{"id":5496,"date":"2013-05-12T15:19:47","date_gmt":"2013-05-12T15:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.org\/wordpress\/?p=5496"},"modified":"2013-05-12T15:19:47","modified_gmt":"2013-05-12T15:19:47","slug":"process-approach-to-writing-is-it-better-than-other-approaches-to-teach-writing-skills-to-esl-ss-eltchat-summary-27032013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2013\/05\/12\/process-approach-to-writing-is-it-better-than-other-approaches-to-teach-writing-skills-to-esl-ss-eltchat-summary-27032013\/","title":{"rendered":"Process Approach to Writing: Is it better than other approaches to teach writing skills to ESL Ss? #ELTchat Summary 27\/03\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a summary of the 1200 PM GMT #ELTchat on the Process Approach to Writing held on March 27, 2013. It\u2019s my first ELTchat summary and it\u2019s come out looking like an extended and tortured reported speech exercise\u00a0\":-)\"\u00a0I\u2019m definitely not taking this route the next time round.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Definitions<\/b><\/h1>\n

<\/b>The chat kicked off with @Marisa_C sharing a\u00a0link<\/a>\u00a0to a definition of process writing (PW). The Teaching English site describes process writing as treating \u201call writing as a creative act which requires time and positive feedback to be done well\u201d and lays out three stages to accomplish this: pre-writing, focusing ideas, and evaluating, structuring and editing. Additionally, @kevchanwow shared an insightful blogpost<\/a>\u00a0focusing on the practical application of PW. Later, @MisterMikeLCC tweeted a\u00a0link<\/a>\u00a0to a presentation on PW.<\/p>\n

Creativity or conformity<\/b><\/h1>\n

\"Source:<\/a><\/p>\n

@adi_rajan felt that process writing forces students to conform and create output that is often very similar.\u00a0 @kevchanwow commented that if students get caught up in group-think, especially if the teacher starts with a brainstorming activity, then similar texts are a very real danger. @adi_rajan echoed this view and felt that brainstorming activities could lead to similar content; and structuring exercises could lead to a similar look and feel. @Marisa_C questioned this perspective and asked whether @adi_rajan and @kevchanwow were suggesting that when left to their own devices, students couldn\u2019t produce text independently of the group. @adi_rajan argued that especially in business writing, exercises to structure text often target an ideal response and he wasn\u2019t sure if this was desirable. However, @Marisa_C and @efl101 didn\u2019t see a problem in students producing similar texts especially in the case of business letters which as @Marisa_C pointed out are generally very similar making them more teachable. @Marisa_C went on to suggest that there wasn\u2019t a problem with students producing similar texts unless you were teaching creative writing classes. @galactadon extended this idea by stating that she too doesn\u2019t see a problem with similarity because imitation isn\u2019t exclusive to ELT and that many creative writing exercises use imitation of style and form for mastery.<\/p>\n

The group seemed to be reaching consensus about acquitting PW of accusations of limiting creativity. However, the original dissenters weren\u2019t yet ready to concede. @kevchanwow contended that within the constraints of the genre, students should still be expressing some serious individuality.\u00a0@adi_rajan questioned the goal of working towards a model text and added that he would rather see a diversity of responses in the absence of which he could just distribute templates and ask students to fill in the blanks. @Marisa disagreed and stated that this was a moot point for her in a language class because the training ground is not always where you display creativity. @kevchanwow clarified the issue of creativity by pointing out that the question isn\u2019t whether texts are similar but if students have an opportunity to truly express what they wish to. In response, @efl101 shared the following formula: \u201ccreative = expression, most\/rest = communicate message + don\u2019t get embarrassed by writing\u201d.\u00a0 @Marisa concluded this part of a discussion when she sagely added \u201cwe can happily disagree. The ability to creatively use language and practice language use isn\u2019t separable to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/b>Value or vapid<\/h1>\n

The chatters agreed that PW was generally useful. @efl101 commented that since communication is key and most writing in TL is for purpose, chunks are very useful; which PW helps with.\u00a0 Despite his earlier comments about the drawbacks of PW, @kevchanchow admitted to still liking PW. He suggested that his students generally don\u2019t like to take the time to write well and PW slows the process down. @shaunwilden highlighted the built-in time PW allows for feedback and its benefits.\u00a0 @MarjorieRosenbe drew on her experience with teaching writing for CAE and BEC classes which require a lot of structure to illustrate PW\u2019s value.<\/p>\n

Product or process<\/b><\/h1>\n

The discussion, thus far, avoided contrasting the product and process approaches. However, @efl101 asserted that the overuse of PW causes problems in exams because there\u2019s no time to process-write in an exam. @shaunwilden wondered whether @efl101 would recommend teaching product instead in an exam context. @efl101 countered this by suggesting it would be better to change the exam system. @Marisa_C recommended that just before an exam, a product approach, sans preparation, might be better.<\/p>\n

A glut of writing<\/b><\/h1>\n

\"Source:<\/a><\/p>\n

@efl101 asked the group to consider whether too much time is spent on writing.\u00a0 When @shaunwilden responded that\u00a0this might depend on the type of class, @efl101 clarified that he was referring to general classes where he felt that writing as a percentage of total time was overdone.\u00a0 @Shuanwilden suggested that this imbalance could be the result of the school syllabus, course book, teacher or all three. @efl101 added that all three were responsible for the dominance of writing which is also measurable and perhaps easier to work on than speaking. @adi_rajan thought that the number of writing lessons was disproportionate to how often we write in real life.\u00a0 @efl101 agreed but felt that this was personally also an area that he was least comfortable with when using L2 himself.<\/p>\n

@muranava argued that writing is not over done because there are many problems in L1 writing.\u00a0 @joannaacre had the same opinion and said that students often don\u2019t know how to write in their L1 and are expected to write in L2.\u00a0\u00a0 @kevchanwow wasn\u2019t sure whether too much time is spent on writing but thought there\u2019s not enough time for the kind of feedback that leads to students\u2019 development.\u00a0 @michellegriffin and @alanmtait shared similar perspectives from Spain and Korea respectively.\u00a0 @michellegriffin added that the issue is compounded when we consider the types of writing we are most likely to do in real life.\u00a0 @adi_rajan concurred with this stating that students were more likely to write tweets and text messages as opposed to the elaborate texts that come out of writing classes.<\/p>\n

Leveraging PW<\/b><\/h1>\n

After much deliberation over the challenges of process writing, as well as writing in general, the discussion turned to ways of leveraging PW to make it more effective. @efl101 quipped that PW is a process of diminishing intervention when it works best. @Marisa_C recommended including mini syllabuses of PW before moving to FW for each genre. @joannaacre echoed this idea by stating that it was like building and layering bit by bit. @muranava felt that product, process and genre are complementary and @Marisa_C agreed saying that \u2018PW wholesale\u2019 didn\u2019t seem like a great idea to her.\u00a0 @efl101 suggested combining PW with TBL, including real tweets, updates and forum comments. Others agreed that integrating writing with other skills was an area with a lot of potential.<\/p>\n

Feedback in PW<\/b><\/h1>\n

@shaunwilden sensing that we were drifting from the topic queried the group on how we handle feedback during PW and here are the results:<\/p>\n

Self & Peer assessment<\/b><\/h1>\n