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and reader, so it is required the control of content, sentence structure grammar, vocabulary, organization, and mechanics punctuation, spelling, and letter
formation. Skill is defined as the ability to do something well Hornby, 2004: 1109.
Students‟ writing ability refers to the student‟s competence in applying the components of writing including content, organization, vocabulary, language use
grammar, and mechanism Jacob, 1981: 60 To summarize, writing skill is the ability to discover and organize ideas
into written form arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain ways by using appropriate conventions including content, organization, vocabulary,
language use grammar, and mechanics.
2. Skills of Writing
A writer must have adequate writing skills to create the magnificence writing products. Raimes 1983: 6 states that there are some elements of writing
skills that writers have to deal with as they produce a piece of writing. They are the writing process, audience, purpose, word choice, organization, mechanics,
grammar, syntax, and content.
a. Writing Process
Harris 1993: 10 defines that writing is a process that; occurs over a period of time, particularly if we take into account the sometimes extended
periods of thinking that preset creating an initial draft. He also states that writing is full of starts and stops, punctuated by long pauses for reflection or by the need
to regenerate concentration. According to McCrimmon 1984: 3, there are three principal stages of
writing process. Stage 1 is prewriting; stage 2 is writing; stage 3 is revision. 1
Stage 1- prewriting In this stage, writer tries to discover what he wants to do. The basic
decisions made will direct and guide him when he starts to write. The
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decisions will define the subject and determine the attitudes that will be taken by the writer to both his subject and his reader.
2 Stage 2- writing
In writing stage, the writer carries out these decisions through a completed first draft.
3 Stage 3- revision
In this stage, the writer does specific changes to improve the draft. In doing the revision, the first part of the paragraph that is examined and
revised will be topic sentence, supporting sentences, and the concluding sentence if available. As it is known that a good paragraph
is one that is unified and coherent.
b. Audience Readers
These are categories of audience Britton
et al.
1975 in Widdowson, 1993: 21-22:
1 Self
2 Teacher
3 Wider audience known
4 Unknown audience
5 Additional categories
c. The Purpose of Writing
According to Harris 1993: 18, there is a consideration about the purpose of the text that is its communication function. Text can be differentiated, for
example, according to whether they are intended to entertain, inform, instruct, persuade, explain, argue a case, present argument, and so on.
Halliday in Nunan 1998: 84 points out that written language is used for: 1
Action: public signs, product labels, television and radio guides, bills, menus, telephone directories, ballot papers, computers manuals
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2 Information: newspapers, current affairs magazines, advertisements,
political pamphlets 3
Entertainment: comic strips, fiction books, poetry and drama, newspaper features, film subtitles
d. Word Choice
