The Nature of Writing The Writing Situation

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CHAPTER II REVIEW ON RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter mainly discusses the review of related literature to support the research. There are two parts of discussion. The first part is Theoretical Description consists of brief discussion on some theories as the basis of the study. The theories discussed to establish the framework of the study. The second part is Theoretical Framework that summarizes all the major relevant theories for designing the materials.

A. THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION

There are four major issues underlie this study. Those are the issues on the nature of writing, Journal Writing, Instructional Design concept and the structure of language lesson in reflective teaching. Therefore, this section is divided into four parts. Each parts reviews the theories of the issues mentioned previously.

1. Writing

a. The Nature of Writing

Tiedt 1982:2 perceives that writing is one way of expressing what we think. During the process, the students think, feel, and experience as they produce a piece of writing. As it is refers to Scholes and Comley 1985:15, writing is not simply frozen speech. It is not only a tool for communication, for transmitting ideas or transcribing PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI what has already been taught. It means that writing is a way of separating thoughts from ourselves-making them a visible form outside our mind so that we can think about them and improve them. Moreover, according to Vacca and Vacca 2002:214, writing can be a powerful means of making sense of experience and constructing meaning. We can use writing to think, understand, and learn. Besides, writing also functions as an instrument of discovery, speculation, and learning in the lives. From all the definitions above, writing is an active process of transferring the thoughts, reactions, experiences, and ideas in our mind to a visible form that can be learnt and understood by both others and ourselves. To teach writing skill, teacher must be able to create the situation where the students have more time to write what is in their mind related to issues being discussed as well as to provide them with suitable materials and themes needed. In this point, writing skill acquires to expressively jot down thoughts relevant to the prompts or themes given as they learn their particular language features. That is why practice writing using journal is needed in acquiring an excellent writing skill.

b. The Writing Situation

Scholes and Comley 1985:6-7 state that every act of communication involves a sender who sets out the message and a receiver who interprets it, as such, a writer explaining about a particular thing and a reader interpreting and understanding about the information. Thus, all writing situation can be described as this simple diagram: topic writer text reader form of writing The central level of the diagram writer Æ text Æ reader describes the basic process of written communication. The writer produces the information or message in form of text, and the reader interprets and understands it. In order for this to happen, however, both the writer and the reader have to share the same knowledge, the topic being discussed and the form of writing or the text. In this writing practice, the students as the writers are challenged to communicate their personal “voice” toward the prompts in form of texts they write in their journal so that the messages can be delivered to the reader. It is hoped that through writing their journals, they can express their thoughts creatively and in the same time understands grammar and vocabulary as well.

c. The Forms of Writing