copying, listening cloze selection tasks, picture-cued tasks, form completion tasks, and converting numbers and abbreviations to words.
b. Intensive or controlled
Students are meant to produce language to display their competence in grammar, vocabulary, or sentence formation, and not necessarily to convey
meaning for an authentic purpose. The tasks are more concerned with a focus on form and are rather strictly controlled. The activities could be dicto-comp,
grammatical transformation tasks, picture-cued tasks, vocabulary assessment tasks, ordering tasks, and short answer and sentence completion tasks.
c. Responsive
Students are considered already mastering the fundamentals of sentence-level grammar and are more focus on the discourse conventions that
will achieve the objectives of the written text.
d. Extensive
Students focus on achieving a purpose on their writings and engaging in the process of multiple drafts to achieve a final product.
Tasks in both responsive and extensive writing are more complex than the tasks in previous category of controlled writing. The activities in
responsive and extensive writing could be paraphrasing, guided questions and answers, paragraph construction tasks, and strategic options.
5. Characteristics of Effective Writing Activities
The characteristics of writing tasksactivities for web-based teaching and learning, similar to writing activities, can be adapted from the
characteristics of effective writing tasks in non web-based teaching and learning. Farrell in Burke 2012 states that all good writing tasks have some
characteristics i.e.: meaningful to the students, authentic, specific and immediate situations rather than abstract and theoretical ones.
In addition, Burke 2012 also suggests that teachers when designing a writing taskactivity should: determine and clearly state the purpose of the
assignment, specify the requirements of the assignment in writing, identify the standards for any given assignment, and take time to discuss the
assignment with the students.
Moreover, Oregon Department of Education 2011 proposes that an effective writingactivity task should have the following characteristics:
a. Use clear and concise wording. b. Plainly identify the student’s task.
c. State the mode or purpose for writing. Use “clue” words such as
“explain” for expository; “convince” or “persuade” for persuasive; “tell a
true story” for narrative; or “make up a story” for imaginative. Remember that for the purpose of demonstrating proficiency in the
essential skill of writing, students must complete one expository, one persuasive and one narrative or imaginative writing piece.
d. Give additional directions such as “compare and contrast,” “explain the process,” “discuss the causes and effects,” “explain the advantages and
disadvantages,” etc. e. Provide an open-ended opportunity. e.g., “Think of an issue in
contemporary health and wellness that concerns you…” rather than
“Explain why everyone should avoid junk food.” f. Make connections to previous learning, when possible.
