USING SUMMARIZING TECHNIQUES TO INTEGRATE WRITING INTO READING LESSONS FOR EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT TAN HIEP HIGH SCHOOL

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

LÊ THỊ PHÚC HẬU

USING SUMMARIZING TECHNIQUES TO INTEGRATE
WRITING INTO READING LESSONS FOR EFL HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS AT TAN HIEP HIGH SCHOOL
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code: 60140111

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION
Supervisor:
Dr.Nguyễn Thị Kim Anh

NGHE AN 2017


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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings
discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have
not been published elsewhere.
Long An, June 2017
Author

Le Thi Phuc Hau

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and
whole- hearted assistance of many people.
Firstly, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim
Anh, whose encouragement, guidance, and support from the initial to the final
level has enabled me to overcome many difficulties and develop my research
skills.
It is an honor for me to extend my special thanks to all the staff,
especially, the teaching staff at Vinh University. Without their help and
encouragement, I would not have accomplished my thesis.
My special thanks would also go to the teachers and students who have
participated in this project. Without their assistance, I would not have been able
to collect valuable data for the project.
I owe deeply my family, especially my parents, whose continuous
encouragement, support and love have helped me pass through insurmountable
difficulties during my project.
Finally, I would like to show my gratitude to all my classmates whose
encouragement and support have helped lift up my spirits during the time I
conducted this study.
Long An, June 2017
Author
Le Thi Phuc Hau


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Pages


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ABSTRACT
This study aims to investigate 1) whether summarizing techniques have
effects on improving Students’ writing skill , 2) investigate how much the
summarizing techniques affect students on their Reading comprehension. The
subjects in this study were 90 students at Tan Hiep high school.The Independent
Group t-test was used for this study. Three instruments were used: the pre-test,
the post-test and the interview questions.The findings revealed that summarizing
techniques have obvious effects to the subjects’ writing skill and

their

summaries especially in cases of finding the main ideas, using summarizing
techniques in reading comprehension develop students’ Reading comprehension.
Based on the findings, it is recommended that the teachers should use
summarizing techniques for teaching students writing subject, which could
prove more useful for students in both their writing skill and reading
comprehension.


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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1.

The rationale of the study
English is an international language that allows us to communicate with
people from over the world. English has been widely used in many areas in life.
Billions of people speak and write English to at least a basic level. It is one of
the six official languages of the United Nations. Many books, manual,
newspaper, letters, emails and information are written in English. If we do not
learn English, we are isolating ourselves away from almost half of the world’s
knowledge. It is also used in variety of professional fields such as business,
information technology, medicine, science, entertainment, aviation, diplomacy
and ect. Therefore, it is necessary for many Vietnamese to have a good
command of English to satisfy the growing needs in a developing country like
Viet Nam. Four language skills are used to attain the English language
proficiency: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Unavoidably, in Vietnam English has been considered important by the
government. From the point of view of education, it is seen from its position as
one of compulsory subjects in high schools, both in junior and senior levels. The
importance of English in Indonesia is also reflected by the fact that English is
one of the compulsory requirements that high schools’ students need to pass to
graduate from those levels of education.
Writing is the fourth of the four language skills.Writing is a form of
written communication. People who are thousand miles away from us can also
be reading the things that we are writing. So it is important to write in English as
people from thousand miles away might be from a different country understand
only the global language which is English. Writing English is a task that is often
required in school. Regardless of the obstructions found by students, writing is a


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very important competence. It is because nowadays people, who take technology
as their means of communication, seem to be impossible to be separated from
the activity of writing, from the simplest like sending short messages through
mobile phones and to the more complex like making business letter via e-mail.
The importance of writing is also seen from the fact that the skill has become a
need for people to compete in the global era. Students need to prepare
themselves for their future. They need to be able to write an application letter
when applying a job and many other kinds of written texts when doing their job
later. In addition, writing is a means of expressing idea or communicating with
others, instead of speaking. There are situations in which the ability of writing is
crucial or written language is a need, as it is said by Nunan (1993) that writing is
needed to communicate with others who are removed in time and space, or is
used for those occasions on which a permanent or semi-permanent record is
required. Such situations can be easily found in the real life every day, for
instance, when someone was visiting a friend but he could not meet and he left a
note.
However, the writing skill difficulties are one of the most significant
problems that affect not only native English speakers, but also hundreds of
students that are learning English as a second or foreign language around the
world. Many students have learned in high school to camouflage their lack of
reading and writing skills, so it is often difficult for teachers to identify their
weaknesses until students hand in papers or take exams. Then writing
deficiencies are obvious. Besides, not only self-strategies influence students’
performance, but also the effectiveness of teaching techniques that teachers
apply in their English lesson plans. Each method is useful with some students
but fails with others, so writing needs to persist and teachers must take into


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account suitable strategies if they want their students to develop effective
writing skills.
Among the four skills in standardized tests, writing remains a popular way
to evaluate students’ proficiency in English, especially for academic purposes
(White,1987). However, according to recent test results from the Educational
Testing Service (ETS), writing has been the most problematic to Vietnamese test
takers. This could be explained in terms of the low quality of English language
teaching in Vietnam (Hoang, 2010), particularly the challenge of teaching EFL
writing (Nguyen, 2009). Causes of the low quality in teaching writing,
especially in teaching argumentative essays, should be examined in light of
current approaches to teaching English writing, the roles of teachers and
students in EFL writing classes, the impact of Vietnamese culture and testing
and assessment on learners’ EFL writing.
Besides, reading skills are important for students because they are the
chosen instruments to widen their knowledge. Reading is very essential for
students studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) because most textbooks
and the sources of science knowledge and information on higher technology are
published in English. As a result, reading is the foundation of advanced studies
which require reading abilities to access both textbooks and other reading
materials outside the classroom (Roe, Stoodt, & Burns, 1998).
When dealing with a reading lesson, students often experience the lack of
reading strategies which are essential for them to overcome the challenges in the
classroom. Research into reading has found that effective readers are aware of
the strategies they use and that they use strategies flexibly and efficiently
(Garner, 1987; Presley, Beard EL, Dinary & Brown, 1992).
Recent thinking about the nature of reading and writing views the two
skills as interdependent and transactive (Carson, 1993, Church, 1997, Spack


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1998b). Reading, as well as writing, is seen as an active, constructive process
(Barnett, 1998, Church, 1998, Reid, 1993, Spack,1998b, Zamel, 1992). Meaning
is created through interaction between the reader, the writer, and the text in a
give-and-take relationship in which each partner shapes and is shaped by the
other. A range of elements such as the reader’s prior knowledge, experience,
feelings and the context in which the reading takes place determine what a text
communicates to a reader. As a result, readers’ interactions with a text and the
meanings they construct are personal and unique (Reid, 1993, Spack, 1998b). If
the kinds of teaching and learning activities employed in the classroom are to
reflect this view of the reading process, then traditional reading comprehension
exercises that call for a single correct answer need to be replaced with ones that
allow for a diversity of responses. Students need to be given the authority and
independence to figure things out for themselves within a supportive classroom
atmosphere.
Reading and writing, since they are so closely linked, mutually reinforce
each other and, therefore, promote learning when they are integrated in
classroom activities. Their integration allows for multiple approaches to tasks,
covering all learning styles (Cobine, 1995). Students become better readers,
writers and thinkers when they learn reading and writing together (Carson, 1993,
Spack, 1998).
Writing activities motivate students to read and re-read in that they
provide a purpose for reading and require students to become actively engaged
with a text. Writing enhances students’ understanding and improves the retention
of what they read. It can serve as a vehicle through which students organize and
clarify their thoughts on a reading. In addition, writing makes comprehension of
a reading visible, providing teachers with opportunities to assess students’ ability
and to spot any misconceptions or areas of confusion (Reid, 1993).

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On the other hand, without the benefit of reading, students cannot become
effective writers. They need to see and experience how the written language
works. While reading gives students exposure to vocabulary, sentence structure,
and rhetorical structures of English writing, writing activities give students
practice in using them. Students can use readings as a model for their writing, or
they can write about readings (Reid, 1993).Through writing, students can
practice skills related to reading such as paraphrasing and summarizing.
Finally, integrated reading and writing activities help students cope in
university courses (Badger and Thomas, 1992, Grabe, 1991, Reid, 1993, Spack,
1993, Zamel, 1993). In an academic setting, student success is dependent on
their ability to interact with a text. Activities such as summarizing can prepare
students for academic tasks in which they will be asked to extract and work with
ideas and information from readings (Reid, 1993).
With those facts, a solution to students’ low proficiency, particularly in
writing and reading in high school was needed. The writer believed that one of
effective ways of improving students’ ability was by implementing the
summarizing techniques to language teaching and learning.
It was necessary to carry out an investigation, teachers should consider
teaching students effective writing strategies, especially showing them how to
utilize the skills and knowledge that they bring from their first language in order
to cope with writing in the second language. Besides developing writing level
for students, teachers who train students to use writing strategies can also help
them develop their Reading comprehension. As a result, teaching students
learning strategies is an important duty of the language teachers since learning
strategies can help students monitor and take charge of their own learning.
Helping students understand good language learning strategies and training them
to develop and use such good language learning strategies can be considered to

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be the appreciated characteristics of a good language teacher (Lessard
Clouston,1997:3).
Aims of the study

1.2.

This study seeks to investigate whether using summarizing techniques
have any effects on learners’ writing skill and their reading comprehension
through the pretest and the posttest and to investigate how much the evaluations
of students towards the summarizing techniques affect on their writing and
reading skill at Tan Hiep high school.
This project particularly aims to answer the following questions:
1.

What is the teachers and students’ attitude towards the important of reading and

2.

writing skill in learning English?
Do the summarizing techniques have the effects of on students’ writing skill and
students’ reading comprehension?
3. What recommendations are given for applying summarizing techniques
to both develop students’ writing skill and students’ reading comprehension at
Tan Hiep high school?
1.3. Scope of the study
This study was conducted at Tan Hiep high school. The data were thus
necessarily limited in scope, and could not be generalized to other contexts.

1.4. Significance of the study
The study highlights the effects of using summarizing techniques on
students’ writing skill and students’ reading comprehension at Tan Hiep high
school. On the basis of the findings, many suggestions were given for applying
summarizing techniques to both develop students’ writing skill and their reading
comprehension at Tan Hiep high school.
1.5. Method of the study:


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Quantitative research with the posttest- only non- equivalent control
group design. This type of study is occasionally called a static group
comparison, compares treatment with no-treatment group, select groups that are
as similar as possible so we can fairly compare the treated one with the
comparison one. This experimental quantitative study was designed to
investigate the effects of the using summarizing techniques on students’
performance in writing skill and reading comprehension.
For the second question of the study, the participants described their indepth evaluation towards the most effective summarizing techniques or the least
effective one through qualitative analysis of the interview questions.
1.6. Organization of the study
This study comprises five chapters:
Chapter 1 – Introduction – has provided some background that lead to
the research. The aim, scope, significance, methods and design of the study are
also included in this section.
Chapter 2 – Literature review – will present the literature review and
theoretical background of the study.
Chapter 3 Methodology – will describe the research methods employed
in this study.
Chapter 4 – Findings and Discussions – will present the data and

discuss the results of the study.
Chapter 5 – Conclusion and Implication – will summarize the findings
and offer some implications for applying teaching techniques and suggestions
for further research.

CHAPTER 2:


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LITERATURE REVIEW
AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This chapter reviews theories related to reading and reading activities,
summary writing activities in general and writing strategies in particular. It also
reviews current research on the effects of using summarizing techniques to
integrate writing into reading lessons and summarizes some studies on effects of
using summarizing techniques in integrating writing into reading lessons that
have been conducted so far. All of these serve as a basis for an investigation into
effects of using summarizing techniques in integrating writing into reading
lessons which is carried out and presented in the next chapter.
2.1. Writing skill:
2.1.1. Definition
Writing is a form of communication that allows students to put their
feelings and ideas on paper, to organize their knowledge and beliefs into
convincing arguments, and to convey meaning through well-constructed text. In
its most advanced form, written expression can be as vivid as a work of art. As
children learn the steps of writing, and as they build new skills upon old, writing
evolves from the first simple sentences to elaborate stories and essays. Spelling,
vocabulary, grammar, and organization come together and grow together to help
the student demonstrate more advanced writing skills each year.

Writing is a significant part of assessment requirements and develops
students ability to communicate clearly and appropriately in a range of settings.
These are important skills that meet the university and faculty’s learning aims,
and are needed for the workplace. Your unit outlines often provide specific
information about unit writing requirements.


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Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language
and emotion with signs and symbols. In most languages, writing is a
complement to speech or spoken language. Writing is not a language, but a tool
developed by human society. Within a language system, writing relies on many
of the same structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar, and semantics,
with the added dependency of a system of signs or symbols. The result of
writing is called text, and the recipient of text is called a reader. Motivations for
writing include publication, storytelling, correspondence and diary. Writing has
been instrumental in keeping history, maintaining culture, dissemination of
knowledge through the media and the formation of legal systems.
Nature of writing
Writing is a skill which not all people can do. Someone needs a skill to
write and the skill does not come by itself so that one has to learn to write to
have the skill that human beings universally learn to walk and to talk, but that
swimming and writing are culturally specific, learned behavior.” (Brown,
2001).The statement tells that writing is a special skill which is different from
the other productive skill, speaking. Unlike speaking, which universally people
learn and they do not need to be taught to be able to speak as long as they have
devices for speaking, writing needs to be learned so that one have the ability to
write.
Although both spoken and written languages, to some extents, are the

same that they need to be learned, they remain different in this case. In learning
spoken language, it is enough for someone to be exposed to the language. On the
other hand, someone has to really learn to be able to write and commonly it also
needs to be taught. Harmer (2004) seems to agree with the idea as he says that
“spoken language, for a child, is acquired naturally as a result of being exposed
to it, whereas the ability to write has to be consciously learned.”


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The importance of writing
The idea that learning writing is a need for students is agreeable. There
are some reasons that make the ability of writing important as what Barras
(2005) says:
Writing helps to remember: Writing is an aid to remembering. By taking
notes, people can make information safe and semi-permanent or even permanent
so that they can access the information anytime without being afraid of being
lost.
Writing helps to think: Writing could be an aid to thinking. People can
make a note of useful thoughts as they come to mind, for example, when they
are planning or in the middle of writing a composition because thoughts could
come anytime.
Writing helps to communicate: In the past, writing was the only possible
way to communicate with anyone out of earshot. Although, now there have been
devices (telephone, radio, internet, etc.) that make it possible to communicate
orally with people in distance, the importance of writing is still there. There is a
limit in which the use of such devices is impossible, particularly when two
people communicating are removed, not only, by distance, but also by time.
Writing also has importance in terms of its product that it has its specific
purposes. Halliday (1985b), as quoted by Nunan (1993), says that written

language, the product of writing, is used for action (public signs, product labels,
television and radio guides, bills, menus, telephone directories, ballot papers,
computer manuals), for information (newspapers, current affairs magazines,
advertisements, political pamphlets) and for entertainment (comic strips, fiction
books, poetry and drama, newspaper features, film subtitles). Those mentioned
above are examples of written languages, starting from the simplest (public sign)


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until the more complex (newspapers), which are not separable from human life
nowadays and, for sure, all are done with writing skill.
In addition, the importance of writing skill can also be seen from the point
of view of students’ future, in their world of work. They have to keep their living
in the society and inevitably need to apply for a particular job. In this case, they
need to be able to write an application letter. Moreover, they need also to create
other kinds of written texts in doing their job. This situation is supported by
Harmer (2004) by saying “. . . as societies grew larger and more industrialized,
the need for citizens to be able to write and read became vital in order for
bureaucratic organization to be successful.” This means that the ability of
writing is vital for people who are involved in an organization. Each individual
who wants to build their career in a company needs to be able to write to
compete with others not only when applying for a particular position but also
when doing his job. On top of that, Barras (2005) put a further emphasis on the
importance of writing ability, in relation to future jobs. He proposes the need of,
not only the ability of writing, but also the ability of creating a good writing.
This is based on a consideration that in the world of work, their writing, in some
occasions, is the only way people are judged, i.e. for example when writing
business letters to people who have never been met.
2.1.2.The teaching of writing

Teaching writing in high school
English is a compulsory subject in Vietnam high schools. Passing the
subject in national examination is one of requirements for students to graduate
from the levels of education in Vietnam. It implies that English is considered
important as a means of communication with people in the globe. There are four
skills that high school students have to perform in their learning; listening,
speaking, reading and writing.


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Types of classroom writing performance
While there are a number of activities that an English teacher can apply in
the classroom in teaching writing, the number of writing performance is
generally limited in types. There are five types of performance in writing
(Brown, 2000).
Imitative: This type of writing performance is intended for students to
learn the conventions of the orthographic code. In intensive writing, students
write down English letters, words or sentences.
Intensive: Intensive writing focuses on exposing students with
grammatical concepts. Students typically work on controlled grammatical
exercises.
Self-writing: In this writing performance, the activities no longer focuses
on specific grammatical features and orthographic code. Students begin to write
information for themselves, they themselves are the audience of their writing.
Display writing: Display writing is a type of writing performance which
is commonly found in the school curricula context. Activities in this
performance include short answer exercises, essay examinations and research
reports.
Real writing: Real writing reflects the genuine communication of

messages to audiences in need of the messages. In this writing, students write
for fulfilling the need of information from the audiences. The types of writing
performance, to
Some extent, lie in a continuum of student levels of literacy. Intensive
writing is a simple activity which is best given for beginners and so forth.
Furthermore, each type of the performances must have its own focus and goal
for student learning.


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Feedback: Feedback is one of crucial points in teaching and learning
process. It can determine students’ progress in their learning, in this case in
writing. It can also be a major factor that diminishes students’ performance if it
is not presented appropriately. Feedback is one aspect of teaching which should
be taken seriously by teachers. Providing feedback is, even, often seen as one of
the ESL writing teacher’s most important tasks, offering the kind of
individualized attention that is otherwise rarely possible under normal classroom
conditions (Hyland,2003). At least, there are two beneficial points of feedback
given for students, according to Nation (2009).
Firstly, feedback is a potential way for students to know views of the
readers of their performance. They can have information on what is good and
what is lack from their work so that later on they can improve the quality of their
writing.
Secondly, feedback on the content of students’ writing can do a lot to
increase the amount of writing that students do if it is positive and is given
positively. According to Hyland (2003), there are three kinds of feedback that is
commonly happen in the classroom; teacher written feedback, teacher-student
conferencing, and peer feedback.
Teacher written feedback: This kind of feedback is a popular way of

giving response to students’ writing done by language teachers. However, many
experts questions the effectiveness of teacher written feedback, as seen from
research on first language writing that suggests that much written feedback is
poor of quality and frequently misunderstood by students, being too vague and
inconsistent (e.g., Sommers, 1982), and often “authoritarian,” “formalist,” and
“insensitive” (Connors and Lunsford, 1993) quoted by Hyland (2003).
Teacher student conference: Teacher student conference is advantageous
for both teacher and students in terms of opportunities to negotiate meaning of a


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text through dialogue and to receive more focused and usable comments if
compared with the written one (Mc Carthey, 1992; Zamel, 1985), in Hyland
(2003). Nonetheless, there are facts that often become problem in doing such
convergences, including that it is time taking and is likely not to run well with
students who are lack of interactive abilities and experiences in having
conferences with teachers.
Peer feedback: Peer feedback is advantageous in terms of some points
such as active learner participation, authentic communicative context, and
writers’ understanding of reader needs. On the other hand, there are also
disadvantages of peer feedback that teachers should take into account, including
tendency to focus on surface forms, cultural reluctance to criticize and judge,
and students unconvinced of comments’ value.
Overall, each of the three kinds of feedback has its advantages and
disadvantages. It depends on the teachers’ belief on the effectiveness, the type of
feedback to select and apply in the classroom. Whichever it is, feedback is a key
in learning writing. With all it offers, feedback can help writers improving their
writing skills
2.1.3. The role of the Teacher

In the past view of language teaching, the role of teacher in the classroom
was an authoritative director and arbiter. Nevertheless, it has shifted nowadays
as the development of communicative language teaching, an approach to
language teaching in which there is emphasis on learner-centered instruction,
student-student recognition and strategies based instruction.
Based on Brown (2001) view on the current language teaching regarding
the teaching of writing, one role of the teacher is as a facilitator. Brown states
“As students are encouraged (in reading) to bring their own schemata to bear on
understanding texts, and in writing to develop their own ideas, offer their own


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critical analysis, and find their own ‘voice,’ the role of teacher must be one of
facilitator and coach.” The teacher acts his role by providing students with
guidance during the thinking process of composing. However, the teacher should
not come too deep in this point in respect of student own ideas. He or she cannot
force his or her thoughts on student writing. Students should be given freedom
to generate their own ideas and opinion on their writing without any intervention
from others.
In addition, Harmer (2001) put emphasis on several roles of English
teacher, among a number of others, which have special importance in the world
of teaching writing. Those specially pointed out roles are as motivator, resource
and feedback provider.
Motivator: the teacher creates the right conditions for the generation of
ideas, persuades them of the usefulness of the activity, and encourages them to
make as much effort as possible for maximum benefit.
Resource: the teacher is available for students when they find difficulties
in which, in such situation, students need constructive advice and suggestion.
Feedback provider: the teacher gives feedback on student performance

according to the students’ need. Although these three roles of teacher are
specially emphasized as they are considered crucial in teaching writing, it does
not mean that the teacher does not need to perform other common roles of
teacher like organizing and controlling. The teacher is still in charge of the
activities that take place in the classroom and of organizing them
Approaches to teaching writing: In terms of how it is viewed, teaching
writing is not a single side activity. Like the teaching of other skills, teaching
writing has a number sides from which teachers can generate their views on how
the process of teaching writing is. Teachers can decide which sides to approach
the teaching that better help students learn to improve their writing skill.


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There are two common approaches in writing that see writing as product
and process (Brown, 2001). In the former approach, the final product of writing
is the concern of writing teachers. The teaching of writing puts great emphasis
on students’ performance in the form of writing that has to meet three general
points including prescribed English rhetorical style, language structures, and
conventional organization. Brown says that the final product is assessed based
on criteria of content, organization, vocabulary use, grammatical use, and
mechanic.
In the latter approach to writing, writing is viewed as a process; writing is
a thinking process (Brown, 2001). This approach focuses on the process within
which there are steps that students have to go through before they come to the
final product. It means that students are given opportunities and time to make
revision on their writing before it is published through the process that contains
strategies of prewriting, drafting, and rewriting. Hyland (2003) describes six
approaches from which teachers can base their teaching on. Those are language
structures, text functions, creative expression, composing processes, content,

and genre and contexts of writing.
1.Language structures: Language structure is an approach that sees
writing as a product. The approach focuses on grammatical features, meaning
that activities within the approach are meant to encourage students developing
their knowledge and ability in the structure of language. Students are expected
to be able to produce well-formed sentences by means of habit formation and
testing learner’s ability. In other words, students are reinforced with language
patterns through writing. Some activities that students do in this approach
include manipulating sentences, filling gaps in a text and completing sentences
with appropriate parts of speech, and transforming tenses or pronouns.


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The goal of writing in this approach is the ability to show accuracy and
clear exposition in the writing. Therefore, these two points comes as the
measurement of a good writing. Students are considered good in writing if they
have had linguistic knowledge, the ability of selecting appropriate words, and a
mastery of syntactic patterns and cohesive device, and are able to put them into
a writing. On the other hand, the meaning or the actual communicative content
is of secondary importance which will not be covered unless the teachers are
ensured that students have done the main focus of the approach.
Hyland (2003) describes several stages in the process of writing learning
in language structure approach. They include familiarization, controlled writing,
guided writing and free writing.
Familiarization: students are provided with a text from which they are
taught certain grammar and vocabulary.
Controlled writing: students do a particular degree of manipulation on
fixed patterns.
Guided writing: students imitate the model texts.

Free writing: students write an essay, letter, and the likes by applying
patterns they have learned.
2.

Text functions
Text function approach comes from an idea that there is a connection
between structures and meaning. It is believed that language forms contain
particular communicative functions. In this approach, teachers can select
particular structures that bring appropriate functions to student needs, to achieve
the goal of writing, that is, for communication. The approach aims at helping
students develop effective paragraphs through the creation of topic sentences
and develop different types of paragraphs. Instructions in this approach include


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activities of using particular language forms to express particular meanings or
functions and developing an outline into an essay based on the example texts.
3.

Creative expression
Creative expression approach to writing is based from a principle that sees
teaching writing as fostering students' expressive abilities, encouraging them to
find their own voices to produce writing that is fresh and spontaneous (Elbow,
1998; Murray, 1985 in Hyland, 2003). It means that writing is stimulating
students to be expressive about their opinions. Students are led to situations in
which they are able to express their own views on particular topics. Thus, the
expressive ability runs as the goal of the learning. Because students’ writing is
expected to be fresh and spontaneous, their individual creativity in expressing
ideas is highly valued.

The approach takes students as the focus of learning. Students are point
where the learning departs. It is said so because the classroom is organized
around students’ personal opinions and experiences. In addition to this, the fact
that the topics of students’ writing are taken from their surroundings, students
are free to develop their writing about given topics based on their own opinions
and views on the topics. Students work by digging into their experiences and
knowledge to construct the writing. Although this writing approach sees
students’ expressive ability as the main goal, it does not merely mean that there
are no other goals to be achieved from conducting creative expression writing
classroom. Writing is a creative act of self-discovery (Hyland, 2003). Expressing
what they have in mind enables students to recognize their social position,
besides improving their literacy and creativity.
Individual performance in constructing views on a topic is of great
emphasis. To keep the originality of students’ ideas is a must in this approach so
that teachers cannot impose their views and offer models or suggestions to


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students. Teachers’ roles tend to be stimulating students’ ideas and providing
helps that touch matters like style, word selection, and other features by giving
exercises.
4.

Writing processes
Writing process is an approach to writing in which approach takes basic
cognitive processes as its central. Students’ metacognitive awareness of their
process is to be improved. It sees writing as a thinking process in which there
are stages that students have to go through to come to their final work. The
approach believes that there is a need of students to be able to plan, define a

rhetorical problem, and propose and evaluate solutions (Hyland, 2003). Students
are expected to be able to reflect the strategies they use in writing. Therefore,
developing such ability of students becomes the priority of teachers. The
original stages in writing process are planning-writing-reviewing, established by
Flower and Hayes (Hayes, 1989; Hayes and Flower, 1981, in Hyland, 2003).
Those are stages that students go through to finish the writing. Writing is seen as
a recursive process in which students can go backward and forward when they
need to revise or put more information in their writing.
The teacher plays an important role in guiding students during the writing
process. Teachers help students in developing their strategies in the writing
process. Some techniques that is often used in process-oriented classrooms
include brain-storming, planning, multiple drafting, peer collaboration and
portfolio assessment. Teachers are also responsible in giving response towards
students writing in which the language teaching often occurs explicitly.

5.

Content
In content approach to writing, the focus is on the substantive content
about which students are going to write. The classroom is organized based on
topics which are selected from the point of view of students’ interests so that


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students the most likely have had sufficient knowledge about the topics. With
this, it is expected that students can write meaningful. Teachers serves as
providing activities to develop students’ schema of topics. Although the topics
are based on the students’ interests, or even students can select themselves, not
all students have the same amount of information about particular topics. Some

activities that often occur in classrooms with such orientation include extensive
reading and brainstorming tasks to generate ideas.
2.1.4. Different types of writing skill
Writing is one of the best ways of communicating your ideas to others.
Every person possesses a unique writing style. The ability of writing in different
forms is a great way of expressing your views and thoughts in front of the target
audience. Different types of writing skills are highly required in coveted fields.
Whether you are writing a letter, preparing a report, sending an email or writing
a book, it is always advisable to make the content clear and concise so that the
reader can easily comprehend the objective of writing. Knowing the skills of
writing in varied forms will help you in recognizing and understanding the
things you read in books, letters, newspapers or magazines. Good writing skills
come from practice and knowledge. There are different types of writing
including expository, narrative, descriptive, persuasive and creative. Formats of
every writing style vary from each other. Once you decide what you are going to
write and for whom, you are going to write then you can start writing. If you are
writing a formal email to your senior manager then your language should be
very professional. Try to convey the message in simple and short manner. If you
want to share something with your friend then you can write causally. Different
types of writing are discussed below in detail.
Expository Writing: In this form of writing, the writer tries to inform and
explain the concept thoroughly to the readers with required fact and figures. It is