Delimitation of the Problems Formulation of the Problems

those definitions that writing is a process which involves complex activities to produce successful pieces of writing. Writing can be defined as a physical activity because a writer is required to be able to do the act of committing words or ideas. It is also a mental activity because a writer should be able to express and organize ideas into clear statements and paragraphs. In other words, the written text is used to communicate a particular message. Therefore, readers can understand writers’ ideas in the written form. Therefore, the nature of writing can be defined as both physical and mental activity that is aimed to express and impress Nunan, 2003:88. Brown 2001:335 states that writing is written products of thinking, drafting, and revising that require specialized skills on how to generate ideas, how to organize them coherently, how to use discourse markers and rhetorical conventions coherently into a written text, how to revise a text for clearer meaning and how to edit a text for appropriate grammar and how to produce a final product. It means that writing is a productive skill. A writer should be able to express their ideas into a product in the form of writing. Some stages proposed by Brown support Nunan’s ideas that writing is a physical and mental activity, for example how to generate ideas and organize ideas coherently. Brown 2001:335 suggests that writing is similar to swimming because it is a learned behavior. People do not learn writing naturally, because it is a skill which only can be done consciously with effort. It cannot be done in a short period of time. It means that writing must be learned. According to Harmer 2004:7 writing is the only skill that can produce a real product, which is touchable, readable, and keep able for long time. It can be said that writing involves time and space. It is a permanent record of communication. Referring to those definitions, it can be concluded that writing is a written communication. It is a complex process to produce a product in the written form to express and organize ideas to communicate.

2. Purposes of Writing

The purpose of writing depends on the purpose of the text. There are several text types which have different purposes, for example to describe, persuade, entertain, argue, and explain. According to Nunan’s 2003:88 theory, writing is viewed as a means of communication which is commonly used to express and impress. It means that writing is communication which has two main purposes. First, writing is used to express ideas or opinions. Second, the text is used to communicate the ideas or opinions. Meanwhile, Byrne 1997: 6 suggests that there are five pedagogical purposes of writing. a. The introduction and practice of some form of writing enables us to provide for different learning styles and needs. b. Written work serves to provide the learners with some tangible evidence that they are making progress in the language.