This presentation was one of the tasks for the ICELT - 2009

1. Michael Vince WritingRevalued http://www.etprofessional.com/ Issue 35 Priscila Jovazino ICELT - 2009

2. Writing is a boring chore. Wemaketoomanymistakes. (embarassing) Wedon’tknowwhat to write. Wehave no imagination. Speakingseemssomuch more fun. In speaking, otherscan help us. Writing is solitary. Writing = marking = punishment Writing: undervaluedactivity

3. What to write?

4. Writing a text for a purpose Learningaid Different styles Improving Writing to show theteacher It willneverbegoodenough “Real-life” writing Educational Professional Communication Personal Writing in theclass

5. What to consider?

6. Coursebook: speaking? Speech X writing Organization Performance Planing Correction Interaction Whatshouldtheteacherknow?

7. “Writing involves complex planning and levels of organisation, and the very fact that it can be edited, changed, improved, reorganised and so on, makes it particularly suitable as an educational activity.” Writing is a world in itself

8. Motivation

9. Lotsoflearning Audience Widerthanjust a tiredteacherwith a redpen. Evenbetterif Ss. know: whotheaudience is. whatpurpose is in writing for thataudience “Teddy bearfactor”

10. Opportunity

11. Therehas to beopportunitiesfor learninghow to writewell. Howmanypossibilities are there for teachingwriting? Howmanyideas? It seems to beobvious:

12. Modeling

13. Neednotbetotallyteacher-centered It caninvolvecontributionsfromalltheclass. Use ofmodels

14. Producing

15. Sscan use themodel to writetheirowntext Build selfconfidence Twokindsofstudents: Onesticks to themodel Other overflows its limits. Product-based approach

16. Read a text about a famous person. Underline the verbs; look at the way the paragraphs begin (noticing activities). Read some notes about another famous person. Compare these with the text in 1. Produce a new text based on the notes. Suggestion:

17. Thinking

18. Writinginvolves a numberofseparateissues: Organisationofideas Organisationofsentencesintoparagraphsinto a text Effectivenessof communication Choiceofwords Grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc Studentsusuallyworry more aboutgrammarandsay, “we are here to learnlanguage, not training to bewriters.” Writing X Thinking

19. Processing

20. Trulyeducationalactivity Thinking + cooperation + learning Betterwhen it focusesonanaudiencebeyondtheteacherandthemarks in red. Writing is a process

21. Part of the process may be done as classwork and other parts assigned as homework. Use e-mail as a tool to distribute versions of texts among students Havesessionslessfocusedongrammarand more focusedonproducing. How to findenough time?

22. “We are here to learnlanguage, not training to bewriters.” What is youropinionaboutthefollowingstatement:

23. Writing = marking = punishment How do youfeelabout it?