Are we in Fact Teaching How to Write?

                                                              By Enrique Rojas R.

Teaching students to write graciously in a foreign language has always been very challenging since it is common that they strive to do it decorously even in their native language. Now, if we dared wonder how many of the foreign language teachers can manage to communicate at least with a certain grace in writing, wouldn’t we be shocked by the realization? Then, how can learners be taught to write acceptably in English?

If we, English teachers, examine ourselves candidly, could we say that we have been really teaching students how to write?

The order in which you take in the language abilities in your first language or in an additional one is quite different since your general knowledge and preparedness for receiving and transmitting information and other contents is quite dissimilar. When you learn your native language the first ability that you acquire and put to use is listening. But when you are already capable of reading in Spanish you are going first to adapt that knowledge in order to pick up English. But in all cases, the last capability to develop will be that of writing

.   And that is very logical since to be able to write with minimal correction you need to have moved on in the attainment of all the other capacities. You need to structure your utterances in a logical manner and, therefore, require an acceptable knowledge of grammar; you are in need of a sufficient vocabulary; you certainly know by then how to read and would be expected to speak.

As part of the grammatical knowledge that should be your baggage as a writing learner basic structural concepts like phrase, clause, sentence, subject, predicates must be present, you should be familiar with objects and complements and usage of verbs, you must have a good grasp of spelling and cope with the rules of punctuation, among other things.

Only then you are ready to be instructed on the specifics of writing like the topic sentence, the thesis statement, controlling idea, supporting sentences, paragraphing, coherence and cohesion, clarity, conciseness and the like. These are extremely important characteristics of good writing but we don’t teach them unless it is in a highly specialized writing course.

But we all usually evaluate those characteristics in our students because we do test writing. We look for clearness, fluency, good grammar and spelling, unity, coherence, focus, sentence variety and possibly other things we have never taught them.

The publishing houses in their textbook series adopt a practice of showing models of pieces of writing like an application, a letter, an email, etc., but neither instruct on the fundaments nor in the process of writing. And this is what the overwhelming majority of teachers undertake in their lessons. As a consequence, students learn about the characteristics of various types of documents but nobody really teaches them how to write. And we cannot ignore the reason for this deficiency. It is like walking on a treadmill.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?
           Were you aware of the difficulties we encounter when Teaching Writing?
         If you are already familiar with them, let us know what your viewpoint is!

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

Graduated in Journalism at the PUCP, Peru, Enrique Rojas R. holds a MA in Journalism and MA in Inter American History from Southern Illinois University, US. .He has also obtained Certificates of Proficiency in English both from Cambridge University and the University of Michigan and the Diploma for EFL Teachers from Universidad del Pacifico. He is an Oral Examiner for the Cambridge University exams. He has been in the staff of CIDUP for 18 years teaching English and Spanish specializing in International Exams, English for Business, ESP and Teacher Training. He is also a member of its Research Area.