SETTING UP
WRITING TASKS
This command used to be a nightmare for me and my
generation in the English courses: Describe a place you know well. Am I
supposed to write a paragraph or an article for a travel guide? Do my readers have
some knowledge about the place I am writing about? Who are my readers anyway?
How do I start such a writing I know nothing about? How about a cliché like
“Today I would like to write about Datca which is my favorite town in
Why do we give writing tasks anyway? We may ask them
to write according to certain conventions (e.g. academic writing, personal
writing). Then, we should clearly explain the form we are expecting. Another reason can be revising the new
structures and vocabulary we have taught. Then, we should clearly add to this
topic the language areas we want to
focus on. Therefore, before asking the students to write on a topic, the
following questions should be answered:
|
To whom: |
Audience |
|
What: |
Context |
|
How: |
Style |
|
Why: |
Purpose |
Still, answering these questions would not be enough
for students to start writing. The reason is, efficient writers do not start
writing something without collecting data, doing research, evaluating other similar
texts, etc. We need to have some information about the topic we are writing
about. If we are planning to do an in-class activity which should be completed
in a limited time, we need to activate background information of the students.
This can be done by having pre-task
discussions about the topic and brainstorming the context and the
language to be used. Also having a pre-prepared reading
for the writing activity is very useful.
Classroom activities need to be set up in ways that
reflect the writing process in efficient writers. Therefore, we need to provide
information about the audience and try to make every piece of writing fulfill
some kind of communicative purpose. Only then the end products of our students
can be connected, contextualized, and appropriate pieces of communication.
Written by Oya Ozagac September,
2004