In light of the challenges presented by the latest methodological shifts, the question of how to teach writing and composition remains. Writing is an aid to total communication, as noted in the ACTFL Standards:
"1.3 Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics. This standard focuses on the formal presentation of information, concepts, and ideas in spoken and written form and is concerned, in most cases, with one-way speaking and writing."
The early introduction of composition in ESL instruction should improve proficiency. If writing is left to the more advanced levels of instruction, the learners will miss out on the early development of this useful skill.
Challenges
Students may be aware of the grammar involved, but they will still lack awareness of the critical cognitive processes involved in good writing. They focus on the form — verb tenses for example — to the exclusion of content or ideas. They may be good speakers but will be unable to transfer conversation into writing and have difficulty transferring their own and others' ideas into a written assignment.
Writing is a vital creative skill that communicates a message from the learner to the teacher on one hand and from one learner to another on the other. Composition provides language output, and the subsequent reading provides language input. Both reinforce the spoken language, and for this reason ESL learners need to develop writing skills as rapidly as possible.
Along with creative composition, early writing practice will prepare ELLs for everyday tasks, as well as related learning activities such as computer-assisted instruction, dialogue journals and letter writing. Language acquisition takes place when the new language is used for sending a real message to meet a specific need and for solving problems.
Traditional writing activities such as translations, transformational drills and fill-in-the-blank may meet certain needs, but these activities in themselves do not lead to real language acquisition. "Composition" is a form of communication the learners need to communicate with the reader across time.
Active early intervention by the instructor is necessary if the learners are to develop good composition skills since composition must be taught rather than passively acquired. The learning activities need to be as authentic as possible, even for beginners.
Specifically designed ESL writing material can be dull or irrelevant. A typical writing activity might consist of a set of questions at the end of a reading passage, or students may be assigned a transformational drill, which is a grammar drill that does not provide creative input for the learners since writers develop their skills by communicating realistic messages.
A variety of "learner-friendly" texts and activities can be generated by the instructor from materials readily at hand. The following helpful hints have proven to be useful in ESL classrooms where lower-level learners were developing writing skills.
Controlled activities
A strong element of control is still present, but there is room for individual responses. A balance can be achieved between control and creativity allowing beginning students the freedom to express their ideas without becoming lost in a maze of structures and vocabulary beyond their comprehension.
Activity 1: Write about yourself.
I study (am a student) at the University of ________. I am from____________. I have ______classes. They are ______ and________. I am always busy. I enjoy ____________ and ____________. I live in________.
Activity 2: Write about someone you know.
The students have an opportunity to write about a classmate, friend or relative in this follow-up activity. A more challenging task involves sentence combining. A passage containing short statements tells a story or provides interesting information.
More than one answer is possible; students discuss the results in small groups, or the class as a whole can decide on the best answer. Next, learners then write a new passage on a topic of interest. In this way, they move from an exercise that is controlled and focused on form to one that is more functional.
Activity 3: Read the text and combine the sentences. (Adapted from "Let's Write English")
Basic text: I live on a ranch. There is plenty of room and fresh air. Everybody in the city suffers in the summer. We enjoy cool breezes. People in the city rush busily from place to place. We have a less complicated life ...
Answer 1: I live on a ranch where there is plenty of room and fresh air. Everybody in the city suffers in the summer, but we enjoy cool breezes. People in the city rush busily from place to place; however, we lead a less complicated life ...
Answer 2: I live on a ranch, and we have plenty of room and fresh air. Even though everybody in the city suffers in the summer, we enjoy cool breezes. Although people in the city rush busily from place to place, we have a less complicated life ...
These exercises in sentence combining will have the effect of stimulating the learners' imaginations and creativity as they begin to search for ways to insert their own ideas. To bridge the gap from form to function, the final assignment should demand an original creative activity.
Activity 4: Describe where you live now.
After learning the principles of sentence combining in Activity 3 above, learners can then put their knowledge to good use by rewriting their ideas in their own words. Adapting this particular lesson to a given class would depend upon the nature and grade level of the students.
The focus of the final activity should be for the learners to communicate new information rather than just to complete another assignment.
Activity 5: Using pictures. (Adapted from "Teaching Adults: An ESL Resource Book")
- Show students a picture or drawing of a person.
- Ask students to think about the picture.
- Ask a question about the picture. (Who is it? What is her name?) Students answer with complete sentences.
- Students write down their answers.
- Ask a second question that builds on the first. (What is he doing now? Where does she live?)
- Tell the students to write the second answer below the first answer.
- Continue to ask questions that build upon the previous ones. Check papers periodically.
A variation on this activity would be to start with short prompts and short answers gradually leading up to connected discourse:
Activity 6: Biographical sketch
Students then write their own versions of the description.
