Effective Written Communication: Mastering the Art of Writing

Item 8: Written Communication DCA II. Expression Reader

What is Writing?

Writing is the ability to consistently communicate in written form, producing texts of considerable length on topics of general culture. It involves expressing thoughts on a blank sheet without typos, quickly, and without extensive revisions.

What Must We Teach Students to Learn to Write? What Must They Master?

What reasoning must be employed in school for students to learn and master written language?

The list of microskills necessary for writing is extensive and covers many issues. These range from the mechanical and motor aspects of letter strokes, calligraphy, and presentation to the more reflective processes of selecting and managing information.

It should also include both the act of forming smaller linguistic units and superficial properties, as well as larger units and deeper properties. This variety of required skills can be grouped into the three basic proposed axes for reform: concepts, procedures, and attitudes.

• Concepts: These coincide with textual properties and include the six properties of text. These concepts are summarized in the linguistic code that a competent writer must master. The six properties are:
  • Adequacy
  • Consistency
  • Cohesion
  • Presentation
  • Style
  • Grammar (spelling, morphosyntax, and lexicon)
• Procedures: This distinguishes between more mechanical psychomotor skills, such as letter strokes and calligraphy, and superior abilities. These include microskills for generating and organizing ideas, revising, or redoing writing. The latter are also called higher cognitive processes.
• Attitudes: This includes the values and individual opinions about language. Aspects such as motivation, interest, pleasure, or boredom that a student may feel towards writing depend on this section.

An important goal in language class is for children to discover the interest, pleasure, and benefits that written expression provides: the power of graphic signs, the creation of stories, the ability to communicate at a distance, etc. Ultimately, students will have fun writing, which will make them feel more like writing and gradually begin to appreciate it. Attitudes towards writing are directly related to reading and the pleasure of reading.

How Do Our Students Write? The Composition Process

Composition varies depending on the person, the text, and the circumstances. Until recently, the interest of researchers in the U.S. focused on the written product and system analysis of the language (concepts). After several investigations, results indicate that proficient writers develop an elaborate and complete composition process and use varied strategies to build the written message. In contrast, apprentice writers compose in a more simplistic and rapid manner.

Most students write automatically, without much reflection or elaboration. Moreover, it is also true that these processes develop with age. Younger pupils write in a simpler way, while older ones allocate more time and work to it.