Writing In Action
About Writing
Over the past forty years, the emphasis in writing instruction has shifted from product to process. Writing is a highly complex language skill. Without skilled, systematic instruction, many students — particularly those with disabilities — may not become proficient writers. As children come to understand writing's unique form, they must build and hone their competency in two broad
areas: writing mechanics and writing process. Each contains a number of subskills. Writing mechanics involve everything from physically producing text to spelling correctly and producing accurate grammar. The writing process involves generating and organizing information, of which planning and editing are a part.
Writing is different from other academic domains in the way its subskills come together. For instance, in areas such as mathematics or reading, students can benefit greatly from automaticity, in which they gain speed and accuracy as they learn to automatically follow a set of routines or procedures (McCutchen, 1988). Although automatized procedures can be helpful for some writing components (e.g., handwriting, spelling), not helpful for other components because some components of writing
must remain more flexible. Word choice, sentence structure, and paragraph organization must change depending on the demands of the writing piece. A writer may need to produce a letter showing appreciation to a friend; a lengthy report on a factual, scientific topic; or an imaginative short story. Because of these changing demands, routinized or automatic procedures must actually be prevented, which results in a high "cognitive cost" to the writer (McCutchen, 1988). As an example, take the related processes of decoding — in the reading domain — and spelling — in the writing domain. To decode successfully, a person need produce only single words and single meanings. To spell correctly, however, that same person must correctly
sequence a number of letters, requiring him or her to draw more information from memory (Ehri, 2000). So a successful writer must be the ultimate multitasker to maintain attention to many processes and details at once.
areas: writing mechanics and writing process. Each contains a number of subskills. Writing mechanics involve everything from physically producing text to spelling correctly and producing accurate grammar. The writing process involves generating and organizing information, of which planning and editing are a part.
Writing is different from other academic domains in the way its subskills come together. For instance, in areas such as mathematics or reading, students can benefit greatly from automaticity, in which they gain speed and accuracy as they learn to automatically follow a set of routines or procedures (McCutchen, 1988). Although automatized procedures can be helpful for some writing components (e.g., handwriting, spelling), not helpful for other components because some components of writing
must remain more flexible. Word choice, sentence structure, and paragraph organization must change depending on the demands of the writing piece. A writer may need to produce a letter showing appreciation to a friend; a lengthy report on a factual, scientific topic; or an imaginative short story. Because of these changing demands, routinized or automatic procedures must actually be prevented, which results in a high "cognitive cost" to the writer (McCutchen, 1988). As an example, take the related processes of decoding — in the reading domain — and spelling — in the writing domain. To decode successfully, a person need produce only single words and single meanings. To spell correctly, however, that same person must correctly
sequence a number of letters, requiring him or her to draw more information from memory (Ehri, 2000). So a successful writer must be the ultimate multitasker to maintain attention to many processes and details at once.
Writing Articles
Writing As A Way Of Life | |
File Size: | 1246 kb |
File Type: |
Writing Instruction | |
File Size: | 1923 kb |
File Type: |