Sử dụng các hoạt động trước khi viết để dạy những bài viết tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 10 ở trường trung học phổ thông Mai Thúc Loan

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

TRAN THI QUYET

USING PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO
TEACH ENGLISH WRITING LESSONS FOR
THE 10th GRADERS AT MAI THUC LOAN
HIGH SCHOOL

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2013


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

TRAN THI QUYET

USING PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO
TEACH ENGLISH WRITING LESSONS FOR
THE 10th GRADERS AT MAI THUC LOAN
HIGH SCHOOL
(SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG TRƯỚC KHI VIẾT ĐỂ DẠY NHỮNG BÀI
VIẾT TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 Ở TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC
PHỔ THÔNG MAI THÚC LOAN)
FIELD:
CODE:

THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH

LANGUAGE TEACHING
60.14.10

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION
SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof. Dr. TRUONG VIEN

Nghệ An – 2013
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

i


I hereby acknowledge that this study entitled “Using pre-writing activities to
teach English writing lessons for the 10th graders at Mai Thuc Loan High School" is
my original work. The data and the findings discussed in the thesis are true. The study
is submitted in partial fulfilment for the Master degree of Theory and Methodology
of English Language Teaching at Vinh University and has not been submitted
elsewhere in any other form for the fulfilment of any other degree or qualification.

Signature

Tran Thi Quyet

Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to
my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Truong Vien, who has provided me
with the constant encouragements and invaluable guidance and support
during the time I wrote the study.
Secondly, I am grateful to all lectures at Faculty of Foreign
Languages, Vinh University, College of Foreign Languages, University

of Languages and International Studies, VNU for their endless

ii


enthusiasm, valuable teaching and assistance that have enlightened my
research path.
Thirdly, my special thanks go to all English teachers and students
th
of 10 classes at Mai Thuc Loan High School in which my study was
conducted for their devoted help and participation during my study.
Last but not least, my deep gratitude is for my beloved family,
especially my husband and my daughter whose care and support are very
important for the fulfillment of this thesis.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at investigating how Pre-writing activities are taught in
English writing lessons for the 10th graders at Mai Thuc Loan High School. The study
addresses issues of teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards Pre-writing activities,
students’ favorite activities, problems the teachers encounter when designing and
conducting Pre-writing activities in teaching writing lessons, teachers’ and students'
assessments on the benefits of Pre-writing activities and finding out some suggested
Pre-writing activities applied to teach English writing lessons with the aim to make
teaching and learning writing more effective.
The participants of the study include 10 English teachers and 160 students of
10th form at Mai Thuc Loan High School. The data were collected by means of
questionnaires and class observations, but the main one is the questionnaires. Both of

iii

the quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study. Data
analysis is mainly based on quantitative method. The researcher analyzed, compared,
synthesized, commented, and presented the collected information under the forms of
tables and charts.
The result of the study provided encouraging evidence to indicate that most of
the teachers and students at Mai Thuc Loan high School appreciate the role of Prewriting activities in teaching and learning writing lessons. However, the survey
revealed that there were a number of difficulties that hinder the teachers and students
in exploiting Pre-writing activities. Such reasons as class size, handing activities
sometimes is out of control, difficulties in designing, students’ learning style, etc.
have negative influences on using Pre-writing activities in teaching writing skill.
Some detailed suggestions are recommended within the wish to contribute to
the improvement of the teaching and learning of writing skill with the current
textbook “English 10”. Besides, some suggested lesson plans of Pre-writing activities
are also offered to provide teachers as a reference in order to promote the success of
writing classes. The study suggests that the teachers should use various pre-writing
activities to motivate students and encourage them to write and teachers’
responsibility is to devise their own techniques and implementation of Pre-writing
activities to suit the needs of different groups of students, especially the students with
negative attitudes towards learning writing skill.

iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents

Page

SUB COVER PAGE.....................................................................................................i
More importantly, these major findings enable the author to provide some
suggested implications for teachers, students and text book designers in the last
chapter as well as some particular examples of lesson plans of Pre-writing
activities appiled in real classes. They are very useful for teachers in their
teaching process and they can motivate students in the writing lessons.
Therefore, the teachers should choose suitable activities to improve writing skills
of the students...........................................................................................................71

1


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
CLT

Communicative Language Teaching

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

ESL

English as a Second Language

N

Number of Informants

%

percent

2


LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: The differences between Process writing and Product writing
Table 3.1: Checklist of writing tasks in the current Textbook “English 10”
Table 3.2: Summary of the students’ questionnaire
Table 3.3: Summary of the teachers’ questionnaire
Table 4.1: Students’ attitude towards the teachers’ ways of teaching Pre-writing stage
Table 4.2: Students ’opinions about the importance of Pre-writing activities
Table 4.3: Students’ opinions about the frequency of using Pre-writing activities by
the teachers
Table 4.4: Students’ favorite ways for taking part in Pre-writing activities
Table 4.5: Benefits that Pre-writing activities bring to students
Table 4.6: Teachers’ opinions of three main stages in the current text book “ English
10”
Table 4.7: Teachers’ ways of teaching Pre-writing stage
Table 4.8: Teachers’ opinions on Pre-writing activities

LIST OF CHARTS
3


Chart 4.1: Students’ opinions on the four skills in learning English
Chart 4.2 : Students’opinions on writing sections in the current textbook “English 10”
Chart 4.3: Students’ favorite Pre-writing activities
Chart 4.4: Students’ attitudes towards carrying out Pre-writing activities

Chart 4.5: Teachers’assessments towards writing sections in current textbook “
English 10”
Chart 4.6: Teachers’ frequently used activities at Pre-writing stage
Chart 4.7: Teachers’ opinions about the importance of Pre-writing activities
Chart 4.8: Teachers’ conduct of Pre-writing activities in teaching Writing
Chart 4.9: Teachers’ difficulties in designing and carrying out Pre-writing activities
in writing lessons
Chart 4.10: Teachers’ opinions about the benefits of using Pre-writing activities

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale

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Nowadays, no one can deny the importance of English for international
interaction . English has been learnt and used in many countries in the world. It is also
undeniable that English is a means of international communication in most of the
fields from daily life to politics, science, healthcare, etc. As Pham (2006) confirms:
“English has been used by more and more countries and people as a vehicle of
communication in business, science, technology, education and entertainment” and it
has become “the most global of languages”. In the late 20th century linguistis,
teachers and learners have witnessed the " birth" of a new way in teaching foreign
language, the so-called " communicative language teaching".
By recognizing the role of English in education, governments have
promulgated many policies and renovations in teaching and learning English during
the recent years. In an attempt to innovate Vietnamese education to meet the demand
of the society in the process of integration and development, the Vietnamese Ministry
of Education and Training has reformed English textbooks concentrating on the four
skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing for secondary school students since the

school year 2006-2007. With this reform, There are some certain advantages and
disadvantages for both teachers and students when teaching and learning English.
Writing skill is important for creating and communicating information that
makes it a really important aspect of our teaching too. Students need to know how to
take notes as well as how to write essays and letters, which makes this basic skill as
important as speaking or listening. Writing is also one of the basic skills because it is
a good way to reinforce what a student has learned as they will benefit from seeing
new vocabulary in written form.
Writing, in general, is considered the most challenging one for not only
students but teachers to master. In writing section in the current textbook “English
10”, students are asked to do various tasks such as descriptions, narratives, letters, etc.
However, it seems that some of the writing tasks in the current textbooks have not

5


supported students’language acquisition appropriately. Besides, teachers also face
certain difficulties in teaching writing skills.
Because of these reasons we need to make writing an interesting activity
therefore, our students will feel comfortable when learning writing skill. We need to
encourage students to write without worrying about the correctness of everything they
put to paper – get them to generate ideas and then edit their written English
afterwards. Being an English teacher at upper-secondary school for nine years, the
researcher has understood the reality of teaching writing in English. The researcher
realizes that the upper-secondary school students in general and 10 th form students in
particular do not acquire writing skill efficiently. Besides, the researcher find that
writing lesson is the most challenging one to both the teachers and the students.
Especially, when doing a writing task, students often begin writing immediately,
ignore pre-writing stage, or sometimes their teachers ask them to do a writing task
without preparing Pre-writing activities. That is why students usually complain that

they don’t have any thing to write, the writing tasks are too difficult for them, they
don’t have enough time to complete their writings but do not realize the important
problem is a lack of preparation for writing. When teaching writing skill to the 10 th
graders at Mai Thuc Loan high School the researcher found out that pre – writing
stages are very important in teaching writing and it also has significant effects on the
students’ writing performance. If students do not prepare well enough they can not
write well, they can not even write anything in their notebooks. Therefore, Pre-writing
activities are essential for both teachers and students. If Pre-writing activities are used
in teaching writing lessons effectively, teachers can help their students feel more
motivated, self-confident and of course they will become better writers.
Because of the practicality in teaching English writing, we wish to conduct this
research, entitling “Using pre-writing activities to teach English writing lessons for
the 10th graders at Mai Thuc Loan high school". Hopefully, It may be a small
contribution to the already enriched teaching methods and helping language learners
6


improve their writing skill and reach the goal of learning English in general. In
addition, through the study, some suggessted lesson plans of Pre-writing activities are
offered so that teachers can adapt for the Pre-writing stage to improve students’
writing skill.
1.2. Purposes of the study
The purposes of the study are:
- Investigating what the 10th graders and teachers at Mai Thuc Loan high school
perceive of pre-writing activities in writing lessons.
- Discovering strategies to solve some common problems that students and teachers
may encounter when learning and teaching writing lessons.
- Giving some suggested pre-writing activities used to teach the 10 th graders at Mai
Thuc Loan high school.
1.3. Research questions

In order to fully achieve these aims, the study answers the following questions:
1.3.1. What are teachers’ attitudes towards teaching Pre-writing and Pre-writing
activities?
1.3.2. How are Pre-writing activities presented in the current textbooks and
implemented in writing classes?
1.3.3. Which Pre-writing activities do students at Mai Thuc Loan high school prefer
and why?
1.4. Scope of the study
The study mainly focuses on how to develop pre-writing competence for the
10th graders at Mai Thuc Loan high School. In addition, some strategies to help them
improve their pre-writing skill. From the findings of the research, some suggested prewriting activities will be given to improve teaching English writing to 10 th form
students.
7


1.5. Organization of the study
Beside the abstract, references and appendices, the study is organized into 5
chapters as follows:
Chapter 1, “The Introduction”, presents the rationales for the research,
defines the purposes, research questions, scope and organization of the study.
Chapter 2, “Theoretical Background”, attempts to present the theoretical
background related to the study. It consists of four main sections: Writing, Teaching
writing, What’s Pre-writing and Review of previous studies. The theoretical
background of writing deals with the definition of writing, why teach writing, The
nature of writing process and the roles of writing. In the part of teaching writing, there
are: Approaches to teaching writing, Principles of teaching writing and Stages of
teaching writing. Besides, What is Pre-writing is presented in the next part. The last
part is Review of previous studies.
Chapter 3, “ Research methodology”, presents the detailed procedure of the
study: the methodology, research orientation, participants, instrumentation, data

collection and data analysis.
Chapter 4, “Findings and Discussion”, describes and discusses the main
results and data collected from teachers and students following the main contents in
the research questions. This chapter includes mainly description and discussion of
results from questionnaire and class observations.
Chapter 5, “Conclusion and implications”, presents an overall conclusion of
the study, implications for teachers, students and textbook designers, some suggested
lesson plans of Pre-writing activities applied to teach English writing lessons for the
10th graders at Mai Thuc Loan High School, limitations of the study and suggestions
for further research .

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. Review of previous studies

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In the recent years, a number of studies on using Pre-writing activities in
teaching and learning writing have increased greatly. The following is a brief
summary of some recent works relating to our research topic:
Concerning the important of Pre-writing activities, in 1998, Zhang, Liru,
Vukelich, Carol wrote “ Prewriting Activities and Gender: Influences on the Writing
Quality of Male and Female Students”. This study explored the influences of
prewriting activities on the writing quality of male and female students with varying
academic achievement across four grade levels. Participants were public school
students in grades 4, 6, 9, and 11. At each grade level, students were assigned to one
of two groups: writing with prewriting activities or writing without prewriting
activities. Teams of appropriate grade level teachers developed a pool of writing
tasks, with one for each grade. The study was embedded into the 1996 Delaware
large-scale writing assessment field test. Students in the prewriting group had a

prewriting session in which they were encouraged to select a subject, collect
information, list their ideas using a graphic organizer, prepare a first draft, and consult
with peers for input. Researchers rated each student's writing piece holistically and on
five quality aspects of writing. Results indicated that on average, students who wrote
with prewriting activities performed better than students who wrote without
prewriting activities in grades 4, 6, and 11. In grade 9, students who wrote without
prewriting activities received higher scores. Students' gender and academic
achievement level had strong influences on the effectiveness of prewriting, with
females consistently scoring higher than males.
Similarly, in 2012, a study of Omit Tabatabaei with title “The Effect of
Reading-Based Pre-Writing Activities on the Writing Performance in an EFL
Setting”. In this study, two main objectives have been addressed. The first objective is
that, if various reading tasks (compare/contrast, description, cause/effect, and
problem/solution) used as pre-writing activities have any significant effect on the
writing performance of pre and post-intermediate EFL learners, and the second one is

9


that if

there

is

any significant

difference

between

reading task types

(compare/contrast, description, cause/effect, and problem/solution) and their effect on
writing performance of pre and post-intermediate EFL learners. The findings of this
study indicated that, utilizing different reading task types as pre-writing activities,
have significant effects on pre and post-intermediate EFL learners writing
performance. Regarding the second main objective of this study, the statistical results
indicated that, post-intermediate EFL learners had better performance, using different
reading tasks, in writing in comparison with preintermediate EFL learners.
Furthermore, the effect of utilizing different reading tasks on both pre and
postintermediate learners writing performance was almost the same but the effect of
two reading tasks, cause/effect and problem/solution, is more tangible in comparison
with the effect of other two reading tasks, description and compare/contrast.
In Vietnam, according to the study on “Students' perception and attitudes
towards prewriting activities at Ngo Quyen High school ” by Do ( 2011), the results
of the research showed that: (i) The students had positive perception of pre-writing
activities, they had good grasp of the benefits of pre-writing activities. They said prewriting activities benefited them in many ways such as making the writing task easier
by activities of generating and organizing ideas, motivating learner and creating a
cheerful and cooperative classroom atmosphere. (ii) Students had possitive attitudes
towards these activities. They liked pre-writing activities asthese activities helped
them do the actual writing more easily. However many of the students did not
participate in the activities actively because of their low level of proficiency and the
teacher’s unmotivated ways of conducting these. (iii) When doing pre-writing
activities, students would rather perform these activities in groups or with the whole
class with the teacher’s guiding than individually or in pair. The most favorable
activities which could support students and fully satisfy their need pictures. The
findings also revealed that the use of pre-writing activities encounters some
challenges such as time management, organization problems.

10


Additionally, the article with title “The Effectiveness of Activities for
Teaching EFL Writing in a Context of Vietnam ”, Nguyen, Van & Nguyet ( 2011)
aims at pointing out what kinds of activities designed to improve the learners’ writing
proficiency are effective in a Vietnamese context. With a two-group pretest and
posttest design of an empirical research, the authors implemented a series of teaching
activities in the classroom. The data were collected by means of pre-tests, post-tests,
and interviews. The results indicated that the participants in the experimental
condition significantly gained in their writing performance. Qualitative analysis of the
data shows that the majority of participants positively evaluated the effectiveness of
the activities. However, a consideration for contextual adjustment should be taken
when several activities together might be overload to the learners.
2.2. Writing
2.2.1.What is writing?
In language teaching, writing is considered one of the four language skills
(reading, speaking, listening and writing) that a learner is expected to master. There
are various ideas opinions of writing given by different researchers. Each one has
their own opinion about writing .Writing is the process in which the writer expresses
his thoughts or ideas in the form of handwriting. “Writing is communicating. Good
writing gets your ideas out of your head and into the reader’s head without losing or
distorting those ideas” (Leki, 1976).
Writing, in Lannon’s point of view, in fact, is a far more complicated process
than the production of graphic symbols. It is “a process of transforming the material
discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error, or whatever into a
message with a definite meaning …, a process of deliberate decision” (Lannon,
1989:p.9). Besides, Sokolik (2003:88) defined writing as a physical and mental act. It
means that writing requires writers to commit words or ideas and to convent ideas,
think about how to express them, and organize them into statements and paragraphs.

11


She also considers writing is a process and product, and writing aims at expressing
and impressing. The writers have to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, read, re-read
to produce a product-a paragraph, an essay or a report and writers try to express their
ideas, feeling to impress their readers in certain ways. On the other hand, Tribble
(1996: 3) considers writing as language skill which involves not just a graphic
representation of speech, but the development and presentation of though in a
structured way and is difficult to acquire. He also emphasized that writing “normally
requires some forms of instruction” and that “it is not a skills that is readily picked up
by exposure” (1996: 11). In Ur’s point of view, “most people acquire the spoken
language (at least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas the written form is in
most cases deliberately taught and learned” (1996: 161). The researcher has been an
English teacher for 9 years so she agrees with Rivers’ definition (1981) that “writing
is not a skill that can be learned or developed in isolation but it should be taught and
developed in cooperation with other skills and aspects of the language studied”. Byrne
(1988) gave a long and complex definition which might be summarized as follows:
writing is the act of forming graphic symbols (letters or combinations of letters)
which were arranged to form sentences, and we produced a sequence of sentences
arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain way, on a flat surface of
some kind. Byrne’s definition can be considered one of the most complete definitions
of writing because it covers all of the features of writing given by others above –
mentioned writers.
2.2.2.Why teach writing?
When we learn a second or a foreign language, we learn to communicate with
other people: to understand them, talk to them. An integral part of participating fully
in a new culture setting is learning how to communicate when the other person is not
right there in front of us, listening to our words and looking at our gestures and facial

expressions. Visitors to another country will often have to leave a note for the

12


mailman, fill out a customs declaration form, give written instructions, or write a
thank – you letter.
According to Harmer, J, (1998: 79), teaching writing to students of English
include some below reasons:
Firstly, it is reinforcement. Most of students gain great benefits from seeing the
written language especially the visual demonstration of language construction is
valuable for both their understanding and committing the new language to their
memory. So it is very useful for them to write sentences using new language after
they have just studied it.
Secondly, language development is also a reason for teaching writing. It seems
that the actual process of writing helps students to learn language better. The highest
level of writing skill involves critical thinking. To deal with their mental activities,
students have to construct proper written texts using all their learning experience.
Thirdly, the most important reason for teaching writing is that it is a basic
productive language skill. Obviously, students need to know how to write a letter,
how to write a report, etc. Therefore, they need to know some writings’ conventions
such as punctuation, paragraph construction, forms of paragraph.
Writing is a productive skill, so it is writing that provides students with a
chance to put all those language itself and practice communicative skills at the same
time. Through the act of writing students will realize what they are already good at
and what they still need to learn to become a better and more effective writer (also a
better learner) By far, the difficult question for teachers to answer is not “why teach
writing”, but it is how to create good reasons for writing.
Through the act of writing, students will realize what they are already good at
and what they still need to learn to become a better writer.

With all these reasons mentioned above, writing really becomes an integral
part in teaching and learning language skills at any levels.

13


2.2.3.The nature of the writing process
In West’s point of view (cited in Abisamra 2001), "Good writing does not just
happen. The best writers spend a great deal of time thinking, planning, rewriting, and
editing". Writing is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and
ideas, and make them visible and concrete. Writing encourages thinking and learning
for it motivates communication and makes thought available for reflection. When
thought is written down, ideas can be examined, reconsidered, added to, rearranged,
and changed.
In the CLT approach, students are trained to generate ideas for writing, think of
the purpose and audience, write multiple drafts in order to present written products
that communicate their own ideas. Teachers who use this approach give students time
to tray ideas and feedback on the content of what they write in their drafts. A writing
process approach requires that teachers give students greater responsibility for, and
ownership of, their own learning.
During the writing process, students engage in pre-writing, planning, drafting, and
post-writing activities. However, as the writing process is recursive in nature, they do not
necessary engage in these activities in that order.
2.2.4. The roles of writing
Teaching and learning writing skill play an important role in the process of
language teaching and learning. White (1981) presents a number of reasons why
writing occupies a place in the language syllabus:
Firstly, writing is the commonest way of examining student performance in
English. Therefore, students’ writing ability is a key to examination success.
Secondly, from both parents and students’ views, ability to write may be

associated with “evidence of having learnt the language”. Therefore, parents and
students can see what has been done and what has been achieved during the learning
process. Besides, in the classroom, writing may be used as a helpful technique to help
add variety and interest to lesson.
14


Thirdly, in the classroom, the teacher may use writing as a testing device to
provide feedback on what the students have learnt. Students’ writing can provide
useful evidence to prove for success or failure in learning.
Finally, writing requires thoughts, discipline and concentration. Our writing
will be judged by the readers in terms of style, content and logic. So writing demands
a great deal of care and thought from the writers.
Raimes (1983, p3) shows three ways in which students can learn through
writing:
First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that
we have been teaching our students.
Second, when our students write, they also have a chance to be adventurous
with the language, to go beyond that they have just learned to say, to take risks.
Thirdly, when they write, they necessarily become very involved with the new
language, the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eye, hand and brain is a
unique way to reinforce learning.
Besides, Nunan (1991:84) presents, writing is:
Primarily for action: public signs (on roads and stations), product labels and
instructions (on food, tools or toy purchased), recipes, maps, television and radio
guides, bills, menus, telephone directories, etc.
Primarily for social contact: personal correspondence, letters, postcards,
greeting cards.
Primarily for information: newspapers and magazines, non-fiction books
(textbooks, public notices, advertisement, guidebooks and travel literature, etc.)

Primarily for entertainment: light magazines, comic strips, fiction books,
poetry and drama, film subtitles, games including computer games.
From the roles mentioned above, writing really becomes an integral part in
almost every language syllabus from elementary to tertiary level.
15


2.3. Teaching writing
2.3.1. Approaches to teaching writing
Nowadays there are many different approaches to teaching writing. It seems to
be a challenging skill to teachers because it is supposed to require a higher level of
language skill than the others. Besides, there are many ways of teaching writing due
to various teaching and learning styles. That is why, it is necessary to identify
approaches adapted in teaching writing. From that teachers can find out effective and
useful techniques for their teaching.
According to Ann Raims (1983, p 5-10), there were six approaches to teaching
writing namely: Controlled - to - Free Approach, Free - Writing Approach, Paragraph
- Pattern Approach, Grammar - Syntax - Organization Approach, Communicative
Approach and Process Approach.
2.3.1.1. Controlled- to -Free Approach
According to this approach mistakes shown up in written work was regarded as
a major problem. The teacher assumed that students made mistakes because they
wrote what they wanted freely. This approach stressed the importance of control in
teaching writing skills to students in early stages. Students were taught how to write
and combine various sentence types and manipulation exercises were used to give
students the experience of writing connected sentences.
The amount of control would be reduced gradually and students were asked to
exercise meaningful choice. At the next stages, students might be given a good deal of
guidance and content, but allowed some opportunities for self – expression. This
approach also emphasized step – by – step learning and formal correction

2.3.1.2. Free - Writing Approach
This Free – Writing encouraged students to write as much as possible and as
quickly as possible – without paying attention to mistakes. The important thing

16


students did was to get their ideas down on a paper. The drawbacks of this approach
were that many students wrote badly because they did not write enough and for the
same reason they felt inhibited when they picked up a pen to write. This approach
might be useful when writing a journal or a diary.
2.3.1.3. Paragraph- Pattern Approach
Different from the two approaches mentioned above, this approach stresses on
organization by copying the paragraphs or model passages. Students copy a model
paragraph, analyze its form and then write a parallel one. So, students are provided
such kinds of exercises as sentence ordering, sentence inserting or sentence deleting,
etc... This approach helped students express themselves effectively at a level beyond
the sentence.
2.3.1.4. The Grammar –Syntax- Organization Approach
Writing can not be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned one
by one. So some teachers devise writing tasks that lead students to pay attention to
organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax. This
approach links the purpose of a piece of writing to the forms that are needed to
convey the message.
2.3.1.5. Communicative Approach
This approach emphasized the communicative role of writing. Students should
have a reason for writing and think about whom they wrote to or for. This
Communicative Approach required situations which allowed them to write
purposefully. This approach motivated students to write and showed how writing was
a form of communication.

2.3.1.6. The process Approach
In the Process Approach, particular stress is paid on a cycle of writing
activities which move learners from the generation of ideas and the collection of data
through to the “publication” of a finished text:
PRE – WRITING

17


(Specify the task/ planning and outlining/ collecting data/ making notes)
↓
COMPOSING
↓
REVISING
(Reorganizing/ shifting emphasis/focusing information and style for your readership)
↓
EDITING
(Checking grammar/ lexis/ surface features)
Therefore, in the Process Approach, students did not write on a given topic in a
restricted time and gave their writing assignments to their teachers to correct. They
explored a topic through writing in an unrestricted time, showing their teachers and
each other their drafts, and using what they wrote to read over, think about, and
moved them on to a new ones. Teachers could give their feedbacks on the content of
what students have written in their drafts. The writing process became a process of
discovery. That was the discovery of new ideas and new language forms to express
those ideas.
Beside 6 approaches presented by Raimes (1983), the Product Approach is also
a famous one in teaching writing and is discussed by other writers.
(1) Product Approach
Product Approach is a traditional approach which is a largely “prescriptive and

product- centered” way of teaching writing. According to Brown (2001: 335), this
approach greatly focuses on the linguistic knowledge such as the appropriate use of
vocabulary, syntax, and cohesive devices. Four stages in teaching and learning writing
included in product approach are familiarization, controlled writing, guided writing,
and free writing. This approach pays much attention to the final outcome of a writing

18


process and supposes that students need to produce only one writing version of the
task. The model of this approach is presenteded :
Stage 1: Model texts are read, and then features of the genre are highlighted.
For example, if the writing topic is a formal letter, students' attention may be drawn to
the importance of paragraphing and the language used to make formal requests. If the
writing topic is a story, the focus may be on the techniques used to make the story
interesting, and students focus on where and how the writer employs these techniques.
Stage 2: This consists of controlled practice of the highlighted features, usually
in isolation. So if students are studying a formal letter, they may be asked to practice
the language used to make formal requests.
Stage 3: This stage is very important. Those who favor this approach believe
that the organization of ideas is more important than the ideas themselves and as
important as the control of language.
Stage 4: Students choose from a choice of comparable writing tasks.
Individually, they use the skills, structures and vocabulary they have been taught to
produce the product; to show what they can do as fluent and competent users of the
language.
Robinson (1991) points out that the product approach to writing usually
involves the presentation of a model text which is analyzed and the basis of a task that
leads to the writing of an exactly similar text and this approach can be summarized in
the following figure:

Model text

comprehension/analysis/ manipulation

NEW INPUT

PARALLEL TEXT
(2)Process Approach
By contrast, Process Approach focuses on the process rather than the final
product. The typical sequence of activities are outlined as follows:

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Stage 1: Generating ideas by brainstorming and discussion. Students could be
discussing qualities needed to do a certain job, or giving reasons as to why people
take drugs or gamble. The teacher only provides language support if required so as
not to inhibit students in the production of ideas.
Stage 2: Students extend ideas into note form, and judge quality and usefulness
of ideas.
Stage 3: Students organize ideas into a mind map, spider gram, or linear form.
This stage helps to make the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas more immediately
obvious, which helps students with the structure of their texts.
Stage 4: Students write the first draft. This is done in class and frequently in
pairs or groups.
Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged so that students become the readers of each
others work. By responding as readers, students develop an awareness of the fact that
a writer is producing something to be read by someone else, and thus can improve
their own drafts.
Stage 6: Drafts are returned and improvements are made based upon peer

feedback.
Stage 7: A final draft is written.
Stage 8: Students once again, exchange and read each other’s work and
perhaps even write a response or reply.
* Process Approach versus Product Approach
There are various approaches to teaching writing, however, the product and
the process approaches are two most popular ones used in ESL classroom.
In Product approach, model texts play important parts, the ideas of the writing
are not as much highly appreciated as the language and the organization of these
ideas. This approach is a traditional approach which pays much attention to the final

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