HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

1. Discuss TWO activities that you usually conduct to help your students generate ideas for their writing. Elaborate and
provide authentic examples taken from your student’s work.
(5 marks)

It is important for a teacher to have pre-writing activities in order to better prepare and help pupils towards their effective
writing activities. Hence, I’ve practiced few pre-writing activities to help my pupils to generate ideas vital for their writing tasks.
Below, I will delve into two commonly practiced pre-writing activities that I usually use and are effective in helping my pupils to
generate ideas for their writing – mind-mapping and questioning techniques.

Before a writing activity, I usually brainstorm the relevant vocabulary and ideas needed for the task through mind-mapping.
Since pupils usually have words stuck for writing certain topic, this technique helps a lot in not only providing a general idea about
the writing topic, but it gives pupils confidence in writing since it provides a rich bank of vocabulary needed for the writing, and
hence clear their mental block towards searching for suitable vocabulary. For instance, in order to write about self biography, I
usually write the word “I” in the middle of the whiteboard and circle it. Then, I’ll try to elicit responses from the class on words
and ideas related to the general subject “I” and jot them down. I will also further try to spawn pupils’ idea and link them together
using lines and circles to form a cluster of ideas and vocabulary. Through this, it helps to increase pupils’ confidence in writing
since they already have the general ideas and vocabulary needed for the task. It is now just the matter of the grammatical
knowledge that challenges the pupils. An example of a simple mind-mapping is provided as below.

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male =
thirtee
boy
nam n
collecting
e
stamps
female = girl
gende
age
r I football
2 brothers
boy sibling hobbie
s cooking
s
1 sister ambitions
singing

doctor scientist artist teacher lawyer

The second pre-writing activity that I prefer is the questioning techniques. This is a versatile form of pre-writing activity. It
helps pupils to develop a general perspective on a subject and to focus their ideas towards the writing task. I usually employ the 6
magical Wh-questions to elicit pupils’ responses towards the writing topic – “Who”, “When”, “Where”, “Why”, “What” and
“How”. Through these questions, basically a sense of scope for the topic can be fully visualized since the questioning technique
helps pupils to attack the writing topic from different angles. At the same time, instead of writing down all the aspects regarding
the topic, the pupils are given a full view on which areas to be selected and focus more during their writing, providing a sense of
empowerment and freedom towards their choice in attacking the writing subject given. For instance, when writing about the topic
on vocation, a series of Wh-questions will be asked and the answers will be listed down. Pupils are then given the choice to choose

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
which focus they want to write more about. For instance, it might be more on the description of the place, the scenery; or it could
be focused more on the description of the events that happened during the vocation. A sample of a simple question-answer list is
given as below. However, a teacher can tailor to the pupils’ proficiency level by providing more or less substantiated answers.

A vocation
1. When was it? – Last holiday. – A sunny day. – During my 13th birthday.
2. Where was it? – In the country. – Overseas. – By the seaside. – Cave exploration.
3. With who? – Family. – Friends. – Solo trip. – Backpacked. – School society.
4. Why? – To relax. To celebrate. – To adventure. – To gain knowledge. – To have fun.
5. What happened? – Breath taking view. – Unforgettable adventure. - Meeting new
friends.
6. How was it? – Stunned by the natural beauty, a new gain towards preserving and
conserving the nature. – Realise that socialization enables us to make new friends. – Fun
learning the cultures of others. - Better equipped with adventurous knowledge.

To encapsulate, mind-mapping and questioning techniques are among the most used pre-writing activities in my teaching of
writing. This is because they are simple to carry out and not time-consuming, yet I see the positive effects reflected in my pupils’
writing.

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

2. Name TWO types of feedbacks which you found useful in your experiences in teaching writing. Substantiate your
answers with relevant literature review.
(5 marks)

Feedbacks are vital in teaching writing. This is because as according to Vengadasamy, R.,
“(feedbacks) offers the teacher the option of personalizing his/her
comments. Individual strengths and weaknesses can be
addressed and communicated directly to the student concerned”,
and hence acting as a strong mean to improve pupils’ writing.

During my years of teaching writing, there are numerous feedbacks given to the pupils. However out of all the feedbacks
given, I found that among the two most useful feedbacks are positive feedbacks and feedback regarding their content and
organization, with clear and suggestive responses provided.

I usually like to give positive comments to pupils’ good work, such as a simple “Good point” and “The main idea is well
supported here!” that manage to point out the strong parts of their writing. For me, I can see visible results from my pupils’ work
since they are motivated to use back the same strategies and writing techniques in their tasks. According to Vardi, I., (2009),
students prefer positive feedback as it boosts their self-esteem in writing; while Ferris (1995) in Vengadasamy, R.,
“students report that they feel discouraged when they don’t
receive positive comments.”

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

Hence, based on the supported claim as well as my experience; I strongly feel that positive feedback in writing is vital for pupils’
improvements.

The next feedback I like to use and find it useful is feedback that focuses on pupils’ content and organization with direct
instruction on how to improve rather than on their grammatical errors. This is because Kepner. (1991)., Semke. (1984). &
Sheppard. (1992). In Bitchener, J., Young, S., Cameron, D. (2005) claim that
“error correction does not have a significant effect on
improving L2 student writing”.
Hence, it is, as according to Dr. Iris Vardi (2003), teachers should not focus more on the surface feedbacks, which are grammatical
and syntactical based; but rather should place more emphasis on giving constructive and meaningful feedback on the pupils’
content and the overall organization. As a result, I usually provide detailed and informative comments on pupils’ content which
are placed in-between paragraphs to provide pupils with direct instructions on how to improve. For example, comments such as “I
feel it would be better if you can include some examples of the food mentioned” or “I feel it helps if you can further elaborate on
the events on what happen after…”. From my experience, these types of elaborated feedbacks which focus more on the pupils’
content and organization rather than their grammatical errors help the pupils to better understand how to improve their writing and
yield positive and effective improvements among my pupils.

To conclude, positive feedbacks and feedbacks that provide sound and clear instructions to improve pupils’ written content
are, based on various research as well as my personal experiences, provide effective and useful feedbacks in the teaching of
writing.

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

Year : Form 1
Time : 8.00 am – 9.00 am (60 minutes)
Proficiency level : Mixed ability
Numbers of pupils : 30
Theme : People
Main skill : Writing
Integrated skills : Listening, reading and speaking.
Curriculum Specifications : 1.1 (vi) Giving an account of experiences or preferences and describing feelings with the
correct intonation, word stress, and sentence rhythm (orally) in a face-to- face-situation and
writing simple
paragraphs.
Learning Outcomes : 1.0 Language for interpersonal use.
Language focus : Sentence structure:
o Simple sentences.
o Compound sentences.
o Complex sentences.
Behavioural Objectives : By the end of the lesson pupils should be able to:
o write at least 3 simple sentences and/or 3 compound sentences and/or 3 complex
sentences to form a paragraph.

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
Previous knowledge : Related adjectives, sentence constructions and paragraphing.
Teaching Aids : Amplifier and speaker, chocolates, towel, handouts for low, intermediate and high
proficiency students,
Exercise book, enlarged version of the sample answer, double-sided smiley puppet.
Education emphasis : Moral values - Co-operation, team spiritedness.
CCTS - Describing, imagining.

Stage / Time Content Teaching / Learning Activities Rationale Remarks

Set induction. Preparing students mentally and

(+5 minutes) physically for the lesson.

• Students’ favourite food. 1) Teacher settles the class and • To enhance curiosity • Grouping of
group the class into three main in order to trigger students.
groups where Group A consists pupils’ interest in • Student-
of low proficiency students, learning the topic of centred
Group B, intermediate and the day. activity.
Group C, high proficiency • To get pupils into
students. the correct frame of
2) Teacher elicits responses from mind for the lesson
pupils on their favourite food.

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
3) Pupils responded.
4) Teacher tells the class that
today they are going to taste
one type of food and write
about it in a paragraph of at
least 3 sentences.

Pre- writing Sensing and questioning.

( +20 minutes)

• Vocabulary related to 1) Teacher asks the pupils to take • To develop creative • Towel
chocolate: out the pre-prepared towel and thinking skill as they • Chocolate
o Dark chocolate blind-folded themselves in have to visualized • Amplifier and
o White chocolate groups. and imagine what speaker
o Chocolate with 2) Teacher tells the class to listen they have tasted. • Handouts
nuts carefully to the sound that they
• Group activity
are going to hear. • To integrate
3) Teacher then opens the seal of speaking skills in the
• Adjectives:
a chocolate near to an amplifier lesson.
o Sweet
so that the sound is loud to be
o Bitter

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
o Crunchy heard by the whole class. • To build pupil’s
o Hard 4) Teacher asks the students to confidence in
o Soft guess what makes the sound. communicating

o Round 5) Teacher tells the class that ideas verbally.

he/she will only reveal the
o Nice
answer later on. • To encourage co-
o Fruity
6) Teacher then continues the operative learning.
o Square
activity by placing a chocolate
in the palm of each blind- • To gives brief idea
• Vocabulary describing
folded student and asks them to on how to write it.
feelings:
feel its shape and smell it
o Like
before taste it.
o Dislike
7) Students are to imagine what
have they tasted and enjoy the
food.
8) After that, students open their
towel and each individual in
each group will be given a
handout (according to groups
based on their proficiency
level. Refer to Appendices for

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
examples) and they have to
answer few questions in the
handout after discussing in
their respective group.
9) Each group is given for about
10 minutes to complete the
handout.
10) Teacher facilitates around.
11) After 10 minutes, each group
sends a volunteer to present
their answers.
12) Teacher provides feedbacks to
students’ responses.
13) Teacher then tells the class that
the food is chocolate and
demonstrates again opening the
wrapper to prove the sound
heard.

While-writing Free writing.

( +20 minutes)

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
• Exercise book 1) Teacher then asks the pupils to • To develop pupils • Exercise book
Writing a personal recount take out their Exercise book ability to write • Handouts
on the food tasted and if and write a recount of the food descriptively. • Individual
possible, personal feelings tasted in one paragraph, • To guide pupils in activity
towards the tasted food. consisting of at least 3 producing a good
sentences. Pupils are to paste piece of writing.
the handout in their Exercise • To give
book as well. empowerment to
2) Pupils are given freedom in pupils’ choice of
constructing simple, compound writing.
or complex sentences
depending on their proficiency
level.
3) Teacher facilitates around to
provide immediate assistant
towards pupils’ problems in
writing.
4) Teacher calls to a stop after
about 15 minutes.

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
Post-writing Sample answer.
(+10 minutes)
• Sample answer: 1) Teacher then requests students • To provide a sense • Enlarged
Curiosity engulfed me who have finished their writing of guidance and version of
when I heard the sound. It task to submit their Exercise model. sample
seems like someone is book, while the rest can do it at answer
home. • To incorporate
opening a wrapper of a
reading and speaking
sweets and it smells nice 2) Teacher then hangs up an
enlarged version of the sample skills.
when the round shaped food
is placed in my palm. I bite answers and share it with the
a small bite. The aroma of pupils.
chocolate fills my mouth. 3) The class read the sample
The crunchiness of nuts and answers together chorally.
the melting thick liquid send 4) Pupils share their feelings on
pleasure to every taste bud how they feel about the piece
of mine. I bet it is my of writing.
favourite ‘Ferrero Rocher’.
I feel satisfied!

Closure ‘Smiley smiley’.

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(+5 minutes)
• “Chocolate is my
favourite food.”
• “I do not like chocolate
since it tastes a little
bitter.”
HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
1) Teacher then distributes one • To end the lesson • Double-sided
attractive double-sided smiley with something smiley puppet
puppet to each student. leisure but
2) The students are to show either interesting.
the happy smiley face if they
like the chocolate tasted or the • To cater to pupils
sad smiley face if they don’t. emotional needs of
3) Teacher then elicits simple likeness and dis-
responses on why they like or likeness.
do not like the chocolate tasted.
4) Teacher complements all the • To complement
pupils for being co-operative students for their
during the group task. good participation.

Sample of Handout for Group A (Low proficiency level)

1. What makes the sound heard? (Clue: Wrapper)

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What food do you think it is? (Clue: Junk food)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the shape?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Do you like the taste?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What colour do you think the food is?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sample of Handout for Group B (Intermediate proficiency level)

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
1. What makes the sound heard?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What food it is?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How about the smell and the shape?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. How is the taste and do you like the taste?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What colour do you think the food is?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Where can you get the food tasted?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sample of Handout for Group C (Advanced proficiency level)

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING
1. Describe in less than 5 words about the sound heard.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Describe in less than 10 words about the food tasted.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Describe your feelings in less than 5 words while chewing the food.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sample answer – smaller version

Curiosity engulfed me when I heard the sound. It seems like someone is opening a wrapper of a sweets and it smells nice
when the round shaped food is placed in my palm. I bite a small bite. The aroma of chocolate fills my mouth. The crunchiness of
nuts and the melting thick liquid send pleasure to every taste bud of mine. I bet it is my favourite ‘Ferrero Rocher’. I feel satisfied!

References

- Bitchener, J., Young, S., Cameron, D. (2005). The effect of different types of corrective feedback on ESL student writing.
Auckland University of Technology: New Zealand.

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

- Developing ideas for writing (prewriting). Empire State College: State University of New York. Retrieved June 20, 2010
fromtheWorldWide http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/writerscomplex.nsf/0/ce2b510e7d9975ae852569c3006acccc?
OpenDocument#mapping

- Ferris. (1995). In Vengadasamy, R. Red-eyed over red ink: alternatives to the error hunt. Faculty of Language Studies Univesiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia. Retrieved June 20, 2010 from the World Wide
http://74.6.146.127/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=positive+fedback+in+teaching+writing&rd=adv&meta=fl%3D0%26vc
%3Dmy&fr=yfp-t-
701&fp_ip=my&u=www.melta.org.my/modules/sections/7.doc&w=positive+fedback+feedback+teaching+writing&d=Kf_
HQbZfVCdj&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=PtrkMq185x2IHdWwP67NnQ--

- How to generate hundreds of writing ideas. Daily Writing Tips. Retrieved June 20, 2010 from
the World Wide http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-generate-hundreds-of-writing-ideas/

- Kepner. (1991)., Semke. (1984). & Sheppard. (1992). In Bitchener, J., Young, S., Cameron, D. (2005). The effect of different
types of corrective feedback on ESL student writing. Auckland University of Technology: New Zealand.

- Malaysia Teacher Site. (2009). Huraian sukatan pelajaran. Syllabus and the curriculum specifications. Retrieved June 20, 2010
from the World Wide http://malaysiateachersite.blogspot.com/2009/03/huraian-sukatan-pelajaran-syllabus-and.html

- Vardi, Iris. (2003). Tertiary student writing, change and feedback: a negotiation of form, content and contextual demands.
Retrieved June 20, 2010 from the World Wide http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2004.0047/

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

- Vengadasamy, R. Red-eyed over red ink: alternatives to the error hunt. Faculty of Language Studies Univesiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia. Retrieved June 20, 2010 from the World Wide http://74.6.146.127/search/cache?ei=UTF-
8&p=positive+fedback+in+teaching+writing&rd=adv&meta=fl%3D0%26vc%3Dmy&fr=yfp-t-
701&fp_ip=my&u=www.melta.org.my/modules/sections/7.doc&w=positive+fedback+feedback+teaching+writing&d=Kf_
HQbZfVCdj&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=PtrkMq185x2IHdWwP67NnQ--

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Double-sided smiley puppet

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

Chocolate

Towel

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 HBEL3103-WRITING AND TEACHING OF WRITING

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