DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF

WRITING
-WRITING READINESS-
1

TSL3073
TEACHING WRITING SKILLS IN
THE PRIMARY ESL CLASSROOM

Mohd Iskandar bin Daud
IPGKKB
Writing readiness
What is writing readiness?

The skills and understandings necessary for
minimum success in completing a writing task

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Factors affecting writing readiness
1. Maturation - sufficient stage of mental and physical development
2. Experience - exposure to basic skills is necessary before complex
tasks are tackled.
3. Relevance of materials and methods of instruction - children are
more ready to learn materials that meets their needs and fits
their already established interests, children are more ready to
learn skills of spelling, reading and writing when they are having
fun doing
4. Emotional attitude and personal adjustment - Emotional stress
blocks readiness for learning especially those resulting
from unmet needs, overprotection, rejection in the home,
previous experience of school failure, and other home difficulties.

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Building Learning Readiness
Begins before the child even enters school:

The parents should provide books, drawing, reading, and
writing materials at home.
The children should have knowledge about books, pictures,
and rudiments of writing.
From childhood through school, children should be
exposed to skills both for their immediate usefulness and
for their preparation for new learning.

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Building Learning Readiness
Building learning readiness necessitates the following steps:
1. Analyze the skills, understanding and knowledge
required in studying a given material.
2. Use diagnostic pre-tests and other devices to determine
the level each prospective learner possesses (the
prerequisite skills, understanding and knowledge as well as
the specific areas of strengths and weaknesses)
3. Design the instructional programmed to match the
individual needs and abilities of each learner
4. Build up the fine motor skills
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Building fine motor skills
In order for a child to write meaningfully, he/she must first build
up their fine motor skills.
The skills along the path to writing are as follows:
Scribbling with crayons - put plenty of paper and writing materials in writing
areas at home
Making circles and other basic shapes - Point out shapes in the room, use
stencils
Gaining more control of small muscles Activities like squeezing, pinching ,
cutting, lacing and stringing, tracing, etc
Making representational drawings get the child to explain the drawing
Beginning to recognize letters - Refer to his/her name written on a card, Pick
out letters they know, play Bingo, etc
Consolidating letter recognition - label the room, finding and naming letters,
etc




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Building fine motor skills (cont)
How to help writing readiness of a child? (cont)
Begins to recognize written names and some words - picking out known
words, notice similarities and differences in words
Realizes the permanency of words (r-u-n always spells run) - Read familiar
books with only one or two lines on a page, Notice word labels in the room
Begins to imitate letters - provide a well-stocked writing area, provide word
and picture cards, provide letter cards and stencils, provide chalk and a
chalkboard, etc
Writes name - model writing his/her name and get him/her to copy it, Write
other names if they know how
Writes other words - a journal, stories, etc
Improves through practice and positive feedback - Write letters to family
members, write rhymes, reminders for parents, etc
Encourage all efforts to write! **

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Writing Readiness
Mechanics
Penmanship
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The mechanics of writing
Def - Mechanics is the term we use to describe the
technical aspects of writing, such as spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, etc
If a piece of writing is not mechanically well-written hard
to figure out what is trying to be said, seen as poorly
written, reflects the writers attitude and may be cognitive
level too
Good mechanics make a story easy to read, and that will
attract more readers.
See example:
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The mechanics of writing
Memorable Students
they are the memorable students in any class they
participate fully in any mischief they see no point in
volunteering for extra jobs they delight in
distracting their classmates they take no pleasure in
learning they are never satisfied

Not only is the above example difficult to read
because of the lack of punctuation and capitalization,
but it also impossible to understand the meaning of
it
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The mechanics of writing
With punctuation, it the same passage can be read this way:

Memorable Students
They are the memorable students. In any class, they participate
fully. In any mischief, they see no point. In volunteering for
extra jobs, they delight. In distracting their classmates, they
take no pleasure. In learning, they are never satisfied.
OR
They are the memorable students in any class. They participate
fully in any mischief. They see no point in volunteering for
extra jobs. They delight in distracting their classmates. They
take no pleasure in learning. They are never satisfied.

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The mechanics of writing
So are these memorable students good students or bad
students? Based on the original text, we have no way of
knowing. Can you see how important mechanics are to
meaning?
Some basic mechanics of writing:
Sentences
To put it simply, a sentence is a complete thought or idea
Punctuation
marks such as periods (.), question marks (?), exclamation points (!),
commas (,), apostrophes (), quotation marks (), semi-colons (;), and
colons (:)
When used correctly, they make writing look more organized and easier to
read and understand












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The mechanics of writing
Paragraphing
A paragraph is a group of sentences that all revolve around the same topic
or idea
Huge paragraphs are hard to follow. It is easier to read, both from a
comprehension and a physical standpoint, when text is broken up into
smaller paragraphs with empty spaces in between
The general rule is, you should start a new paragraph every time you start
talking about something new
Grammar (Tense, Subject-Verb Agreement, etc)
The most important thing to remember about tense is to choose one tense
and stick to it. This is another problem some beginning writers
have. Many kids, when learning to write in school, switch tenses like crazy.
SVA - different forms of every verb that go with different subjects, dont get
confused

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The mechanics of writing
Homonyms
words which sound the same, but are spelled differently and have
different meanings.
another lovely feature of the confusing English language
Eg: Your/Youre, There/Their/Theyre, Its/Its, To/Too/Two,
Then/Than, Lose/Loose commonly confused
Practice (proofreading)
Reading over what youve written with a critical eye, judging on not just
content, but mechanical correctness as well, is crucial.
It helps you catch and correct your mistakes before readers see them
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Proofreading practice
Kevin Howie Brian AJ and Nick piled onto the bus, they had just
finished there concert that night in Chicago and was on theyre way to
grab a bite to eat than they would be driving on to the next city
Milwaukee. Wear should we eat? asks Howie his body jerking
backward as the bus lurched away from the venue. How about
McDonalds? AJ suggested smiling. You always want two go too
Mickey Ds AJ complained Kevin cant we eat healthy four
once? Howie agrees with Kevin but the to were quickly overruled by
the other three who insisted on fast food, before they knew it the bus
was pulling up in front of the familiar golden arches.
Oh my God its the backstreet boys screamed the gurl at the
counter when they walked in to order. I love U guys so much your my
favorite band, will U sign a song 4 me? Sure Nick agreed and
breaks into dont wanna loose you now, the other guys came in on
theyre parts but the girl was squealing louder then they could sing
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Answer (50 errors)
Kevin, Howie, Brian, AJ, and Nick piled onto the bus. They had just finished
their concert that night in Chicago and were on their way to grab a bite to
eat. Then they would be driving on to the next city, Milwaukee. Where
should we eat? asked Howie, his body jerking backward as the bus lurched
away from the venue.
How about McDonalds? AJ suggested, smiling.
You always want to go to Mickey Ds, AJ, complained Kevin. Cant
we eat healthy for once? Howie agreed with Kevin, but the two were quickly
overruled by the other three, who insisted on fast food. Before they knew it,
the bus was pulling up in front of the familiar golden arches.
Oh my God, its the Backstreet Boys! screamed the girl at the counter
when they walked in to order. I love you guys so much; youre my favorite
band! Will you sign a song for me?
Sure, Nick agreed and broke into Dont Wanna Lose You Now. The
other guys came in on their parts, but the girl was squealing louder than they
could sing
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Penmanship
Def - Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand
using a writing instrument
The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are
called hands, whilst an individual personal style of penmanship
is referred to as handwriting
Motor control - Handwriting requires the motor coordination of
multiple joints in the hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder to form
letters and to arrange them on the page.
Holding the pen and guiding it across paper depends mostly
upon sensory information from skin, joints and muscles of the
hand and this adjusts movement to changes in the friction
between pen and paper

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Penmanship
With practice and familiarity, handwriting
becomes highly automated using motor programs
stored in motor memory
Compared to other complex motor skills
handwriting is far less dependent on a moment-to-
moment visual guidance
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Reasons for good penmanship
In the United States each year:
the health of at least 1 in 10 Americans is endangered by the poor
handwriting of their physicians.
up to $95,000,000 in tax refunds are not delivered because of unreadable
tax-forms.
$200,000,000 in time and money is lost because poor handwriting results in
such problems as confused and inefficient employees, phone calls made to
wrong or non-existent numbers, and letters and packages delivered to
incorrect addresses -- or not delivered at all.
The repercussions of poor handwriting aren't limited to the
workplace; they begin in the classroom - repeated research has
shown that even when teachers are told not to take off points for
bad handwriting, poor handwriting results in lower grades -- as
much as a full letter grade lower -- for similar or identical work.
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Poor penmanship
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physicians
handwriting is
notoriously bad, and
with the increased
importance of
prescription
medicines in treating
diseases of every
sort, poor
penmanship
increases the
probability of fatal
medication errors
Teaching handwriting
Effective handwriting instruction should focus on the three
components of handwriting - letter formation (form and slant),
size, and spacing.
When teaching handwriting, teachers should focus on one
component at a time -- first, letter formation; then, size; and
then, spacing.
The form and slant of specific letters will depend on the style
of handwriting being taught. Whatever style you're teaching,
however, children first must learn the starting and stopping
point of each letter. That can be accomplished by having children
trace the letters with their index fingers before they begin
writing.
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Teaching handwriting
Posture and paper position also are important to ensure
correct letter formation and slant. Students should sit
upright with both feet flat on the floor, placing the paper at
a 45 degree angle toward the writing-arm side of the body
and tilting it to conform to the position of the writing arm's
forearm.
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Teaching handwriting
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Paper position and correct posture
Teaching handwriting
Letter size -- more accurately, letter proportion -- is fairly
consistent across handwriting styles. Similarly-shaped
letters should be the same height. For example, small
letters (a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z) should be half the
size of ascenders (b, d, h, k, l, t) and descenders (g, j, p, q,
y).
Capital letters should be about the same height as
ascenders.
Proper proportion can be taught using handwriting paper
with a dotted middle line.
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Teaching handwriting
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Teaching handwriting
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Handwriting paper
with a dotted middle
line.
Teaching handwriting
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Follow the direction of arrows when writing letters and numbers
Teaching handwriting
Proper spacing includes both spacing between letters and
spacing between words. The space between each letter in a word
should be the same. The space between each word also should be
consistent. Students can use their pinkies to measure the correct
distance between words.
Proper grip of the pen or pencil is another important aspect of
good handwriting. Instruct students to hold the pen or pencil
close to the writing tip with the thumb and index fingers. The
middle finger should be curved under the writing utensil, with
the utensil resting lightly on the area between the tip and first
knuckle. The fourth finger and pinky should be curved in toward
the palm.
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Teaching handwriting
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Proper pencil grip
Common Things that Contribute to Poor Handwriting
Posture - sprawling on desk, holding head up with one
hand, knees not under desk & aligned with paper
Pencil Grip awkward, incorrect fingers used to hold
pencil
Writing on the lines - writing in the space in top margin,
writing along the bottom edge of the paper under last line,
not writing on the lines
Starting at the margins - not starting at the left margin,
indent too large (should only be the width of a finger)
Spacing - too much space between words like in primary
(should only be the width of the letter m)

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Common Things that Contribute to Poor Handwriting
Speed - slow (lack focus, no continuous writing), slow
(needs to think of letter formation while writing), lack of
speed means that student cannot keep up with transcribing
notes from the board (constantly behind), too fast (writing
becomes illegible)
Neatness - smudged, blotchy, irregular letter size
Writing tools - pencil not sharpened well enough, pencil
lead is too hard (writing is very light & hard to read), pencil
lead is too soft (smudges), writing tools not at hand (lost,
misplaced - time wasted)

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Cursive vs. print
What is cursive writing?
Joined-up writing, joint writing, linking, running writing,
or handwriting is any style of penmanship in which the symbols of
the language are written in a conjoined and/or flowing manner
Generally for the purpose of making writing faster
The terms cursive or script are popular in the U.S., known as Joined-
up writing in the U.K., double writing in Australia and linking in New
Zealand.
The term handwriting is common in the United States, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand
Quite distinct from the so-called block letter, print-
script or printing method of writing, in which the letters of
a word are unconnected

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Types of cursive writing
D'Nealian
Getty-Dubay
Zaner-Bloser
Palmer Method

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ManuscriptModern
(DNealian)
CursiveModern (DNealian)
Types of cursive writing
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ManuscriptItalic
(Portland, Getty/Dubay)
LinkedItalic (Portland,
Getty/Dubay)
Types of cursive writing
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ManuscriptZaner-Bloser CursiveZaner-Bloser
Types of cursive writing
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ManuscriptPalmer CursivePalmer
Types of cursive writing
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Reasons to teach cursive handwriting
1. Learning cursive writing helps students develop reading,
communication, and fine motor skills
There is a direct link between the process of learning to write in
cursive and the ability to read fluently.
Several studies also suggest that cursive writing improves the
fluidity of thought in written communication and helps to develop
students fine motor skills, including hand-eye coordination
2. Students must be able to read cursive handwriting
Not only will these students struggle with cursive writing - they
cant read it either. Studying for a test is difficult when students cant
read their own notes.
Scholars point out that without instruction in cursive handwriting,
students wont be able to read historical documents such as the
Declaration of Independence
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Reasons to teach cursive handwriting
3. Cursive writing receives higher marks.
Multiple studies have found that neatly written papers receive higher
marks than papers with messy handwriting
Some researchers also suggest that papers written in cursive receive
higher marks than those written in block, or manuscript, style
4. Students can write in cursive faster than they can print
5. Illegible writing creates problems for society.
Undeliverable tax refunds, letters and packages sent to wrong
addresses, and employee mistakes in the various areas
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Tutorial
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Collect samples of peers handwriting.
Study the sample of handwriting.
Identify the problem.
Discuss techniques to be taught to overcome the
problem.
Present this to class.
Self Study
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Read Chapter 5 - Chitravelu, N.et.al. (2005). ELT
Methodolology: Principles and Practice, Selangor:
Fajar Bakti.
Make notes and graphic organisers on this topic and
file them in your folio.