18 4
Indicating the difference between the student’s current work and the desired standard of work;
5 Controlling frustration and risk in problem solving; and
6 Modelling an idealized version of the task that needs accomplishing
The six characteristics of learning activities above show how a scaffolding learning is supposed to be conducted. In other words, those features need fulfilling
by a teacher who is taking a role as a scaffolder.
2. Writing
In this section, there are some theories that are related to writing. They are the nature of writing and teaching writing theory. In the two parts, the researcher
would like to review to which definition of writing and teaching writing the research referred.
a. The nature of writing
In general, writing is one of English basic skills. In details, it is one of productive skills for when someone writes, she produces something. Wright, et al.
2006 state that writing is a way to communicate in a written way. Further, Homstad Thorson 1996 define writing in a deeper explanation by stating that
writing has commonly been viewed as a support skill. Writing, further explained by them, can evoke students to learn more. Writing can reinforce the acquisition of
grammar and the memorization of language, for example. Next, the definition above is similar to what is stated by Raimes 1983 in her book entitled Techniques
in Teaching Writing. She states that writing helps students to learn for at least three
19 reasons. First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms, and
vocabulary that a teacher has been teaching to students. Second, when students write, they are in an adventure of language, they will take risk on what they have
just learned. Third, when they write, they are inevitably involved with the new language. They will put effort to express idea. In addition, the constant use of eye,
hand, and brain is a unique way to reinforce learning. Moreover, in writing, they often discover many new things like new way of expressing idea, finding the right
word, and constructing right sentences. All of these bring into a conclusion that there is a close relationship between writing and thinking.
For this reason, all of the definitions and the elaboration of writing above show that writing does not employ a single element only. In her explanation of
approaches to teaching writing in ESL classes, Raimes 1983 explicates the elements of writing that writers have to deal with as they produce a piece of writing,
which can be seen in the following diagram named Producing a Piece of Writing:
20
From the diagram above, it can be seen that there are 9 nine elements that a writer has to deal with in a writing process. However, in this research, there were
only some of those nine 9 elements that were brought in the learning process. They were grammar, organization, word
choice, purpose, audience, and the writer’s process. Grammar, organization, and word choice were chosen to answer the need
of the respondents that are derived from the pre-research questionnaire analysis. Meanwhile, purpose and audience were chosen to make them focus on making a
learning text for children and or people who are in their age . Lastly, the writer’s
process was chosen as it was related to the teaching approach used by the researcher that was explained in the next sub section.
SYNTAX • Sentence
structure, sentence boundaries,
stylistic choices, etc.
CONTENT
• Relevance, clarity,
originality, logic, etc.
THE WRITERS
PROCESS
• Getting ideas, getting started,
writing drafts, revising
AUDIENCE
• The readers
PURPOSE
• The reason for writing
WORD CHOICE
• Vocabulary, idiom, tone
ORGANIZATION • Paragraphs, topic and
support, cohesion and unity
MECHANICS
• Handwriting, spelling,
punctuation
GRAMMAR • Rules for verbs,
agreement, articles, pronouns, etc.
Clear, fluent, and effective
communication of ideas
Figure 2.1. Elements of Writing
21 To sum up, choosing those six 6 out of nine 9 elements did not mean that
the researcher wanted to ignore other important elements of writing. Instead, the researcher wanted to focus the research on the need of the respondents as found in
the questionnaire and on the goal of English Club course.
b. Teaching writing
