Macro and Micro Skills of Writing
30 2.
Pictures can contribute to the context in which the language is being used. They bring the world into the classroom a street scene or a particular object,
for example, a train. 3.
The pictures can be described in an objective way „This is a train.’ or interpreted „It’s probably a local train.’ or responded to subjectively „I like
travelling by train.’. 4.
Pictures can cue responses to questions or cue substitutions through controlled practiced.
5. Pictures can stimulate and provide information to be referred to in
conversation, discussion and storytelling. Wright 1989: 188-192 also says that pictures have three functions that
can be used by the teacher. First, pictures can be used to get students’ personal response. Pictures can encourage students to have questions in their mind about
the pictures which are displayed. Second, pictures can be used to illustrate an object, action, quality, and etc. Pictures which illustrate a particular concept can
be used for the teaching of meaning. But a single picture cannot illustrate content unambiguously. It is better to use several pictures of the same object, pictures
with sequences, or pictures series to focus the students’ mind on the concept concerned. Third, pictures can be used by the students to imply an idea. Some
words and structures might be implied by a picture even though they are not specifically illustrated. The students can easily guess the content of the picture by
looking at the people, place, activity, and etc. shown in the picture. In addition, Wright 1989: 201 suggests that cartoon strips and instruction
strips of picture are very useful in teaching language, especially teaching writing skill. These series of pictures can be used to contextualize a story or a description
of a process. For intermediate students, these series of pictures can help them in representing the people in the pictures, setting and the relationship between the
picture and the words. Raimes 1983: 36 says that picture series provides a
31 variety of guided and non-guided free writing exercises. A set of parallel pictures
or pictures series that show a similar scene or tell a similar story can be used as a material that helps the students on vocabulary, sentence structure, and
organization yet lets the students write about new subject matter in teaching writing.
Moss in Davison and Dowson 2003: 150 also says that picture series can be used in teaching retrospective writing such as diary and journal writing. This
type of writing can lead the students to freely choose what they are going to write. This retrospective writing can be as coherent as a series of reflections a photo or
series of pictures that can be used by the students as guidance in writing. In addition, Harmer 2007 says that all kinds of pictures can be used in multiple
ways in language teaching. For example, drills, communication games, understanding, ornamentation, prediction, and discussion. From what the experts
say above, it can be concluded that picture series is very useful in teaching writing, especially in teaching recount text. Picture series can guide the students
not only in finding ideas but also in sequencing the events in correct order. It also can be an interesting media and can be used in a variety of tasks in teaching
writing.