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
As explained above, English consists of some skills that are commonly used as means of communication. Each skill has its own
characteristics and it is different from each other. Brown 2001: 341 mentions seven characteristics of written language.
1 Permanence The writer releases a certain power such as the power to fix, to
clarify, and to withdraw when something is written down and delivered to its intended audience.
2 Production time A writer can become a good writer by developing efficient
processes for achieving the final product. In addition, Harmer 2004: 8 states that the writer has a chance to plan and modify
what will appear as the finished product. 3 Distance
Writers need to be able to predict the audience’s general knowledge, culture and literacy schemata, specific subject-
matter knowledge, and how their choice of language will be interpreted.
4 Orthography Everything from simple greetings to very complex ideas is
captured through the manipulation of a few dozen letters and other written symbols.
5 Complexity Writers have to learn how to remove redundancy, how to
combine sentences, how to make references to other elements in a text, how to create syntactic and lexical variety, and so on.
6 Vocabulary Written language demands more vocabulary than speaking. The
richness of vocabulary can give advantages to the writers. 7 Formality
The most difficult and complex conventions occur in academic writing where the students have to learn many things like to
describe, explain, compare, illustrate and many other things. This difficulty is commonly sensed by EFL students.
c. Micro and Macro Skills of Writing.
To make the writing products readable and understandable, students need to master the skills of writing. Brown 2004: 221 lists
a number of micro and macro skills of writing. They are stated as follows.
Micro skills 1. Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
2. Produce an acceptable core words and use appropriate word order patterns.
3. Use acceptable grammatical system e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization, patterns, and rules.
4. Express a particular meaning in different grammatical form. 5. Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
Macro skills
6. Appropriately accomplish the communicative function of written text according to form and purpose.
7. Convey links and connection between events and communicate such as relations as main idea, supporting idea, new
information, given
information, generalization
and exemplification.
8. Distinguish between literal and implied meaning when writing. 9. Correctly convey culturally specific reference in the context of
written text. 10. Develop and use a battery of writing strategies, such as
accurately assessing the audience’s interpretation, using prewriting devices, writing with fluency in the first drafts,
using paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting and instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing.
Based on the lists above, it can be said that both skills of writing such as producing writing at an efficient speed and
developing a battery of writing strategies are needed by a writer to produce good written text.
d. Writing Process
