NATURE AND PURPOSE OF WRITING WHAT ARE THE MECHANICS AND PROCESS OF WRITING?

Definitions:  Writing mechanics concerns rules and conventions for using the building blocks
of communication within a language that are organized by grammar.
1. Writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form
 Studying parts of speech, sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation,
2. A system for interpersonal communication using visible signs or graphic symbols on a abbreviations, and spelling can help with writing persuasively and accurately.
flat surface such as paper, cloth or even stone slabs (Chitravelu, N. et.al, 2005)
 In writing, the term mechanics refers to the rules and technicalities that assist
3. Written language is simply the graphic representation of spoken language (Brown, H.D, with readability, clarity, and flow.
2001)
 Editing for mechanics means that an editor will watch for spelling, punctuation,
4. Different people may have different definition of writing and capitalization errors.

PURPOSE OF WRITING THE PROPER MECHANICS OF WRITING

Purpose Definition Examples 1. Grammar: The set of rules governing sentence structure and word usage.
1. To Communicate Ideas and information to journalistic writing, lab 2. Punctuation: Marks (e.g., commas, periods) that clarify meaning and structure
inform others reports search, economic sentences.
reports, business reports 3. Spelling: The correct formation of words.
4. Sentence Structure: The arrangement of words and phrases to form complete
2. To Use language in a humorous way and is brief joke, newspaper sentences.
entertain usually combined with explaining, column, television or 5. Style and Tone: The writer's choice of words and structure to convey voice and engage
informing, and arguing. podcast script, internet the audience.
homepage tidbit
3. To Gather facts and ind combine or why Definition essay, process THE WRITING PROCESS
explain something happened. Also called pieces, cause effect
STAGE DEFINITION Tips for the writer
"expository writing explanations
1. Prewriting Brainstorm ideas  Think about what you say.
and organize your  Talk about your ideas with say friends to
4. To Use appeals of logic, emotion and Advertisement, debate
topic. find main ideas.
persuade character to prove a point. May not be
 Use a list or web to arrange your ideas
fairly presented
5. To argue Special kind of persuasion that fairly Problem solution, research
2. Drafting Create a rough  Write your ideas in order.
and accurately appeals to logic,
copy of your  Read your work out loud and note places
emotion, and character and uses
writing. where you stumble.
evidence in stating point of view.
 Ask friend for his or her feedback.
6. To Specific kind of argument, that argues Back, movie, restaurant
evaluate for the merits of a subjects and review
3. Revising Improve your  Try out different beginnings and endings.
presents evidence for support.
writing.  Use quotes or add dialogue. Include
descriptive words.
7. To Thoughts and feelings of author on a Journal My entry, letter,  Add detail to develop Important
express specific topic. Often information. poetry, personal narrative.
4. Editing Proofread your  Make sure you have sentences, correct
 work. spelling, and necessary capitalization and students, it should be adapted to suit the grade of high school you’re teaching, for
punctuation. example, substitute the picture book for a secondary school novel.
 Reread to see if each sentence makes
sense ach sentence 4. Object creative writing
 Ask friend to proofread your work. Rather than starting with characters, another way to prompt students to write stories is
5. Publishing Create a clean final  Type your writing or copy it neatly onto a the object creative writing lesson plan. By giving students an object to describe, they learn
copy. new paper to think creatively in response to a stimulus and develop their descriptive writing skills.
 Think of an interesting title Thinking on their feet will help them develop the skills to formulate their own creative
 Share your writing ideas in the future.

IN SUMMARY 5. Letter of complaint

Writing is the process of conveying thoughts, ideas, or information through text. It Letters are a common text type that your students will be familiar with. The purpose of
involves several stages and mechanics that contribute to clear and effective this lesson plan is to encourage students to use phrases that express attitude and
communication. By mastering both the process and mechanics, writers can produce clear, emotion, which are found in letters of complaint.
cohesive, and effective texts.
6. Advertising
DESIGNING LESSON PLANS FOR TEACHING WRITING Advertising uses persuasive language, so practicing this type of writing can help students
in forming arguments in essays and debates. Learning how to sell something can also help
Teaching writing to high school students can be challenging, but many great lesson plans develop confidence in students.
are available to help. There are 12 compiled excellent Lesson Plans for Teaching various
Writing Techniques and Styles by Ethan Wiseman 7. Peer editing
This lesson plan involves students editing the writing of their peers. Marking the work of
1. News stories others can help a student develop an understanding of their own writing skills by
It’s important for students to learn that different types of writing require different styles. analysing what they would do differently. Responding to feedback from peers also
For example, the structure and tone of a newspaper article differs greatly from a creative encourages students to develop a positive attitude towards criticism and learning.
narrative. This news story writing lesson is a great way to help students produce writing
with more lexical variation, complex sentences and passive structures. 8. Self-reflection
Writing about writing is one of the best ways to help students reduce the number of
2. Calling all characters errors in their work. This lesson plan requires students to read over their work and identify
Writing fictional narratives can be daunting to many students who feel uncomfortable one error that occurs frequently, then rewrite the piece without the error. This activity
sharing their ideas, so breaking down the creative writing process is a good way to help helps students learn how to correct their work and address habits so that they occur less
students get the ball rolling. This lesson plan requires students to brainstorm character frequently in the future.
traits, behaviours and actions, then write scenes about that character. Although this
lesson plan was designed for primary students, it can be adapted for secondary-level 9. Writing for a real purpose
creative writing by removing the simpler games. Writing for a hypothetical purpose can leave students feeling unmotivated to produce
their best work. For this lesson plan, students respond to real life scenarios that they’re
3. Drafting your essay personally interested in. This way, students adopt an authentic voice, based on real life
Essay writing is a major part of high school so it’s important to find different ways of experience, making their work more engaging.
engaging students to reinforce their learning of this type of text. This activity has students
deconstruct other essays to learn about essay structure, which will help them when they
go to write their own essays. Again, because this is a lesson plan for primary school
10. The 100-word challenge
Being able to write clearly and succinctly is an important writing skill for students in high  Grammar should be taught inductively (top-down)
school and beyond. This lesson idea teaches students how to get to the point in a small  Grammar as a resource of producing text
number of words, by asking student to respond to a prompt in 100 words or less.
3. Reference
11. Start a pseudonym project provides explanations and examples of relevant forms-online or paper- based
If you have a students who are particularly shy about sharing their writing with others, you information, explanations and examples of relevant grammatical, rhetorical, or
can introduce an anonymous system. Allow students to choose a pseudonym they will use stylistic form.
for handing in work. The idea is that students will feel less conscious about being personal
or passionate in their work, and therefore produce higher quality work. 4. Stimulus
encourages learners to think about and use language-sources which stimulates
12. Copy cat writing, usually paper or internet texts, but can include video, graphic or audio
Some types of writing, like poetry and creative writing, are harder for students than material.
structured essays and short responses. To help students adopt more creative tones in their
writing, this lesson asks students to bring in a piece of writing (poetry or novel) and write Selecting Writing Materials
their own original piece using the same style and tone.
1. What are the proficiency of my students?
GET CREATIVE
 Learning to write different text types, from essays and letters, to creative stories 2. Why are they learning English?
and poetry, can be challenging for students.
 To help them along the way, it's important to introduce lesson plans that 3. What texts will they need to write in their social, academic, and workplace contexts?
encourage imagination and help develop lifelong skills that will improve their determine the broad family of text types with which students need to be familiar.
writing.
 exchanges (e.g. emails)
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES IN TEACHING WRITING  Procedures (e.g. protocols)
 Information texts (e.g. reports)
Roles of materials in writing instruction (Hyland, 2003) materials are used to provide  Story texts (e.g. narratives)
stimulus to writing, to assist students towards understanding the language they need to  Persuasive texts (e.g. opinion texts)
write effectively, and as ideas for organizing lesson activities.
Textbooks as Writing Materials
In many context, language materials may be the only opportunities students have to study Consider the textbooks local relevance (i.e, suitability to the needs of the students,
target texts. teachers, curricula)

1. Models "Teaching writing is primarily a local and complex endeavor which defies being packaged
present good examples of the target genre illustrate its distinctive features (lexical, into a single textbook"
grammatical, and theoretical)-sample text exemplars of rhetorical forms and
structures of target genres must be relevant and authentic. "The bottom line is that our materials should not mislead students about the nature of
writing."
2. Language Scaffolding
provides opportunities for discussion, guided writing, analysis, and manipulation of
target structures and vocabulary-sources of language examples for discussion,
analysis, exercises, etc.
LESSON 3 Performance and Portfolio Based Assessment in Teaching Portfolio contents
Writing -Reflection
-Written Homework Activities
-Vocabulary Challenge
Portfolio Based Assessment/PBA -Test/Test Scores
Student Portfolio/Assessment Portfolio -Journals
Purposeful collection of student’s works which often gathered over a long -Creative writing samples, including stories, poems, songs, and script.
period of time that demonstrates efforts, progress and their achievements Performance Based-Assessment
as well to determine areas for improvement. -One in which the teacher observes and makes judgement about the
student’s demonstration of skills or in constructing something or making a
Portfolio-based assessment presentation.
- In performance based-assessment, students demonstrate or construct
- Instead of grading students solely on standardized tests, unit tests and something, and that work is assessed using observation and judgement,
quizzes, a portfolio serves as a compilation of student work meant to show often using a tool like a rubric.
growth over time. – the evidence of students learning and understanding.
Timely feedback that promotes learning and facilitates improvement.
Student Portfolios
- Are a great way to measure student growth over a semester or year, as all
- The goal of performance-based learning should be to enhance what the
of a students’ work is compiled into their folder and reviewed at the end of
students have learned, not just have them recall facts.
the term.
Example:
1. Essays assessing students’ understanding of a subject through a written
Why should I ask students to compile a writing portfolios?
description, analysis, explanation or summary.
Uses of Portfolio
2. Prose or Poetry interpretation
1. Having students compile portfolios makes the whole process of writing
3. Creation of a newspaper/Editorial writing
more meaningful to them.
In Summary
-Performance and portfolio-based assessments in teaching writing focus on
They will more willingly put forth their best efforts, knowing that they are
evaluating students through practical tasks and collected work.
accountable for producing a certain number of finished pieces (feel
-Performance tasks involve real-world writing challenges, while portfolios
motivated).
showcase progress over time.
2. Providing students with an opportunity to self-reflect/self-reflection. -These methods offer a more comprehensive view of students' abilities
3. It is used to facilitate communication between teachers and parents than traditional testing.
regarding the child’s achievement and progress.
4. It is used to showcase periodic or end of the year accomplishments
of students.