Writing is the means of expressing meaning and ideas using printed characters (graphic symbols). It is achieved through encoding or spelling. Encoding occurs when a writer uses his/her knowledge of written language gained to convey his/her ideas and concepts. These ideas and concepts would have been attained through prior knowledge and personal experience as well as oral language, which will be expressed in a written format for others to read (Cooper, 2006).
Writing is a constructive process that involves identifying our purpose for writing, the appropriate prior knowledge and the metacognitive skills in assessing knowledge that is needed for writing on a topic (Cooper, 2006). It is a process that consists of five steps. They are
• Selecting the topic or planning- Brainstorming to gather and organise pertinent topics that could be used for writing.
• Drafting – which has two stages. They are
o Planning – Where the purpose for writing and audience is identified. Brainstorming to gather and organise pertinent information that could be used for writing a particular topic.
o Composing- where a topic is developed as ideas and concepts are written freely without placing emphasis on conventional spelling, grammar and mechanics.
• Revising- where the writing is examined to see whether it is clearly stated for the particular audience, the content is lacking, vocabulary needs improving and/or ideas and concepts can be expressed in a better way. Graves (1984) does not consider this an easy step as most early writers have difficulty seeing that his/her product needs revision and how to improve it. I believe that many of us do not like to “check” over our work, which is why we have mistakes in mechanics, grammar and spelling.
• Proofreading or editing- which is done when all changes have been made to ideas and concepts that comprise the content of the writing. Here is where spelling and punctuation is checked and corrected.
• Publishing- is the end product of the writing process. Here the final writing is completed, written in a particular format and presented to the audience to be shared.
This process is initiated for every reason and occasion that I write. They dictate how I write and what format I use. I have noted that why I write and when I write is related. The relationship is quite similar to a cause and effect relationship. Apparently why I write influences when I write.
I get you Viji.Imagine if you will the child in the writing process. If he or she is challenged in motor and literacy skills, is introverted in the classroom, or has some other aversion to writing, putting pen to paper must be a nightmare. It seems though that online writing in literature circles, participating in online discussions, chatting in social networking, affords these same students a degree of self confidence to write as they may not in a regular classroom. They freely express themselves, are not as frustrated with the outcomes and actually are empowered to take up ownership of their learning. The artifacts they create also improve with practice.
ReplyDeleteSo yes Viji, how when and why we write seem related and perhaps online writing will influence us and our students to write more!