progress by the time. After teachers finish evaluating their writing, the next step is publishing. In this stage, the people are allowed to read the writing as the final
product. It can be presented in a class or showed on notice boards, or even in website. The last stage is having follow-up tasks. It is carried out to conclude the
weaknesses of their writing. By conducting this stage, later on, students are expected to have better writing.
f. Teaching the Writing skill
Writing is considered as a means of communication. It involves a complex process where people have to use certain grammatical rules in organizing facts. It
also tends to involve a thinking process from human being. The objectives of the teaching of the writing skill can be achieved through some approaches. As
proposed by Harmer 2001: 25, there are two approaches in teaching writing. They are focusing on the product of the writing process and focusing on the
writing process itself. He states that focusing on the writing process leads to those who advocate a process approach in writing. However, teachers have to pay
attention to the various stages of any piece of the writing process. In addition, the teachers should understand how to teach writing to
students. Harmer 1998:79 claims that there are several reasons why teacher should teach writing. The reasons are reinforcement, language development,
learning style, and writing as a skill. Furthermore, the reasons will be presented as follows.
1 Reinforcement
The visual demonstration of language construction is invaluable and it is used as a tool to committing the new language to memory. Students usually find
the visual demonstration is useful to write sentences. It is useful to write sentences using new language shortly after they have studied it.
2 Language development
The actual process of writing helps the students to learn. The mental activity in order to construct proper written texts is all part of the ongoing learning
experience. 3
Learning style Writing is a reflective activity instead of the rush and bother of
interpersonal face-to-face communication for such learners. However, there are also those who need longer time. They need to think and produce language in a
slower way. 4
Writing as a skill The important reason for teaching writing is that it is a basic language
skill. It might as important as speaking, listening, and reading. In this case, students need to know how to write letters, how to put written reports together,
and how to reply to advertisement. Based on the above explanation, it can be seen that those reasons given
instructions to the teacher as their job to teach writing to students. In teaching
writing, the role of the teacher is very important in the teaching and learning process of writing. Byrne 1998:32 explains that there are roles of the teacher in
teaching writing. First is deciding how to present the activity to the class. In the early stage, the teacher demonstrates the writing activities on a board projector. It
will help the students to do a certain amount of writing. Second is preparing the students orally. By giving a number of examples orally, it helps the students to
know exactly what they have to do. The next is by deciding how the writing task should be carried out. An activity can be done individually, in pairs or in small
groups. Some activities can also be begun in pairs or in groups but concluded or ended on individual writing task. The last is deciding on correction procedures.
The students can be asked to exchange their completed work to evaluate one another‟s efforts. This helps to train them to look at written work critically as
readers. Then writing work can also be discussed on a class room to get necessary correction or some time students make their own correction.
g. Principles of Teaching Writing
In teaching writing, the teacher should consider some principles while planning a course whether it is a writing course or a course in which writing
would play a part. As stated by Brown 2004:61, there are some principles for teaching
writing. They are understanding students‟ reasons for writing, providing many opportunities for students to write, providing feedback helpful and
meaningful, and the teacher must clarify himself, and for his students, how their writing will be evaluated.
The first principle is unde rstanding students‟ reasons for writing. When
doing writing, it is necessary to understand the students‟ goal. It will be a problem
if the teacher‟s goals do not match with the students‟ goal. The second is providing many opportunities for students to write. In improving writing skills,
students have to practice a lot. The teacher should give opportunities for students to develop their writing skills by providing some different types of writing. The
next is providing feedback helpful and meaningful. When the teacher gives feedback to students, it is important for students to understand the symbol or
vocabulary that the teacher used so that the feedback will be meaningful. The next principle is clarifying. The teacher should clarify himself, and for his students,
how their writing will be evaluated. The teacher should evaluate the students‟
writing objectively. The teacher may use a scoring rubric as a guideline to assess the students‟ writing.
In addition, Nation 2009 proposes some principles in teaching writing. The following principles can be used to evaluate the teaching and learning
activities. 1
Meaning-focused Input
Students should bring experiences and knowledge to their writing. Writing is most likely to be successful and meaningful for the learners if they are well
prepared for what they are going to write. This preparation can be done through the choice of topic, or through previous work done on the topic either in the first
or second language. 2
Meaning-focused Output
Students should do many writing and different kinds of writing. There are many elements of writing skills which are peculiar to writing. Different genres use
