|
||||
|
||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs 
A Practical Approach to Teaching Expository Writing to ESP Students Kang Shu-min (China) Many language teachers are aware that teaching writing is more difficult than teaching other language skills, especially to ESP students. First, ESP students have limited knowledge of the target language. Second, they have little experience in reading in it. Furthermore, there is cultural interference due to the difference in the style of literary and rhetorical patterns of expression in their native language and the target language. Consequently, when students write in English, they do not create the text themselves, they only translate their thoughts word for word from their native language into English, often with grammatically incorrect results. In order to help our students develop the ability to express themselves in writing in acceptable English, we must first limit ourselves to one type of writing-exposition-through a “reading ‘ analysing ‘ writing” approach, which we have found helpful in the early stages. We adopted this approach because we think that reading is the most convenient way to acquire information, experience, and knowledge. Besides, as Bossone (1979) points out, learning to write is largely a process of learning to think more clearly. By recognizing logical thinking in what they read, students will be able to use this knowledge to organize and develop ideas in their own writing. Therefore, to accelerate language acquisition and aid the students’ writing, they must be exposed to extensive comprehensible written input, and then encouraged to employ syntactic and rhetorical patterns from these texts in their own writing (Pica 1986). PRACTICAL APPLICATION Selection of material The first thing we do is choose appropriate sample materials. When choosing materials, we adhere to these criteria: 1. Materials must be of some interest or informational value to students, in order to motivate them to read and write. 2. Materials should be short-four or five paragraphs or a little longer, but not too much longer than the compositions students are expected to write at early stages. Thus they will be easier for them to analyse and imitate. 3. Materials should be at an appropriate level of difficulty-that is, within the students’ ability to read and analyse. Thus, they can acquire a repertory of useful expressions, sentence structures, and other helpful information. 4. Above all, materials should be well- constructed. They should illustrate principles of good organization. This enables students to recognize structural and semantic clues that identify the important ideas and to organize their own ideas in a coherent fashion. Stages in teaching practice The teaching procedure falls into two stages: language input and writing practice. Stage 1: Language Input The sample materials given to students are used as good examples to show what an expository paragraph or essay is like and to introduce the cohesive devices employed, the overall organization, and the various methods of developing the main idea. First, students are asked to read the model carefully and answer some comprehension questions. Then they are required to analyse its organization and content. In analysing a paragraph, we ask students to recognize (a) the topic sentence, (b) the supporting details, (c) the method of development, and (d) the techniques of support. Before the activity, we give students the following guidelines. Guidelines for Analysis 1. Underline the topic sentence and circle the key words that express the main idea. 2. Find the supporting details and the paragraph pattern. 3. Note the important elements of the paragraph. Students might come up with the following notes:
In analysing an essay, we first let students know how each part contributes to the structure of the whole essay. Then we help students analyse the various components of the essay: (a) the overall organization and paragraph structure, (b) the thesis statement or the controlling idea and the supporting details, (c) devices used to ensure coherence, (d) the method of development, and (e) the function of each paragraph. The main purpose of this activity is to develop students’ discourse competence receptively and help them get a sense of organization. The conscious analysis of the models will enable students to outline and write their essays more effectively. Stage 2: Writing Practice With the knowledge acquired from the comprehensible input, students are ready to write their own compositions. During this stage, they proceed through the following writing process: brainstorming >>> writing >>> revision. Brainstorming. Brainstorming is an important prewriting technique. The aim of this activity is to help students generate ideas, for at the early stage of the writing process all ideas are welcome. Even silly ideas may lead the writer to an important thought about the topic (Fergenson 1989). When we assign our students a topic, we divide them into small groups or pairs for a discussion. They discuss the topic freely, jotting down words, facts, and ideas connected to the topic. The related information may stimulate the students’ imaginations, trigger other words and images in their minds, and provide necessary materials for their writing. Writing. Now the students can begin to organize their ideas armed with the rough notes from the peer discussion. First, we ask them to formulate a supported thesis statement (Sullivan 1990), that is, a sentence containing the main idea with two or three supports which reflects the structure of the composition. Then, we ask them to expand the thesis statement into several topic sentences that might begin each body paragraph of the composition.
With this schema, the students are ready to write their first draft. At this stage, emphasis should be put on correct use of the language and coherence. While writing, students are encouraged to use syntactic and rhetorical patterns and writing techniques learned from the written input. After the composition is done, we begin the next activity: revision. Revision. Revision provides an opportunity for the writer to review and reexamine his work, which is an essential part of the writing process (Fergenson 1989). Before handing in their final written products, they must make three revisions. The first revision is self-correction. Each student is required to read his composition several times carefully and critically for its organization, coherence, and language, as well as mechanics, making necessary corrections while reading. The following list of questions is offered to guide them. Questions for Revision 1. Does your composition contain three parts: introduction, development, and conclusion? 2. Is the thesis statement of your essay appropriate to the title? 3. What supports have you provided for the thesis statement? 4. Does the whole essay stick to the main idea and develop logically? 5. Does your conclusion impress the reader with the main idea of the essay? 6. Do you use grammatically correct sentence structures and correct punctuation? The second revision-peer evaluation -is done in pairs or in small groups. The students exchange their compositions with each other. By reading and analysing, they evaluate one another’s work mainly on content, organization, and language, making some suggestions for later revision. Below is a checklist that the student readers can use to help each other. Peer-Evaluation Checklist 1. Locate the essay’s thesis statement and the topic sentence of each body paragraph. 2. Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, and underline the sentences that do not support the main idea. 3. Point out grammar mistakes and misspelled words. 4. Make some comments and suggestions on a piece of paper or in the margin. This evaluation process will give students more than one chance to perfect their work. Through evaluating each other’s work they will become more critical and will discover their own weaknesses in writing. This will have a positive impact on the students’ writing development. With the feedback from a peer, the student writer may read his or her work with fresh eyes and discover new ideas. Then he or she can revise the composition for the last time. The most important part of the final revision is the writer’s consideration of the reader’s views. The student writer should look carefully at the marks and comments made by his or her peer, but the writer has the final decision about the changes in the finished product. Experimental results Through about two semesters’ practice, this “reading >>> analysing >>> writing” approach has produced the following results: 1. To some extent, students have changed their word-for-word translation habit in writing. They are less dependent on their native language. 2. This approach has expanded the students’ language experience, which leads them into a more meaningful cultural transference. In addition, they have acquired a repertory of useful expressions, sentence structures, and other important writing elements in the English language. With this knowledge, they can express themselves more fluently. 3. Above all, through adequate practice in writing, students have made much progress in expository paragraph organization and essay writing. Consequently, they have gained confidence in themselves and developed a positive attitude toward writing. Conclusion The above approach can be used in any ESP class if the students have attained the necessary level of competence in English. Although it is imperfect and unlikely to completely bridge the gap between semi-free writing and free writing, the approach will lead to more creative and better-structured writing. REFERENCES Bossone, Richard M. 1979. English proficiency. Developing your reading and writing power. New York: McGraw-Hill. Fergenson, Laraine. 1989. Writing with style: Rhetoric, reader, handbook. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. The Dryden Press. Pica, Teresa. 1986. An interactional approach to the teaching of writing. English Teaching Forum, 24, 3, pp. 6-9. Reid, Joy M. 1988. The process of composition. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Sullivan, Kathleen E. 1990. Paragraph practice: Writing the paragraph and the short composition, 6th ed. New York: Macmillan. | |||||||||||||||
 | |||
|
