How to Approach Discursive WritingHow to improve the ef

How to Approach Discursive Writing
    Good morning, everyone. Last class we discussed that it is possible to combine a process and product driven approach to writing. Today we will argue how to approach discursive writing. There are six stages which should be paid attention to in the process of writing.
    Since writing is primarily about organizing information and communicating meaning, generating ideas is clearly going to be a crucial part of the writing process. Getting started, as much for people writing in their own language as for those writing in a foreign language, is one of the most difficult and inhibiting phases of the writing process. Idea generating is a key in facilitating the transition from thought to paper. A brainstorming activity is an effective way of getting ideas flowing. Therefore, let’s come to see the first stage, brainstorming.
    Brainstorming consists of group discussion. Everyone would discuss an idea, the answer to or reasons for a problem. Fox example, in a lesson I taught previously I asked students to brainstorm the reasons why people take drugs.(1)Brainstorming involves thinking quickly and without inhibition, which can ultimately lead to an interesting piece of writing. I would remain in the background during this phase, only supplying the language support when you need it, so as not to inhibit you in the production of their ideas.(2)Evaluating ideas during brainstorming can be intimidating, and can have a negative effect, limiting the creativity the process is designed to promote.
    The relevance and practicality of the ideas produced during brainstorming can be assessed more objectively in the next stage, which is in encouraging you to extend your ideas into a mind map, or spidergram.(3)It is in this stage that you can judge the quality and usefulness of your ideas. A mind map or spidergram is also an organized display of information, which can be more easily converted into a draft. Such graphics also make the hierarchical relationship of ideas more easily obvious, which will help you with the structure of your texts.
    OK, now we will review what we did learn in my previous lesson before discussing the third stage. I argued that it is possible to combine a process and product driven approach to writing. The above steps mentioned here have focused on the varied classroom activities which promote the development of language use. It is these discussion stages, so important in helping you to decide what you want to say, that I believe to be of great importance from the "process driven approach". It is after these discussion stages, and the organization of ideas in note form, that I tend to introduce a model text.
    The reading of a model text, so important in a product driven approach to writing, is not so as to subjugate your ideas to your organization, but so as to make you aware that there is a particular way to express your ideas. In this way you are given the form in order to enable you to adapt it to carry your own meaning. Ellis found evidence to suggest that "focusing learners’ attention on forms and the meanings they realize in the context of communicative activities, results in successful language learning."
     (4)In the model text, on the one hand, we should focus on coherence, which refers to the logical development of ideas within a text and it is an important subskill for you to be aware of. I can highlight this in various ways, by focusing on the topic and function of each paragraph for example, or by examining how you have chosen to order your arguments. This focus will hopefully show you that if you are to convey your message successfully, you will have to make your text "reader friendly".
    On the other hand, we should also pay attention to model text cohesion, which refers to the grammatical and lexical connections between individual clauses. The grammatical links can be classified under three broad types:(5)①Referents such as pronouns, the article "the", demonstratives and so on: ②Ellipsis which refers to leaving out of words or phrases where they arc unnecessary: ③Conjunction which refers to a word which joins phrases or clauses together.
     (6)Pronouns, whether subject, object, possessive, relative, or reflexive, are often underused or misused while performing a writing task, resulting in either confusion as to the referent or tedious repetition of a noun. One way of raising awareness of the key function that pronouns play within a text is to circle all the pronouns, then use arrows to connect them to their referents. This shows that pronouns can be found by looking back or forwards in the text. There are many other activities that can be used to focus on cohesion. For example, replacing a sentence which is missing from each paragraph, or replacing the first sentence of each paragraph, matching clauses which have been separated or gapping conjunctions which you must replace from a selection.
    After raising your awareness of the grammatical and stylistic devices employed in the model text, you should begin to organize your mind maps into a linear format, i.e., the text structure of the model text.(7)This provides you with an opportunity to further sift and/or logically connect your ideas, to focus them on the precise function of each paragraph, which will help to clarify your writing. We will also have to discuss the overall structure, i.e., the order in which to relay your information, depending on the impact you wish to have on the reader. All of the above activities work best if carried out in groups as groupings make the tasks livelier and more enjoyable.(8)Moreover, if you can work together, assisting each other, then the atmosphere of the writing class may be less intimidating, and perhaps you will not be afraid of the complexity of writing tasks.
    The next stage involves you in writing the first draft of your texts with a partner. This pair work will help you see that writing really is co-operative, a relationship between writer and reader.(9)Usually, the writer has to imagine a reader, but co-operative writing provides you with a reader and makes the task more realistic and interactive.
     (10)OK, let’s talk about the last stage: correction and reading. The first draft could be corrected in a number of ways, depending on your aims. I could code-correct, or simply underline errors, then help you to reformulate your first drafts with the aid of the model text. Once the final drafts are written, you should then exchange your compositions so that you become readers of each other’s work. This gives your texts a communicative purpose, as well as developing an awareness of the fact that you are always producing something to be read by someone else, rather than for the display of writing alone.
    So, now it’s much easier to approach discursive writing, isn’t it? We know that learning to write coherently, in a way suitable to one’s purpose and one’s audience is clearly a very difficult task. However, writing is a valuable skill, one which is worth all the classroom time and more spent on it. Therefore, I present writing as a stimulating process, and engage you in the act of creating a text, then help you to improve the effectiveness of your writing. I hope these suggestions provide you enough hints. Thank you for listening.