Writing Skills 

To write or not to write

Introduction

'If you cannot write proficiently, the sad fact is that you will probably be 'excluded from a wide range of social roles' (Tribble 1996)

Aims:

• What skills do student need to learn when writing in a second language?
• How can technology support the learning of writing skills? 
• How has technology altered the nature of writing?

How L2 writers feel:

• A group of proficient L2 writers were asked to answer how they felt about writing a 'high stake' task on MA in TESOL next semester. (Master in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
• Their concerns were many, just to mention some of them.
• Anxiety about grammar
• To write in an academic tone
• How much reading beforehand is necessary for one assignment.
• Word counter
• Plagerism
• Would a L1 writer feel the same?
• None of the L2 mentioned problems with a new script, but a beginner would probably have.
• Even through these L2 writers expressed their concern, they were positive about their ability to independently, become better and learn to overcome their weaknesses. Both in and out of class.
• They mentioned ways in which technology could help them. Fx translate, grammar check and spell checkers. 

Approaches:

3 different approaches - They are interlinked

• Product
• Process
• Social Practice

Walker/White (2018)

Product Approach

- OWL’s (Online Writing Labs). 

- Been around for almost as long as the internet itself.

- Useful material on OWL’s are: exercises on spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, vocabulary, and summarizing small sections of text.

- OWL’s: intended for students at the home universites, however many OWL’s have sections for visitors. 

- Oldest (1995) and best known: Purdue University OWL 

- “The Purdue University Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement..”

Process Approach

• Idea generation and researching the genre
• Planning/finding the language
• Drafting
• Composing
• Editing for content and language
• Revision
• All of these tools have been made far easier by technology, and are all constantly evolving.

Social Practice Approach

• The writer engaging in the social context of the audience
• Microblogging
• Important for the writer to know the social context in order to maximize the output of the text 
• Know the audience you are writing to  
• E.g. contribute to a debate in a newspaper, who do you want to convince with your argument 
• Do not compromise your message

Writing skill	Approach
Writing in a new script	Product – usually involves copying examples
Understanding the links between sounds and spelling (no easy task if the language is English!)	Product – but readers expect correct spelling; incorrect spelling may hamper intelligibility
Using the L2 language system to express ideas accurately and clearly	Product – but also entails the fact that the ideas are being communicated to an audience
Connecting ideas to create a coherent structure, using discourse markers and linking words	Product – but also entails the fact that the ideas are being communicated to an audience
Arranging ideas into rhetorical patterns – for example, problem-solution, which will be recognizable and interpretable by the reader	Product – but also involves reader expectations
Using language and organizational structure appropriate to a particular genre	Product – but also involves reader expectations
Planning, reviewing, revising and editing drafts of   the writing to get closer to the meaning the writer wishes to express	Process – but is often done together with others who read and comment as an audience
Picturing an intended audience and goal, shaping a piece of writing in a way that communicates most effectively with that audience and achieves that goal	Social practice
Obeying the rules of a particular discourse community, while also expressing the writer’s own individual voice	Social practice – but also involves linguistic knowledge of genres

Writing skills question.

Writing skills – to write or not to write: What are the pros and cons of using a blog as a learning tool? (50 words)