TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS WRITING

Teaching YL Writing

CONTENTS

Writing for children

Reasons for teaching writing

What is writing?

References

Mastering the mechanics of writing

Writing activities

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WHAT IS WRITING?

Like other skills, writing is a developmental process that begins with copying familiar letters and words, and moves through to the production of a range of text types and genres, such as reports, instructions, and narratives.

Davidd Nunan (Teaching English to Young Learners)

WRITING CONSISTS OF MOTOR SKILLS AND LANGUAGE SKILLS

Younger children take longer to perform a simple writing task because their hand co-ordination is not fully developed.

REASONS FOR TEACHING WRITING

"It adds another physical dimension to the learning process. Hands are added to eyes and ears."

" It lets pupils express their personalities. Even guided activities can include choices for the pupils."

"Writing activities help to consolidate learning in the other skill areas."

" Writing is valuable in itself. There is a special feeling about seeing your work in print, and enormous satisfaction in having written something that you want to say."

Scott, W. & Ytreberg, L. (1990). Teaching English to Children. London: Longman.

Writing for children

should be seen primarily as a means of self-expression, with a focus on meaning, or as a means of reinforcing oral language development.

Children learning to write go through a number of stages in their first language and they are likely to go through these stages when they begin to write in English as well:

• drawing
• scribbling
• tracing and writing letters
• using invented spelling as they attempt to write words
• finally using more conventional writing and spelling

an example of invented spelling

(Teaching Young Learners English: from Theory to Practice p. 179)

MASTERING THE MECHANICS OF WRITING

tracing copying connecting dots to form letters

sentence- and text-level guided writing

producing complete texts

word-level writing

replicating "real world" texts (e.g. invitations, posters, signs, permission notes)

The stages of writing can include:

• brainstorming and discussing
• drafting
• peer reviewing and conferencing (sharing with another student)
• revising and conferencing (sharing with the teacher)
• editing
• publishing

Writing activities are usually referred to as

FREE

CONTROLLED

GUIDED

Controlled writing activities:

• forming letters by tracing
• copying words or sentences
• completing word puzzles with the words provided
• playing word games (Bingo, Concentration)
• unscrambling words or sentences
• filling in gaps with the words provided
• creating a poem with words provided
• building a personal word list

Some guided writing activities

brainstorming topics or words; completing sentences;

answering questions;completing speech bubbles in cartoons;

completing word puzzles; describing a picture with some vocabulary provided;

writing from dictation; writing a text from a model

NAME ACROSTICS

Some of the simplest poems are ones that use names. Children can find words to describe themselves.

Acrostics can also be made for any topic or occasion (e.g. Mother's Day, Valentine's Day).

CONTROLLED AND GUIDED ACTIVITIES

can be fun if they are turned into games or competitions or if they allow some personalisation and choice

My bio-poem

Crossword puzzle

Unscramble the words

Free writing

is developed very slowly. Do not expect students to write freely what they cannot say freely.

All free writing must have a clear framework.

TEACHING WRITING

Both a product-based approach and a process-based approach are needed when teaching writing to Young Learners.

A product-based approach to writing

A process-based approach to writing

focuses on accuracy, providing controlled or guided activities to help children learn the basics of writing, working on spelling, grammar, and mechanics.

focuses on fluency, encouraging children to write and express themselves freely, without too much to worry about spelling, grammar, or punctuation until the final stage of the process.

VS

REFERENCES

House, S. (1997). An Introduction to Teaching English to Children. Richmond Publishing. Nunan, D. (2011). Teaching English to Young Learners. Anaheim University Press. Shin, J. K. & Crandall, J. (2014). Teaching Young Learners English: from theory to practice. National Geographic Learning.

THANKS!

http://tiny.cc/r77vtz