Definition of Writing General Concept of Writing

2.2.1.1 Definition of Writing

Writing is the one of the most complex literate activities in which children and adult engage. Among the four language skills taught in schools, writing is the most difficult skill to learn. It needs specialized skills that include the ability to express the writer’s opinions or thoughts clearly and efficiently. As stated by Straub in Hyland 2003:9, “Writing is a way of sharing personal meanings and writing courses emphasize the power of the individual to construct his or her own views on a topic.” Meyers 2005:2 states that: Writing is speaking to others on paper or on a computer screen. Writing is partly a talent, but it’s mostly a skill and like any skill, it improves with practice. Writing is also an action-a process of discovering and organizing your ideas, putting them on paper, and reshaping and revising them. Writing is much like speaking-a way to discover and communicate ideas. Unlike speaking, however, it does not happen all at once. Writing skill must be practiced and learned through experience, trial and error. In writing skill, it needs more attention and carefulness to make the best writing, which includes vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, organization, etc. Writing is very important for English learners, and it is essential for English teachers to improve students’ writing skill. As the same as the other skills in mastering English, writing consists of two skills, they are micro skills and macro skills. Brown 2004:221 provides that “Micro and macro skills of writing are important to define the ultimate criterion of an assessment procedure.” Micro skills apply more appropriate to imitative and intensive to writing, while macro skills are essential for the mastery of responsive and intensive writing. It contents several aspect of writing skills. The micro skills of writing consist of: a produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English, b produce writing at an efficient rate of speed to suit the purpose, c produce an acceptable core of words and use appropriate word order patterns, d use acceptable grammatical systems e.g., tense, agreement, pluralization, patterns and rules, e express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms, f use a cohesive device in writing discourse. Meanwhile, macro skills consist of: a use the rhetorical forms and conventions of writing discourse, b appropriately accomplish the communicative function of writing to form and purpose, c convey links and connections between events, and communicates such relation, and exemplification, d distinguish between literal and implied meaning with writing, e correctly convey culturally specific reference in the context of written text, f develop to use a battery of writing strategies such as accurately assessing the audience’s interpretations, using pre-writing device, writing with fluency in the first drafts, using paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback for revising and editing. From the definition above, I conclude that writing is one of most important skills for the students which have to master. We can convey meaning to other people clearly by paying attention to the aspects of writing skill, they are micro and macro skills, in order to make a good product of writing.

2.2.2 Teaching Narrative Writing