People write letters for numerous purposes, sometimes for making or solidifying the friendship and sometimes for exchanging information. What I want to emphasize about letter is that it is very special in having specified audiences. Tompkins (2008) supports this by saying that increasing “students’ awareness of audience help them think more carefully about what they want to say, write more legibly, and are more inclined to use spelling, capitalization, and punctuation conventions correctly” (p. 130). In addition, “receiving a letter from a loved one or a surprise connection is a pleasant feeling” (Indianchild.com, 2000). Through this experience, students can learn the nature of writing, which is communicative. I think that students become adept in expressing their own thoughts and in accepting other’s thoughts by writing letter.
According to Ja Eun Kim, “when children learn to write a letter, teachers need to demonstrate how to do it.” This is because the unique form of letter including friendly letter form and business letter form. Teachers can explain this by using some examples and should make students write and send letters personally. How to write address, greetings, and complimentary closing is useful to make their letters look like a formal letter! However, when teach the form of letter, teachers should make sure that the form cannot be emphasized more than content. The most important thing is how express their thoughts or feelings with proper form.
Tompkins, G. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
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