Microskills and Macroskills for Writing Writing Process

13 Figure 1. Writing Process

2. Teaching Writing in English as a Foreign Language

a. Teaching Writing

Writing is the most difficult skill to be mastered by learners. There is also big responsibility that the teachers have to deal with when they teach writing to the students. Actually, teaching writing is very important for the students who study English. According to Harmer 2001: 79, there are four reasons why teaching writing is a must for the students. Teaching writing becomes important because writing is as reinforcement, writing is useful for language development, writing can give effect on the students’ learning styles, and writing is as a skill. a Reinforcement 14 Learners can acquire languages orally, but most of them can acquire languages well if they are seeing the languages written down. b Language development The writing process can help the students to learn. Constructing proper written texts can help them in learning process. c Learning style Writing is appropriate for learners who produce language slowly. d Writing as a skill The most important reason for teaching writing is that it is a basic language skill and they need to know some special conventions in writing such as punctuation, paragraph construction, and so on. Writing has to be taught to the learners because it has a big role in our life. Everything needs writing. When people communicate with others, they often use written language. Actually, there were many learners from non-English Speaking Countries who cannot write well, so that teachers have to help and teach them how to write in a good form. 15

b. Principles of Teaching Writing

Teaching writing is not as easy as it seems. There are so many problems that may occur in the class and actually it needs much time to be done and therefore the teachers should have some techniques to help the students create their writing. According to Brown 2001: 345-346, there are some principles for designing writing techniques. They are: 1 Incorporate practices of “good” writers Good writers have to focus on a goal of writing, gauge the audiences perceptively, spend enough time to plan to write, let the firs ideas flow into the paper easily, follow the general organizational plan as they write, utilize feedback on their writing, do not want to change their believe, revise their work efficiently, and make as many as revisions as needed patiently. 2 Balance process and product Teachers have to make sure that the students are led to appropriate stages in the process of composing carefully since writing is a composing process and it usually requires multiple drafts before the effective product is made. 3 Account for culturalliterary backgrounds Teachers should bring the students to know the language that comes from different country and the students are not familiar with. 16 4 Connect reading and writing Students learn by observing or reading the written word and by reading and studying a variety of relevant text types, the students are able to determine how they should write. 5 Provide as much authentic writing as possible Sharing writing with other students in the class can be a way to add authenticity. 6Frame your techniques in terms of prewriting, drafting, and revising stages

c. Types of Classroom Writing Performances

According to Brown 2001: 343, there are five categories of Classroom Writing Performance. They are: 1 Imitative The students just write down English letters, symbols, or sentences that they see. Sometimes, the teacher dictates what the students have to write. 2 Intensive In this type of classroom writing performance, writing can be used as a tool or media for learning, reinforcing, and testing grammatical content. This activity usually does not give the students a chance to explore their creativity.