Writing Skill

4.1. What is writing?

Writing is a form of communication that allows students to put their feelings and ideas on paper, to organize their knowledge and beliefs into convincing arguments, and to convey meaning through well-constructed text. In its most advanced form, written expression can be as vivid as a work of art. As children learn the steps of writing, and as they build new skills upon old, writing evolves from the first simple sentences to elaborate stories and essays. Spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and organization come together and grow together to help the student demonstrate more advanced writing skills each year.

Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language and emotion through the inscription or recording of signs and symbols. In most languages, writing is a complement to speech or spoken language. Writing is not a language but a form of technology that developed as tools developed with human society. Within a language system, writing relies on many of the same structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar and semantics, with the added dependency of a system of signs or symbols. The result of writing is generally called text, and the recipient of text is called a reader. Motivations for writing include publication, storytelling, correspondence and diary. Writing has been instrumental in keeping history, maintaining culture, dissemination of knowledge through the media and the formation of legal systems.

4.2. Five Key Components  of Quality Writing           

Focus : Is it clear what the paper is about? Is the writer's point of view clearly stated? Does the writer convey the purpose of the writing task to the audience? Does the writer stick

Content: Does the writer explain the main idea with detail and facts? Are good examples used to support what has happened or what is happening? Are there examples and detaails concrete, specific, and believable? Does the writer convince the audience through his/her text?

Organization: Does the writer have a clear beginning, middle, and end? Is each idea grouped into a paragraph in an orderly fashion? Do the paragraphs have 5 - 8 sentences each in logical order? Are the transitions between paragraphs and sentences smooth?

Style: Does the writer use strong words that are varied and interesting? Are the words selected painting clear and vivid picture? Are there a variety of

sentence lengths and types?

Conventions: Are words spelled and capitalized correctly? Is the punctuation correct? Are the sentences complete? Is there proper spacing?

4.3. Six components of writing by Alive

Writing Alive’s comprehensive curriculum shows teachers how to integrate ALL six components of writing into weekly writing lessons, ensuring there are no gaps in skill instruction. As a result, schools do not need to supplement instruction with other programs, saving them money and time. Teachers have the tools they need to begin instruction immediately.

1. Structures of Language – With modeling and explicit instruction, students learn to construct simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentence structures using colorful sentence component shapes. As a result students communicate more clearly in speaking and writing and can tackle reading higher level texts.

2. Grammar – Each Monday teachers instruct a new language, grammar or writer’s craft skill engaging multiple learning channels. Throughout the week that skill is practiced in daily speaking, writing, sentence styling and revision. Grammar skills follow a prescribed scope and sequence at each grade level.

3. Process – Instruction begins with the sentence, teaching it with hands-on sentence shapes to help students understand the components and importance of sentence structures in reading and writing. Students build their writing to paragraphs, compositions, stories and essays. Teachers and students follow Writing Alive’s Guided Interactive Writing Process weekly.

•           Plan – Organize ideas in planners.

•           Verbally Rehearse – Students rehearse their writing from their planners.

•           Show Writing Models and Set Goals – Set goals from the rubrics or checklists.

•           Draft – Break drafting into chunks; and share.

•           Assess – Evaluate goals using the rubric.

•           Revise – Teach revision lessons: students use revision strips independently.

•           Edit – Correct conventions using kinesthethic editing techniques.

•           Write Final – Students select one of three completed drafts to take to a final copy.

4. Modes and Genres – Teachers model how to analyze fiction and nonfiction genres. Students organize their thoughts in brainstormers and planners for narrative, informative, explanative, opinion, analytical and argument writing. Since students learn to write from models, Writing Alive provides weekly writing models, editorials and articles in the genres in which they will write. Each week begins with a suggested mentor text. Students learn to use their writing skills across the curriculum.                    

5. Traits – Daily Sentence Styling gives students opportunities to master revision strategies that improve organization, ideas, content, word choice, voice, fluency, style and conventions. Explicit instruction and models equip students to personalize and improve the traits in their writing.

6. Assessment – Growth is intentional! Students view basic, proficient and advanced writing models, set goals on diagnostic rubrics before drafting and assess goals after drafting to guide their revision. Students celebrate success as they graph their scores and take ownership of their writing progress!

http://www.writingalive.com/All_Six_Components.html

4.4. Basic Modes of Writing:

• Creative Writing is to entertain the reader.

• Descriptive Writing is to describe a person, place, or event so that the topic can be clearly seen in the reader's mind. The writer must use vivid details that paint a picture for the reader.

• Expository Writing is to provide information such as an explanation or directions.

• Narrative Writing is to describe an experience, event, or sequence of events in the form of a story.

• Persuasive Writing  is to give an opinion and try to influence the reader's way of thinking with supporting evidence.

4.4.1. Sub Categories:

Argumentative Writing: This form of persuasive writing has a primary purpose of making a statement that the reader will disagree with, then supporting the statement with specific details that will convince the reader of the truth of the statement

Business Writing: This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of communicating with others in the work place.

Comparison and Contrast Writing: This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of showing the similarities and differences between two subjects.

Expressive Writing: This form of creative writing has a primary purpose of sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings on the topic.

Informative Writing: This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of providing information in a clear, concise manner.

Literary Response: This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of providing a personal reaction to a piece of literature.

Personal Narrative Writing: This form of narrative writing has a primary purpose of sharing an experience or event from the author's own life.

Poetry: This form of creative writing has a primary purpose of imaginatively reflecting on a subject, idea, or event. This is usually done in stanzas rather than paragraphs.

Process Writing: This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of explaining the steps or procedure of something.

Reaction Writing: This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of providing a personal response to something.

Research Writing:     This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of reporting new information that has been learned by studying available resources.

Technical Writing: This form of expository writing has a primary purpose of conveying technical information in a simple, no-nonsense manner.

4.4.2.Five Types of Writing

A writer’s style is a reflection of his or her personality, unique voice, and way of approaching the audience and readers. However, every piece writers write is for a specific purpose—for example, writers may want to explain how something works or persuade people to agree with their point of view. While there are as many writer's styles as there are writers, there are only four general purposes that lead someone to write a piece, and these are known as the four styles, or types, of writing. Knowing all four different types of writing and their usages is important for any writer.

Here are the four categories of writing and their definitions:

1. Expository Writing: (Expository writing explains or informs—it talks about a subject without giving opinions.)

Expository writing's main purpose is to explain. It is a subject-oriented writing style, in which authors focus on telling you about a given topic or subject without voicing their personal opinions. They furnish you with relevant facts and figures but do not include their opinions. This is one of the most common types of writing styles, which you always see in textbooks and how-to articles. The author just tells you about a given subject, such as how to do something.

Key Points:

·         Expository writing usually explains something in a process.

·         Expository writing is often equipped with facts and figures.

·         Expository writing is usually in a logical order and sequence.

When You Would Use Expository Writing:

·         Textbook writing

·         How-to articles

·         Recipes

·         News stories (not including opinion or editorial pieces)

·         Business, technical, or scientific writing

Example: Many people associate the taste of pumpkins with fall. In October, companies from Starbucks to McDonalds roll out their pumpkin-flavored lattes and desserts. Here is how to make an easy pumpkin pie using only five ingredients. First, make sure you have all of the ingredients.

This is an example of expository writing because it is explaining. In this case, you can already tell that the piece will be about how to make a pumpkin pie.

Non-example: Everyone knows that the best part about fall is all of the pumpkin-flavored desserts. Pumpkin pie is the best fall treat because it is not only delicious but also nutritious. Pumpkin is filled with vitamin A, which is essential for a healthy immune system and good vision.

This is a non-example because several opinions are stated, such as “Pumpkin pie is the best fall treat…” Although this excerpt contains a fact about pumpkin containing vitamin A, that fact is used as evidence to support the opinion. These opinions make this an example of persuasive writing.

2. Descriptive Writing: (Descriptive writing focuses on communicating the details of a character, event, or place.)

Descriptive writing's main purpose is to describe. It is a style of writing that focuses on describing a character, an event, or a place in great detail. It can be poetic when the author takes the time to be very specific in his or her descriptions.

Example: In good descriptive writing, the author will not just say: “The vampire killed his lover.”

He or she will change the sentence, focusing on more details and descriptions, like: “The bloody, red-eyed vampire, sunk his rust-colored teeth into the soft skin of his lover and ended her life."

Key Points:

·         It is often poetic in nature

·         It describes places, people, events, situations, or locations in a highly-detailed manner.

·         The author visualizes what he or she sees, hears, tastes, smells, and feels.

When You Would Use Descriptive Writing:

·         Poetry

·         Journal or diary writing

·         Nature writing

·         Descriptive passages in fiction

Example: The iPhone 6 is unexpectedly light. While size of its screen is bigger than those of the iPhones that came before, it is thinner, and its smooth, rounded body is made of aluminum, stainless steel, and glass. The casing comes in a whitish silver, gold, or a color the company calls “space gray,” the color of the lead of a pencil, with darker gray accents.

This is an example it is describing aspects of the phone. It includes details such as the size, weight, and material.

Non-example: So you just brought home a shiny new Smartphone with a smooth glass screen the size of your palm. The first thing you will want to do when purchasing a new cell is buy a case. Cracking your screen is an awful feeling, and protection is inexpensive when you compare it to the costs of a new phone.

Even though this example uses adjectives, you can tell that this is not an example of descriptive writing because the purpose is not to describe the phone—it’s to persuade you to buy a case.

3. Persuasive Writing: (Persuasive writing tries to bring other people around to your point of view.)

Persuasive writing's main purpose is to persuade. Unlike expository writing, persuasive writing contains the opinions and biases of the author. To convince others to agree with the author's point of view, persuasive writing contains justifications and reasons. It is often used in letters of complaint, advertisements or commercials, affiliate marketing pitches, cover letters, and newspaper opinion and editorial pieces.

Key Points:

·         Persuasive writing is equipped with reasons, arguments, and justifications.

·         In persuasive writing, the author takes a stand and asks you to agree with his or her point of view.

·         It often asks for readers to do something about the situation (this is called a call-to-action).

When You Would Use Persuasive Writing:

·         Opinion and editorial newspaper pieces

·         Advertisements

·         Reviews (of books, music, movie, restaurants, etc.)

·         Letter of recommendation

·         Letter of complaint

·         Cover letters

Example: Following the 2012 Olympic Games hosted in London, the UK Trade and Investment department reported a £9.9 billion boost to the economy. Although it is expensive to host the Olympics, if done right, they can provide real jobs and economic growth. This city should consider placing a bid to host the Olympics.

This is persuasive writing because the author has a belief—that “this city should consider placing a bid to host the Olympics”—and tries to convince others to agree.

Non-example: According to legend, the Olympics were founded by Hercules. Now almost 100 countries participate in the Games, with over two million people attending. So cities from Boston to Hamburg begin considering their bid to be a host city more than 10 years in advance.

All of these statements are facts. Therefore it’s expository. To be persuasive writing, you must have an opinion that you’re trying to persuade people of—then, of course, you will support that opinion with evidence.

4. Narrative Writing: (A narrative tells a story. There will usually be characters and dialogue.)

Narrative writing's main purpose is to tell a story. The author will create different characters and tell you what happens to them (sometimes the author writes from the point of view of one of the characters—this is known as first person narration). Novels, short stories, novellas, poetry, and biographies can all fall in the narrative writing style. Simply, narrative writing answers the question: “What happened then?”

Key Points:

·         In narrative writing, a person tells a story or event.

·         Narrative writing has characters and dialogue.

·         Narrative writing has definite and logical beginnings, intervals, and endings.

·         Narrative writing often has situations like actions, motivational events, and disputes or conflicts with their eventual solutions.

Examples of When You Would Use Persuasive Writing:

·         Novels

·         Short stories

·         Novellas

·         Poetry

·         Autobiographies or biographies

·         Anecdotes

·         Oral histories

Example: “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Jaelyn.

“You never used to be such a girl!” retorted Orin, pushing open the door.

Reluctantly, Jaelyn followed.

This is a narrative because it’s telling a story. There are different characters conversing, and a plot is unravelling.

Non-example: Cutting Edge Haunted House holds the Guinness World Record for the largest haunted house on earth. It’s located in a district in Fort Worth, Texas known as "Hell's Half Acre" in a century-old abandoned meat-packing plant. The haunted house takes an hour to complete, winding through horrific scenes incorporating the factory's original meat-packing equipment.

While this would serve as a worthy setting for a story, it would need a plot before it could be called a narrative.

4. Imaginative Writing: (writing that expresses ideas and thoughts in an imaginative way.)

Definition of Creative/Imaginative Writing: The definition of creative writing is writing that expresses ideas and thoughts in an imaginative way. The writer gets to express feelings and emotions instead of just presenting the facts.

Creative Writing: Ideas and Imagination

The best way to define creative writing is to give a list of things that are and that are not considered creative writing. Things that are would be: novels, poems, epics, short stories, screenplays, songs, television scripts, etc.

Things that are usually not creative writing include: academic writing, textbooks, journalism, and technical writing

Your creative juices flow when you engage in creative writing. The majority of writing, by far, is creative writing. Not only can it be a creative outlet, but creative writing can be therapeutic as well. Many psychologists recommend creative writing to express feelings and perhaps examine them. In creative writing, you can use your imagination and pretend anything you want and help the reader to do the same.   

Creative writing is writing that expresses the writer's thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique, and poetic way. Creative writing is guided more by the writer's need to express feelings and ideas than by restrictive demands of factual and logical progression of expository writing.

Characteristics of imaginative writing:
1. Clarity: It doesn’t confuse people. (This sounds so obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of writers who think they have to be clever or coy or literary which just leaves the reader in the dark.)
2.  Form: It has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The beginning draws readers in and the ending is satisfying. This holds true for fiction, memoir, personal essays, autobiographies, and stories for kids. Occasionally a writer who’s a genius ignores this,but most of us aren’t geniuses and can’t ignore it.
3.  Emotion: It’s emotionally charged and the reader cares what happens to the protagonist. We either cry or laugh or are scared or feel something.
4.  Meaning and connection: It’s about people or situations the reader can connect to. Either a story we enter into with the author for entertainment, or a subject or emotion that we too are dealing with or want to learn about, or can find humor in. It is not a story about the author gazing at his or her belly button. In some way the writing connects to the rest of the world.
5. Language: The author cares deeply about words and their power.No overblown adjectives or adverbs (and only those absolutely necessary for information.)No flabby cliches. The author loves language and hones and rewrites every sentence.

Forms of Texts:
* Short stories
* Poems
* Letters to self (future/past)
* Letters to others
* Scripts
* Diary entries
* Interior monolgues
* Prologues/Epilogues
* Speeches
* Autobiography, etc.

Examples of Creative Writing: This kind of writing entertains the reader and there are many places where you can find it. Examples need to be included in any definition of creative writing.  Following are some of the forms and examples.

Poems are great examples of creative writing. Here is an excerpt from Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter" from Through the Looking-Glass.

"If seven maids with seven mopsSwept it for half a year.Do you suppose," the Walrus said,"That they could get it clear?""I doubt it," said the Carpenter,And shed a bitter tear. 

Short stories can be narrative, funny, mysterious, satirical, fantasy, or historical. Aesop’s Fables are very short stories that include a lesson for the reader. Here is the “Hare and the Tortoise.”

A Hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: "Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race." The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. On the day appointed for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue.  The moral is: Slow but steady wins the race.

Story Starters

Want to try your hand at it or sharpen your writing skills? Some things that can help you get started are:

Imagine that..

Have you ever wondered ...

Pretend that ...

What if ...

A funny thing happened...

Why do you think that ...

Once upon a time ...

It was a dark and stormy night ...

Creative writing is the very fine art of making things up, in the most attractive, apt and convincing way possible. It's the telling of lies in order to reveal illuminating and dark truths about the world and our place in it. We tend to think of Poetry, Fiction and Plays.

These are the five different types of writing that are generally used. There are many sub-types of writing that may fall in any of those categories. A writer must know all these styles in order to identify the purpose of his or her own writing and make sure it's something the audience wants to read.

4.5. Sub skills of writing: There are four sub skills of writing

·         Mechanical Skills

·         Grammatical Skills

·         Judgement Skills

·         Discourse Skills

Writing is one of the most demanding skills.  It has to be deliberately cultivated.  It is not something natural to human beings like that of listening and speaking.  It is a skill that has been developed in civilized society to pass on knowledge or messages. Writing aims at clear and efficient communication.  Anne Raimes (1983) has diagrammatically represented writing and its sub- skills as follows –

The above diagram clearly illustrates the complex of sub-skills that make a piece of writing coherent, effective and communicative.

          

1. Mechanical Skills:  Mechanical skills involve handwriting, spelling and punctuation marks.

      Handwriting

The first step in writing is the development of the manipulative or mechanical skill of forming letter of the alphabets

F.G.French points out that the first step in teaching of writing is penmanship, training in simple handwriting.

ü  Handwriting skills includes

o   Proper strokes

o   Shape of letters

o   Right size of letters

o   Proper spacing

Spelling: Good spelling is a mark of good education it comes about through practice and plentiful opportunities to learn words.

o   Same letter with different sounds

E,g:  C sounds gives |s| in ‘receive’

Punctuations:      Punctuation marks are like road signals. They tell us where to slow down, where to stop and so on.

ü  To help the reader understand the text.

ü  To clarify the grammatical structures.

The mechanics of writing

Developing the skill of writing is an important factor in teaching of foreign language.  Writing should be introduced after word recognition exercises.  Writing skill reinforces oral and reading work.  The language items already learnt become fixed in the minds of students.  Writing provides a change of activity and enables the students to do some homework.  At later stage the ability to write in English is needed in offices, because English continues to be the language of administration at the Central level.

Effective writing requires a sound understanding of the mechanics of good writing. A useful example in thinking about the mechanics of writing is that of driving a car. Important information includes

• the various components of the car (or parts of speech in writing), and how they function together (the rules of grammar), and
• what is needed to keep the car moving along, stopping and starting in the right places, and pausing whenever it is necessary (punctuation).

The basic element of writing is the word. The first important thing to recognize is that there are several types of words used in written and spoken speech, each with its defining characteristics and its specific purposes.

Punctuation  : A well written piece of work must have good punctuation. By learning to use different forms of punctuation one can communicate and express his ideas and arguments more clearly.

General principles

The following seven points of style can be useful in the preparation of any piece of written work.

1.      Be clear - In general, keep sentences short and convey a single point in each sentence

2.      Be concise – As for as possible, use shorter words and phrases

3.      Enjoy precision- Effective writing is writing that says precisely what the writer means and

         means precisely what the writer intended.

4.      Be consistent - Use terms consistently throughout the essay or report

5.      Be accurate - State measurements using the correct notations and symbols

6.      Check disciplinary expectations - Different styles of writing are used in different disciplines. A

piece of written work that is about a technical subject or a laboratory report in a scientific           discipline is very different in style from a sociology or fine arts essay. 

7.      Be honest - Reference all sources of information

 Mechanical Skills

ü  Avoid the use of slang words

ü  Try not to use abbreviations

ü  Steer away from the use of symbols (&)

ü  Clichés should be avoided.

ü  Brackets are used to play down words or phrases

ü  Dashes are generally used for emphasis

ü  Great care should ALWAYS be taken to spell the names of people and companies correctly

ü  Numbers should be expressed as words when the number is less than 10 or is used to start a sentence.

ü  Quotation marks should be placed around any directly quoted speech or text and around titles of publications.

ü  Keep sentences short

2. Grammatical Skills

·         Discourse skills

A paragraph is not a list of unrelated sentences. The lexical and the grammatical links are referred to as cohesion and the logical links, coherence.

·         Grammatical cohesion:   This shows the grammatical relationship between sentences or sentence elements in a text.

Writing is very powerful. The power comes from its potential as an efficient and effective means of communication. The power is derived from order and clarity. Structure is used to present the information so that it is more accessible to the reader. We have to provide the information in small manageable chunks, and to use the structure of the document to maintain the context.

Considering the aim of reading and the reader, the document is broken down into distinct sections, which can be written (and read) separately. These sections are then further decomposed into subsections (and sub-subsections) until we arrive at simple, small units of information - which are expressed as a paragraph, or a diagram.   Every paragraph in the document should justify itself. It should serve a purpose, or be removed. A paragraph should convey a single idea. There should be a statement of that key idea and it should have the following:

• a development of the idea
• an explanation or analogy
• an illustration
• support with evidence
• contextual links to reinforce the structure

Draft, Revise and Edit : When we have decided what to say, to whom to say, and how to structure it we must then check it for clarity and effectiveness.

Layout:  The main difference between written and verbal communication is that the reader can choose and re-read the various sections, whereas the listener receives information in the sequence determined by the speaker. Layout should be used to make the structure plain, and more effective. It acts as a guide to the reader. The key to effective layout is to use -

• informative titles
• white space
• variety

Another way to make a point obvious is to use a different font.
Style: People do not have the time to enjoy a florid phrase or incessant illiteration. They want to know what the document is about and what it says. In some articles a summary can be obtained by reading the first sentence of each paragraph. The remainder of each paragraph is simply an expansion or explanation of the initial sentence.
Punctuation: Punctuation is used to clarify meaning and to highlight structure. It can also remove ambiguity.

Spelling : For some, spelling is a constant problem. Incorrect spelling distracts the reader and detracts from the authority of the author. Computer spell-checking programmes provide great assistance, especially when supported by a good dictionary.

Sentence Length: Avoid long sentences. We tend to associate "unit of information" with "a sentence".

3. Judgement Skills:   Judgment skills are termed as higher order skills.

ü  Style

ü  Register

ü  Organization

ü  Relevance

            Judgement skills are also discourse skills, but they are of a higher order.  Judgement skills include style, register, relevance and organization.  They are so called because they involve, choice of language that suits the purpose, which is a matter of judgement.  In the following two grammatically correct sentences – I gave Vinoth money to pay his fees.

I gave Vinoth money so that he could pay his fees.

            The second sentence is stylistically a neat sentence and therefore it is preferable.  Such stylistic choices are to be used in our writing.

            The language of speaking should not be mixed with writing.  Such words as Cop (Policeman) that occur in speech should be avoided in writing.  This is a matter of Register that is the choice of language that suits the written medium.  Register is also a matter of choosing language that suits the subject.  The employment of relevant material in writing and the organization of ideas or details form the judgment skills.

4.  Discourse Skill

“Discourse means ‘pieces of language longer than a sentence.” Some words and expressions are used to show how discourse is constructed. They can show the connection between what a speaker is saying and what has already been said or what is being said.

Therefore, discourse markers are words or phrases that function to signal how the current utterance relates to prior discourse contributing to the meaning of the message. They are best realized by being used at the beginning of clauses. In view of that, a preliminary list of discourse markers can be specified, in terms of their functions, as follows:

1.  Focusing And Linking: With reference to, Speaking/Talking of/about, Regarding, As regards, With regard to, With respect to, In regard to, As to, As for

2. Contrasts:

• Direct Contrast: However, Nevertheless, Mind you, Yet/Still/In spite of,       Conversely, In contrast/In contrast to
• Concession and Counter Argument: It is true, Of course, If, May, But, However, Even so, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, All the same, Still
• Contradicting: On the contrary
• Balancing Contrasting Points: While, On the other hand, Whereas
• Dismissal of Previous Discourse: Anyway, At least, At any rate

3. Similarity: Similarly, In the same way, Likewise, By the same token

4. Change of Subject: By the way, Incidentally, Right, Now, O.K

5. Structuring: First(ly), First of all, Second(ly), Third(ly), Lastly, Finally, To begin with,   To start with, In the first/second/third place, For one thing, For another thing.

6. Adding: Moreover, Furthermore, In addition, As well as that, On top of that, Another thing, What is more, Besides, In any case, Also.

7. Generalizing: On the whole, In general, In all/most/many/some cases, Broadly speaking, By and large, To a great extent, Apart from, Except for....

8. Exemplification: For instance, For example, In particular, Such as, e.g.

9. Logical Consequence: Thus, Hence, Accordingly, Therefore, As a result, Consequently, So, Then, That’s why

10. Making Things Clear / Softening and Correcting: I mean, Actually, That is to say, In other words, I think, I feel, I reckon, I guess, In my view/opinion, Apparently, So to speak, More or less, Sort of, Kind of, Well, Really, At least, I am afraid, I suppose

11. Gaining Time: Let me see, Let’s see, Well, You know, I don’t know,

4. 6. Characteristics of Good Handwriting :  The following are the characteristics of good handwriting:

1. Letter Style: There are three different styles of letters viz.,

(1) slanting towards the left,

(2) vertical,

(3) slanting towards the right.

These angles of writing are shown below:

1.      Slanting towards left                                                                    

2.      Vertical    

3.      Slanting towards right       

            Generally girls tend to adopt the first style and boys the third while the vertical style is common to both.  The teacher must ensure that the pupils adopt one style only and do not mix them in their written work because it will make their handwriting shabby.  They may adopt any of the three letter styles.  The vertical letters are the best.  Students should be helped to cultivate the habit of writing in this style.

2. Legibility:             In order to secure legibility in writing, the teacher should pay special attention to the different aspects of the cursive writing –

• letter-formation, regularity of slant,
• quality of line or stroke,
• alignment, and spacing. 

Studies have shown that pupils generally do not write properly five letters – a, e, r, t and f.  The teacher should pay special attention to these letters as well as other letters which the pupils do not write properly.  Legibility is of great importance.  Good letter-formation is essential for legibility.  The chief errors in letter formation which make handwriting illegible are -

·         difficulty in dotting i

·         difficulty in crossing t

·         top stroke short as in h

·         failure to close letters, as in a and o.

3. Uniformity:  Good handwriting is always uniform in style.  Whatever style the individual writer adopts, it should be uniform in size, spacing and alignment. In  good handwriting, all letters are written either in vertical style or in forward slant or in backward slant.  Any style is good provided it is uniform in style.

4. Spacing: Spacing adds beauty to handwriting.  The letters in words and words in sentences should be properly spaced.  Similarly lines on a page should not be unevenly close to each other.  Proper spacing of letters, words and lines is essential for good handwriting.

5. Distinctiveness  Each letter should have a characteristic form of its own.  Letters should be written clearly and carefully.  The letters should not have resemblance with some other letters. 

6. Simplicity:  The letters should be simple.  A simple handwriting in which letters have no unnecessary tails or loops is always easy to read.  Simple letter shapes carry more appeal.

7. Appropriate Size of Letters:  The size of letters should be moderate and even.  These should be neither small nor big.  There should be proportion between the size of letters.  They should have due proportion to one another.

8. Speed: Good handwriting also requires a reasonable speed.  It adds charm and fluency to one’s writing. “The writing should not be laboured but done at reasonable speed”– A.W. Frisby.  In the beginning the pupils should write slowly but they can cultivate the habit of writing beautifully at reasonable speed in due course.

4.7. Developing Good Handwriting:  Bad handwriting is a wrong habit. Once the bad habit of writing is formed it becomes difficult to get it removed and replace it with the habit of good writing.  The following are the remedial measures for improving handwriting -

1.      Use of Four-line Notebooks: The use of four line notebooks will be extremely useful.  If proper attention is paid by the teacher to the size and spacing of letters, four-line notebooks result in good handwriting.

2.      Teacher’s Handwriting as Model: The teacher’s handwriting should be model for the students.  When he is writing on the blackboard the students should be asked to watch his movements of hand and fingers. The pupils should be made to understand proper strokes, uniform size and proper spacing.  Teacher’s writing becomes a model for the students.

3.      Individual Attention: The student’s posture while writing should be attended to.  They should sit comfortably in their seats in an erect-position, with both feet resting on the ground and their bodies leaning slightly forward from the hips, but not touching the desk.  Head should bend twelve inches away from the paper.

4.      Use of Proper Writing Material: The use of proper writing material at different stage of writing is an important consideration.  Students should be directed to use proper writing material.

5.      Sympathetic Treatment: The student with bad handwriting should be treated sympathetically.  He may be asked to do a page of writing every day.

6.      Adequate Practice: Adequate practice in writing should be given to students.

7.      Handwriting Competition: There should be frequent competitions on handwriting.  Good handwriting of students should be displayed in the classroom.

As a remedial measure for improvement of handwriting adequate exercise in writing such as transcription, dictation and composition should be given to the students.  It is only through a well planned practice the students can improve their handwriting.

4.8. Writing Assessments: What does it mean to assess writing?

Assessment is the gathering of information about student learning. It can be used for formative purposes−−to adjust instruction−−or summative purposes: to render a judgment about the quality of student work. It is a key instructional activity, and teachers engage in it every day in a variety of informal and formal ways.

Assessment of student writing is a process. Assessment of student writing and performance in the class should occur at many different stages throughout the course and could come in many different forms. At various points in the assessment process, teachers usually take on different roles such as motivator, collaborator, critic, evaluator, etc., (see Brooke Horvath for more on these roles) and give different types of response.

One of the major purposes of writing assessment is to provide feedback to students. We know that feedback is crucial to writing development. The 2004 Harvard Study of Writing concluded, "Feedback emerged as the hero and the anti-hero of our study−powerful enough to convince students that they could or couldn't do the work in a given field, to push them toward or away from selecting their majors, and contributed, more than any other single factor, to students' sense of academic belonging or alienation" 

Source: Horvath, Brooke K. "The Components of Written Response: A Practical Synthesis of Current Views." Rhetoric Review 2 (January 1985): 136−56. Rpt. in C Corbett, Edward P. J., Nancy Myers, and Gary Tate. 

a. Validity and Reliability

Yancey traces the major shifts in writing assessment by pointing toward each wave’s swing toward or away from the concepts of validity and reliability. Peggy O’Neill, Cindy Moore, and Brian Huot explain in A Guide To College Writing Assessment that reliability and validity are the most important terms in discussing best practices in writing assessment

In the first wave of writing assessment, the emphasis is on reliability: reliability confronts questions over the consistency of a test. In this wave, the central concern was to assess writing with the best predictability with the least amount of cost and work.

The shift toward the second wave marked a move toward considering principles of validity. Validity confronts questions over a test’s appropriateness and effectiveness for the given purpose. Methods in this wave were more concerned with a test’s construct validity: whether the material prompted from a test is an appropriate measure of what the test purports to measure. Teachers began to see an incongruence between the material being prompted to measure writing and the material teachers were asking students to write. Holistic scoring, championed by Edward M. White, emerged in this wave. It is one method of assessment where students’ writing is prompted to measure their writing ability.

The third wave of writing assessment emerges with continued interest in the validity of assessment methods. This wave began to consider an expanded definition of validity that includes how portfolio assessment contributes to learning and teaching. In this wave, portfolio assessment emerges to emphasize theories and practices in Composition and Writing Studies such as revision, drafting, and process.

b. Direct and Indirect Assessment

Indirect writing assessments typically consist of multiple choice tests on grammar, usage, and vocabulary. Examples include high-stakes standardized tests such as the ACT, SAT, and GRE, which are most often used by colleges and universities for admissions purposes. Other indirect assessments, such as Compass and Accuplacer, are used to place students into remedial or mainstream writing courses. Direct writing assessments, like the timed essay test, require at least one sample of student writing and are viewed by many writing assessment scholars as more valid than indirect tests because they are assessing actual samples of writing. Portfolio assessment, which generally consists of several pieces of student writing written over the course of a semester, began to replace timed essays during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Portfolio assessment is viewed as being even more valid than timed essay tests because it focuses on multiple samples of student writing that have been composed in the authentic context of the classroom. Portfolios enable assessors to examine multiple samples of student writing and multiple drafts of a single essay.

c. Writing Assessment as Technology

Methods: Methods of writing assessment vary depending on the context and type of assessment. The following is an incomplete list of writing assessments frequently administered:

1. Portfolio: Portfolio assessment is typically used to assess what students have learned at the end of a course or over a period of several years. Course portfolios consist of multiple samples of student writing and a reflective letter or essay in which students describe their writing and work for the course. “Showcase portfolios” contain final drafts of student writing, and “process portfolios” contain multiple drafts of each piece of writing. Both print and electronic portfolios can be either showcase or process portfolios, though electronic portfolios typically contain hyperlinks from the reflective essay or letter to samples of student work and, sometimes, outside sources.

2. Timed-Essay: Timed essay tests were developed as an alternative to multiple choice, indirect writing assessments. Timed essay tests are often used to place students into writing courses appropriate for their skill level. These tests are usually proctored, meaning that testing takes place in a specific location in which students are given a prompt to write in response to within a set time limit. The SAT and GRE both contain timed essay portions.

3. Rubric: A rubric is a tool used in writing assessment that can be used in several writing contexts. A rubric consists of a set of criteria or descriptions that guides a rater to score or grade a writer. The origins of rubrics can be traced to early attempts in education to standardize and scale writing in the early 20th century. Ernest C Noyes argues in November 1912 for a shift toward assessment practices that were more science-based. One of the original scales used in education was developed by Milo B. Hillegas in A Scale for the Measurement of Quality in English Composition by Young People. This scale is commonly referred to as the Hillegas Scale. The Hillegas Scale and other scales used in education were used by administrators to compare the progress of schools.

4. Multiple-Choice Test: Multiple-choice tests contain questions about usage, grammar, and vocabulary. Standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, and GRE are typically used for college or graduate school admission. Other tests, such as Compass and Accuplacer, are typically used to place students into remedial or mainstream writing courses.

5. Automated Essay Scoring: Automated Essay Scoring (AES) is the use of non-human, computer-assisted assessment practices to rate, score, or grade writing tasks.

6. Race and Writing Assessment:  Some scholars in writing assessment focus their research on the influence of race on the performance on writing assessments. Scholarship in race and writing assessment seek to study how categories of race and perceptions of race continues to shape writing assessment outcomes. However, scholars in writing assessment recognize that racism in the 21st century is no longer explicit, but point out that writing assessment practices are silently racist. Nicholas Behm and Keith D. Miller in “Challenging the Frameworks of Color-Blind Racism: Why We Need a Fourth Wave of Writing Assessment Scholarship” advocate for the recognition of another wave after the three that Yancey offers. Behm and Miller advocate for a wave where the intersections of race and writing assessment are brought to the forefront of assessment practices. As the authors explain, racial inequalities in writing assessment are typically justified with non-racial reasons.

4.8. 1. Suggestions for Assessing Student Writing

Be sure to know what you want students to be able to do and why. Good assessment practices start with a pedagogically sound assignment description and learning goals for the writing task at hand. The type of feedback given on any task should depend on the learning goals you have for students and the purpose of the assignment. Think early on about why you want students to complete a given writing project (see guide to writing strong assignments page). What do you want them to know? What do you want students to be able to do? Why? How will you know when they have reached these goals? What methods of assessment will allow you to see that students have accomplished these goals (portfolio assessment assigning multiple drafts, rubric, etc)? What will distinguish the strongest projects from the weakest?

Begin designing writing assignments with your learning goals and methods of assessment in mind.

Plan and implement activities that support students in meeting the learning goals. How will you support students in meeting these goals? What writing activities will you allow time for? How can you help students meet these learning goals?

Begin giving feedback early in the writing process. Give multiple types of feedback early in the writing process. For example, talking with students about ideas, write written responses on drafts, have students respond to their peers' drafts in process, etc. These are all ways for students to receive feedback while they are still in the process of revising.

Structure opportunities for feedback at various points in the writing process. Students should also have opportunities to receive feedback on their writing at various stages in the writing process. This does not mean that teachers need to respond to every draft of a writing project. Structuring time for peer response and group workshops can be a very effective way for students to receive feedback from other writers in the class and for them to begin to learn to revise and edit their own writing.

Be open with students about your expectations and the purposes of the assignments. Students respond better to writing projects when they understand why the project is important and what they can learn through the process of completing it. Be explicit about your goals for them as writers and why those goals are important to their learning. Additionally, talk with students about methods of assessment. Some teachers have students help collaboratively design rubrics for the grading of writing. Whatever methods of assessment you choose, be sure to let students in on how they will be evaluated.

 Do not burden students with excessive feedback. Our instinct as teachers, especially when we are really interested in students´ writing is to offer as many comments and suggestions as we can. However, providing too much feedback can leave students feeling daunted and uncertain where to start in terms of revision. Try to choose one or two things to focus on when responding to a draft. Offer students concrete possibilities or strategies for revision.

Allow students to maintain control over their paper. Instead of acting as an editor, suggest options or open-ended alternatives the student can choose for their revision path. Help students learn to assess their own writing and the advice they get about it.

Purposes of Responding We provide different kinds of response at different moments. But we might also fall into a kind of "default" mode, working to get through the papers without making a conscious choice about how and why we want to respond to a given assignment. So it might be helpful to identify the two major kinds of response we provide:

• Formative Response: response that aims primarily to help students develop their writing. Might focus on confidence-building, on engaging the student in a conversation about her ideas or writing choices so as to help student to see herself as a successful and promising writer. Might focus on helping student develop a particular writing project, from one draft to next. Or, might suggest to student some general skills she could focus on developing over the course of a semester.
• Evaluative Response: response that focuses on evaluation of how well a student has done. Might be related to a grade. Might be used primarily on a final product or portfolio. Tends to emphasize whether or not student has met the criteria operative for specific assignment and to explain that judgment.

4.8.2. Means of Responding

We respond to many kinds of writing and at different stages in the process, from reading responses, to exercises, to generation or brainstorming, to drafts, to source critiques, to final drafts. It is also helpful to think of the various forms that response can take.

• Conferencing: verbal, interactive response. This might happen in class or during scheduled sessions in offices. Conferencing can be more dynamic: we can ask students questions about their work, modeling a process of reflecting on and revising a piece of writing. Students can also ask us questions and receive immediate feedback. Conference is typically a formative response mechanism, but might also serve usefully to convey evaluative response.
• Written Comments on Drafts

1. Local: when we focus on "local" moments in a piece of writing, we are calling attention to specifics in the paper. Perhaps certain patterns of grammar or moments where the essay takes a sudden, unexpected turn. We might also use local comments to emphasize a powerful turn of phrase, or a compelling and well-developed moment in a piece. Local commenting tends to happen in the margins, to call attention to specific moments in the piece by highlighting them and explaining their significance. We tend to use local commenting more often on drafts and when doing formative response.
2. Global: when we focus more on the overall piece of writing and less on the specific moments in and of themselves. Global comments tend to come at the end of a piece, in narrative-form response. We might use these to step back and tell the writer what we learned overall, or to comment on a pieces' general organizational structure or focus. We tend to use these for evaluative response and often, deliberately or not, as a means of justifying the grade we assigned.
3. Rubrics: charts or grids on which we identify the central requirements or goals of a specific project. Then, we evaluate whether or not, and how effectively, students met those criteria. These can be written with students as a means of helping them see and articulate the goals a given project.