The Nature of Writing

18 acquire the vocabulary and the grammar of the lesson.” p. 104 In writing skills, the principal purpose is getting the students able to write in the classroom. It is not easy for the teachers to make the students enjoying the writing activity. Writing is the most difficult and it needs a hard work Tiedt, 1989. Nevertheless, it becomes the teachers‟job to make the students enjoy their writing process. 2 The principles of teaching writing To teach writing, the teachers need some principles of teaching writing in order to evaluate the writing process whether the students are getting a good range of opportunities or not. Nation 2009 proposes four principles to teach writing. They are: a Meaning-focused input According to Nation 2009, in teaching writing the teachers should be able to lead the students to bring their experience and knowlegde to their writing. Writing will be successful and meaningful for the students if they are well prepared for what they are going to write. The students‟ experience can be brought about by giving them tasks. Nation 2009 states that students have to experience as many as posible writing tasks. The several effects of giving tasks in writing skills are Nation, 2009, p.96: “ First, it makes sure that learners are not overloaded by having to think about several different things at the same time. Second, it allows the learners the chance to concentrate on the part of the task that they need to learrn. Third, it helps the learners perform a normal language activity in a normal waywith a high chance of success.” 19 b Meaning-focused output This principle is dealing with product. In order to produce a good product of writing, the students should practice lots of different kinds of writing. Biber states, “different genres use different writing conventions and draw on different language features and so it is useful to make sure that learners are getting writing practice in the range of genres that they will have to write in” as cited in Nation, 2003, p. 93-94. The expected results of this principles are mentioned as follows: First, the students write with a message-focused purpose. Hence, the students will get the aim of communicating a message to the reader, and the writer should have a reader in mind when writing. Second, writing should attract students and draw on their interests. Third, students should experience a feeling of success in their writing. Fourth, students should employ writing as an aid to increase their language knowledge. Fifth, in order to get wider the skill of writing, students have to master skill in the use of computer to increase the quality of speed of their writing. Besides, computer provide ways of providing feedback. Sixth, writing instruction should be considered on careful analysis such as what the students need to be able to do with writing, what they can do now, and what they want to do. c Language-focused learning In this principle, there are some points underlined by Nation 2009. The students should have knowledge about the parts of the writing process and should be able to discuss them toward their own or others‟ writing. Students 20 are also expected to have conscious plans for dealing with the parts of writing process. The students have to be aware of clarity and fluency in producing the writing script. Furthermore, the teachers should provide and arrange feedbacks in order to encourage and improve the students‟ writings. d Fluency development Nation 2009 states this principle enlightens about writing speed. Students should increase their writing speed so that they are able to write very simple material in a reasonable speed. Fluency development can be done through repetitive activities of writing. 3 Teaching Technique In order to help students to reach the goals in writing, the teachers are supposed to find the technique in delivering the lesson. According to Raimes 1983, to teach writing the teachers have to know the purposes of the techniques used in teaching writing: 1. To communicate with a reader 2. To express ideas without the pressure of face-to-face communication 3. To explore the subject 4. To record experience 5. To become familiar with the conventions of written English discourse text According to Dhand 2008, the techniques of teaching are activities which are used day to day for a particular lesson. These activities or techniques affect to the learners‟ understanding of the process. Moreover, the techniques used must have the potential to enhance and enrich the learning experience.