So, when writing, there are two problematic areas namely what to write and how to write it, which become two competences for a writer, reference or
knowledge of language and knowledge of reference or language ad thought Brown, 1987:56 or linguistic competence and communicative competence
Litlewood, 1981: 3. It is then understandable that linguistic skills are meant as the ability to manipulate the rules of language usage conventionally, while
extra-linguistic system or knowledge of word refers to what the writer knows about the subject to write.
Writing is complex. In addition to the knowledge of the vocabulary, grammar and syntax, a writer must also have good knowledge of other writing
mechanics such as the use of punctuation such as, capitalization, question mark, commas, and act. These mechanics are used to reveal syntactic
structure Fromkin and Rondman, 1983: 154. Based on some definition above the writer concludes that writing is a way to producing a message into
writing.
b. Micro Skills and Macro skills of Writing
Brown 2001 proposed twelve micro kills and macro skills of writing as presented below:
Micro Skills: 1
Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English. 2
Produce writing at efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose.
3 Produce an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order
patterns. 4
Use acceptable grammatical system e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization, patterns, and rules.
5 Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms.
6 Use cohesive devices in written discourse.
Macro skills: 7
Use rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse. 8
Appropriately accomplish the communicative functions of written texts according to form and purpose.
9 Convey links and connections between events and communicative such
relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, generalization, and exemplification.
10 Distinguish between literal and implied meanings when writing.
11 Correctly convey culturally specific references in the context of the
written text. 12
Develop 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.
c. Writing Process
According to Flower and Hayes as quoted in Scott 1996, writing processes may be viewed as the writer’s tool kit. In using the tools, the writer
is not constrained to use them in a fixed order or in stages, and using any tool may create the need to use another. Generating ideas may require evaluation,
as writing sentences and evaluation may force the writer to think up new ideas. This is the model of writing process adapted from Grave 1983:
1 Prewriting
In prewriting, the goal is to generate ideas. Listing, brainstorming, clustering, outlining, free writing, silent thinking, conversation with a
neighbor, diagraming, storyboarding or mind mapping are all ways to generate ideas. Teachers will provide a writing task and help them to
generate vocabulary and ideas without concern for correctness or appropriateness in the first stage of writing.
The activities of prewriting is usually to begin with the writers’ awareness, what the writer try to communicate and why it is important to
communicate. Sometimes the writers use prewriting activities as a means to find a good topic, narrow topics that are too broad, and look at purpose.
The first activity that can be done in prewriting stage can be in the form of brainstorming. In brainstorming, the teacher introduces the topic
and then all of the students call out ideas associated with the topic. The
second activity is free writing. Free writing is a method in which the writer writes out everything you know about the topic, even the things
that might seem unimportant. The key to free writing is to write without stopping. This can help lead the writer to ideas he had forgotten, or help
him to see the relationships between ideas. The third technique is clustering. Clustering can be defined as a prewriting technique that
enables the writer to choose an encircled nucleic topic around which whatever may be found in relationship with will be chosen to be jotted
down in three-branch like relationship. The writer can select the ones that can be found most crucial or potent enough to develop the topic heshe
aims at. Once the students have interesting idea and know how to develop
them, they can write better. In prewriting stages in the classroom, the teacher will create that kind of environment in which the students
functionally benefit from. That is why prewriting activity is very important to get the ideas and develop them into a good writing.
2 Drafting
Drafting is a stage of the writing process during which a writer organizes information and ideas into sentences and paragraphs. So, it is
the first production stage of getting ideas down using complete sentences and reflecting the general conventions of writing. Drafting is used not
only in writing a paper or a novel story, but it is also necessary in simple writing like students’ writing activities in the classroom. All forms of
writing need to be drafted, the writer needs to write down ideas, organizing them into a sequence, and providing the reader with a frame
for understanding these ideas. The writers can start drafting with write an outline or just write down any idea they have. In this stage, they do not
have to focus on accuracy, however content and meaning are the things that they have to focus on. A draft may contains grammatical and spelling
errors, and may lack details, so the writer needs to continue rephrasing and expanding their ideas.
3 Revising
In revising, the students have to revise and reshape their writing based on the feedback given by the teacher. Revising is where the student
given a chance to fix the mistakes such as the content is not dense enough, the order is not clear, the grammar is wrong, the use of the words is
inappropriate and so on. They may revise their works by improving the contents, editing the grammar, moving the sentences, using another
words, and so on. 4
Editing Editing is the stage where grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors
are corrected. According to Grave, the editing stage cannot be included in the stage 1, 2, and 3 because it can decrease the quality of the writing
product. If the students worried about their mistakes in the pre-writing, drafting and revising stage, the precious brain space that is devoted to
generating and connecting ideas will instead be utilized worrying about
writing mechanics. Many professional writers always edit their writing in the end, so if the teacher wants the students to become authors and
composers of authentic writing, he has to teach them to approximate the writing process used by real writers.
5 Publishing and sharing
This stage is where students’ writing is shared with an audience. Publishing can involve putting together class books, collections of
writing, school or class newspapers, school or class magazines, or displaying short samples of writing in the hall or out in the community.
Writing experiences become even more powerful by having students read their work out loud in small groups, to another classmate, or in a large
group setting.
d. The characteristics of good writing
