The Nature of Writing

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter provides the theories that are related to the study. This chapter is divided into three subchapters which are literature review, relevant research studies, and conceptual framework.

A. Literature Review

1. Writing

a. The Nature of Writing

Poeple use language as a means of comunication in terms of four skills. They are reading, writing, speaking and listening . These skills are often divided into two types. It is receptive skills and productive skills. Productive skill is the term for speaking and writing skills where students have to produce language Harmer, 2007: 265. As a productive skill, there are some features of writing. As stated by Harmer 2004: 7-8, writing transcends time and space and it tends to be permanent. Written words stay around, sometimes, for hundreds or thousands of years. In addition, the final product of writing is not so instant. The writer has a chance to plan and modify what will finally appear as the finished product. So, there is a ‘process’ to produce a written product. Meanwhile, spoken communication is only temporary and less process. Furthermore, Raimes 1983: 4-5 lists some clear differences between writing and speaking. The lists are elaborated in the following points. 1 The spoken language has dialect variations. The written language generally demands standard form of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. 2 Speakers use their voices pitch, stress, and rhythm and bodies gestures and facial expressions to help deliver their ideas. Writers have to rely on the words on the page to express their meaning. 3 Speakers use pauses and intonation. Writers use punctuation. 4 Speakers pronounce. Writers spell. 5 Speech is usually informal and repetitive. Writing is more formal and compact. However, it has to be mentioned that writing’s and speaking’s features are not absolute. Some has mixed features. For example, lectures prove that some speech like writing communication, since it is commonly read out from notes or a text. And also, writing is not always through the process. In the case of postcards, it does not necessarily involve the process since the language and the form are quite predictable that constructing the text is relatively easy Harmer, 2004: 8. Subsequently, out of that case, process and product should be balanced. After all, the main goal of the process is the product. It is the reason why a writer goes through the process of pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing. Process is not the end; it is the means to the end Brown, 2001: 337. In brief, writing is one of the four language skills which are used to communicate. Writing has its own features which tend to be permanent and need some process to produce final product. It is different from speaking in which speaking is more temporary and less process. However, sometimes writing and speaking have mixed features. In some cases, writing is not always through process and speaking is not always free-process. Added to this, in writing, process and product should be balanced since process is not the end. Process is a means to final product.

b. Writing Characteristics