Definition of Teaching Teaching Writing in English Foreign Language Classroom

21 really interesting is that every time teacher asks their students to do creative writing, they tend to try harder to produce better result and use more correct and appropriate language than when they do their routine assignments. However, for some students, creative writing can also be a source of frustration. This can be solved by building up the activities little by little and always giving students encouragement. Next is writing as a cooperative activity which happens to be the focus in this research. In general, writing is pretty much an individual activity. Every day, whether they are at home or at work, people always write on their own. However, teacher can take advantage of this situation by setting up cooperative writing activities. This needs to be done because, in actuality, there are a lot more benefits in writing as a cooperative activity than individual writing. Boughey cited in Harmer 2001: 260 states that group writing actually allows the teacher to give more detailed and constructive feedback as they only deal with a number of small groups rather than so many individuals. Writing in groups can also be really motivated for students and evidently, it works quite well with other approaches such as process and genre-based. The last is using computer. This advanced technology has been proved to be a good writing tool. Harmer 2001: 261 is at least able to list four good reasons why computer is appropriate for writing. 1. A word-processing package removes the problem of poor handwriting that some students suffer from. 2. A word-processing package allows the competent user to edit his or her material at great speed and with great facility. 3. Spellcheckers can ease the task of achieving correct spelling. 22 4. If students are working in groups, a computer screen can sometimes be far more visible to the whole group than a piece of paper might be. Students can also make use of computer to write e-mails. They can apply their English writing skills by writing e-mails for their friends around the world. This type of activity can be really motivating and exciting especially because the communication is immediate. Aside from approaches of student writing, Harmer also suggests that teacher takes a really significant role in English language teaching in general or teaching writing in English specifically. Harmer 2001: 261-262 proposes that teacher at the very least has three important roles. The first is teacher as a motivator. Teacher motivates the students. They create conducive atmosphere for their students to generate ideas. They will try to make them interested in writing activity by giving them good reasons why writing is not only useful but also exciting. Teacher also encourages the students to make as much effort as possible for achieving their full potential. The second one is teacher as a resource. Teacher must be ready to provide more information and language especially when students are dealing with extended writing tasks. They have to be prepared to offer constructive advice and suggestions. The last is teacher as a feedback provider. Of all teachers’ responsibilities, maybe giving feedback especially on writing tasks will require a bit of an extra attention. Teacher must respond positively of what students have written. They also have to act encouragingly when students seem to hit the wall so that hopefully they will never give up in writing. When teacher offers correction, they