10 to perform at a limited discourse level, to connect sentences into a paragraph and
creating a logically connected sequence of two or three paragraphs. Extensive is the ability to achieve a purpose, to organize and to develop ideas logically, to use
supporting details, and to use grammatical and lexical variety. Micro skills and macro skills of writing are the basis to define the criterion
of an assessment. The micro skills apply more appropriately to the imitative and intensive category, while macro skills are essential for successful mastery of the
responsive and extensive category.
3. What Makes Writing Difficult
Nunan 1998: 271 points out that writing is the most difficult skill to learn among other skills. Writing is difficult even for the native speakers. Brown 2002:
341 mentions some difficulties in writing. They are concerned with permanence, time limitation, distance, complexity, vocabulary and formality. Each will be
described below.
a. Permanence
When the students have submitted their works, the students are no longer able to revise, clarify and modify them. This situation makes students feel
intimidated. Therefore the help from the teacher to revise and to modify the stud
ents’ writing before the final submission will reduce students’ anxiety.
b. Time Limitation
The time spent in composing a piece of writing will influence the result of the writing. The longer the time spent the more chance for the students to improve
11 their works. However, in a writing class, the time is limited. The students are
demanded to be able to write in a certain time limit. Thus, the teacher should help the students deal with this problem.
c. Distance
In writing, students are one step removed from the audience. Students can only predict how the audience will interpret their writing. In predicting this, the
students need to be able to read their own writing from the readers’ perspective. Therefore, the students should be able to predict the readers’ general knowledge,
cultural background and the knowledge on what the students’ write.
d. Complexity
In writing, students will deal with longer clauses and more subordination. Students must learn how to combine sentences, how to make lexical and
grammatical variations, how to make references to another element in a text and so on.
e. Vocabulary
Written language requires a broader range of vocabulary. The students should have more vocabulary then they need in spoken language. This is because
writing gives more processing time than speech does. In addition, writing also requires the students to be clear about what they want to write and stick on certain
writing convention. Therefore, a greater range of rarely used vocabulary may occur as a result of these demands. Consequently, a good writing skill gives the
students broader vocabulary mastery.
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f. Formality
