Speaking and writing are the ‘productive skills’.
Writing
Today, there is very little need for long, formal written work in the classroom. With the advent of email and word processors with spell checkers, most people do very little written work except short notes to friends and colleagues. However, students may have very specific needs, such as preparing for exams where written work is still of great importance. Writing gives students enough time to process information while speaking does not. Writing is also an avenue for those students who have limited confidence to speak in front of the class. In addition, the writing allows the practice of grammar rules and examination techniques. To convey a similar amount of information, a written text is shorter than speaking because the student has time to be more specific.
Remember that students learn to read and write faster when they have real reasons to communicate. This could be in the form of journaling or writing a letter. Also, it can be a good idea to create situations where you need to write actual invitations, requests, thank you notes and letters to pen pals, cards for special occasions, morning news, commercials, and opinions. You could even have students conduct surveys and interviews or make their own books by drawing or cutting out pictures, writing captions and speech bubbles. It is important to be clear about the goals of the writing assignment before the lesson. Are you encouraging fluency or accuracy? A good starting point is to start with a fluency activity and only focus on the correct use of the language at a later stage.
Guided writing
Guided writing is an extremely useful way to prepare students for a writing assignment. Effective use of patterns as learning tools takes the mystery out of learning. This is much more helpful than simply giving students a writing prompt and telling them to get on with it. It is extremely daunting for students to be faced with two tasks: writing and content.
Tell students exactly what you want! If they are writing a letter, give them the format and information you require in each paragraph. Try and focus on useful language models. List and review step-by-step instructions. Provide frequent summaries of lesson highlights. Develop and maintain routines that will help students anticipate what will happen. This careful preparation will eventually culminate in the students preparing a draft, which can be discussed with the teacher and others before a final text is prepared.
writing genre
Students will explore typical examples or models of different writing genres before embarking on their own writing. This is done in order to know the appropriate format, layout, audience, register, style, and language to use. When writing a letter, for example, students will decide whether the letter is formal or informal. They will then select the correct format to be used in a business letter or a personal letter. This in turn will determine the register and general tone of the language to be used. This approach to writing is extremely helpful for students preparing for school exams in English and other subjects.
writing structure
As mentioned in the section on guided writing, it is extremely helpful to provide your students with useful patterns as learning tools. There are many different ways to write an essay, but most standard essay forms follow the same basic patterns. Teaching your students these patterns will lay the foundation for strong writing structures and principles. It is surprising how many students, who have been studying English for several years, are still not sure how to write an introduction, a paragraph or a conclusion.
Writing
Students who come from diverse cultural backgrounds may find English letter formation (spelling) somewhat difficult. Students experiencing such difficulties will need specific help to improve letter, word, and text formation. Assistance can be offered in the form of extensive practice exercises focused on the formation of individual letters. This might involve the teacher writing letters, words, or sentences clearly and leaving enough space underneath for the student to copy or imitate the writing.
It is important to note that it is essential that you encourage students with problematic writing to try to improve it. Handwriting is an important skill needed for exams and a student should not be disadvantaged due to poor handwriting. This problem can prevent the student from transmitting her message.
orthography
Incorrect spelling can often give the reader the impression that the writer is careless and uneducated. One must try to remember that spelling is often very difficult for students studying English due to the lack of correlation between the sound of a word and how it is actually written. This is more than frequent, not so obvious!
Punctuation and format
Punctuation and formatting conventions differ from one language and culture to another. Business and personal letters are presented quite differently and follow specific formats just like emails. Punctuation conventions can often be specific to a particular language and may not be transferable from one culture or language to another. Successful application of punctuation conventions in the English language will help students get their message across and communicate effectively.