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c. Accounting for Cultural and Literacy Background
The differences of writing convention between students’ first language and the target language may raise difficulties. It is the teacher’s task to help the
students to be accustomed to the English writing convention. Therefore, this principle is applied in the stage of building knowledge of the field. The students
must be given sufficient knowledge on the field of the text. This is aimed so that the students have something to put on their writing. More importantly, the teacher
gives the students vocabulary and expressions related to the field being learnt so that the students not only have the knowledge but also they have the words to
express their knowledge.
d. Connecting Reading with Writing
Reading is the input for writing. As Nation 2009: 1 states, reading input that focuses on students to understand the message of the text is called meaning-
focused input. Meaning-focused input involves reading activities where the language features are mostly on the students’ current proficiency level. The output
from that is meaning-focused output. It aims to produce writing so that others understand the message. The activities involve writing diaries, letters, e-mails, etc.
This principle can be applied in modelling of the text stage where the teacher gives students input from reading. This principle is also applied in individual
construction stage where learners do their independent works.
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e. Giving the Students Clear Instruction on the Rhetorical and Formal
Convention of Writing
Brown 2002: 356 states that a piece of writing has its own characteristics and features. They should be introduced to the students. These features and
characteristics of text should be explicitly taught in a writing classroom. Therefore, this principle is applied on the modelling of the text stage and joint
construction of the text stage. Dunlap and Weisman 2007: 106 also assume that productive language
skills are more challenging for students. Thus they need a clear instruction from the teacher. Hyland 2002: 80 adds that, besides introducing the features of texts,
there are cognitive and motivational factors to bear in mind when giving instructions to the students. The example of cognitive factors is by providing the
students with topics which are relevant to the students. On the other hand, motivational factors can be encouraging the students to discuss their work or
conducting a mini project in groups.
8. Classroom Writing Performance
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