rolled away, and we saw the lights of a search party, not below
us, but above us. We attracted their attention and three men
came scrambling down towards us. Then we saw that we were
nearly at the edge of a sheer drop, and that if we had gone on in
the clouds we would certainly have been killed. We were so
cold and stiff that the men had to help us back to the top and
then down to the farmhouse. Mrs. Merston was very glad to see
us, but we made her promise not to tell our parents.

1. Because of the rain …..
2. The visibility was so bad that ……
3. Mrs. Merton knew ….
4. When the clouds disappeared ……
5. After we got back to the farmhouse ….
b. Relate this incident as it might be told by Mrs. Merton.
Practice 3
Instruction:
I was sitting with my mother on the afternoon of Septem-

ber 8th, 1955. The date is important, as you will see. Suddenly
there was a loud crash in the hall. We went out to see what
had happened. A large oil painting of my great-grandfather,
38
REPRODUCTION
in the full-dress uniform of a colonel in the British Army, had

fallen off the wall. My mother went very pale and sat down in
the nearest chair. I asked her what the matter was and she
said that if a picture fell down like that it meant that there was
going to be a death in the family. I told her that nowadays
nobody believed in these old superstitions and nothing could
possibly happen. But I knew she was frightened because at
that time my younger brother, Richard, was flying with Royal
Air Force. The next morning, following an impulse, I went to
the public Library and looked up the date of the capture of
Sebastopol in the Crimean War, in I knew my great-grandfa-
ther had been killed. It was September 8th, 1855. And my brother
Richard? He told us in a letter that on that particular day his
airplane had collided with another in mid-air, and he had only
saved his life by parachute.

a) When we went out into the hall ….
b) There is a superstition that says …..
c) My mother went very pale because ……
d) On the following morning ……
e) In his letter Richard said .….
b. Relate this incident as it might be told by Richard.
Practice 4
Instruction:
Last autumn I spent a week at a big hotel in London. It

was one of those modern hotels where every room is the same
size and has the same furniture, and looks just like every room.
My room was 311 on the third floor. One night, quite late, I
got back to the hotel after a very good dinner with some friends.
I walked into the lift and pressed the button. When the lift
39
stopped, I got out and walked to my room – or what I thought

was my room. When I opened the door I saw an astonishing
scene. A man was pointing a revolver at a woman sitting in an
armchair, and the woman was saying in a frightened voice:
“Please, don’t shoot me!” I turned round, ran along the corri-
dor and down the stairs – I daren’t wait for the lift – and found
the night porter in the hall. “Quick,” I cried, “someone is be-
ing murdered in my room.” Controlling his surprise he came
back with me, but when we opened the door of 311 the room
was empty. The porter looked at me strangely, said: “I think,
sir, you had better go to bed,” and left. I was too bewildered to
protest, and thinking that I must have had too much drink, I
followed the advice. At least, I thought, I haven’t heard a re-
volver shot. The next morning I made some enquiries, and the
explanation was really quite simple. I had gone to room 411
on the floor above, where a famous actor and his wife had
been rehearsing a scene from their new play. When I told them
that it was I who had burst into their room, they laughed and
game me a ticket to see the play on the opening night.

a) In this hotel all the rooms ….
b) A man was threatening ….
c) The porter accompanied me and ….
d) The truth was that ….
e) The incident had a happy ending because ….
b. Relate this incident as it might be told:
a) by the night porter
b) by the actor’s wife
Practice 5
Instruction:
40
REPRODUCTION
Last Sunday, on my return from a weekend in the coun-

try, I took a taxi from Waterloo Station to my home in North
London. We hadn’t gone very far before we had to stop at one
of the many traffic lights. Just as the light was changing to
green a policeman pulled open the door of the taxi, jumped in,
shouted to the driver: “Follow that blue car in front. It’s been
stolen,” and sat down on the seat beside me. Then he seemed
to see me for the first time for he said quickly but
apologicatically: “Sorry, sir, but I’ve got to catch that car.” The
taxi-driver accelerated without saying anything. After a few
hundred yards the blue car stopped at another traffic light
and we drew up alongside. The policeman got out, ran round
to the driver’s door of the blue car, opened it and pulled the
driver out. I couldn’t hear what was said, but after a few min-
utes the policeman beckoned to me and went up to him. He
asked me to help him take the car thief to the nearest police
station, and the three of us got into the stolen car. We drove off,
with the taxi following. I didn’t like sitting next to the thief, who
was a young, rather tough -looking man, but I had no choice.
Fortunately it wasn’t far to the police station. When we got there
the policeman took my name and address, thanked me for my
help and said I could go. The taxi-driver said angrily that that
was the second time in a month he had been obliged to assist
the police, and he hoped it wouldn’t happen again.

a) The policeman ordered the taxi-driver ….
b) When the blue car stopped …..
c) I had to help the policeman …..
d) We soon arrived at the police station, and …..
e) The taxi-driver was angry because ….
b. Relate this incident as it might be told:
a) by the policeman.
b) by the thief.
41
Practice 6
Instruction:
When Arthur Bloxham was in his last term at Oxford Uni-

versity he met a girl undergraduate who attracted him very
much indeed. He asked Eve to tea once or twice and then, on
the very last day of term, which happened to be fine and sunny,
he suggested that they should go rowing on the river and takes
a picnic lunch with them. Arthur could not row very well, but
he managed to get a couple of miles upstream before it was
time for lunch. Then the disaster occurred. Arthur stood up to
climb out on to the bank, but he unfortunately overbalanced
and upset the boat, and both he and Eve fell into the river. The
water wasn’t deep, but it was cold and muddy, and they had
scrambled out Eve was furious. They were both dripping wet,
of course, but in addition Eve had lost her handbag, in which,
to prevent it from getting splashed, she had put a gold wrist-
watch which had been given to her on her twenty-first birth-
day only two months before. Arthur gallantly dived in to look
for it, but it had sunk without trace in the thick mud of the
riverbed. There was nothing to do but go home. They had to
walk half a mile across fields until they came to road, and then
stop a passing car that was going back towards Oxford. Dur-
ing all this time Eve refused to talk to him. When they finally
arrived at the gates of her college she just disappeared with-
out a word. The next day Arthur had to leave the University
and go to meet his father in London. Before he caught the train
he tried to telephone Eve, but an unknown voice told him she
was available.

a) During Arthur’s last term at Oxford, he …..
b) As he stood up to get out …..
c) Eve was very angry because …..
42
REPRODUCTION
d) She refused ……
e) They got home by …..
b. Relate this incident as it might be told by Eve.
Six years later Arthur Bloxham, who had studied law at
Oxford, was a promising young barrister. One day a solicitor,
whom he had never previously met, rang him up and asked
him to take a divorce case. Arthur said he would like to meet
the client first, before he made up his mind, and a meeting was
arranged in the solicitor’s office. A few days later, Arthur walked
into the office, where his client was waiting for him, and stopped
in surprise. “Good God!” he said “Eve!” The solicitor merely
said, “I see you know Mrs. Baker.” Eve smiled. “Hello, Arthur,”
she said. “I hope your law is better than your rowing.” “If it’s
not,” replied Arthur, “I’ll buy you another gold watch.”
It seemed that only a few months after leaving Oxford,
Eve had met and married a young officer in the Merchant Navy.
For a time all had gone well, but then her husband, on one of
his voyages to Canada, had fallen in love with a Canadian
girl. Eve had not been able to stop him going to live in Canada,
and in the last three years she had not heard anything from
him at all. So she was planning to get a divorce.
Needless to say, Arthur obtained a divorce for his client.
And though he didn’t’ have to buy her a gold watch, he spent
far more than that on taking her out to dinner and the theatre
in London. Less than a year later they were married. But what
Arthur still does not know is that Eve had particularly asked
her solicitor to engage a certain young lawyer called Bloxham!

a) An unknown solicitor ….
b) He got the surprise of his life when …..
c) Eve had married …..
d) Arthur spent a lot of money on …..
e) Eve never told Arthur that …..
43
b. Relate this story as it might be told by:

a) the solicitor
b) Arthur Bloxham
C. Describing picture shown
Instruction:
Look at the following picture carefully and then write as many as you
can about this picture.
44
CHAPTER V
RECOMBINATION
A. Introduction
The third stage is the recombination stage, where the stu-

dent is required to reproduce learned work with minor adapta-
tions. This parallels in conception in oral and reading. It must,
however, be continually borne in mind that the work for recom-
bination in writing will always be some distance behind what is
being spoken or read. The writing of recombination of learned
sentences require not only the ability to manipulate grammatical
structures, which is basic to the speaking skill, but also a sound
knowledge of the intricacies of representing graphically what the
45
student is required only to recognize in reading. More effective

result will be achieved in writing exercises if there is a continual
integration of practice in all the skills. The student will have al-
ready heard, produced orally, and read in his textbook recombi-
nation of the type he will write. Only when the teacher is confi-
dent that the student can say over to himself correctly what he is
to write will he be asked to make recombination himself. This is
in conformity with the principle already enunciated of structur-
ing the situation so that the student has the greatest possible
chance of writing correctly.
At this stage, writing practice may take a number of forms.
Students will write out structure drills of various kinds making
substitutions of words and phrases, transforming sentences, ex-
panding them to include further information within the limited
of learned phrases, contracting them by substituting pronouns
for nouns or single words for groups of words. The writing of
drills not only gives valuable practice in accurate and correct con-
struction of sentences but also consolidates what has been learned
orally. It is a useful home study exercise, ensuring that the stu-
dents give careful thought to work studied during the day in class.
This becomes difficult where the textbook supplies all the responses
to the drills. In such a case the teacher will need to construct drill
cues of a similar type to give the students home study practice in
recombination.
When students have acquired some confidence in writing
simple substitutions and transformations, they may be asked to
make recombination around a theme to the class in a picture or a
series of pictures. These pictures will, of course, represent situa-
tions in connection with which the students have learned phrases
orally. The recombination may take the form of variations of
memorized dialogues, which, after correction, may be acted out,
in the classroom. At first these recombinations will not involve
any new vocabulary. Later they may provide an occasion for some
expansion of vocabulary, carefully introduced orally and learned
as a group exercise before being used in writing. At no point,
however, that a student will be required to make a recombina-
tion which involves a structural change and new vocabulary at
46
RECOMBINATION
the same time. The simple rule of one thing at a time will decrease
the possibility of error and make for more effective learning. To
further ensure correctness in writing, recombination will first be
constructed orally in class. Students will not be asked to write
such recombination unsupervised until they have had sufficient
practice to ensure success. If written recombinations are kept to-
gether in a special section of their workbooks, in a progressive
series, the students will take more interest in recording them more
accurately. If books are taken up and these writing sections
checked and graded as part of the regular assessment, the stu-
dents will be encouraged to take pride in well-written work.
An exercise that combines recombination and reproduction
is recombination dictation. Dictations of this type will consist of
rearrangements of dialogue sentences, or narrative constructed
from the conversational material and pattern sentences. Since
dictation involves ability to recognize recombination aurally and
retain them, as well as reproduce them graphically, such dicta-
tions must be constructed with great care to see that problems of
aural recognition do not coincide with problems of graphic rep-
resentation. Work to be written from dictation must contain no
new elements, that is, no elements which have not been prac-
ticed and learned thoroughly, studied in graphic form, and used
in some kind of writing practice. The dictation will then serve as
a form of review and the possibility of error will be reduced. The
teacher should dictate at a normal speed of utterance, not dis-
torting the phrases and the flow of speech in any way. Segments
dictated should consist of meaningful word groups. Each phrase
should be repeated clearly only once before students are expected
to write it. Since some students become flustered when expected
to retain what they have comprehended aurally long enough to
write it accurately, students should be trained to repeat aloud
what they have heard before attempting to write it from dicta-
tion, and to repeat it over to themselves as they write it. This oral
repetition helps them to retain what they have heard long enough
for them to write the complete phrase. After they have had time
to write the whole phrase, the same segment should be repeated
to allow students an opportunity to check what they have writ-
47
ten and correct any inaccuracies. At the end of the dictation of

the whole passage, time should be allowed for rechecking of ac-
curacy of writing before the passage is reread a final time, and
normal intonation and fluency. This period for checking forces
each student to do some thinking for himself before the final read-
ing, and makes him more alert to the sections of the final reading
which he most needs to hear again. If the procedure outlined is
adopted from the early stages of foreign-language learning, stu-
dents will be trained to retain the whole phrases in their immedi-
ate memory, and the dictation practice will be reinforcing the
practice in listening comprehensions as well as providing prac-
tice in accurate writing. As students advance in language learn-
ing, phrases dictated will be gradually lengthened, until the stu-
dents are eventually able to retain more complete sentences in
their immediate memory and write them down correctly.
B. Making substitutions of words and phrases
Instruction:
Replace the words/phrases in italic with the words/phrases provided
in the left column.
Example:
I like your hairstyle.
Now, do in the same way.
48
RECOMBINATION
1. I bought this dictionary two weeks ago
2. Do you know the man?
49
3. You don’t have to worry about that.
C. Transforming sentences
1. Changing statement into Yes/No question
50
RECOMBINATION
2. Changing statement into Wh-question
51
3. Changing statement into Negative.
52
RECOMBINATION
D. Expanding sentences within limited learned phrases

Example:
He doesn’t work in an office; he works in a department store.
a) she/school/technical college
b) they/factory/garage
c) the girls/shop/café
d) my father/bank/insurance office
e) we/harbor/airport
Students are supposed to write:
a) She doesn’t work in a school; she work in a technical college
b) They don’t work in a factory; they work in a garage.
c) The girls don’t work in a shop; they work in a café.
d) My father doesn’t work in a bank; he works in an insurance
office.
e) We don’t work in a harbor; we work in an airport.
53
Instruction :
Write sentences as the examples given.
1. The Present
54
RECOMBINATION
55
56
RECOMBINATION
2. The Past
57
58
RECOMBINATION
59
3. The Future
60
RECOMBINATION
61
E. Substituting pronouns for nouns

Examples:
62
RECOMBINATION
F. Substituting single words for groups of words

Instruction:
Replace the group of words written in bold with the single words
provided.
Examples:
63
64
RECOMBINATION
G. Making recombination around a theme in a picture

Example:
Instruction:
Look at this picture carefully and then write a story about it.
One of the students may write like this:

Last week a train accident happened. Some lorries slipped
off their rails and fell down to a river. This drew the attention
of people living in the vicinity and who passed the road above.
Some came closer to the location and some others just looked
from the far. While still some others climbed down the river to
help the victims. In the accident, it was reported that five people
were killed and some others were injured in the accident.
65
Now, do the same thing with the following pictures.

Picture 1.
Picture 2.
66
CHAPTER VI
GUIDED WRITING
A. Introduction
At the fourth stage, guided writing, some freedom in the se-
lection of lexical items and structural patterns for his written ex-
ercise, but within a framework which restrains him from attempt-
ing to compose at a level beyond his state of knowledge will be
given for the student. He will begin with outlines which allow for
some individuality, but which also help him to keep to what he
has learned, and he will gradually move on to composition which
is so closely associated with what he has read or heard that he
has no choice but to restrict himself to the known. As his control
of writing techniques increases he will be ready to move into the
fifth stage, composition, where he may attempt to express his
personal meaning in acceptable foreign-language expression.
67
At the guided writing stage the student may start with

completion exercises where parts of sentences are given and the
structural pattern is thus established for him. Each student will,
however, be expected to construct an individual answer by his
choice of a completion. Some types of drills provide useful guides
at this stage. Replacement exercises may be devised in which a
section of the sentence can be replaced by a number of different
phrases, giving the students the opportunity to express new mean-
ings. Expansion of a simple sentence by the addition of modify-
ing words and phrases, or the inclusion of further information,
can give practice in developing meanings within a framework.
Along the lines of substitution drills, the student may take a given
sentence and see how many different meanings he can express
by lexical changes, within the limits of the structure provided.
Another form of outline supplies lexical items in a fixed order
which forces student to use certain grammatical structures. This
restricts the semantic area within which the student may express
himself but leaves him free to vary such elements as person, tense,
and number.
As the student advances in skill, more freedom in his choice
of expression may be permitted. The framework now will come
from stories to articles he has been reading. At this stage he will
be learning something about the differences between the conven-
tions for spoken and written style. He may answer questions on a
text read or heard, the questions requiring more and more indi-
viduality of response as his skill in writing increases. He may write
summaries of stories he has studied in class, heard in the labora-
tory, or enjoyed for extensive reading. He may rewrite a story, or
a part of a story, from different angle (this exercise may be de-
signed so as to require a different tense; the story may be rewrit-
ten in the first person as told by one of the characters; or one of
the characters may give explanations or explain the reactions of
others, thus forcing the student into using indirect discourse. A
story may be rewritten in dialogue form or a dialogue rewritten
as a narration. The setting or main personalities of a story or dia-
logue may be changed in such a way as to require certain changes
in the description, in the action, or in the tone of the conversa-
68
GUIDED WRITING
tional interchange. The skeleton of a story or dialogue may be

supplied for development by the student, or outline given for a
description or narration based on a picture or a succession of pic-
tures. As a variation of this procedure, a series of questions may
be so constructed that the student writes a continuous narrative
as he answers them. If pictures are used, the writing activity may
be associated with intensive work in vocabulary building. With
some imagination, the teacher will not be at a loss for finding
ways of guiding the student in elementary composition.
At this stage, writing is still under supervision. The teacher
takes care to see that the student does not lapse into the habit of
writing native-language versions, which he then translates inex-
pertly into the foreign language. Students work without bilin-
gual dictionaries, endeavoring at every stage to use what they
know or what they can learn from the model on which their
guided writing is based. As at all stages in the developing of the
writing skill, problems which may arise in the exercise are antici-
pated in oral group work so that students are sure before they
proceed what is expected of them; most of their difficulties are
thus overcome before hey are left to their own resources. Until
the students are thoroughly trained to rely on what they have
learned, and to restrict themselves to the limits imposed by the
outline or the text on which the writing is based, they will not be
allowed to do the initial writing for homework. In an unsuper-
vised situation they may only be permitted to rewrite or improve
work that has been thoroughly prepared in class. These restric-
tions are essential if students are to be trained in good writing
habits. Left to their own devices too soon, they will rush to the
dictionary, attempt a standard of expression beyond their state
of knowledge, and ruin the careful network of habits the teacher
has been developing.
B. Completion Exercises
In this exercise parts of sentences are given and the structural
pattern is thus established. Student will be expected to construct an
individual answer by his choice of a completion.
69
Examples:
1. The main reason I learn English is ………….......................
Student may complete the blank like this:
The main reason I learn English is in order that I will be
able to get job in a multi-national company quite easily.
2. For most Indonesian learners, writing in English is still con-
sidered a difficult task because …………………….............
Student may complete the blank like this:

For most Indonesian learners, writing in English is still con-
sidered a difficult task because they not only have to mas-
ter the orthographical system but also they have to master
its style.
Now, do in the same way as examples given.
1. If I have lots of money............................................................

2. Unless you study seriously.....................................................
3. Whenever Ali is in class ........................................................
4. After he has breakfast ...........................................................
5. He will never give up before .................................................
6. Any time students have problem .........................................
7. Anyone breaks the rule ........................................................
8. She is permitted to attend the concert with one condition .....
9. They are late because ...............................................................
10.Although it is raining hard .....................................................
C. Replacement Exercise
In this exercise, a section of the sentence can be replaced by a num-
ber of different phrases, giving opportunities to express new meanings
Examples:
1. I met the man there.
I met the man ………………………………….
70
GUIDED WRITING
Students may write one of the following:

- I met the man in front of the post office.
- I met the man across the post office.
- I met the man behind the post office.
- I met the man one block from the post office.
- Etc.
2. She came to the meeting early.
She came to the meeting ………………
Students may write like this:
- She came to the meeting before every one arrived.
- She came to the meeting five minutes before it began.
- She came to the meeting after the opening speech.
- She came to the meeting at nine o’clock sharp.
- Etc.
1. He got the information yesterday.

- He got the information …………………………
2. Hilda spelled the word ‘comfortable’ correctly.
- Hilda spelled the word ‘comfortable’ .................
3. The students should collect their assignment soon.
- The students should collect their assignment ………
4. Children here also expected Zinadine Zidane to come.
- Children …………………………. also expected Zinadine
Zidane to come.
5. Now, you don’t have to do dangerous work by yourself; a
robot can do it for you.
- …………………., you don’t have to do dangerous work by
yourself; a robot can do it for you.
6. Whenever you have time, please visit us.
- Whenever you have time, please visit .....................…….
71
7. People can buy anything they need there.

- People can buy anything they need ……………………….
8. Send the document to the office immediately.
-Send the document to the office ..............................
9. He painted the house pink.
- He painted the house ………………………………
10.You may go outside.
- You may go ……………………………………….
D. Expansion of a Simple Sentence

In this exercise learners are expected to add modifying words and
phrases, or include further information to the simple sentence.
Examples:
1. I like the story.
- I like ……………………
Student may expand the sentence like this:
- I like the short story.
- I like the short, funny story.
- I like the short, funny, uncomplicated story.
- I like the short story that has uncomplicated plot.
2. Man likes dangerous game.
- The man likes dangerous game.
- The brave man likes dangerous game.
- The brave man in red jacket likes dangerous game.
- The brave man in red jacket and black trousers likes danger-
ous game.
1. Do you see the house?

- Do you see …………………………………….?
2. How much did you buy the computer?
- How much did you buy ……………………….?
72
GUIDED WRITING
3. Don’t trust the woman easily!

- Don’t trust …………………………………………… easily!
4. Don’t blame the boy for the broken glass!
- Don’t blame …………………….. for the broken glass!
5. The mall offers everything you need.
- ……………………………………. offers everything you need.
6. Dictionary is like lover for language learner.
- ………………………… is like lover for language learner.
7. Where did you meet the girl?
- Where did you meet ……………………………………….?.
8. Who was the person you wanted to see in the office?
- Who was the person you wanted to see in ………………?
9. What time do you have appointment to see the manager?
- What time do you have appointment to see ………………?
10.The motorcycle has already been sold.
- ……………………………….. has already been sold.
E. Answering Questions on a Text Read or Heard

Read the following passage.
Passage 1
It is reported that teams from both Russia and America are work-
ing out details of how to link together two space ships of quite different
designs. Both sides are confident that they can reach their objective.
To date, the two space ‘giants’ have been following differ-
ent paths, with varying success. The American Apollo mis-
sions succeeded in putting men on the moon and returning
them safely with samples of lunar rocks and materials. The
Russians have preferred a mechanical, remote-controlled probe
of lunar surface. Now, however, the Americans have post-
poned any further lunar missions on account of the huge cost
involved, and are concentrating on an earth-orbiting space
laboratory, by means of which teams of astronauts can make
observations of the surface of the earth and its surrounding
73
atmosphere. It is in this venture that the Russians are hoping

to participate, and to promote international co-operation in
space.
1. What are the Russia and the U.S.A. planning to do?

2. What were the plans of the Americans at the beginning of
the Apollo projects?
3. What plans did the Russians make for lunar exploration?
4. Why did the Americans postpone their plans to land more
men on the moon?
5. What plans have been made for Russian-American co-op-
eration in space?
6. What plans for space exploration do you consider will ben-
efit mankind most?
7. Discuss plans for future space exploration involving visits
to other planets.
Passage 2
Professor Pinkerton live alone and was very absent-minded.

He used to arrive at the college to give lecture and find he had
forgotten to bring his notes. Or he would lose his spectacles and
be unable to see the blackboard. He could never find any chalk to
write with, and he often forgot the time and would ramble on for
hours because he had left his watch at home. But the most amaz-
ing thing about him was his appearance. His coat was rarely fas-
tened, as most of the buttons were missing, and his shoes were
usually untied because he had lost the laces. He must have lost
his comb as well because his hair was always standing on end,
that is unless he was wearing his battered old hat with the brim
missing! His trousers were held up by an old tie instead of a belt,
and cigarette ash was scattered liberally over his waistcoat.
Answer the questions below including ‘missing’ in the answer possible.

e.g. Why could the professor not give lecture?
He couldn’t give his lecture because his notes were missing.
74
GUIDED WRITING
1. Why couldn’t he see the blackboard?

2. Why couldn’t he write on the blackboard?
3. Why did he forget the time?
4. Why was his coat rarely fastened?
5. Why were his shoes untied?
6. Why did his hair stand on end?
7. What was unusual about his hat?
8. Why did he wear a tie to keep up his trousers?
F. Paraphrasing and Summarizing

a) Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is a writing skill in which information from
published sources is written in different words (rephrased)
without changing its original meaning. It is often used in place
of directly quoting what a writer has said. Paraphrasing is used
to rewrite short selections, such as sentences, a series of sen-
tences, or paragraph. A paragraph is usually as long as the
original text in order to communicate its full meaning.
Some techniques you can use to write a paraphrase are:
1. Use synonyms wherever possible. Some of the words from
the original passage may appear in your paraphrase, but
try to use synonyms.
2. Change active sentences to passive sentences or vice-versa.
3. Change direct quotations to indirect quotations.
Steps to write a paraphrase:
1. Read the selection carefully several times until you under-
stand it fully.
2. Look up any words you do not understand; find synonyms
for them.
3. Write a brief outline, including:
a) The main idea (topic and controlling ideas)
b) The main supporting points
c) Primary and secondary supporting details
75
4. Write the paraphrase. Use your own words, but do not omit
any essential ideas. Above all, do not change the meaning
of the original.
Model 1
Original
When the Mariana soccer stadium (in Rio de Janeiro, Bra-

zil) was opened to the public in 1950, and Brazil lost the World
Cup to the Uruguay team, the Brazilians were so disheart-
ened one had the impression that the country itself had died.
And people did die of sadness. Mere threats of defeat in a cham-
pionship match can cause heart attacks and the despair of the
public is so great that many beat their heads against the ce-
ment posts. Such is the Brazilian’s passion soccer.
Outline A. Brazilian lost the World Cup in 1950
1. Entire country was sad
2. Some people died
B. Possible defeat causes strong reaction
1. Some experience heart attack
2. Some beat their head
C. Brazilians are very emotional about soccer
Paraphrase
In 1950, Brazil lost the World Cup in soccer to Uruguay

in Rio de Janeiro. The entire county was overcome by sadness;
some people even die from it. Brazilians react very strongly to
potential defeat in championship soccer games. Some people
have heart attack, and some others beat their head against
cement posts. Brazilians are very emotional about soccer.
Model 2
Original
Howard Van Zandt, who studied Japanese business prac-
tices extensively, said, “The Japanese prefer to work as mem-
bers of groups rather than individually. This characteristic is
76
GUIDED WRITING
often cited as one of the most important in explaining Japan’s

economic success.”
Outline A. The Japanese would rather work in groups.
B. This trait is responsible for Japan’s economic
success.
Paraphrase
Van Zandt maintains that the Japanese people would
rather work together in groups, not individually. He believes
that this trait is one of the most important factors which have
contributed to the success of Japan’s economy.
Now, it’s your turn to try.

Paragraph 1
However great the powers of the President of the United
States, they are restricted by the “check and balances” repre-
sented in the Congress, in the Supreme Court of the United
States, and in the force of public opinion. However, of all the
elective officers of our government, only the President and the
Vice President are chosen by all the voters of the United States.
Paragraph 2
The Smithsonian Institution is an Independent establish-
ment dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge. It
is a great complex of museums and art galleries, scholars, and
experts in many fields. It is devoted to public education, basic
research, and national services in the arts, sciences, and his-
tory, with major facilities in Washington, around the country,
and overseas.
77
Paragraph 3
“Vitamin C in large doses not only protects against the
common cold, but also offers considerable protection against
other infectious diseases, both viral and bacterial. I believe that
Vitamin C in adequate amounts could considerably decrease
the incidence and severity of the flu.”
b) Summarizing
A summary is similar to a paraphrase except that a sum-

mary is usually shorter. When you summarize, you compress
large amounts of information into the fewest possible sentences.
In order to do this, you include only the main points and main
supporting points, leaving out the details.
To write a summary, follow the same steps as you did to
write a paraphrase but omit all unnecessary details .
Model
For generations, Americans have researched their pasts

to discover who their ancestors were. In recent years, many
more people have developed an avid interest in their gene-
alogy and the cultural heritage of their ancestors. This in-
terest was sparked for two reasons. First, American cel-
ebrated the bicentennial of the United States in 1976 and
tribute to this country’s history. Second, and more recently,
the book Roots, which traces the family history of an Ameri-
can black man named Alex Haley back to Africa, was spe-
cialized on national television. As a result of these two
events, a new pastime for thousands of Americans was cre-
ated.
Outline A. Americans research into background

1 Ancestors
2. Cultural heritage
78
GUIDED WRITING
B. Reasons for research

1. Bicentennial celebration
2. Roots
Summary
Recently, many Americans have become interested in re-

searching their backgrounds in order to identify their ances-
tors and learn about their cultural heritage. This interest in
genealogy began with the U.S. Bicentennial celebration and
intensified with the televising of the family history of Alex
Halety, a black American.
Paragraph 1
Convenience goods may be classified as staples, impulse

goods, and emergency goods. Staples are bought and used fre-
quently without much consideration being given to their pur-
chase. Many food products and nonprescription drug items
are staples goods. Brand identification may have some weight
in the buying decision, but usually easy availability will be more
important than the brand. Items such as bread, milk, and as-
pirin are considered staples, and easy availability to consum-
ers is important in their distribution.
Passage 2
Impulse goods are items that customers buy on sight with-

out having gone out specifically for their purchase. Their unit
price is usually low. The purchase of an impulse good satisfies
a need that is strongly felt at the moment. Items that custom-
ers will buy on an impulse are frequently placed near store
doors or at cash registers. Candy bars, chewing gum, ciga-
rettes, and magazines are frequently displayed in this way.
79
Paragraph 3
A good may be a staple or an impulse item depending on

the purpose of the good’s use and on whether the good was
purchased for lunch boxes as part of weekly grocery shopping
trip. But a candy bar might be viewed as an impulse item if it
were purchased and eaten on the spot because a person just
happened to see it.
G. Rewriting a Story, or a Part of a Story, from Different

Angles
Read this story.
Last month I was on holiday in Central Java. I went for a

day’s outing to Borobudur. Borobudur is an ancient temple near
Yogyakarta. It is about an hour from Yogyakarta.
I got up at about 6 o’clock and took a ‘becak’ to the bus sta-
tion. Some friends were waiting for me at the bus station. We left
at about 7.30 a.m. After about an hour the bus arrived at a small
town near Borobudur. It was very hot so we bought hats to wear.
We changed to another bus there and went to the temple.
We arrived at the entrance to the temple at around 9 o’clock.
We bought our tickets and walked up to the temple. It is like a
small mountain. I bought a booklet to read about the temple. At
the top of the temple there is a flat area where you can see the
surrounding countryside. We spent about an hour on the temple,
and took lots of photographs. Then we climbed down. I bought
some post cards and some souvenirs. At eleven we took the bus
back to Yogyakarta. We got back at lunchtime.
Instruction:
Rewrite the above story by replacing I with Rizky. Make any

change if necessary. The new story may be written as following:
80
GUIDED WRITING
Last month Rizky was on holiday in Central Java. He went

for a day’s outing to Borobudur. Borobudur is an ancient temple
near Yogyakarta. It is about an hour from Yogyakarta.
He got up at about 6 o’clock and took a ‘becak’ to the bus
station. Some friends were waiting for him at the bus station. They
left at about 7.30 a.m. After about an hour the bus arrived at a
small town near Borobudur. It was very hot so they bought hats
to wear. They changed to another bus there and went to the temple.
They arrived at the entrance to the temple at around 9 o’clock.
They bought their tickets and walked up to the temple. It is like a
small mountain. He bought a booklet to read about the temple.
At the top of the temple there is a flat area where everyone can see
the surrounding countryside. They spent about an hour on the
temple, and took lots of photographs. Then they climbed down.
He bought some post cards and some souvenirs. At eleven they
took the bus back to Yogyakarta. They got back at lunchtime.
Exercises:
Passage 1
John Smith was born in Manchester on April 1st, 1950. He

was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Christ’s Col-
lege, Cambridge. He left Cambridge in 1972 with a second class
honors degree in chemistry. Towards the end of that year he ap-
plied for, and obtained, a post as a junior research chemist in a
large pharmaceutical firm. In 1974 he met Jane Brown at a dance,
and in 1975 they were married. They now live in London suburb
and have a son and daughter.
Now write a similar paragraph about Jane Brown, using the fol-
lowing information: Sheffield – August 13th, 1952 – Sheffield High
School – Leeds University – 1973 – history – history teacher – sec-
ondary school.
Write a similar paragraph about yourself or about a friend

of yours.
81
Passage 2
When the doctor walked out of his house in the morning, a

gang of workmen was preparing to lay an electric cable under
the road. Some workmen were digging a trench while six others
were unloading a large reel of cable from a lorry. As he walked
past them he called “Good Morning,” and several of them replied,
politely enough, “Good Morning, Sir.” Six hours later he returned
home and saw that the men were still working. But by this time the
trench ran right across the road, and about five yards of cable had
already been laid in it. He had to cross the trench on a narrow plank.
Practice 1
Making any other changes necessary, read and then write

the above passage with nurse instead of doctor and gas pipe in-
stead of electric cable. (N.B. The lorry contained lengths of gas
piping)
Practice 2
Imagine that the workmen were not laying an electric cable

in a trench, but were hanging an overhead telephone wire be-
tween two poles across the road. Write out the passage again,
making the appropriate changes.
Passage 3
We left home at eight o’clock in the morning and drove east-

wards. The sun was rising and shone in our faces. We crossed the
river Mallard at 10.30 a.m., the river Widgeon at 2 p.m., and the
reviser Teal at 3.30 p.m. We arrived at the hotel an hour later,
just as it was getting dark.
Write the journey in reverse (it will be better if you draw a
sketch map to begin with)
We left the hotel at eight o’clock in the morning
…………………………..
82
GUIDED WRITING
H. Rewriting Story in Dialogue Form

Instruction:
Read the following passage carefully and then try to reconstruct

the original dialogue which must have taken place between the father
and his teen-age daughter.
I asked my daughter why she had come home late the previ-
ous night. She said that she had been out dancing with some
friends and hadn’t noticed the time. I told her that she had woken
me up when she came in, and that I had looked at my watch and
found that it was two o’clock in the morning. That was much too
late for a young girl. She replied that after the dance she and
William, her boy friend, and another couple had gone to William’s
flat for a cup of coffee. They had sat talking for an hour or so and
had not realized how late it was. She was very sorry. I told her
she was not to do that again and must always be sure to come
home before midnight. I reminded her that she was still under
twenty-one and had to obey her parents, who knew what was
best for her.
Father: Why did you go home late last night?
Daughter : I went out dancing with some friends, and I didn’t
notice the time.
Father : You woke me up when you came in; it was
twoo’clock in the morning. It was too late for a young
girl.
Daughter : After the dance, William, my boy-friend, and I and
other couple went to William’s flat for a cup of cof-
fee. We sat talking for an hour or so and didn’t real-
ize how late it was. I’m very sorry.
Father : Don’t do that again and be always sure to come home
before midnight. You are still under twenty-one and
you have to obey your parents, who know what is
best for you.
83
Now, do the same thing.
Read the following passage carefully and then try to reconstruct

the original dialogue which must have taken place between the news-
paper reporter and the survivor of the earthquake.
The reporter asked Mr. West, one of the survivors of the earth-
quake, what had happened. Mr. West said he had just got into
bed about half past eleven when he felt the first tremor. The bed
started to tremble and he noticed the electric light, which hung
from the ceiling, was swaying. The reporter asked him what he
did then, and he replied that he got out of bed quickly and went
to look out of the window. As he looked he saw the house oppo-
site begin to fall sideways. Then he realized what was happening,
seized his dressing gown and rushed out into the garden. The re-
porter wanted to know if he had been alone in the house. Fortu-
nately he was, because his wife and children had gone to visit his
mother-in-law. For three or four minutes, he said, there was a ter-
rible noise of walls falling down, and people screaming, and clouds
of dust in the air. Then the trembling stopped. Finally the reporter
enquired how much damage had been caused. Mr. West said that
about fifty persons had been killed and more than two hundred
injured. The damage to property was considerable, and some three
hundred houses would have to be completely rebuilt.
Exercise 1
Reporter :
Mr. West :
Reporter :
Mr. West :
Reporter :
Mr. West :
Reporter :
Mr. West :
84
GUIDED WRITING
Exercise 2
When the Headmaster discovered that one of the boys in the

Fourth Form, Henry Bates, had been playing truant, he summoned
him to his study. He looked at the boy sternly and asked him
what for he ran away. Bates replied that he didn’t know. The
Headmaster looked astonished and asked him what he meant.
Bates explained he hasn’t any particular reason, but that he didn’t
like school and wanted to leave. The Headmaster asked how old
he was, and the boy said that he was fifteen and a half years. The
Headmaster enquired whether he knew what he wanted to do if
he left school. Bates answered that he wanted to join the Royal
Navy and added that his parents were willing to let him. The
Headmaster thought for a moment and then remarked that was
the best thing he could do. He went to say, however, that he was
still going to punish him for taking the law into his own hands.
Headmaster :………………………………………………….?
Henry Bates :…………………………………………………
Headmaster :………………………………………………….?
Henry Bates :…………………………………………………
Henry Bates :…………………………………………………
Headmaster :………………………………………………….?
Henry Bates :……………………………………………………
Headmaster :………………………………………………….?
Henry Bates :……………………………………………………
Headmaster :…………………………………………………….
Headmaster :……………………………………………………
Exercise 3
The counsel for the defense then began to cross-question the

witness. He asked her how long she has known the accused, and
when she replied for about two years, he said he wanted her to
be more exact and asked her if she could remember when she
first met him. The witness asked to let her think and after a minute
85
or two said rather hesitantly she thought it must have been in

July of the year before last. Counsel proceeded to ask where she
was at that time and she answered she was on holiday in
Bournemouth and the accused was staying in the hotel. Counsel
was pleased with that answer for he declared that was what he
wanted to know and then asked further if she could tell them
how she came to make the acquaintance of the accused. She told
the Court she was not sure, but she thought he spoke to her in the
lounge when she was having coffee after dinner and was then
asked if she could remember what she spoke about.
The counsel :……………………………………………………..?

Witness :…………………………………………………….
The counsel :……………………………………………………..
The counsel :……………………………………………………..?
Witness :………………………………………………………
Witness :………………………………………………………
The counsel :……………………………………………………..?
Witness :………………………………………………………
The counsel :………………………………………………………
The counsel :…………………………………………………….?
Witness :…………………………………………..…………
The counsel :……………………………………………………..?
I. Rewriting Dialogue as a Narration

Example :
Bob Ross and Ann Watson both live in Chicago and work in the
same office. They are talking about their plans for the holiday weekend.
Bob : Any plans for the weekend?

Ann : It depends on the weather. If it’s nice, I’ll probably go
camping. But, if it isn’t, maybe I’ll just stay home and
clean my apartment. It could certainly use it. How about
you?
86
GUIDED WRITING
Bob : I’m going to Toronto.

Ann : Oh, is that where you’re from?
Bob : No, that’s where my parents live now, I grew up in Ot-
tawa.
Ann : How are you getting there?
Bob : I’m thinking of flying, but it depends on how much it costs.
If it’s too expensive, I’ll take the bus.
Ann : Well, listen, if you need ride to the airport, let me know.
I’llbe happy to drive you, if I’m around.
Bob : Oh, thanks. That’s really nice of you.
The narration of the above dialogue may appear like this:
Bob Ross and Ann Watson both live in Chicago and work
in the same office. They are talking about their plans for the
holiday weekend. Bob asks Ann if she has any plans for week-
end. Ann answers it depends on the weather. If it is nice, she’ll
probably go camping. But if it isn’t, maybe she’ll just stay home
and clean her apartment. It could certainly use it. She asks
Bob how about him. Bob answers he is going to Toronto. Ann
asks if it is where he is from. Bob answers ‘No’. He explains
that it is where his parents live now. He says he grew up in
Ottawa. And then Ann asks how he is going there. Bob an-
swers that he is thinking of flying, but it depends on how much
it costs. If it’s too expensive, he’ll take the bus. Ann asks Bob to
listen. Ann asks Bob to let her know if he needs a ride to the
airport. She’ll be happy to drive him, if she’s around. Bob thanks
and says that it’s very kind of her.
Now, do the same.
Exercise 1
Bill Dow is interviewing Doug Lee for a job as the director of a
recreation program for teenagers. Mr. Dow runs the Community Ser-
vice Agency.
Mr. Dow : Mr. Lee, I see from your resume that you’ve had a
lot of experience in sales.
87
Doug : Yes, my parents have a store. They sell house wares.

I used to work there after school.
Mr. Dow : Well, what kind of work have you done with ado-
lescents?
Doug : I taught swimming for a couple of summers at camp.
A lot of the campers were in their teens. The I taught
high school physical education, and I’ve been a
guidance counselor in the Seattle public school sys-
tem for the last three years.
Mr. Dow : Why are you thinking of leaving of your present
job?
Doug : Well, I enjoy counseling, but I miss athletic. This job
would give me a chance to do both of them. And I
feel, too, that I’m ready for a change. I’ve lived in
Seattle my whole life.
Mr. Dow : So you think you’d like living in Chicago?
Doug : Very much. I’ve always wanted to live here.
Mr. Dow : Well, Mr. Lee, you seem to have some good qualifi-
cations for the job. We’re interviewing all this week,
so I’ll let youknow in ten days or so. While you’re
here, I’d also like you to meet ………. (Knock at the
door).
Exercise 2
Two tourists, Kathy and George Dupont, are looking for a place
to have lunch in Toronto.
Kathy : Excuse me. We’re looking for a place to have

lunch. Do you know any restaurants around
here?
Man in street : Well, there are a lot of them. Did you have spe-
cial in your mind?
George : Oh, just some place reasonable with good food.
Man in street : Well, you know, this is one of the most expen-
sive areas in town.
88
GUIDED WRITING
Kathy : Can you recommend a place that’s not too ex-

pensive?
Man in street : Let’s see now…..The closest place that I can
think of is Toby’s. It’s supposed to be reason-
able, and everyone says the food is good. They
serve all kinds of hamburgers.
George : That sounds fine.
Exercise 3
Mr. Ahmad is a businessman. He wants to see his partner in

business in other town. In the office, he is accepted by a receptionist.
Receptionist : Good morning. Can I help you, sir?

Mr. Ahmad : Yes. I’d like to see the manager. Is he in today?
Receptionist : Oh! Yes, sir. Have you got an appointment with
him?
Mr. Ahmad : Yes. I’ve got an appointment at ten o’clock. And
now it’s nine fifty five, isn’t it?
Receptionist : Yes, it is. The manager has still got somebody in
with him. Would you mind waiting a moment?
Please sit down, sir.
Mr. Ahmad : Thank you.
Receptionist : May I have your name and address, please?
Mr. Ahmad : Yes, my name’s Ahmad. And my address is on
Jalan Dr. Cipto No. 9.
Receptionist : Mr. Ahmad, from Jalan Dr. Cipto ….. Oh, here
it is. Yes, sir. Your appointment is at ten o’clock.
89
90
CHAPTER VII
COMPOSITION
A. Introduction
The final stage of composition involves individual selection

of vocabulary and structure for the expression of personal mean-
ing. In a foreign language, the student is still not capable of being
truly creative in his writing at this level, since he has to write as a
native speaker would write, without having, as yet, the same
mastery of the language in all its flexibility. His knowledge of the
foreign language is still very inferior to his knowledge and con-
trol of his native language. If he has been carefully trained for a
sufficiently long period through the preceding four stages, he will
have developed an attitude of mind which will prevent him from
committing the worst excesses of clothing native-language expres-
sions and structures in foreign words. If asked to write on sub-
jects which are too general, too philosophical, or too literary, how-
ever, he will be frustrated by his desire to write at the standard
91
which is expected of him in native-language composition classes,

at a stage when his resources of expression in the foreign lan-
guage are still extremely limited. The key word for him to keep in
the forefront of his thinking in this dilemma is “simplify.” He must
clothe his thoughts in simple, lucid language which is well within
his command. With the systematic training we have advocated,
he will not be tempted to write first in his native language and
then translate, realizing that this can lead only to stilted foreign-
language expression at the best and to absolute incomprehensi-
bility at the worst. Encouraged to use a monolingual dictionary
rather than a bilingual dictionary he will be forced to use what
he knows, checking on its accuracy and examining the possibili-
ties of suggested alternatives, rather than seeking inexact and
misleading equivalents for notions he has not as yet encountered
in his experience with the foreign language.
At this stage he will be increasing his understanding of the
differences between speaking and writing a foreign language.
Apart from conventional differences in style, he will be trying to
express himself more concisely, more descriptively, less casually.
This will severely test his control of structure and his precise un-
derstanding of lexical meaning. The composition stage provides
teacher and student with the opportunity to identify persisting
areas of misunderstanding on an individual basis, so that reme-
dial practice may be undertaken where necessary.
When students have reached what is considered to be an
advanced class the teacher will need to exercise great care to see
that they are not plunged abruptly from guided writing into a
limitless sea of free expression. The transition has to be gradual.
Exercises in composition will at first be closely linked with mate-
rial being read and discussed; the student will be asked merely to
describe, narrate, and explain, or summarize. As he becomes more
accustomed to expressing himself within consciously accepted
restrictions he will be asked to comment on or develop ideas be-
yond those in the material read. While at high school he will not
be expected to imitate styles of great writers but will concentrate
on developing for himself a simple, lucid form of expression which
would be acceptable to a native speaker. Nor will he be asked to
92
COMPOSITION
write literary criticism or discuss ideas at a philosophical or so-

ciological level. For these types of exercises he must posses a spe-
cialized vocabulary and a training in concepts which the high
school teacher cannot aspire to give him, or can give him only at
the expense of the further training in language skills to which
class time should be devoted at this stage.
Not all students have a ready flow of ideas when asked to
write, even in the native language. Composition exercises, which
are not closely related to intensive reading assignments, should
be so designed that they do not become tests of originality and
invention. Precise descriptions of persons, places, and things pro-
vide excellent training in exact expression. The writing of an origi-
nal dialogue, using the vocabulary area of some recent reading,
keeps the student practiced in the style of speech. Further prac-
tice in a more casual style of writing is provided by the keeping of
a personal diary in the foreign language and by the encouraging
of international correspondence on an individual basis. In the lat-
ter case, students are appropriately instructed in the accepted
formulas for letter writing. Students may have read to them, or
be asked to read, parts of stories that they are then required to
complete for themselves; in this way, they have already been ini-
tiated into the appropriate vocabulary area and level of language
before they attempt to write on their own.
Composition exercises may very profitably be linked with
assignments for extensive reading. As each book, story, or play is
completed; the student is asked to submit, for correction and
evaluation, a short composition based on it. This composition may
consist of a summary of the contents with a personal commen-
tary, or the narration of some aspect of the story assigned previ-
ously by the teacher. Such extensive reading assignments may
direct the student to articles of a serious nature in current for-
eign-language magazines or newspapers. In this case it is better
for the teacher to select the article, with due regard to the special
interests of the student, to ensure that it is not too difficult in
standard of expression and ideas. Otherwise, discouraged stu-
dent will take little pleasure in what is planned as an interesting
activity. Where foreign-language short accounts of items of news
93
from the country where the language is spoken. These reports

may also be given orally, thus providing subject matter for class
discussion and further exercise in the speaking skill.
In classes where the students have been encouraged to un-
dertake group or individual projects to deepen their understand-
ing of the culture of the people who speak the language, they will
have valuable practice in composition as they draw up reports of
their research in various areas. For such projects the students
should be required to draw their information from foreign-lan-
guage sources so that they may use authentic forms of expression
in their written and oral reports. They should be trained to sub-
mit short reports on sections of their research for correction at
regular intervals, rather than one long report at the end. The
teacher can the guide them in the progressive improvement of
their writing efforts. These reports, like those on extensive read-
ing, should also be given orally to the class and used as a basis for
further discussion.
B. How to-do passage

Example:
Do you want some delicious, rich, soft, creamy choco-

late candy? Then you should follow this easy, new recipe
exactly. Mix two full cups of fine sugar, six level tablespoons
of cocoa, and three fourths of a cup of milk. Cook the mix-
ture over a very low and steady heat. Stir while cooking.
The sugar will melt completely. Continue cooking the candy
mixture very, very slowly to the boiling point. Stop stirring.
A few drops of the mixture will form a soft ball in cold water.
Remove from the low heat. Do not stir at all. Next, add one
full teaspoon of pure liquid vanilla. Then heat the mixture
quickly. It will now become creamy and smooth. Add bro-
ken nutmeats. Pour the mixture on a plate lightly greased
with butter.
The paragraph of explanation is often used to give direction.
94
COMPOSITION
It is closely related to the how-to-do it paragraph that gives in-

structions on how to make something, perform some action, or
follow some procedure.
Instruction:
After reading the passage above, it’s time for you to write your
own passage on how to do something.
C. Narration
Example:
The morning after Miss Sullivan came to Helen Keller’s

house, she led Helen into her room and gave her a doll.
When Helen had played with the doll for a little while, Miss
Sullivan slowly spelled into her hand the word “d-o-l-l.”
Helen was at once interested in this finger play, and she
tried to imitate it. When she finally succeeded in making
the letters correctly, she was flushed with childish pleasure
and pride. Running downstairs to her mother, she held up
her hand and made the letters for doll. She did not know
that she was spelling a word or even that words existed;
she was simply making her fingers go in monkey-like imita-
tion. In the days that followed she learned to spell a great
many words in this uncomprehending way. But Miss
95
Sullivan had to be with her several weeks before Helen un-

derstood that everything had a name.
Instruction:
Write a short narrative composition in which:

a). you tell about the events that led up to the most unforgettable mo-
ment in your life.
b). you tell about the events that happened to a famous person before,
during, or after an event associated with him/her.
96
COMPOSITION
D. Descriptions
a. Describing a place of a scene

Example:
When I was a boy, John Hence’s grocery stood on

the south side of Town Street, just east of the Fourth, in
the Central Market region of Columbus, Ohio. It was an
old store even then, fifty-two years ago, and its wide oak
floor boards had been worn pleasantly smooth by the
shoe soles and three generations of customers. The place
smelled of coffee, peppermint, vinegar, and spices. Just
inside the door on the left, a counter with a rounded
glass front held all the old-fashioned penny candies –
gumdrops, licorice whips, horehounds, and the rest –
some of them a little pale with age. On the rear wall, a
barrel of dill pickles and a keg of salt mackerel in brine,
there was an iron coffee grinder whose handle I was
sometimes allowed to turn.
Instruction:
Write a paragraph describing a place of a scene. You may begin

your composition with these:
When I was (age/time) the (post-office/school/other building)

stood on……….. street near the …………. It……………………………
…………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………….
97
b. Describing a Person
Example:
Abraham Lincoln was a strong man, both physically

and mentally. He was thin, but weighed 81 kilos. He was
physically powerful, and he could lift over 180 kilos eas-
ily. His mind and body worked steadily, and he never
seemed to tire mentally or physically. He was not hand-
some by any means, nor was he ugly. He was very plain
looking and plain acting. Although his physical appear-
ance and dress made him common looking, his actions
and decisions were anything but common.
Instruction:
Write a paragraph describing a real or imaginary person. You may

begin your composition with these:
…………………. is a ………………., …………….. person, who is about

……….……. meters tall. He/she …….…....………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
E. Argumentation
Example:
There were several reasons why the Industrial Revo-

lution started in Great Britain rather than in France, the
other great power of the day. In the first place, Britain
had the money necessary to finance the larger enterprises.
98
COMPOSITION
England’s supremacy on the seas had encouraged com-

merce, and the English had been amassing wealth
through their commerce and industry. The newly rich
class in that country was not the aristocratic group, but
merchants who were willing to devote themselves to in-
dustry and scientific agriculture. They did not believe that
engage in business was beneath them. The wealth of
France, on the other hand, was largely in the hands of
the nobility, and they were not willing to do the neces-
sary work to develop their industry.
In the second place, Great Britain had undertaken very
early the manufacture of inexpensive and more practical
products for which there would be an ever-growing de-
mand from the people, especially the new middle class.
Woolen and linen cloth as well as iron and wooden articles
had been important products in England for centuries, while
France produced articles in the luxury class. These could
never be turned out in quantity because they demanded
handcrafting. Moreover, the demand for luxury goods is
always limited. England was the producer of goods that
were needed in quantity, and if a cheaper means of pro-
ducing them could be found, the markets could grow. So
England was ready for methods that would make it pos-
sible to manufacture in large quantities.
In the third place, for a long time England had had
large numbers of semiskilled workers. When the feudal
system broke down and the manors were turned to sheep
raising, large numbers of people went to towns. There
they were engaged in weaving, shoe making, wood carv-
ing, and many other occupations that developed skills.
When the Industrial Revolution began, they were avail-
able to work on the new machines. Moreover, they were
free and could move from place to place as the need for
workers arose. This had not been the case in France.
France was still chiefly an agricultural country with peas-
ants bound to their masters in many ways so they could
not easily move to the cities.
99
In the fourth place, coal was abundant in Great Brit-

ain, and a large amount of this cheap fuel was necessary
for running the factories. There was coal in northern
France too, but France was late in tapping such resources
because nearly all the people depended directly or indi-
rectly on farming for their living.
Instruction:
Write an essay in which:
a). you use inductive reasoning, going from specific details to a general
statement
………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………..............
………………………………………………………………………....
…………………….....................................................................
………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………..................
…………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………....
…………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………
b). you use deductive reasoning, going from general statement to more
specific, detailed statements.
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………
100
COMPOSITION
……………………………………………………………..............
………………………………………………………………………....
…………………….....................................................................
………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………..................
…………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………....
…………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………
F. Casual writing
a) Correspondence
Answering letter
Imagine that someone you don’t know has just sent you a
letter. He/she wants to make friend with you. How would
you answer his/her letter.
110 Waverly Drive

Barkeley, California 94708
June 1, 2007
Dear…..,
With this letter I would like to introduce myself to you as a

new pen pal.
I am eighteen years old and have just graduated from Ceres
High School. High school studies in this country are for four years,
but before entering high school I studied for eight years in elemen-
tary and junior high schools. I will enter the university in a few
months to prepare to be a doctor. I hope eventually to specialize in
pediatrics, but other medical specialties interest me too.
My interests, beside my studies, are art, music, and sports. I
especially enjoy swimming, horseback riding, and skiing. It does
101
not snow where I live, so when the skiing season comes, I have to
travel to the mountains, about two hours away by car.
I love pets, and if I did not want to be a “human” doctor so
much, I think I would study veterinary medicine. I have a friendly
old cat who sleeps all day. My sister Andrea has an enormous Ger-
man shepherd dog. Of course, the cat and the dog do not get along
at all.
I am enclosing a photograph of my family and myself. I would
like to hear from you. Please write with information about yourself,
your family, and life in your country. I look forward to being your
pen pal and sharing some of the events in my life with you, even
though it must be at such a long distance.
Your friend,
Tom
Jalan Hasan Basry ……….

Banjarmasin 70123
July 31, 2007
Dear Tom,
………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………..............
………………………………………………………………………....
…………………….....................................................................
………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………..................
102
COMPOSITION
…………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………....
…………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………..............
………………………………………………………………………....
…………………….....................................................................
………………………………………………………………
Your friend,
……………………
b. Sharing idea
A friend of yours told you about his/her problem like this:
You know, I’m quite the same age as you. I wish I could go like
other girls do. However, up till now, I have never gone out with my
brother or my friends. My mother always hits me when I don’t
finish my chorus around the house or if I’m late home from school.
I often think of running away, but I know she would look for me. I
am so confused. Can you please give some advice?
You may answer your friend problem like this:
I realize that you must be very confused because I certainly

find your letter confusing. I am not exactly sure whether you don’t
go out with your brothers or friends because your mother doesn’t
allow it, or whether you don’t go out because you are afraid to go
out with them, because you are shy.
103
It seems unreasonable at 20 to have an unrealistic curfew placed

on you. I suggest that you sit down with your mother and discuss
what you would like to do and the tasks that she wants you to do
and work out a timetable whereby you can do your chores but still
go out and enjoy some social life. Now is the time your life when
you should be making as many social contacts as possible and de-
veloping as many different interests as possible.
Now, share your ideas with your friend that has following
problem.
For the past six months I have been unemployed. I know there
are many in the same situation, but at twenty-five years of age, I
find that when I do have a job I am unable to hold it for any length
of time. I don’t know if it’s nerves or whether I am slow in learning,
but when I start a new job I make so many mistakes that I usually
end up being fired. I do have qualifications and I do try very hard –
all to no avail. It’s not a question of being in the wrong job, because
I’ve tried numerous different jobs and always end up making silly
mistakes. Am I doomed to a life of failure?
Share your ideas here.

………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
c. Agreeing or disagreeing on one issue.
Almost all schools in Indonesia allow students to use cal-

culator in the process of learning in class. However, the use of
calculator when they are having examination is still a contro-
104
COMPOSITION
versy. Some teachers and parents agree to let students use cal-
culator in examination. Some others, however, do not agree
with this. What do you think?
Here is your opinion.
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………….
…………………….....................................................................
………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………
d. Applying for a job offered in an advertisement
105
Your application letter may read like this:
Jalan Hasan Basry ………

Banjarmasin 70123
July 1, 2007
Dear Manager
National Bank of Taipei
2242 Ren Ai Road
Taipei, Taiwan
Dear Sirs,
I read your advertisement in local paper yesterday. I think

what you are looking for now suits with my interest and education.
That’s why I apply for that job. As your consideration, I herewith
enclose my personal information
Name : Tina
Date of Birth : August 17, 1985
Place of Birth : Banjarmasin
Education : Diploma III English for Business
Hobbies : Sport (Pencak Silat) and Ping-Pong
Language : Indonesian, Arabic, and English
I also include three references from different people: one is from
the head of English Department, one is from Mr. Takawa, the per-
sonnel Manager of the company where I conducted my apprentice-
ship, and the other one is from Mrs. Murah, a treasurer of Habibi
Center that supported my study with scholarship when I was still
studying in college.
Now, it’s your turn. Write an application letter for each of the
following advertisements.
106
COMPOSITION
Advertisement 1
Advertisement 2
Advertisement 3
Advertisement 4
107
108
CHAPTER VIII
PARAGRAPH
A. Introduction
You may agree with me that writing paragraph is consid-
ered as the first real activity of free writing. This is because of the
nature of the free writing itself which obliges a writer to be re-
sponsible for everything he does in his writing. When someone
writes a paragraph of his own, everything related to the writing
paragraph is the writer’s personal responsibility. It is the respon-
sibility of the writer to think and decide the topic of his para-
graph. Also, it is the responsibility of the writer to think how to
organize the idea so that it will be easy to understand. The writer
should also think of what kind of structures that will be used in
his writing so that the sentences can convey the meaning and
what vocabulary should he use to represent the meaning he in-
tends to convey, etc.
109
B. Subject and topic

Many students think that subject and topic in writing are simi-
lar. In certain case they might be the same. However, in other
situation they might be different. It is this latter standpoint that
Reid understands subject and topic. According to him, both terms
refer to different thing. Subject refers to “a general idea of inter-
est”, while topic embraces the meaning of “subject that has been
narrowed so that it can be covered thoroughly” (1982:10). To
clarify the distinction of the two concepts let us pay attention to
the following column.
What is the use of narrowing down a subject into topics in

writing? For a writer, it is aimed at helping him to focus on what
is going to be discussed. By narrowing down the subject into cer-
tain topic, the writer can concentrate on it more easily. Let us
take the above examples. Sports is something very large to dis-
cuss, so are transportation and education.
Writing about sport may mean discussing about any thing
about sport. For example, it can be the history of sport; it can be
kinds of sports; it can also be the advantages of doing sport for
health, etc. So, in order that the discussion is focused, the subject
110
PARAGRAPH
is then narrowed to something smaller. The narrowness of a topic

depends on what kind of writing the writer wants to present to
the audience. In other words, it relies on what is the product of
writing the writer wants to write. Does he want to write a single
sentence, a paragraph, an essay, or even a book?
It is not rare to happen, however, that the subject that has
been narrowed down to topic is still considered large enough as a
topic. If the case is so, this topic then becomes a subject again and
it should be narrowed down to smaller topic.
Football, in the above example, is possible to be narrowed
down to smaller sub-topics, for instance: American football, rules
of football games, the meaning of team work in football, etc. If it
is put in a column it may look like this:
Once again, each topic in the above matrix may become an-
other subject for further sub-divisions. This topic, which now
changes into the subject, may be divided into some smaller top-
ics. For example, levels of education may be narrowed down again
111
into primary education, secondary education, or tertiary educa-

tion. That’s the way it goes.
To see whether you have understood the two concepts, sub-
ject and topic, thoroughly, please do the following exercises.
1. Narrow the following subjects in the column into possible topics

and sub-topics
112
PARAGRAPH
2. List five different subjects of your own, and then narrow them
into smaller topics as many as you can.
C. Parts of Paragraph
What is a paragraph? A paragraph may be defined as “a
series of sentences that develop an idea”, says Reid (1982).
Whereas Oshima (1983) defines paragraph as “a basic unit of
organization in writing in which a group of related sentences
develops one main idea”. This is in line with what Smalley (1982)
says that a paragraph may be defined as a group of sentences
that develop one main idea”. This means that not all a series of
113
sentences, a group of sentences, are called paragraph. They are

just called paragraph if all the sentences discuss only one idea. In
other words, those sentences only talk about one topic.
A paragraph usually has three major structural parts: (1) a
topic sentence, (2) supporting sentences, and (3) a concluding sen-
tence. A topic sentence, in accordance with Oshima (1983), states
the main idea of the paragraph. It not only names the topic of the
paragraph, but it also limits the topic to one or two areas that can
be completely discussed in the space of a single paragraph. This
specific area is called controlling idea. Supporting sentences are
meant to develop the topic sentence. That is, they explain the
topic sentence by giving reasons, examples, facts, statistics, and
quotations. The concluding sentence signals the end of the para-
graph and leaves the reader with important points to remember.
From the definitions above, it can be concluded then that a
paragraph (1) consists of one topic or idea, (2) the idea or topic is
usually stated in topic sentence, (3) the idea is developed in a
series or in a group of sentences, and (4) the sentences that de-
velop the idea or topic should be related one another.
Example:
Smoking cigarettes can be an expensive habit. Con-
sidering that the average price per pack of cigarettes is
ten thousand rupiahs, people who smoke two packs a
day spend Rp. 20.000,00 per day in their habit. At the
end of one year these smokers have spent at least Rp.
7.300.000,00. but the price of cigarettes is not the only
expense cigarette smokers incur. Since cigarette smoke
has an offensive odor that permeates clothing, stuffed
furniture, and carpet, smokers often find that these items
must be cleaned more frequently than nonsmokers do.
Although it is difficult to estimate the cost of this addi-
tional expense, one can see that this hidden expense does
contribute to making smoking an expensive habit.
Do you see what is the idea or the topic of the above para-
graph? Yes, you are completely right. The idea or the topic is
smoking cigarette and the controlling idea is an expensive habit.
114
PARAGRAPH
Together, they are then put in a topic sentence, “Smoking ciga-

rette can be an expensive habit”. Is there any other topic found in
the paragraph? It seems not. Do all the sentences support the
topic? Surely they do. Ten thousand rupiahs per pack, Rp.
20.000,00 per day, Rp. 7.300.000,00 at the end of one year, …
items must be cleaned more frequently, … the cost of additional
expenses, are some of the expressions that support the idea that
smoking cigarettes is an expensive habit.
Exercises:
Instruction:
Find the topic of the following paragraphs.
1. A final examination in a course will give a student the ini-
tiative to do his or her best work throughout the course.
Students who are only taking notes and attending classes
in order to pass a few short tests will not put forth their best
effort. For instance, some of my friends in drama, in which
there is no final examination, take poor notes, which they
throw away after each short test. Skipping classes also be-
come popular. Imagine the incredible change a final exami-
nation would produce. Students would have to take good
notes and attend all classes in order to be prepared for the
final examination.
(Susanne Cremillion in Refining Composition Skills)
This paragraph is about ....................................................
2. Another reason why I like the beach is its solitary atmo-

sphere. At the beach I have no witness but the beach, and I
can speak and think with pleasure. No one can interrupt
me and the beach will always be there to listen to every-
thing I want to say. In addition, it is a quiet place to go to
meditate. Meditation requires solitude. Many times when I
am confused about something I go to the beach by myself,
and I find that this is the best place to resolve my conflicts,
solve problems and to think.
115
(M. Veronica Porta in Refining Composition Skills)
This paragraph is about ...................................................
3. Some seeming English-Spanish equivalents are deceptive.

Their forms are similar but they have developed different
shades of meaning in the two languages. These are sure to
cause trouble for Spanish speakers learning English. The
Spanish word asistir looks like the English word assist but
has none of the latter’s meaning of “help.” Instead, asistir
means “to attend” or “to be present.” Thus, Spanish English
speakers will say that they assisted a class when they mean
that they were present at it. Actual in Spanish means “present,”
not English “actual”; desgracia means “misfortune” not “dis-
grace,” ignorar means “not to know” instead “to ignore.”
(Jean Malstrom in Refining Composition Skills)
This paragraph is about ....................................................

4. Chien and Chung also differ in hobbies. Chien likes to read
true stories and books about real life. He likes to watch the
news, late movies, and midnight specials on weekends. He
does not like to play any outdoor sports, even though he
cannot miss a minute of sports news on television. Instead,
he prefers indoor games such as ping-pong, pinball ma-
chines, and some other electronic games. In contrast to
Chien, Chung likes to read science fiction stories and mys-
tery stories. He enjoys making battle-ships, carriers, and
freighters in cardboard. In addition, he likes to design ultra
modern things. Whereas Chien likes to play indoor games,
Chung likes to play football, baseball, and basketball. In con-
clusion, I guess that you could say Chien is more of an intel-
lectual and realist, whereas Chung is more adventurous.
(Chuang Vu in Refining Composition Skills)
This paragraph is about ......................................................
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PARAGRAPH
D. Outlining
Learning to outline will improve your writing for three rea-
sons. First of all, it will help you organize your ideas. Specifically,
an outline will ensure that you won’t include any irrelevant ideas,
that you won’t leave out any important points, and that your
supporting sentences will be in logical order.
Second, learning to outline will help you more quickly. It
may take some practice at first, but once you become used to out-
lining your ideas before you start to write, you will be surprised
at how fast you will actually be able to write. Preparing an out-
line is 75% of the work. The actual writing becomes easier be-
cause you don’t have to worry about what you are going to say:
you already have a well-organized plan to follow.
Finally, your grammar will improve because you will be able
to concentrate on it, not on your thoughts or organization. Im-
proved organization, speed, and grammar make learning to out-
line well worth the effort.
There are several different outline forms that can be used.
The form used here is particularly helpful for students who have
never practiced outlining before.
A simple outline for a short paragraph might look like this:
Topic Sentence Topic Sentence Underlined
concluding sentence
underlined
Of course, the number of main supporting points (A, B, C)

will vary widely from paragraph to paragraph. This particular
paragraph has three main supporting points; others may have
only two or as many as ten or even twenty. Also, some para-
117
graphs may not have a concluding sentence, and in others, the

topic sentence may not be the first sentence.
Model: Simple Paragraph Outlining
Study the simple outline below for the first paragraph. Then re-
read the paragraph to see how the writer used this plan to write
a well-organized paragraph that is easy to understand.
Learning to outline will improve your writing for three reasons.

A. It will help you organize your ideas.
B. It will help you write more quickly.
C. It will help you improve your grammar.
For these three reasons-improved organization, speed, and gram-
mar- learning to outline is well worth the effort.
The “Equivalent Value” Rule
In a formal outline, ideas that have the same kind of letter or
number must have equal value. This means that every capital
letter must be equal in value, and every idea given a small letter
or Arabic numeral or Roman numeral must be equal. If, for ex-
ample, your paragraph contains both reasons and examples, you
should give the reasons one kind of letter or number, and the
examples another kind.
Incorrect Correct
Topic Sentence Topic Sentence

A. Reason A. Reason
B. Example 1. Example
C. Example 2. Example
D. Reason B. Reason
E. Example 1. Example
F. Example 2. Example
Concluding Sentence Concluding Sentence
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PARAGRAPH
The “Parallel Form” Rule
Equal parts of a formal outline should be written in parallel form.

This means that all ideas given the same kind of letter or number
should be written in complete sentences, clauses, or single words
such as adjectives, etc.
Incorrect
Rocks make excellent pets.
A. They don’t eat.
B. Cleanliness.
C. Obedient.
For these three reasons, rocks make great pets.
Correct
Rocks make excellent pets.
A.They don’t eat.
B. They are clean.
C. They are obedient.
For these three reasons, rocks make great pets.
Practice 1
Rewrite each of these outlines to make the support part parallel
in form.
1. San Francisco is famous for its tourist attraction.
A. Golden Gate Park is very famous.
B. Chinatown.
C. Fisherman’s Wharf attracts hundreds of tourists.
D. Riding the cable cars.
For these four attractions alone, San Francisco is well worth a visit.
2. Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important reasons.
A. It is beautiful
B. Useful to science and industry.
119
In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also
for its utility.
3. Some of the world’s most successful men had trouble in school.
A. Albert Einstein failed his university entrance exams on
his first attempt.
B. William Faulkner’s F’s in English.
C. Special tutoring necessary for Winston Churchill.
These few examples show that failure in school does not al-
ways predict failure in life.
E. Techniques of Support
As stated earlier that a paragraph always has one idea to talk
or to discuss. It is this topic that becomes the center of the whole
discussion in a paragraph. No other information outside the topic
discussed should not be found. In order that the topic is developed
properly in a paragraph, a number of techniques can be used.
a. Showing facts
The first technique that may help a writer to develop a topic
in a paragraph is by showing facts such as numbers, statistics,
and other information that can easily be verified.
Example 1
Based on the Recommended Daily Allowances set by the
National Food and Nutrition Board, the basic fast-food meal
in America provides adequate protein. The meals from
McDonald’s, Burger Chef, and Wendy’s – hamburger, french
fries, and milkshake – provide more than two-thirds of the 56
grams of protein recommended per day for an adult male: 38
to 45 grams. However, half of a ten-inch pizza from Fizza
Hut was the protein champion. When ordered with cheese,
sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, onions, and green peppers,
it provides 72 grams of protein and also contains less fat than
any of the other meals. The least amount of protein is in fish
sandwich, fries, and cola meal from Arthur Treacher’s Fish
and Chips, but its 22 grams are still adequate.
120
PARAGRAPH
Example 2
During the ten-year period from 1968 to 1978, the

economy of Korea grew by an impressive annual growth rate.
This remarkable progress, often referred to as the “Miracle of
the Han River,” has been achieved despite the-country’s lack
of natural resources and the worldwide oil crisis of 1973-1974.
To put it concretely, GNP (Gross National Product) increased
by ten times, and per capita income rose from $100 in the first
year to $1200 last year. Korea’s export growth during the same
period especially aroused the attention of both developed and
developing nations. For example, Korea shipped only $50 mil-
lion worth of goods to foreign markets in 1968, but by 1978
the exports increased 300 times to $15 billion. In fact, Korea is
now one of the biggest exporters in the world and the world’s
top exporter of consumer electronic products, textile garments,
plywood, footwear, cement, and ships.
Now, it’s your turn. Write some facts about the following topics.
1. The danger of smoking cigarette
2. The condition of the poor in Indonesia since economic cri-
ses in 1997 up till now.
3. The problems/future life/of drug-users
4. The rate of traffic accident
5. The expenses spent by parents to send their children to
school each year
Note:
Using facts to support a topic sentence requires that the writer
be certain that the facts are accurate and relevant; using an au-
thoritative source for your facts can make your support more be-
lievable to your reader.
b. Describing Physical Description

A topic in a paragraph may also be developed by supporting
with a description of physical description. In describing physical
description, the use of the five-senses, i.e. sight, sound, smell, taste,
121
and touch accurately is very helpful in giving precise description.

In a more detail, these five senses cover the following:
The sight:
- words that describe shape: round, square, flat, etc.
- words that describe color: red, blue, dark, etc.
- words that describe light: bright, dark, gloom, etc.
The sound
- words that describe quality: clear, muffled, loud of soft
The smell
- words that describe quality: sharp, sweet, clean, fresh, etc.
- words that describe effect: suffocating, intoxicating, etc.
The taste
- words that describe quality: bitter, flat, sweet, sour, etc.
The touch
- words that describe texture: smooth, rough, sharp, dull, etc.
- words that describe temperature: hot, cold, lukewarm, etc.
- words that describe weight: heavy, light, etc.
Example 1
Once I went hiking with a group from my school to the
mountains near Riyadh. Before we started the hike, the sun-
light was shining brightly. When we went into the woods it
was quite dark like the sun was no longer in the sky. We felt
that we were walking in hallways because the trees were so
big and tall that they prevented sunlight from coming through.
It was absolutely quiet and silent like a sad and grim night. In
the distance we heard some birds cackling and some turkeys
gobbling as if they didn’t want us to be in this place. Also small
brooks were bubbling here and there. Although the weather
was extremely hot, the water of the brooks was almost too
cold to touch. After hiking four miles, we became exceedingly
tired. We felt that we had accomplished a great journey.
(Shams Othman: The Process of Composition by Joy M. Reid)
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PARAGRAPH
Example 2
Whenever I go to my parents’ house in Mendoza, Argen-
tina, I remember a lot of pleasant moments of my childhood. A
few days before coming to the U.S., I left my three sons in my
parents’ house for a visit. When I returned, it was dinnertime. I
opened the front door and smelled an aroma which transported
me to my infancy. My mother was sitting in the dining room
feeding my sons with only one dish and one fork while she nar-
rated a story just as she had done with my brothers and me so
many years before. I climbed the gray granite stairs to the bed-
room I had shared with my youngest brother. From the win-
dow I could still see the brook with clear water which descents
from the snowy mountains. I could also see the big tree in which
I had built a little house for hiding when I needed solitude. The
wardrobe that held secret surprises, the mirror with the old
photos, the double bed where we had taken shelter on a stormy
night: all was like it had been before. I went down the stairs and
the children’s laughter made me come back to reality. We left
the house, and when we were in the curve of the road, I turned
round my head to see the house trimmed against the sunset.
This was my last view of my parents’ house, and even now, at
this distance, it is that which unchains my memories.
(Ricardo Leiva: The Process of Composition by Joy M. Reid)
Exercises
1. Describe the home where you stay.
2. Describe one of your parents.
3. Describe the school you are studying now.
4. Describe the motorcycle you usually ride.
c. Giving Example
The third technique of supporting topic sentence is by giving

example. Look at the following paragraph.
Model 1
The assumption that children of divorced parents prefer to re-
main with their mother, and indeed that the mother wants them,
123
may often times be false. For instance, one divorced man exhausted
the courts, the lawyers, his finances, and himself while attempting to
regain cus tody of his four children. The mother had been an alco-
holic and had shown little interest in the children’s welfare even prior
to the divorce, yet it was not until the children reached their teens that
their custody was reconsidered. The drug and truancy problems of
these youngsters were brought to the attention of the juvenile judge,
who discovered that they had been unhappy at home for some
time. Their love for their mother had long since disappeared, and
they asked to be placed with their father, so after seven years the
custody error was rectified. Undoubtedly, there are many similar
cases which have not been resolved. While the child custody laws
seem fair in theory, they are not always fair in practice.
(Ricardo Leiva: The Process of Composition by Joy M. Reid)
Model 2
Agrarian reform in Venezuela has had positive and nega-
tive effects on agriculture. For example, some farmers have ob-
tained loans from the government which they have invested in
their land. Many of these farmers have bought machines to work
on their land. They have cultivated the land very fast. Therefore,
they have already obtained benefit from their land, and Venezu-
ela has too. But many farmers have not spent the loan money on
their land. Instead, they have bought houses or cars, and the
majority has used this money to go to the capital because they
want to live there. The result is that many farms are abandoned,
and nobody wants to cultivate them.
(Morella Andrade: The Process of Composition by Joy M. Reid)
Exercises
Write a paragraph of example on:
a) how youngsters spend their leisure time in your hometown
b) the way you improve your speaking ability in English
c) the efforts done by parents to support their children’s education
d) the scholarship given by government
e) the measures taken by government to reduce poverty in Indonesia
124
PARAGRAPH
d. By Telling Personal Experience
The last technique of supporting topic sentence in a para-

graph is by telling one’s personal experience. Illustrating topic
sentence with a personal experience sometimes is very effective
technique in developing a paragraph.
Model 1
The reason that I don’t drink whiskey very often is because I
had a bad experience with it. Eight months ago, I went drinking
with my friends after a graduation ceremony at my university in
Japan. The day was our last day as students. Everyone was aware
that we wouldn’t be able to meet each other after this day, so
everybody was going to enjoy this night drinking liquor. While
reminiscing about our university times, I drank considerable whis-
key. When I started to go home with some friends, I became aware
that I had drunk too much. I didn’t remember anything about
getting home. On the following day my friends said that I fell
from the train platform when I was walking at the edge of it. At
just that time, a train was coming to that platform, so my friends
tried to help me, but they couldn’t help because they were also
drunk. I asked why I was living now. Their response was that the
train came to the opposite side of the platform. I swore not to
drink too much after I heard this story.
(Hiro Yabuki: The Process of Composition by Joy M. Reid)
Model 2
Why don’t I like plays? When I was only 12 years old there
was a play shown about the Algerian revolution during French
Colonialism. That was a time in my country’s history when the
French stayed in Algeria for 130 years. The play was written about
a true story and was written by a French reporter who lived with
the French Army in Algeria. The play was about what the French
did with the Algerian until the liberation. In the middle of the play,
we saw two French soldiers coming out of a tavern. They went
into the street, really drunk. Suddenly, they met an Algerian woman
who was pregnant. One of them said, “I bet she has a baby boy.”
125
The other said, “No, I swear it is a girl.” Then, after an argument,

they bet some francs and followed the woman. They caught her,
and one of them took a dagger and pushed it into her belly. How
cruel it was! I really could not stand the sight, and went out of the
theatre, swearing not to see any more plays in my life.
(Rhoma Mohamed: The Process of Composition by Joy M. Reid)

Exercises:
Write a paragraph of the following choices in which you
develop the topic sentence by telling or illustrating your personal
experience:
a) Why you love or hate cat very much
b) The reason(s) why you like or dislike something
c) The reason(s) why you avoid being alone
d) Why you like to go shopping in traditional market than in
supermarket, or vice-versa
e) Strategies to be successful in university entrance
F. Coherence within Paragraph

a. Transition Signals
Transition signals are words such as first, second, next, finally,

therefore, and however, or phrases such in conclusion, on the other hand,
and as a result. Transition signals help the writer when to give simi-
lar idea (similarly, moreover, furthermore, in addition), an opposite idea
(on the other hand, however, in contrast), an example (for example, for
instance), a result (as a result), or a conclusion (in conclusion).
Each transition signal has a special meaning. Each one shows
how the following sentence relates to the preceding one. Of course,
transition signal is not used in every sentence. It depends on the
need. However, good writing requires that a writer uses enough
transition signals to make the relationships among ideas clear.
Following is a chart of the most common transition signals
used in writing paragraph.
126
PARAGRAPH
b. Types of Transition Signals
Transition signals can be divided into four basic groups ac-

cording to function: sentence connectors, coordinators (Coordinat-
ing conjunctions), subordinators (subordinating conjunctions),
prepositions and determiners.
1. Sentence connectors
(e.g. however, therefore, furthermore, for example, on
the other hand, in addition, still, otherwise)
Sentence connectors join one independent clause
with another to form a compound sentence, which is
punctuated with a semicolon (;) and a comma.
Example:
127
I dislike mushrooms; therefore, I never eat them.

Mushrooms are good for you, however, I never eat them.
2. Coordinators
(e.g. and, but, yet, or, nor, for, so)
These seven coordinators join two independent
clauses to form a compound sentence. Punctuate the sen-
tence with a comma after the first clause.
Example:
Mushrooms are good for you, but I dislike them.
I dislike mushrooms, so I never eat them.
3. Subordinators
(e.g. because, after, since, as, although, if, when)
Subordinators introduce a dependent clause that is
joined to an independent clause to form a complex sen-
tence. There are two positions for the dependent clause:
1. If the dependent clause comes before the independent
clause use a comma after it.
Example:
Although mushrooms are good for you, I dislike them.
Because I dislike mushrooms, I never eat them.
2. If the dependent clause comes after the independent
clause, do not use a comma.
Example:
I dislike mushrooms although they are good for you.
I never eat mushrooms because I dislike them.
4. Prepositions and Determiners
(e.g. because of, due to, in spite of (prepositions), an-
other, additional, final (determiners)
This group of transition signals has no special rules for punc-
tuation.
Example:
I dislike mushrooms because of a bad experience I once had.
Another reason I dislike mushrooms is their rubbery consistency.
128
CHAPTER IX
METHODS OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT
A. Introduction
As university students the kinds of writing you usually have
are mostly expository and argumentative. The first type of writing
is the one that explains about something. While the latter is the
one that is intended to persuade someone to do something or to
change one’s idea.
To be able to develop a good paragraph, in addition to the
techniques of support of topic sentence that have already been
discussed earlier, methods of developing paragraph should also
be made use of. The methods of developing paragraph that a
writing learner has to train and master are: process, extended defi-
nition, comparison-contrast, classification, and cause-effect.
B. Process
Process is a form of analysis in which the way to do some-
thing is taken apart and examined. A process paragraph is usu-
125
ally in chronological in organization. This means that the para-

graph is developed step by step: first step, second step, third step,
and so forth. As a result, the reader will be able to follow the
process being discussed clearly.
Model 1
HOW I PREPARE FOR A CANOE TRIP
It is not only the canoe trip itself that which pleases me; I
also like the preparation for the canoe trip. First, I enjoy shop-
ping for the food. When I go away for the whole weekend, I
buy quite a lot of fresh groceries instead of canned ones be-
cause I like cooking in a real sense. I buy dairy goods, eggs,
meat, vegetables, and potatoes. Next, I enjoy packing the tent,
which I usually set up to dry and air during the week previous
to the excursion. Although I have gone through this particular
routine many, many times, the simple taking down, folding,
and packing of the equipment always fills me with hopes and
expectations. Finally, checking the marine chart, which I gen-
erally do the night before I leave, thrills me. Looking over the
chart for alternative water roads and camping places almost
enables me to make the trip in my mind ahead of time. The
chart shows the archipelago outside Stockholm, a vast area
with thousands of small islands and straits. It really takes some
planning to choose a route for a weekend trip. Despite the fact
that I have paddled in this Baltic archipelago for many years,
I have so far succeeded in selecting different routes each time.
(Tommy Hansen: The Process of Composition)
Model 2
BECOMING AN ACUPUNCTURIST
A very rigid system of examinations, which consists of

two parts, is used to accredit acupuncturist in China. The first
part is a daylong oral scrutiny of a students’ knowledge by his
professors. Each student is questioned on his familiarity with
the principles of acupuncture, diagnostic techniques, and the
classic texts. The professors require near-perfection in the an-
126
swers. A single error often means failure. On the second day,

if the student passes the oral examination, he demonstrates
his ability with the needles of acupuncture on a life-sized
wooden statue of a man which is covered with wax and filled
with water. Tiny holes have been drilled through the wood at
approximately 165 acupuncture points on the body. There are
no markings on the figure and the holes are invisible under the
wax. The examiner poses a situation to the student. The stu-
dent then names a point on the body for the treatment of a
specific situation. If it is correct location, he is asked to demon-
strate how to insert the needles. The student chooses the right
kind of needle and pushes it through the wax, using the proper
(Kelly Cobb: The Process of Composition)

Exercises:
Write a paragraph of process of the following choices.
a) How to become a university student

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b) How to operate cellular phone

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127
c) How to save money in a bank

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d) How to get driving license

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e) How to cash money order

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C. Extended Definition
Extended definition is a method of analysis in which the sub-
ject is identified within a general class and then is distinguished
from all other members of that class.
128
Examples of simple formal definitions:

1. Widow : A human female whose husband has died.
2. Pencil : A writing instrument made of circular barrel sur-
rounding a single shaft graphite.
3. Cadillac : The most expensive, most luxurious car manufac-
tured by General Motors.
Model 1
THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
The hydrologic cycle is complex; it consists of the paths

through which water in nature circulates, and it has no begin-
ning or end. Water evaporates from the ocean and the land,
and it becomes a part of the atmosphere. Then the evaporated
moisture is carried in the atmosphere until it finally precipates
to the earth in the form of rain or snow. The precipated water
is intercepted or transpired by plants, or it is infiltrated into
the ground. Much of the intercepted and transpired water and
the surface runoff returns to the air through evaporation. How-
ever, some of the infiltrated water may percolate to the deeper
zones to be stored as groundwater which eventually flows into
streams as runoff. Finally, this water evaporates into the at-
mosphere and the hydrologic cycle continues.
(Jacinta Rivera: The Process of Composition)

Model 2
KACHINA DOLLS
A kachina doll is a small, carved, wooden, humanlike rep-

resentation of the supernatural beings worshiped by the Hopi
Indians. Kachinas are not gods: as their names denotes, ka for
respect and china for spirits of the dead, of mineral, plant, bird,
animal, and human entities. Kachinas are not gods, but rather
they are intermediaries or messengers to the gods. In the poly-
theistic Hopi society, all plants and animals, as well as some
inanimate things, have spirits which the Hopi visualize in hu-
man form. When a Hopi goes to gather yucca roots to use as
129
shampoo, he prays to the spirit of the first plant he finds and

passes it by, gathering the second one. When he goes hunting,
he prays to the spirit of the game and apologizes for having to
take its life. Thus the spirit of men, animals, and plant are the
kachinas most often carved into kachina dolls.
(LaDean McConahay: The Process of Composition)
Exercise
Write a paragraph in which you use extended definition as

the method paragraph development of the following topics:
a) Fast learners d) Honesty

b) Creole e) Black market
c) Domestic pet f) Vocational school
D. Comparison-Contrast
Comparison-contrast is a method of development that basi-
cally compares (show likeness) or contrast (show differences). The
purpose of comparison is to show how persons, places, and things
that are usually considered different are alike in some ways. The
opposite is true of contrast: the paragraph is written to show how
persons, places, and things that are often considered very much
alike are different in some ways.
General ways to organize a comparison-contrast are:
130
Model : Comparison
Raising houseplants involves nearly as much care and
knowledge as raising children. Both plants and children are sen-
sitive to their environments. For example, a plant will grow faster
and be much healthier if it is raised in an environment of ten-
der, loving care. The same is true for a child, who will be hap-
pier and healthier if his parents love and nurture him. Similarly,
proper care of houseplants requires a basic knowledge of plants
on the part of the owner. He must know, for example, which of
his plants need direct sunlight and which need to be kept in
shady places, and how much water each plant requires for the
best growth and appearances. Parents, too, must have a basic
knowledge of their children’s needs in order to provide what is
necessary for the best physical and mental development. Finally,
the owner of houseplants must be willing to provide the best
possible care for his plants. A child needs time and energy from
his parents, too, to play with him, to talk to him, and to care for
him. Generally speaking, happy, healthy plants and children
are the result of extra time, knowledge, and energy.
(Arden Boyer-Stephens: The Process of Composition)
Model : Contrast
Unlike the United States farmer, who harvest rice by us-

ing machines, Indonesian farmers use human power. Gener-
ally, American farmers use ploughs, combines, and harvesters
to get their grain from field to market. Men drive the expen-
sive machines which pick, separate, and bind the grain. These
men are paid good salaries for their work. In contrast, most
Indonesian harvesters are women. Their equipment consists
of a single tool called “anai-anai,” a small blade attached to a
bamboo stick. The women cut the stems of the rice handful by
handful and put the bundles into a basket which they carry
on their back. As soon as the basket is full, the harvester goes
to the owner. The wages depend on how many bundles they
cut, but normally they get one bundle of every eight.
(Endah Frey: The Process of Composition)
131
Model : Comparison and Contrast
When I read the story “The Country of the Blind,” I real-

ized that Nunez was not the only person who encountered a
problem by coming to a new world. As a foreign student here
in your country, I had the same problem. We both had a simi-
lar lack of communication. As the story says, Nunez felt weird
and sort of left out of their society. When I first came here, I
felt kind of funny and weird too, except that it was even worse
because of the language problem. The problems both Nunez
and I had were both concerned with the rules of our new soci-
ety. As it says in the story, the people had their own tribal
rules and customs. At first Nunez thought he could be the king
in the Country of the Blind. In somewhat the same way, many
of my countrymen thought they could be kings; after all, to be
a king does not necessarily mean to live in glory. It could also
mean to live in comfort without needing anyone. On the other
hand, Nunez came accidentally to the Country of the Blind,
while I chose to come here. Nunez entered the Country of the
Blind without any knowledge of the people, and he made many
mistakes. I have not had as difficult a time because I had more
information about the U.S. Because of this difference, Nunez
found his illusion impossible after living there for a while. How-
ever, even though I rarely feel comfortable in the U.S., I am
enjoying my life in a strange society.
(Keyvan Karbassiyoon: The Process of Composition)

Exercise
1. Write a paragraph in which you compare:
a) A bee and a boy
b) A flower and a girl
c) A cheater and a snake
d) A school and a battle field
e) A tongue and a sword
132
2. Write a paragraph in which you contrast:

a) A hotel and an apartment
b) A truck and a sedan
c) Shoes and sandals
d) A clinic and a hospital
e) Breakfast and lunch
E. Classification
Classification is a method of analysis that divides persons,
places, things, and ideas into groups according to a common ba-
sis. For example, “college students” can be classified in various
ways, according to various ruling principles:
Examples:
Model 1
Since I began to study English, I have noticed three persis-

tent errors in my speech; I think these errors are also the most
common mistakes made by Spanish-speaking students. The first
is that I speak sentences which are similar to Spanish. For in-
stance, I will say, “I have bought a blouse nice” instead of a nice
blouse. Another mistake that I often translate directly from Span-
ish, forgetting the characteristic idiomatic expressions in English
like “getting a long with.” Some vocabulary words can’t be trans-
lated literally: “silverware,” for example, is a common name in
English for eating utensils which aren’t necessarily made of sil-
ver. My final mistake in spoken English is the grammatical prob-
lem of verb endings: I will often say, “She do the shopping” in-
133
stead of does or “It is possible solve your problem” instead of to

solve. If I can correct these three problems in my English, I think
Americans will be able to understand me much better.
(Esther Gencel, Peru: The Process of Composition).
Model 2
The men who do the advertising for McDonald’s hamburg-

ers know that a good newspaper ad consists of four basic ele-
ments. The first is the “headline,” McDONALD’S, written in bold
letters to attract the readers. The second element, the “copy,” fol-
lows the headline; this written explanation stresses how good
McDonald’s hamburgers are and give good reasons why the
reader should buy that product. The third element is the illustra-
tion, a tantalizing picture of a delicious hamburger, which is a
powerful selling tool. The last element in an effective newspaper
advertisement is the “logotype”; for McDonald’s, this is the large
yellow arch which is the trademark of the company. If all four
elements are present in a newspaper, the reader will most likely
to be influenced to buy the product.
(Camila Moore, U.S. : The Process of Composition).
Exercises:
Write a paragraph in which you classify:
a) Education to formal, informal and non-formal

b) Formal education to primary education, secondary education,
tertiary education
c) Tertiary education to institute, college, and university
d) University to faculty, department, and major
e) Major to natural sciences and social sciences
F. Cause-Effect
Cause-effect method is a method that explains why things
are as they are, or why something happened. A cause-effect para-
graph is developed by inductive reasoning. This means that:
134
1. Observation of specific facts.

2. Generalization drawn from the facts.
3. The result: a statement of probable truth.
To successfully reason inductively, you must bear in mind that
1. Facts must be accurate

2. Facts must be complete
3. Facts must be relevant
4. Facts must be unbiased
Avoid the following common faults when writing a cause-effect

paper:
1. The post hoc fallacy: Time is the only link between cause
and effect
Example:
A black cat ran across in front of my motorcycle, and I im-

mediately had a flat tire: Such bad luck!
(Make certain that the cause-effect relationship is not merely

one of time. For example, a black cat crossing the road may
or may not have caused the flat tire on your motorcycle a
few minutes later}.
2. Oversimplifying: Ask yourself, “Is this the only cause?”

Example:
Studying English gave me a nervous breakdown.
(Consider all possibly relevant factors before attributing

causes. Perhaps studying English did result in a nervous
breakdown, but other causes may also have been ill health,
trouble at home, or a love affair)
3. Lack of support: Offer evidence

Example:
135
To reduce crime in the Indonesia, capital punishment should

be part of the judicial system.
(If explaining that capital punishment deters crime, do not

expect the reader to take your word for it. Give before-and-
after statistics or the testimony of reliable authorities)
4. Dogmatism
Example:
All guns should be banned.
(Reasonable thinking should be presented in reasonable, not

absolute, language: guard against words like all, every, never,
undoubtedly, certainly, and absolutely because inductive rea-
soning results in probable, not absolute truth).
Model 1
There are many reasons why I have been unhappy since

I have come to the U.S. First, the weather in the winter is so
cold, and I am frequently sick during that season. Also, be-
cause I don’t own a car, transportation is very difficult. In
order to go to the market or the doctor, I must take a taxi or
call a friend. Another reason I am not happy is that I am
very lonely. I miss my family terribly, and my English is not
good enough to make American friends. The most impor-
tant problem that I have is that my government has not
sent money to me from my country. Although I think that
the money will come soon, I am still very worried. Conse-
quently, I am very unhappy.
(Zhills Djankook, Iran: The Process of Composition)
Model 2
Be careful when buying canned food; if the container

is in poor condition, the food may be very dangerous to eat.
Contaminated canned food can cause serious illness; in fact,
botulinic bacterium, one of many bacteria present in con-
136
taminated food, release a fatal toxin which produces death

by suffocation. There are two causes by which canned food
can be infected. First, the containers may have been insuffi-
ciently coated with tin, so oxidation occurs and the can
swells. Second, and more dangerous, the product itself may
have been incompletely sterilized; therefore, many bacteria
remain multiply, swelling the can and making the food toxic.
To avoid eating contaminated food, never buy containers
which are inflated; as an additional precaution, boil any
canned food product for several minutes in order to kill
deadly bacteria which might be present.
(Maria Bertram, Argentina: The Process of Composition)
Model 3
When a person is very sick, sometimes the hospital is

the worst place for him. Hospital is not really very clean, so
pathogenic organism can quickly spread throughout the
building, and they can actually kill patients. Another seri-
ous problem is the extensive use of pain killers and other
drugs, as well as X-rays, which seem to be more for the
convenience and protection of hospital employees than for
the patients. Possibly less serious is the fact that hospital
food is not very nutritious; it is usually poorly balanced,
contains unnecessary preservatives and dyes, and tastes
terrible. Finally, a hospital is a depressing place; without
good spirits, it is difficult for a sick person to get well. For all
these reasons, a sick person might benefit from staying home
and taking care of himself.
(Dian Crimming, U.S.: The Process of Composition)
137
Exercises:
Exercise 1.
Write a cause-effect essay in which you don’t want to ride
motorcycle at night.
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Exercise 2.
Write an essay of cause-effect in which you don’t want to
ride motorcycle without using helmet.
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Exercise 3.
Write an essay of cause-effect in which you don’t want stay
at home alone at night.
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140
CHAPTER X
ESSAY WRITING
A. Introduction
So far you have learned and practiced things related to para-
graph. If you understand them well and feel that you don’t find
any problems in writing paragraph, it is believed that you will
not face any problem in writing essay. Why is it so? Because, ba-
sically, writing essay is not much different from writing para-
graph. This means that in writing an essay you must have topic
or idea to talk about as you do in writing a paragraph. Besides,
you also have to know how to organize the idea in a united and
coherent way, precisely the same as you organize your idea in a
paragraph. In addition to that, you should also be able to apply
the right grammar with appropriate choice of words in your es-
say – this is also what you should do in writing paragraph. Fi-
nally, in writing an essay you also have to know and be able to
use the right spelling and punctuation, for which this is also re-
quired in writing a paragraph. If all the things are the same, how
can one differentiate an essay from a paragraph?
141
B. Definition
According to Oshima and Hogue (1983) an essay is a piece
of writing several paragraphs long instead of just one or two para-
graphs. While for Reid (1982), an essay is a series of paragraphs
about one subject. From these two definitions it is clear then that
an essay is a piece of composition that discusses about one idea
which is elaborated in several paragraphs.
The consideration in putting the idea in several paragraphs
is that it is usually too broad if it is written only in one paragraph.
That is why dividing the main idea into several sub-topics and
spreading them in some paragraphs is a prerequisite if a good
composition is the expected product.
Example 1.
Why People Save Books
Many people who like to read also save the books they
have read. If you walk into any home, you are likely to see
anywhere from a single bookshelf to a whole library full of all
kinds of books. I know a family whose library has shelves reach-
ing up to their ceiling; they keep a ladder for climbing up to
the high books. Obviously, they have collected books for many
years and though rarely actually open the books again; they
keep them on the shelves, dusted and lined up neatly. Why do
people save their books. There may be several reasons, but three
stand out.
One reason people save their book is to use them as refer-
ence materials. People whose job training including studying
a lot of text-book material may save some of those books for
future reference. A doctor, for instance, may keep his Gray’s
Anatomy and his pharmacology books; an English teacher will
hold on to The Norton Anthology of British Literature and other
anthologies and novels for reference; a lawyer usually keeps
her case books. But it isn’t only the professionals who save
their books. People who like to cook keep recipe books. Those
interested in electronic equipment hold on to their books about
stereos, computers, videotape machines, and the like. Many
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ESSAY WRITING
families keep encyclopedias and almanacs handy for their chil-

dren to use for school. Having your own reference book avail-
able is so much more convenient than running to the library
every time you want to check a fact.
Another reason some people save books is to make a good
impression. Some think that a library full of the literary clas-
sics, dictionaries, and books about art, science, and history make
them look well read and therefore sophisticated. Of course,
this impression may be inaccurate. Some have never bothered
to read the majority of those books at all. In fact, a few people
even have libraries with fake books. Also, some people like to
reveal to visitors their wide range of tastes and interests. They
can subtly reveal their interests in Peruvian art, Indian music,
philosophy, or animals without saying a word.
While some people may keep books for practical refer-
ence and for conveying an impression, I suspect that there is a
deeper reason. People who enjoy reading have discovered
magic of books. Each book, whether it’s The Treasury of
Houseplants or Murder on the Orient Express, has transported
the reader to another place. Therefore, each book really repre-
sents an experience from which the reader may have grown
or learned something. When I sit in my study, I am surrounded
by my whole adult life. The Standard First Aid and Personal Safety
manual, in addition to providing information, reminds me of
the first-aid course I took and how more assured I felt as a
result. Bulfinch’s Mythology brings the oral history of Western
civilization to my fingertips, reminding me of my link with
other times and people. Of course, all of the novels have be-
come part of the mosaic of my life. In short, saving books makes
me feel secure as I hold on to what they have given me.
In fact, if you think about it, security is at the bottom of all
these reasons. It’s a secure feeling to know you have informa-
tion at hand when you need it. There is a kind of security,
even though it may be false, in knowing you make a good im-
pression. Finally, books that you’ve read and kept envelop you
with a warm and cozy cloak of your life.
(Taken from Refining Composition Skills)
143
Example 2.
Latin Pop Music Hits the United States
Since the late 1990s, Latin music has exploded onto the
U.S. music scene like never before. There has been a steady
increase in the record sales of Latin music albums devoted to
Latin music. Musical talents from the Spanish speaking world
have broken the U.S. market wide open. In the process, they
have added a little Latin spice and given American musicians
some friendly competition. With sales at the top of the charts
and Latin music sensations continuing to grow in popularity,
Latin music is not just another fad; it is here to stay. Every
revolution has its leaders, and the recent Latin invasion, as it
has been called, certainly has a few pioneering rockers that
have helped to set the stage for the Latin pop explosion. Sing-
ers such as Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, and Shakira have been
particularly helpful in bringing Latin beats to U.S. sound waves.
Gloria Estefan was one of the first Latin American artists
to successfully incorporate Latin beats and sound with Ameri-
can pop music to produce hit songs across the United States.
With her group, The Miami Sound Machine, Estefan began in-
corporating Cuban sounds into her pop-inspired music early
in the 1990’s. She quickly gained recognition as a powerful
Latin singer whose unique music won the hearts and ears of
many American music lovers. Pioneering artists such as Gloria
Estefan have paved the way for the Latin superstars who fol-
lowed. They helped tune the American ear to Latin music and
continue to play an integral role in the developing Latin pop
scene.
One of the more recent Latin pop sensations, and quite
possibly the most successful, is Puerto Rico native Ricky Mar-
tin. Martin’s unforgettable performance at the 1999 Grammy
awards made the singer one of the most famous pop icons of
the late 1990s. Soon after his performance, Martin began grind-
ing out such fiercely Latin-inspired hits as “Living La Vida
Loca” and “Shake Your Bon-Bon” which earned the singer
worldwide respect and helped to secure his role as king of Latin
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ESSAY WRITING
pop music. In this respect, Ricky Martin set the stage for an
unmistakable Latin pop sound that quickly dismissed any
doubts about the future of Latin pop music all over the Ameri-
cas.
The latest Latin sensation to arrive on the American pop
scene is Colombian singer Shakira. Shakira’s long-awaited
American debut album, Laundry Service, introduced a unique
combination of Latin sounds and American pop-rock that has
captivated critics and secured her a spot in the American pop
scene. Shakira’s distinctive style and unmistakable voice have
been wholeheartedly embraced by the U.S. public. Her first single,
“Whenever Whenever” met great success. Shakira is sure to have
no problem challenging the American music industry.
Clearly Latin music has had a growing effect on current
pop trends. With Latin vocalists such as Gloria Estefan paving
the way and others like Ricky Martin setting the stage for Latin
pop music sensations such as Shakira, Latin pop will not be
leaving the United States any time soon. In short, if the suc-
cesses of the later artists are any indication, Latin pop music
will continue to grow as driving force in the American music
industry of tomorrow.
(taken from Ready to Write More)
C. Parts of an Essay
How many parts does an essay usually have? The shortest
essay at least consists of three paragraphs. They are: introductory
paragraph, body (content) paragraph, and concluding paragraph.
Sometimes, an essay consists of more than three paragraphs.
Very often, it consists of four, five, six, or more paragraphs, de-
pending on the number of sub-topics that will be discussed in the
body (content) paragraph. How many paragraphs do the two
essays in the examples above have? Yes, you are right. Each es-
say has five paragraphs, i.e. 1 introductory paragraph, 3 devel-
oping paragraph, and 1 concluding paragraph.
The following chart may explain what has been discussed
above.
145
D. Functions of Paragraph
a. Introductory Paragraph
What is the function of an introductory paragraph, the func-
tion of body (content) paragraph, and the function of concluding
paragraph?
Introductory paragraph, as the name implies, functions to
guide or lead the reader(s) to what is going to be discussed in the
essay. In other words, its function is to introduce the topic or idea
that is going to be written in the whole composition. It is like a
key which is used to open the door of the main entrance of a
building.
Introductory paragraph consists of two parts: general state-
ment and thesis statement. The use of this general statement, which
is usually stated in the first sentence, is meant to introduce the
146
ESSAY WRITING
topic of the essay and to give background information on the topic.

Reid (1982) lists the purposes of a thesis statement like this:
1. The thesis should be the strongest, clearest statement in the
essay; it should contain no ambiguities or vague terms.
2. The thesis should come at the beginning of the essay, usually
at the end of the introductory paragraph.
3. The thesis sentence must not be a simple statement of fact that
requires no elaboration. A simple statement of fact has no pos-
sibilities for development.
Example: Mrs. Brown, my neighbor, has four cats and three dogs.
4. The thesis must not be expressed as a question, for a question
contains no attitude or opinion. The answer to the question is
the thesis statement.
5. The thesis will contain controlling ideas that will be used in
the topic sentences of the body paragraphs of the essay.
6. The thesis may contain an opinion or a judgment that can be

explained, clarified, and illustrated in the body paragraphs of
the essay.
Example :
7. The thesis in expository essay might be written as a statement

of intent if the statement indicates that the essay that follows
will explain that statement.
Example:
Thesis statement, on the other hand, states specific topic and

lists major subtopics that will be discussed in the body of an es-
say. Furthermore, it often indicates the method of organization
such as chronological order, or order of importance. With this
condition, it is not too exaggerated to say that thesis statement is
147
the most important sentence in an introductory paragraph, since

thesis statement:
1. states the main topic.
2. lists subdivisions of the topic.
3. may indicate the method of organization of the entire paper.
4. is usually the last sentences in the introductory paragraph.
If it is visualized, the introductory paragraph may look like this:
Exercises:
1. Analyze why a presidential campaign was unsuccessful.
2. Discuss the reasons you choose your current major.
3. Suggest ways to solve the problem of high unemployment in
our country.
4. Explain how to install a program on your computer.
5. Describe the types of friends you have.
6. Evaluate the differences between two treatments for back pain.
7. Teach your co-workers how to use a new copy machine.
8. Describe the categories of movie ratings.
Model 1 : The introductory paragraph
A person born in the twentieth century has seen a lot of

changes take place in almost all areas of human life. Some
people are excited by the challenges that these changes offer;
others want to return to the simpler, less automated life style
of the past. Living in the twentieth century has certain advan-
tages such as higher standard of living, but it also has some
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ESSAY WRITING
disadvantages such as a polluted environment, the deperson-

alization of human relationship, and the weakening of spiri-
tual values.
From the above model can you find the general statement
about the subject discussed? Yes, you are right. The sentences “A
person born in the twentieth century has seen a lot of changes take
place in almost all areas of human life” and the sentence, “Some
people are excited by the challenges that these changes offer; others
want to return to the simpler, less automated life style of the past” all
give background of the topic. They are general statement of the
topic to be discussed.
The rest of the sentence “Living in the twentieth century has
certain advantages such as higher standard of living, but it also has
some disadvantages such as a polluted environment, the depersonal-
ization of human relationship, and the weakening of spiritual values”
is a thesis statement.
Based on that thesis statement, a reader may expect what
the writer is going to discuss in the essay. Do you know what?
Yes, he or she will talk about the advantages of living in the twen-
tieth century, such high living standard, as well as the disadvan-
tages of living in that era, such as polluted environment, the dep-
ersonalization of human relationship, and the weakening of spiri-
tual values.
Practice 1 : Identifying Thesis Statement

Instruction:
Read the following introductory paragraphs which are in incor-
rectly ordered. Rewrite each paragraph, beginning with the most gen-
eral statement first. Then add each sentence in the correct order until
the introduction becomes more specific. Write the thesis statement last.
Paragraph 1
(1) The heavy traffic problem can be solved by building
rapid transit systems from the suburbs to the cities, by improv-
ing public transportations within the cities, and by forming
car pools. (2) The traffic congestion is caused by the thousands
149
of cars that come into the cities from the suburban areas as
well as from the thousands of cars within the city limits. (3)
One of the most serious problems that most big cities are faced
with is traffic congestion. (4) This mammoth problem must be
resolved before it gets worse.
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Paragraph 2
(1) However, in others, the nuclear family is the norm,
with only the parents and young children sharing the same
house. (2) People in different cultures all over the world have
different systems for family life. (3) In most cultures, people
live in extended families in which several generations share
the same house. (4) If this new system becomes widespread, it
could have enormous effects on American society. (5) On the
positive side, living together might reduce the divorce rate in
the United States; on the negative side, it might lead to the
eventual disintegration of the family altogether. (6) In the
United States, young people are experimenting with still an-
other system of family life: living together without marriage.
.................................................................................................
.................................................................................................
.................................................................................................
.................................................................................................
.................................................................................................
Paragraph 3
(1) Although scientists have experimented with different
methods of prediction, from observing animal behavior to
measuring radio signals from quasars, they have not proven
successful. (2) Earthquakes are the most destructive natural
disasters known to man, in terms of millions of deaths and
billions of dollars in property loss that they cause. (3) Despite
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ESSAY WRITING
these heavy losses, scientists are still unable to predict earth-

quakes. (4) This paper will review the history of the science of
earthquakes prediction, then discuss each of the methods in
more detail, and finally present data indicating the success-
failure ratios of each method.
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Practice 2 : Determining Method of Organization
Instruction :
a) Study these thesis statements from two different essays on the
topic of the status of women in Antah Brantah, an imaginary
country. Which method of organization (chronological order,
or comparison and contrast) does one indicate?
1. Beginning in World War II and continuing through the pe-
riod of economic boom, the status of women in Antah
Brantah has changed remarkably.
Method of Organization : ...............................................
2. Although the status of women in Antah Brantah has im-
proved remarkably in recent years, it is still very low when
compared to the status of women in the countries of the
Western world.
Method of Organization : ...............................................
b) In the following two statements, both the method of organiza-
tion and the major sub-divisions of the topic are indicated. Each
subdivision will be the topic of a paragraph in the body. How
many paragraphs will the body of each essay probably con-
tain? Underline the topic of each paragraph.
1. The status of women in Antah Brantah has changed re-
markably due to increased educational opportunities and
changes in the country’s law.
Probable number of paragraphs: ....................................
151
2. The status of women in Antah Brantah has improved re-

markably in recent years in the areas of economic indepen-
dence, political rights, educational opportunities, and so-
cial status.
Probable number of paragraphs: ................................
Practice 3: Completing Thesis Statement

Instruction:
Complete the following introductory paragraphs by adding the-
sis statement for each.
1. The life expectancy of the average person is increasing be-

cause of ——————————————————————
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
2. Technology is changing our lives in three important areas:
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
3. Foreign students have a difficult time taking notes in class
due to ———————————————————————
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
4. A teacher must have the following qualifications: ————
——————————————————————————
——————————————————
5. The purpose of this paper is to ————————————
——————————————————————————
—————————————————————
6. Television commercials are insulting to the average viewer
because ——————————————————————
——————————————————————————
—————————————————————————
7. Owning an automobile is a necessity both ———————
——————————————————————————
———————————————————
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ESSAY WRITING
8. The basic causes of inflation are ———————————

——————————————————————————
—————————————————————
9. Poverty creates negative consequences for society, such as
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————————
10.Living together without marriage is becoming increasingly
popular for three reasons: ——————————————
——————————————————————————
——————————————————————
Practice 4.
Develop the following thesis statement into an introductory
paragraph.
1. Watching television is not a waste of time.
2. Communicating in a foreign language can create some embar-
rassing misunderstandings.
3. Television commercials are entertaining.
4. My reasons for coming to State University center around the
services it provides.
5. In order to make a good impression at a job interview, you
should prepare well for the interview.
b. Content Paragraph
The goal of each body paragraph is to state a topic sentence
that is directly related to the thesis, and to support that topic sen-
tence.
1. Each makes a point, a solid point that is enlarged into a block
of support.
2. One point is made for each paragraph, and each paragraph is
approximately 125 to 150 words (four to eight sentences)
3. Each paragraph is a self-contained, fully developed unit. Like
the essay itself, every paragraph has three parts: the begin-
ning, the middle, and the end.
153
A. Beginning: Topic sentence that is directly connected to the

thesis
B. Middle: Several sentences that explain and illustrate the
topic sentence.
C. End: A conclusion that draws together the point made in
the paragraph.
4. Each paragraph has an overall form of organization:

A. Chronological
B. Spatial
C. Most important to least important point or vice-versa.
5. Each paragraph uses supporting techniques to prove the va-
lidity of the topic sentence:
A. Facts
B. Examples
C. Physical description
D. Personal experience
6. Each paragraph follows the method of development that will
best interest the audience:
A. Definition
B. Comparison-contrast
C. Process
D. Classification
E. Cause-effect
c. Concluding Paragraph
To end the discussion in your composition, you close

it with a concluding paragraph. In this paragraph you
tell the reader that you have completed the essay. This
is achieved by either writing a summary of the main
points discussed in the body of the essay or by
rewriting the thesis statement in different words. Then
you add your final comment on the subject. Since this
154
ESSAY WRITING
is your last opportunity to make your point, you should

write a strong, effective message that will be
remembered.
To clarify what has been discussed, let us see the
introductory paragraph about “the advantages and
disadvantages of living in the twentieth century” again.
Then, compare the concluding paragraph made and
check if it is a summary of the main points of the essay
or is it a paraphrase of the thesis statement.
Introductory Paragraph
A person born in the twentieth century has seen a lot of

changes take place in almost all areas of human life. Some
people are excited by the challenges that these changes offer;
others want to return to the simpler, less automated life style
of the past. Living in the twentieth century has certain advan-
tages such as higher standard of living, but it also has some
disadvantages such as a polluted environment, the deperson-
alization of human relationship, and the weakening of spiri-
tual values.
Concluding Paragraph
In conclusions, although the twentieth century has indeed

given us a lot of advantages by making us richer, healthier,
and freer to enjoy our lives, it has, in my opinion, not made us
wiser. The twentieth century has also made out Earth dirtier,
our people less humane, and out spiritual lives poorer. We
should continue to enjoy the benefits of technological advance-
ment because they free us to pursue our interests and goals.
However, we must make a concerted effort to preserve our
natural environment for future generations. Moreover, we
should take the time now to make our lives more meaningful
in an increasingly impersonal, mechanized world.
155
Practice
Instruction
Write concluding paragraphs for the following introductions.
Paragraph 1
The busy schedules that most Americans face from day to

day have created a rising health problem in the United States.
Stress affects almost everyone, from the highly pressured ex-
ecutive to the busy homemaker or student. It can cause a vari-
ety of physical disorders, ranging from headaches to stomach
ulcers and even alcoholism. Stress is not a problem that can be
cured like a common cold; however, it can be controlled. A
person can learn to control stress by setting realistic goals, en-
joying a hobby and/or physical exercise, and by maintaining
a good, warm relationship with family and friends.
—————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
Paragraph 2
Television is the most popular form of entertainment in
the American household. People of all ages use this medium to
entertain themselves for an average of four hours a day. Thus,
television has had a tremendous influence on its viewers, es-
pecially children. Scientists now say that children can be ad-
versely affected by constantly watching television. This is due
to the fact that they participate less in physical activities, spend
less time reading and studying, and see a world of violence
that can affect their own feelings of security.
—————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
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ESSAY WRITING
E. Transitions Between Paragraphs

Transition signals are important not only within paragraphs
but also between paragraphs. If you write two or more paragraphs,
you need to show the relationship between your first and second
paragraph, between your second paragraph and third paragraph,
and so forth.
Linking between paragraphs is like linking a chain. The links
of a chain connect the chain; they hold it together. Similarly, a
transition signal between two paragraphs links your ides together.
Transition signal between paragraphs can be in form of word,
phrase, or clause. Study at the following example:
One of the most important changes that manage-
ment has made in industry in recent years is the sched-
uling of flexible work hours for their employees. Work-
ers are given the option of choosing when they will work.
This allows them more leisure time for family and fun.
Flexi time has obvious advantages for both workers and
management although it may not be practical all types
of businesses.
Transition The first advantage is increased production per hour-work.

Word (+ supporting sentences)
Transition A second advantage is that factory workers are happier.

Word (+ supporting sentences)
Transition In addition to increased output and worker satisfaction,

Phrase factory managers report that absenteeism has declined.
(+ supporting sentences)
Transition Although flextime has produced these three positive

Clause results in some industries, it is not as advan
tageous in all types of businesses. (+ supporting
sentences)
157
Practice
Instruction
Connect the ideas in the following paragraphs by adding a transi-
tion word, phrase, or clause to the topic sentences of the second, the
third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs. Try to vary the linking expres-
sions you use. You may rewrite the topic sentences if necessary.
The supply of fresh water has not been a major prob-

lem for most countries in the world because a rainy sea-
son is part of their yearly climate conditions. However,
in countries where the rainy season is very sparse, scien-
tists must constantly seek ways to increase fresh supplies
of this precious element. Government planners in South
America and the Middle East have been trying to devise
new ways of increasing their nations’ supplies of fresh
water. The first method being considered is the use of
desalinization plants, which would remove salt from sea-
water. Another method being considered is towing ice-
bergs. According to this method, large icebergs from
Antarctica would be wrapped in cloth or plastic, tied to
powerful tugboats by strong ropes, and towed to the dry
country. While this plan may have some potential, there
are certain practical problems that must be solved.
——————————————————————
——————————————————————— is
the expense. According to estimates, it would cost be-
tween $50 and $100 million to tow a single 100-ton ice-
bergs from Antarctica to, for example, the coast of Saudi
Arabia.
——————————————————————
——————————————————— is the possi-
bility that iceberg would melt en route. No one knows if
icebergs could be effectively insulated during such a long
journey. At the very least, there is the possibility that it
would break up into smaller pieces, which create still
other problems.
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ESSAY WRITING
——————————————————————
——————————————————— there is the
danger that a huge block of ice off an arid coast could
have unexpected environment effects. The ice could dras-
tically change the weather along the coast, and it would
almost certainly affect the fish population.
——————————————————————
———————————————————— the cost of
providing fresh water from icebergs would less than the
cost of providing water by desalinization, according to
most estimates. It would cost between 50c to 60c per cubic
meter to get water from an iceberg, as apposed to the
80c per cubic meter it costs to get the same amount by
desalinization.
F. Coherence Devices
In order that a well-organized essay can be achieved in which
there are topic sentences that are directly related to the thesis,
body paragraphs that support each topic sentence, and a strong
conclusion, there must be certain devices that can stick them to-
gether. In other words, the smooth flow of ideas in the essay partly
depends on these devices. What are these devices?
1. The use of pronouns: when a sentence depends on the sen-
tence before it for a pronoun referent, the two sentences “stick
together.”
Example:
English is considered an international language. It is spoken by
more than 260 millions people all over the world.
2. The repetition of key words and phrases: repeating words

within a paragraph, particularly the controlling ideas in the
topic sentence, will make your paragraph seem smoother.
Example:
Pollution of our environment has occurred for centuries, but it has
become a significant health problem only within the last century.
Atmospheric pollution contributes to respiratory disease, and to
159
lung cancer in particular. Other health problems directly related

to air pollutants include heart disease, eye irritation, and severe
allergies.
3. Transitional words and phrases: these words generally have

very little specific meaning in English, but they indicate the
relationship of one idea to another. Below is a list of some of
the transitions available to the writer. These transitions are
arranged according to their use.
a. Transition
1. To signal relationship in time, use chronological transitions
presently the next day
before thereupon
meanwhile thereafter
at length soon afterward
immediately afterward
following this by that time
after that before hand
next with that out of the way
while at that moment
later within an hour
soon from then on
when when I returned
at last first
shortly second
earlier then
160
ESSAY WRITING
2. To signal relationship in space, use spatial transitions

a little farther on at the edge of the clearing
in the next room at the center of the circle
at that altitude across the way
between those cities about a foot to the left
beyond this point just to the right
3. To signal that what follows is similar to what precedes, use com-
parison transitions
likewise once again

similarly in much the same way
at the same time once more
in like manner
4. To signal a contradiction or contrast, use contrast transitions
but conversely
however whereas
though even so
nevertheless although
yet unlike
still nonetheless
surely in spite of this
on the other hand for all that
on the contrary in contrast
notwithstanding
5. To signal that what follows is an illustration, a qualification, or an

example, use middle paragraph transitions.
for example for instance

likewise specifically
frequently in particular
similarly to illustrate
161
whenever that is
in general occasionally
generally especially
usually specifically
6. To signal what follows is a result of what precedes, use cause-effect

transitions.
as a result so
as a consequence since
consequently thus
therefore another
hence then
wherefore in other words
for this reason at last
and that is why because
on the whole first
and so second
finally accordingly
all in all
7. To signal that what follows is additional or supplementary, use

middle paragraph transitions.
furthermore besides
moreover as if that were not enough
and indeed
in fact first, second, etc.
in addition also
then, too or
again nor
162
ESSAY WRITING
8. To signal that what follows is quite expected, quite natural, or obvi-

ously true, use middle paragraph transitions.
to be sure it follows, then, that

of course for that matter
naturally as a matter of fact
surely
9. For concession, use counterargument transitions
of course certainly
doubtless to be sure
to doubt that granted that
10. To illustrate that what follows is a repetition or intensification of

that which proceeds, use end of paragraph or conclusion transi-
tions.
in other words indeed

to repeat in any case
as we have seen in fact
as noted earlier besides
to put it another way
11.To signal that what follows is a summary, use conclusion transitions.
therefore all in all

in short in a word
on the whole in conclusion
what we have, then in sum
to summarize in summary
in brief finally
to conclude
163
Exercise
Put appropriate connectors in this paragraph.
Shopping at K-Mart enriches my vocabulary.

__________________ I don’t like spending money, I like shop-
ping ____________ it gives me a chance to practice my English.
K-Mart is the best place to practice. ____________________ it is
a large store, there are many customer assistants who speak En-
glish fluently. I look for my items in many parts of the store,
______________________ in each area I find a different customer
assistant who is eager to help me practice English.
______________________ I am careful to read the section names
______________________ the information on the package of the
items I wish to buy. _________________, every time I shop at K-
Mart I leave the store with some new words that increase my
English vocabulary.
b. Paragraph H ook
In addition to the use of transitions, a writer can also make

his/her composition more coherent by utilizing paragraph hook.
The way(s) to utilize the paragraph hook are as follows:
1. The last word of the first paragraph is hooked into the first
sentence of the second paragraph and is used to introduce
another idea.
The constitution of the Japanese government guarantees our na-

tion the right freedom in artistic expression.
2. Another word (words) in the first paragraph is hooked into

the first sentence of the next paragraph.
The Censorship Bureau is very strict in its definition of “obscene,”

and so many works that are considered art by other countries are
banned in Japan.
3. A word (or words) from a sentence in the middle of the first

paragraph is hooked into the first sentence of the next para-
graph; a hook from the last sentence is used as well.
164
ESSAY WRITING
Selection of what movies to see or what books to read is an indi-

vidual adult activity in most free society.
4. Idea hook; Instead of repeating an exact word or phrase, an

idea (or ideas) in the first paragraph is referred to by using
synonym for the idea in the first sentence of the second para-
graph.
In a democratic society, the people should have the right to choose

what forms of entertainment they want to enjoy.
5. A combination of transitions and paragraph hooks is often the

most effective means of linking paragraphs.
The fact is that the constitution of the Japanese government guar-

antees our nation the right of freedom in artistic expression.
Because the Censorship Bureau is very strict in its definition of
“obscene,” many of the works that are considered art by other coun-
tries are banned in Japan.
Furthermore, selection of what movies to see and what books to
read is an individual adult activity in most free societies. In a demo-
cratic society, however, the people should have the right to choose
what forms of entertainment they want to enjoy.
Example:
In 1889, when the British occupied the Sudan, their first
aim was to find land for planting cotton because many textile
industries in England at that time needed cotton. After a seri-
ous study by the English agricultural experts, the Gezira area
was chosen for the establishment of an agricultural project.
The choice was excellent; even today, although there are now
other agricultural schemes in the Sudan, still the Gezira Project
is the most successful one.
The main for the success of the Gezira Project is its soil.
The clay allows the construction of canals which do not re-
quire expensive concrete. In addition to that, the Gezira area
165
slopes downwards the north and west. This makes the sitting
of the canal system relatively easy. Furthermore, a slight ridge
runs from Hag village to Maids village along the eastern edge
of the project. The main canal from the dam at Sennartown
follows the line of the ridge; consequently, this gives good irri-
gation over the whole area.
(Hashim El-Hassan, Sudan: The Process of Composition)
166
ASSESSING WRITING
CHAPTER XI
ASSESSING WRITING
A. Introduction
The purpose of educational program as the end to be
achieved; the content, teaching procedures and learning experi-
ences as the means to achieve this purpose and some means of
assessing whether or not the educational ends have been achieved
are interrelated components in teaching and learning. A good
objective of instruction will not be able to be realized unless it is
conducted in a good process. Also, an ideal objective of instruc-
tion which is carried out in a good way will not represent the real
result of teaching and learning outcome if the way to evaluate
and the instrument used to measure the achievement is not the
right one. That is why the ability to plan a lesson, the ability to
carry out the lesson, and the ability to evaluate whether the ob-
jective of the lesson is attained or not, are prerequisites for a good
teacher.
The focus of our discussion now is the third prerequisite, i.e.
the ability to assess students’ attainment in the teaching and learn-
ing. This does not mean that the other two prerequisites are less
important. However, among these three prerequisites, assessing
writing task seems to be the most crucial. At least, this is what
167
most students experienced when they were practicing teaching.

The same experience was also claimed by most English teachers
who were taking part and became participants of PLPG.
It is based on that notion that an appropriate way of assess-
ing students’ task should be disseminated and mastered by lan-
guage teacher.
B. Means of Assessment
There are a number of instruments that can be used to assess
students’ achievement. The most common and popular one among
the teachers and students is test. Seen from the way to give score
to students’ task, in general, there are two kinds of test. The first
is called objective test and the second one is called subjective test.
In an objective test, the teacher may choose one of the fol-
lowing: multiple choice, true-false, fill in the blank, or matching;
even he may combine some forms of these objective test. What-
ever the choice is, one thing is clear, by using objective test a teacher
can give score to students task consistently. This is because of the
nature of the test itself which provides only one right answer in
the test. Even, if the key answer is provided, an uneducated or
untrained people can give score to that test. The degree of consis-
tency of scoring can be maintained by the scorer. In other words,
the degree of reliability is perfect.
C. Subjective Test
What is described above does not exit in subjective or essay
test. In an essay test, the problem of consistency in giving score or
the problem of reliability of score is not as high as in objective test.
As the name implies, an examiner who gives score to the same
task at different time may give score differently. It is also true that
two scorers who give score to the same task at the same time may
also give different score too. This is possible to happen because
the value of “rightness” or the “truth” of an answer given by
student depends on how and in what aspect the scorer values
the answer. In Gronlund and Linn statement, “the distinctive
feature of essay questions is the freedom of response” (1990:212)
168
ASSESSING WRITING
To avoid inconsistency in giving score, a guideline for giving

score for an essay test must be available. This is needed because
of the fact that the answer is not a matter of right or wrong.
Rather, it is a matter of “how much right” or “how much wrong”
the answer is. For this purpose, a rubric is needed.
Following are some suggestions for scoring essay questions:
1. Prepare an outline of the expected answer in advance.
2. Use the scoring method that is most appropriate.
3. Decide how to handle factors that are irrelevant to the learning out-
comes being measured.
4. Evaluate all answers to one question before going on to the next one.
5. Evaluate the answers without looking at the pupil’s name.
D. Assessing Writing
Writing skill is one of the skills that cannot be assessed by
objective test. This is especially true for free writing such as para-
graph or essay. The nature of writing paragraph or essay does
not enable for this to occur. For example, though writing para-
graph or essay demands the learner to have the ability to deter-
mine the topic, to organize the ideas, to use the right grammar, to
choose the right words, and to apply the appropriate mechanics
that meet the convention of writing, it also gives great freedom
and opportunity for the learner to “play, to explore, and to ma-
nipulate those things. The result is, the product of writing that he
produces may be felt strange for some readers but it actually re-
flects the “taste” and style of the writer. In this case the issue of
scoring may become problem. This is especially true if the scorer
does not have the notion and vision with the writer about what is
being discussed in the writing.
There are two ways of assessing writing assignment. The first
way is holistic, and the second way is analytic. By using holistic
way, the teacher as the scorer can give score to the task quickly.
This is possible to happen because the score is given based on the
first impression of reading. However, this scoring system does
not have pedagogical values for the students. By only giving score
to the piece of writing, the students do not get feedback from the
169
teacher. Consequently, they do not know what weakness and

what strength do they have in their writing.
Following is two examples of holistic scoring; the first is pure
holistic scoring or it is called General Impression Marking, and the
second one is Modified Holistic Scoring.
A Holistic Scoring (General Impression Marking)

6—Excellent
5—Good
4—High
3—Low
2—Weak
1—Very Weak
B Modified Holistic Scoring

Below is the modified holistic scoring from Atajo Teacher’s
Guide, University of Delaware.
In the latter, the examiner gives score based on the com-

ponents of writing. Of course, this type assessment is more
complicated and takes longer time because the score should
give score to each of the components of writing. The benefit of
this assessment is that it has educational value for the students.
170
ASSESSING WRITING
Being corrected in this way, the students will know what are
their strengths and also their weaknesses in their writing.
What are the components of writing? According to Jacobs
at al. (1981:30), the components of writing that should be evalu-
ated are: content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and
mechanics.
Below are some models of analytic method of scoring. The
name of components for each model might be different. How-
ever, essentially they refer to the same thing. One is model pro-
posed by John Anderson and based on Harris (1968)
Analytic Model of Scoring proposed by John Anderson

and based on Harris (1968)
171
The following pages give guidelines for scoring writing

task of high school students. The first guideline is intended to
score short functional text and the other one is guideline for
scoring text of genre.
172
ASSESSING WRITING
Guideline for Scoring Writing

(Scoring Short Functional Text at SMP/MTs)
Sumber: Pusat Penilaian Pendidikan-BALITBANG
173
Pedoman Penskoran Writing

(Khusus teks genre at SMP/MTs)
Sumber: Pusat Penilaian Pendidikan-BALITBANG

Practices:
Following are five examples of students writing tasks. The
topic of the writing task is “Too many things to do, but too little
time to have”. The kind of writing is an argumentative essay
combined with expository one. What you have to do is to as-
sess and give score those writings in two ways. First, holisti-
cally, and second, analytically.
174
ASSESSING WRITING
Writing task 1
Too many things to do, but too little time to have
As a University student, we often have in situation where
we are followed by deadline. Almost everyday we got assignments
from different lecturer and subject, whereas we don’t have enough
time or full time to study in one day. We often feel difficult to finish
it.But, however, it is our responsibility and we should be in finish-
ing it on time. So, the solution of this problem is we should manage
our time by ourselves effectively.
In manage our time, we should systematic to make our
work finish perfectly. We can begin from make routine list for ev-
eryday. Before we get to sleep and wake up in the morning , better
we read the routine list for plan and begin our work and do it ac-
cording to schedule. When we get assignment from lecturer, we can
do it in the spare time from the most important thing to less impor-
tant thing. We don’t need to be panic to do this if it is too much. Just
calm down and do it with happy felling and full responsibility.
Well, if you got too many things to do in the little time ,
you just do it with discipline. Exactly , you can finish it perfectly
and on time without worrying the deadline.
M.A.B.
Writing task 2
Too Many Things To Do, Too Little Time To Have
Everybody has many activities and many things should be

done everyday. As a university student, my obligation is study and
beside attending the lecture I also have many assignments from
every subject which should be finished in few days. These add my
activities in one day and I need more time to accomplish many things
include the assignments. When the time is not enough to do many
things and there is no more extra time, many problems would hap-
pen and it make me panic in a certain day. So, to avoid the prob-
lems which probably occur, I need to manage my daily activities
and my time effectively.
175
What should I do first? The important things that cannot be

delayed such eating, take a bath, praying, studying by control
the duration of time in doing the activities. Next I focus to finish
my assignments one by one, but don’t forget to take a break for
a minute. It is necessary to refresh the brain so I can continue
my work. The thing which is not too important , if possible it is
better to be delayed to the next day. In the situation where the
time is not enough to do all, make an schedule help me to man-
age the activities start from early morning into evening efficiently
and don’t ever waste time with doing nothing.
Facing the days with full time for studying and doing the
assignment is characteristic and habit of a student in univer-
sity. So, the student should have a schedule to control the time
and doing the activities efficiently, and everything can be ac-
complished perfectly.
F.K.S.
Writing task 3
Too Many Things to Do, but Too Little Time to Have
Someone absolutely has many things to do in his days. I’m

sure you must ever experience it too. How if you have limited time
allotment to complete each of them? You must be stressed. The more
you are stressed, the more tasks you can’t complete perfectly or you
even can’t finish at all. I have some considerations you can choose
to solve this problem.
I think, mood may control you If you’re in good mood, al-
though you’re very tired, as if you had extra energy to do your
tasks, or vice versa. Because you are much stressed, your mood
turns bad. It causes you to be lazy to complete your tasks although
you’re in free time. So, let your mood free!
Never put off till tomorrow! That’s another assignment that
must be submitted on Thursday. That’s what I mean by priority.
The last tip I have for you is you do the easiest task first then
complete the most difficult one. Why I suggest it? Because if you
finish the easiest task first, you’ll have extra time to do the most
176
ASSESSING WRITING
difficult one. I choosing this step, you must ensure that those tasks
aren’t near with deadline.
So, to help you out of problem of too many things you do, but
too little time you have, you must keep your good mood, never put off
till tomorrow, plan to do your tasks based on priority, and do the easi-
est task first then complete the difficult one.
H.R.
Writing task 4
Too Many Things to Do, but too Little Time Too Have
As a student, I often face with a word, assignment. Assign-

ments that given by my teachers always make me confuse and stress.
Occasionally, a lot of assignments are not comparable with time
that I have. Customarily, if I face this situation I will go to sleep ,
and will do the assignment after my mind is clear. So, the time that
I have decrease more and more. It means I will do my final weapon,
“SKS (Sistem Kebut Semalam)”. For consequently, the result that I
get is not satisfying. Is it any method to solve it? With this article I
will share steps about “ What should we do if too many things to
do, but too little time to have.”
There are some steps that we can use if too many things to do,
but too little time to have. First, take a rest for a moment and calm
down your mind. Second, determine which one is the main prior-
ity, because not all of the assignments will be collected in the same
time. Third, don’t delay time and do your assignment immediately,
because delay to do your assignment make you confuse and time
that you have decrease more and more. The last step is believe in
yourself. If we have already try hard, of course, the result that we
get will satisfied.
Assignment is something that can not be separated from a
student. No matter how many assignments you have, as long as
you can manage your time well, the result that you will get will be
good. So, used your time as effective as possible.
NUR
177
Writing task 5
Too Many Things to Do, but Too Little Time to Have
Have you ever felt that you are ordered to do a lot of things.
Well, I ever felt this situation. It really makes me stress. Almost all
of my lecturers give me assignment, and I only have a little time to
finish that assignment. In addition, some of those assignments should
be submitted in the same time. So, here are some things that I will
do when I face this condition.
First, I usually do the assignment that should be submitted
firstly, or I will do the easiest one. Then, if I feel tired or maybe
stress with those assignment, I will take a rest. Usually, I listen to
the music or take a nap. After that, I will continue doing my assign-
ment. But, if I feel really stress, I feel stuck, or I get headache I will
really stop. Then, I will do the last thing that I can do, doing all the
assignments in one day. Well, I confess that the result is not as
good as I hope, but that’s better than I don’t do the assignments.
So, in conclusion, if we have too many things to do, but too
little time that we have, we should be smart to arrange the time. So,
all assignments can be finished on time. Don’t do the assignments
in one day, or the result is not as good as we want.
R.S.
178
REFERENCE
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Hammod, Eugene R. 1989. Critical Thinking, Thoughtful Writing. New
York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Harmer, Jeremy. 2003. The Practice of English Language Teaching.
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Harmer, Jeremy. 2004. How to Teach Writing. England: Pearson Edu-
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DEVELOPING WRITING SKILLS

From Theory to Practice

Drs. Abdul Muth’im, M.Pd.

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

Developing Writing Skills – Abdul Muth’im,

x+179 halaman, 15,5 x 23 cm

Revised Edition: April 2009

Department of English Education,

1. Prof. Ir. H. Rasmadi, M.S., Rector of Lambung Mangkurat Uni-

3. Drs. H.A. Sofyan, M.A., the present Dean of the Faculty of

4. Drs. Daud Pamungkas, M.Pd., the chair of SP4 project who

5. Sainul Hermawan, S.Pd., M.Hum, the secretary of SP4 project

7. Dr. Jumadi, M.Pd., a brilliant lecturer of Indonesian language

8. Anyone who cannot be mentioned one by one in this book.

The enthusiastic response given by English students and En-

It is based on this and the encouragement given by my colleagues

In this second book, more elaborations about psychological prob-

The most prominent difference between the first edition and

In this chapter, four models of assessing student writing task

The addition of Chapter XI is not without reason. The most

By adding Chapter XI, hopefully, the publication of this book

Banjarmasin, February 2009

Drs. Abdul Muth’im, M.Pd.

FOREWORD ......................................................................................... iii

Writing is one of the skills that must be learned and carried

B. The meaning of writing

Lots of definitions have been given by the experts. River

Which writing activities have you experienced and what

(7)makes you active learners rather than passive receivers of

feeling, wants, wishes, etc. orally. We may feel ashamed or feel

D. Genres of Written Language

Genre, according to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary

Developing writing competence needs a number of activi-

variety of grammar-practice activities of a controlled nature with

Writing can be done for various purposes. It can be used as a

As stated in previous chapter that writing may mean (1)

students. As the result, many of you can write within a frame-

B. Problems of Writing in English

To answer this question it might be useful to see what Byrne

(person or thing) may cause him inconsistent in his writing.

We grow up learning to speak and in normal circum-

in such a way that they can be understood by a reader who is

¾ Difficulty concentrating or paying attention (short attention

Oral communication is sustained through a process of in-

ther to organizing our sentence structure or to continuing our

represented by letters ‘ee’ as in the words ‘see’ and ‘meet’; or it

C. Stages in Developing Writing

For many Indonesian students, you might be included, writ-

Unfortunately, the convention of writing in English language is

The first stage in developing writing skill as suggested by

the interference of native-language habits by focusing the student’s

During the second, or reproduction, stage the student will

a) Writing what has been listened and read.

b) Writing down sentences dictated

9. Other tasty Banjarese food is ‘gangan asam’.

d) Writing a complete sentence based on the story

Read this passage carefully:

(Taken from Guided Composition by L.A. Hill).

Students are then asked to reproduce the passage by

3. He decided to break a window because …….

The students may write like this:

One Sunday morning in winter I went for a walk along