Definitions of Writing Writing Theories

c. Aspects of Writing

Brown 2004: 218 says writing is a unique skill that has its own features and convention. Further, he also divides the aspect of the writing skill into two criteria: micro skills and macro skills 2004:220-221. The micro skills are: 1 producing graphemes and orthographic patterns of English, 2 producing writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose, 3 producing an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order patterns, 4 using acceptable grammatical systems e.g. tense, agreement, and pluralization, patterns, and rules, 5 expressing a particular meaning in different grammatical forms, and 6 using cohesive devices in written discourse. Then, Brown also lists the macro skills of writing, as follows: 1 using the rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse, 2 accomplishing appropriately the communicative functions of written discourse, 3 conveying links and connections between events and communicative such relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification, 4 distinguishing between literal and implied meaning while writing, 5 conveying culturally specific references in the context of the written text, and 6 developing and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the audience’s interpretation, using prewriting devices, writing with fluency in the first drafts, using paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing.

d. Writing Processes

A process is something that should be done in order to do every activity. Writing as one of the learning activities also has its processes. Nation 2009: 116 divides the writing processes into seven processes: 1 considering the goals of the writer, 2 having a model of the reader, 3 gathering ideas, 4 organizing ideas, 5 turning ideas into written texts, 6 reviewing what has been written, and 7 editing. Similar to Nation, Harmer 2007:279- 280 also mentions some organized ways in doing a writing project. Firstly a project starts at briefing or choosing of topics which means that teachers or students or it can be both decide on a topic. The topic can come from students or the teachers may offer a list of possible topics. The next step is idea or language generation, here students start making plans on how to accomplish the task, how to find out the information and where they can get the information needed. Teachers can give instructions on the way to get the information. Next, the third step is data gathering. Students can gather data from many sources. It can be from the internet, encyclopedias, television, radio, text books or questionnaires. The fourth step is planning, after having topic-specific language and data that they have required, students start making a plan on how the final project will be set out. Then, the next step is drafting and editing. Students start making the project. Before the final product is written, they start writing the draft; it can be a whole section or only parts of that. Then, the draft will be corrected teachers or fellow students. The draft will be self-edited as well. The sixth