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a. Deciding what to say, thinking about starting, thinking who we are writing for, thinking about our aim in writing this particular
piece, thinking about the way it should be set out on the page. b. Deciding on the order in which we put our ideas, deciding on
paragraphing and sub – headings, giving it the title. c. Making sure we have the script right the right font if word –
processing. d. Deciding where to put capitals, underlining, italics, quotation
marks and other punctuation. e. Using correct spelling, choosing words to convey meaning,
finding the best word, most suited to the context. f. Writing a grammatical sentence, writing a fluent sentence that
reads well. g. Reading what we have written to see if it reads well, reading
with another reader in mind. h. Deleting, adding, or changing the text to suit the reader, proof –
reading for small mechanical mistakes e.g. spelling. i. Making sufficient interesting points, illustrating our points to
add interest and help understanding j. Referring to the ideas of others.
b. Writing Skills
Writing is complex cognitive skill. Writing skill is an ability to express the idea, opinion or feeling in the written form beginning
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from the simplest one to the advanced level on a certain medium consistency over period of time. It is one of language skills which
are considered important, because it is one of means for communication with other people in addition to listening, speaking,
and reading.
Heaton 1998: 23 states that the complexity of writing
activity is shown by many skills related in that activity including grammatical skill, stylistic skill, mechanic skill, and decision skill.
Keraf 1998: 144 says that the language is a primary communication medium for human, to express their idea or feeling
to another people as well as understand the idea or feeling of other. Vocabulary mastery and grammatical structure are requirement to
write a valuable text. According to Brown 2004: 221 there are two categories of
writing skills. They are micro and macro skills. Micro skills and macro skills assist us in defining the ultimate criterion of an
assessment procedure. Micro skills of writing are appropriately applied to imitative and intensive types of writing task, while macro
skills writing are essential for the successful mastery of responsive and extensive writing.
1 Micro skills a produce graphemes and orthographic pattern of English
b Produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose
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c Produce an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order patterns
d Use acceptable grammatical systems e.g., tense, agreement, plural, patterns, and rule.
e Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms f Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
2 Macro skills a The rhetorical forms and convention of written discourse.
b Appropriately accomplish the communicative functions of written texts according to form and purpose
c Convey links and connections between events, and communicate such relation as main idea, supporting idea, new
information, given
information, generalization,
and examplication
d Distinguish between culturally specific references in the context of the written text
e Develop and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the audience’s interpretation, using
paragraphs and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing
From those descriptions, it can be inferred that writing is the acts of forming symbols, letter or combination of letters, which are
related to the sounds of speaking; making marks on a flat surface of
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some kind; arranging them according to certain conventions to form words and arranging words to form sentences
that are used to represent or express ideas or feelings. In this case, students are able to
produce writing with the high degree of organization in the development of ideas and information; the control of content; the use of
complex grammatical devices for focus and emphasis syntax; the correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization mechanics; and the
careful choice of words vocabulary.
c. Teaching Writing
