 |
| Manuel Espinal |
The process of writing in a foreign
language or second language (L2) implies two determining factors to be
considered: the ability to write in our first language and the proficiency in
the target language.
Both
aspects are really important for developing the mechanics of writing, and other
needed skills in the learning of a specific or particular language, English in
our case.
The
above mentioned can be focused or addressed from two perspectives: a cognitive
and a sociocultural.
The
cognitive perspective, centering on the abilities and knowledge residing within
an individual, is the one that allows such individual to write with easiness
about different topics and events. On the other hand, we have the sociocultural
perspective (contextual), focused on the participation in specialized groups or
discourse community (politicians, religious, musicians, biologists, particular
fans, and professional of other fields), that helps learners obtain an accurate
terminology for the use of the language, whether to use it orally or, on the
contrary, in a written way for particular purposes.
Furthermore,
as writers, we cannot produce isolated texts; I mean those without a referent,
because the task of writing in focused on preexisting texts which help us to
transform our knowledge (using writing to create new knowledge), or convey the
same knowledge when we lack of the reading and writing strategies. Moreover, we
need to take into account the context (sociocultural perspective), since it
plays a very important role at the time we write. Context provides us with
clear ideas about the audience (for whom we write) and what we write.
As
writers of a second or foreign language, we need to be aware of the strategies
that will help us to become effective writers, such as: ongoing reading about
different topics, extensive and intensive writing practices, composing
different types of documents, following the most expert writers, getting
familiarized with the culture of the target language, comprehension of the
formality and functionality of the target language, the tools we use to
practice, learn and improve the task of writing, what we do to understand
problems and solve them, and so on. Other important aspect to mention is the
phases to be developed during reading and writing tasks.
Limiting
our summary report to the fact that the focus of it is to producing for second
or foreign language, special attention must be given to the role of students
and teachers in the process of writing. They have to be involved in the whole
procedure for writing because it demands a lot of effort and time-consuming.
Let us see the role of them separately.
Since
we are focusing the topic on students’ role as foreign or second language
writers and the most suitable place where the process is developed is the
classroom, because their immediate audience is the fellow students and teacher;
and from them the learners receive feedbacks (see Reid and Kroll (1995), it is
our duty to point out a series of observations that help learners to become
better composers or writers.
To
fulfill with the commandery of producing an accurate and effective written text
(texts are the means that any writer use to convey his/her thoughts) learners
must:
a)Develop
writing skills in both: first and second language.
b)Follow
teachers’ instructions.
c)Carry
out activities previous to the writing process or producing first drafts (read
a lot of materials, discussions, webbing, generation of ideas (brainstorming),
and others).
d)Learn
about issues related to the writing task: grammar rules (language skills),
rhetorical organization (content), etc.
e)Freewriting
until producing as many ideas as possible.
f)Practice
intensively about composing on different topics.
g)Read
works of the most expert writers and how they control the process for obtaining
their written products.
h)Follow
and belong to discourse communities.
i)Learn
the phases to organize their papers.
j)Adapt
the written text to their context (since they are learning, their raters are
classmates and teacher).
k)Avoid
plagiarism (citing sources is the most advisable and recommendable).
l)Access
software or correcting programs to see the amount of errors they have committed
while writing.
With
relation to teachers, since they guide students’ writing process, they must:
- Plan
lessons they want to teach. That is, they must select suitable
contents to be developed according to the type of learners they have in
front of them.
- Guide
apprentices to learn about the writing rules.
- Ask
students to read a lot: on different topics and different writers.
-
Indicate students the purpose of the writing activities or tasks.
-Assign
tasks according to the students’ proficiency level (see Williams, 2005).
-Motivate
students to generate ideas from their experience and observation.
- Evaluate
student’s drafts pondering both the critiques and the praises.
- Allow
learners using any means or tools for improving their writing.
As
we can see, in the task of writing, teachers and students need to get involved
with each of the aspects that the mentioned process demands. They need to
understand that writers produce texts according to the time they are living in
and in relation to the context, and those texts need to be corresponded with
the public or audience that is supposed to read them (classroom’s readers).
Since our operational place is the classroom, because the writers are students
pertaining to a different language; whom the process of writing is difficult in
the beginning, teachers and their fellow are the first readers or audience and
any shortcoming must be corrected in that context.
Furthermore,
before producing a final draft, learners have to go through a series of steps,
guided by teachers, which will allow them composing good papers and attaining
an excellent scoring.
And finally, teachers and students must go hand in hand with the
use of technological tools that let us correct and assess our written texts or
drafts.
