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Supporting to the previous theories, Brown 1994: 327; 2004: 220 mentions some microskills for writing as follows:
a. Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English.
b. Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
c. Produce an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order
patterns. d.
Use acceptable grammatical systems e.g. tense, agreement, and pluralisation, patterns and rules.
e. Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms.
f. Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that writing is a process of producing a piece of written text to convey meanings. In doing so, the
writer has to master the skills of producing letters in correct spelling, having a range of vocabulary, using correct grammatical system—including the use of a
range of sentence structure, maintaining cohesiveness and coherence of paragraphs and text, and developing and organizing the content clearly and
convincingly.
3. Writing in the Classroom
Harris points out that writing has to be planned in order to achieve both well sequenced ideas and selection of the words that will lead to effective
communication and the writers should “find ways of motivating themselves to continue creating a text” 1993: 4. Writers need certain conditions that will
encourage them to produce a piece of writing. They should make such a mind map about what they are going to write and crate an initial draft. These conditions will
be occupied when the writing activity is interesting and the product of writing should be taken into account. Additionally, Brown 2004: 220 suggests the
following categories of classroom writing performance: a.
Imitative Students are asked to write English letters, words, or even sentences in
order to learn the convention of the orthographic code. The primary focus is
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on the form and accuracy. Dictation is one of the activities belonging to this stage.
b. Intensive controlled
The common form of controlled writing is usually related to the grammatical aspect. Not only the grammatical correctness, but also the
appropriateness of vocabulary within a context, collocation, and idioms. Meaning and context determine the correctness and appropriateness. The
activity that belongs to this category is guided writing. c.
Responsive The responsive writing requires learners to perform at a limited discourse
level, connecting sentences into paragraph and creating a logically connected sequence of two or three paragraphs. Genres of writing include brief narratives
and descriptions, short reports, lab reports, summaries, brief responses to reading, and interpretation of charts or graphs.
d. Extensive
It can be done in the form of short writing essays, a term paper, and research reports. This is the most complex writing performance since the
writer focuses on achieving illustrate ideas, organizing and developing ideas logically, using details to support or illustrate ideas, and demonstrating
syntactic and lexical variety. Along with the microskills of writing, Brown 1994: 330-332 proposes
the principles of designing writing techniques as follows: a.
Incorporate practices of good writing b.
Balance process and product c.
Account for cultural literacy backgrounds d.
Connect reading and writing e.
Provide as much authentic writing as possible f.
Frame the techniques in terms of prewriting, drafting, and revising stage In conclusion, writing activities in the classroom should be able to
provide plenty of practices for students and able to encourage their interest and motivation in order to achieve the communicative purpose of writing.
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4. Writing Recount Text
