Section 1
1. Criteria involved in the teaching of writing
Hedge (1988:6) refers to writing as a neglected area of English language
teaching. According to O’ Brien (2000, Unit 2: 3) some of the reasons for this is that
teachers do not consider writing as important as the other language skills or they do
not know a great deal about it and therefore they do not know how to teach it. There is
also an attitude among teachers that being able to write well is an inborn talent and
therefore any attempt to teach it would be useless.
This section argues that writing is α teachable skill which should be
incorporated in every language learning curriculum from the early steps, for a number
of reasons. Then it presents the basic principles that should be involved in the
teaching of writing, according to the literature.
1.1 Why teach writing
According to Raimes (1983:3) there are two reasons for including writing as a
part of a second-language syllabus. These are that writing is a communicative activity
and a tool for learning.
1.1.1 Writing as a communicative activity
Writing is a means of communication complementary to spoken language
which students need to master in order to serve different communicative needs. In
addition, according to O’Brien (2000, Unit 2: 4) writing helps students develop
communicative skills as it involves the ability to consider the reader’s needs.
However, the ability to use written language effectively is not a natural consequence
of learning to speak. Both Raimes (1983: 4) and Byrne (1979: 29) stress that the
differences which exist between spoken and written language and the different
communication needs the two modes serve, argue for the special teaching of writing
skills.
1.1.2. Writing as a tool for learning
Apart from providing learners with another mode of communication, writing
can be pedagogically useful as it can facilitate learning in a number of ways.
According to Byrne (1979:7) writing can provide for a variety of classroom activities
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