Module 2: Self check

We all desire to write well and at the same time feel fear. Then, what helps and leads toward right direction is writing process. It usually consists of five stages, which is closely connected and results in a great writing. This is so similar that how cook the ingredients decide the flavor of food. Generating various ideas, organizing them well knitted, and constructing it for easy understanding is like preparing fresh ingredients, making them suitable for cook, and cooking with proper recipe. In so doing, one completed writing starts having its own power, so it should be assessed correctly. This is because appropriate assessment and suggestion toward a product make a writer modify his or her writing process to optimize it for oneself. Not only this, but also one of the most important thing we should remember is that writing is made by the human, showing his thought, feeling, and emotion. Therefore, it is obvious that joy, passion, and effort within writing process are exposed naturally in the product of writing. They are not divided; exist as an organism, being considered simultaneously.

Ch 2. Writing workshop

In this module, I can learn about overall writing workshop, three approaches that can apply to it, and its implementation with ESL/EFL students.

Writing workshop, generally consisting of several steps such as prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing, is one of the most useful strategies in the point of view that “successful language learners tend to select strategies that work well together in a highly orchestrated way, tailored to the requirements of the language task.” (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). Teachers can provide students with language skills, how to organize and express their thoughts effectively, as well as knowledge of the topic which they wrote about through writing workshop. On the whole process, one thing we should keep in mind is that “writing is recursive not linear, in that writers jump back and forth from one activity to another as they write” (Tompkins, 6p). Regarding this, teacher should both apply proper approaches to each step of writing workshop partly, for example put product based approach into editing stage and put process based approach into prewriting stage, and focus more on what they think and do in process than their finished products with flexibility.

As Min-gyu Kim wrote, the most important factor in writing exercises is that students need to be personally involved in order to make the learning experience of lasting value. Writing is basically the form that expresses individual’s thoughts, so how a writer feels himself and perceives where he is in the writing process affect obviously his writing learning. At this point, when students understand the whole process and are involved in it totally, they can not only find the perfect process which fits into their personalities and writing styles and use it appropriately, but get the ultimate purpose of writing workshop which is being aware of, being familiar with, and advancing in writing to apply it to any projects.

Tompkins, G. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Rebecca, O. (1994). Language Learning Strategies: An Update. ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics Washington DC. Retrieved October 29, 2010, from http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-2/update.htm

My teaching experiences and target teaching levels

• I have taught for about 2 years. Now, I provide students with two kinds of lesson, English and Self-directed Learning. The latter is to help them to study by themselves.
• My students are middle school students and high school students now, but I want to teach adults later.
• My teaching goal is to make students think of English as a living organism, and not translate texts but understand its meaning.

Module 1: Self Check

Elements of the “Available Designs” form a piece of writing, but a set of those components does not mean the birth of an excellent writing. If we think of resources, such as genres, vocabulary, as the blood or flesh of body, we can view communicative contexts, such as social roles as the skeleton that gives them suitable form and consider sociocultural context mind or spirit. When three of them are harmonized with well, we can call it a well-knit story, and in those regards, we, second language writing teachers, should pay careful attention to ‘sociocultural context’ especially among three parts. This is because it cannot be learned as a field of study or a theory but can be acquired through understanding and feeling the culture. For this reason, we should not only study grammar or structure but give continued attention to the target culture with affection. This attitude toward writing, I believe, can provide writers and readers with no distortion and misunderstanding.