TEACHING WRITING SKILLS WITH TECHNOLOGY

Written By :

Name : Jesica Kristanti Telaumbanua

Riatta Yanti Lase

Septrida Gea

Syukur Prima Telaumbanua

Class/Sem : B/3

Course : IT for ELT

Credits :2

Lecturer : Hasrat Sozanolo Harefa S.Pd., M.Pd

UNIVERSITY OF NIAS
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM
ACADEMIC YEAR
2022
 PREFACE
Praise and gratitude we pray to the presence of God Almighty for the blessings, mercy
and guidance that he has bestowed upon as so that we are 8th group can complete the paper
entitled “Teaching Writing Skills With Technology” without any obstacles in accordance with
the allotted time. The writing of is paper is a requirement to fulfill the assignment for the IT for
ELT course at the university of Nias.
We realize that this paper would not have been compiled without the help and support of
other parties. Therefore, are would like to thank those who have helped and supported the
completion of this paper and thank Hasrat Sozanolo Harefa S.Pd.,M.Pd as a lecturer in IT for
ELT course.
We hope that this paper that we have compiled can be useful for all of us.

Gunungsitoli, 2022-11-25

Writer

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

PREFACE....................................................................................................................1
TABLE OF CONTENT..............................................................................................2
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION...............................................................................4
A. Background.................................................................................................4
B. Formulation Of The Problem......................................................................4
C. Purpose........................................................................................................4
CHAPTER II DISCUSSION.....................................................................................5
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................15

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Writing activity is the next activity that is very often encountered in our daily life
besides language skills which we have discussed in previous chapters. Although many
think that writing activities are only for academics, in reality, writing activities are also
carried out by ordinary people. For example, the usual writing activities are writing
letters, posting on social media, short messages, etc. Therefore, this activity is carried out
by everyone from various classes, levels, and types of work.
There are various purposes for people to write, such as to provide information,
fun, communication, and other purposes. Each goal will of course use a different format
and writing style. As a result, the resulting writing will also be different. Some use a
variety of formal and non-formal language in writing. Therefore, understanding the
variety of writing will really help someone's success in writing, including success in
writing in English because writing in English also has a variety of formats and writing
styles that are usually used. In English learning activities, teaching writing skills is not
just writing an essay that fits the desired writing genre such as narrative, descriptive,
procedure, etc. There needs to be preliminary activities that must be carried out before
students will be able to write a text as a whole. Besides that, writing is also a process that
needs to start with a draft which is then developed into a piece of writing and
accompanied by other supporting activities.
Therefore, understanding writing skills in more depth will help you to understand
how to actually teach this language skill properly and correctly. By knowing the ins and
outs of writing skills, you will have an understanding that will guide you in designing
effective, efficient and innovative learning for the students you teach. What's more, by
knowing all of this knowledge, you can think about what technology is suitable and can
be used to support the learning process that you will apply later.
In this paper of describing book With the title of “IT for ELT.”
B. The Problem
1. How Understanding Writing Skills?
2. What does Writing as a Product Writing Skills?

C. The Purpose
1. To knowing the writing skills

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 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
1. Understanding Writing Skills
Writing is a mechanical process which is part of human communication that
originates from ideas which are then transferred in written form because meaning can be
conveyed in written form (Hyland, 2002). Therefore, the ideas to be conveyed are very
important in writing activities because without ideas or meanings to be conveyed, writing
cannot be realized. Even if it can be realized, then what is conveyed cannot be written
properly because the idea or meaning to be conveyed does not exist. Therefore, it is
important for English teachers and those of you who read this book to know that the ideas or
meanings to be written are very important in writing.
According to Harmer (2007), each writing has its own arrangement that applies in
the community where the writing is used. For example, the composition of a letter in English
when applying for a job may be different from the composition of the same letter in
Indonesian. Therefore, knowing the composition of the types of writing will really be
something you need to know when teaching writing skills in English. Associated with types
of writing such as narrative, recount, descriptive, procedure, etc.. there is an arrangement
referred to as a generic structure. Generic structure for each type of text will be different
from one another. Therefore, understanding the overall generic structure of the types of text
in written English will be very useful when you teach writing skills in English to the
students you teach. The next thing you need to pay attention to is punctuation.
The use of punctuation marks in each language will be very different, especially
when to use commas and exclamation points. The use of these two signs sometimes has
differences when writing in English and Indonesian. For example, writing Thank You! In
English is commonplace and has a polite tone. Meanwhile, the use of exclamation marks in
Indonesian can mean conveying a high tone or dislike. Therefore, when we read Thank You!
we will feel that there is something wrong with the author because we don't know how the
punctuation is used in English. Therefore, understanding punctuation in a language being
taught is a must.
2. Writing As A Product and Process
There are two approaches to teaching writing skills that all of you need to know. This
approach is to see writing as a product or process. A deep understanding of these two views
can be used as a consideration when you teach writing skills later. Therefore, let's discuss in
depth the two approaches.
a. Writing as a Product
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 The writing as a product approach is a view that emphasizes the final product of
student writing (Harmer, 2007). When applying this view to teaching writing skills, the
English teacher will focus on the purpose of the writing activity and the end result of the
writing activity. Also, teachers are not too concerned with the process that their students go
through. Therefore, assessment will usually be based on the final product produced by
students.
When implementing this approach, there will be no activities like writing drafts,
revisions, peer assessments, etc. This is because the final student product is the product that
will be emphasized and assessed. Although, sometimes the products collected by students are
still in the form of drafts and need further improvement in terms of vocabulary, grammar,
content, etc. Even so, this approach was mostly used by English teachers in the past because
its application did not require much time and was not concerned with process. However, with
the development of teachers' understanding of teaching writing skills, teachers have begun to
apply teaching that emphasizes the process.

b. Writing as a Process
In contrast to the writing approach as a product, writing as a process is concerned
with the process that students go through. The application of this approach has several stages
that must be passed by students. These stages are so complex that they require more time
when implemented. In addition, the provision of feedback by teachers, colleagues, and
oneself must be carried out at these stages to help students develop their ideas and writing.

There are six stages in the writing approach as a process. The six stages can be
explained as follows.
1) Prewriting Stages
At this stage students will think about the topic to be written. At this stage, the
English teacher should guide students to think about what topics students will use later.
This activity can be carried out with brainstorming activities. In addition, this stage also
contains plans for what students will include in their writing later. So that these plans can
become the basis of the next stage, namely drafting.

2) Drafting Stages
At this stage, students begin to write down what ideas will be included in their
writing later. At this stage, the teacher helps students to think about the main ideas and
supporting ideas of each paragraph to be written. Usually students will find it difficult to
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 explore supporting ideas that they will write about. Therefore, teachers must know what
strategies they can apply to help students explore these supporting ideas. Then, the draft
they wrote was developed into a text.

3) Stages of Revising
At this stage, students begin to revise the ideas they have written. To be able to
revise these ideas, of course, students must read the entire writing they have compiled.
They can be guided by a number of questions that guide them to understand whether their
writing is related to one another? Or do the supporting ideas they write support the main
idea of each paragraph. This stage also sometimes requires them to cut some parts of
their writing if their writing is deemed inappropriate.

4) Stages of Editing
At this stage, students do not focus on main and supporting ideas anymore, but
start to touch on micro matters such as grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, phrases,
clauses, and sentences.
5) Evaluating Stages
This stage is an optional stage, which means it may or may not exist. If you plan
to implement this stage, then at this stage, students usually carry out self-assessments or
peer assessments where students assess what they have written or assess the results of
their friends' writing and provide useful input so that their friends can revise the writing. .
6) Publishing Stage
This last stage is the stage where students begin to publish their writings. This
publication can be done by giving it to colleagues to read or publish in certain media.

3. Genre-Based Approaches and Creative Writing

In teaching writing skills related to the type of writing, there are two approaches that
greatly influence the teaching of writing skills in English, especially in Indonesia. The
approach is a genre-based and creative writing approach. An in-depth understanding of these
two approaches will be very useful and can help you implement effective, efficient and
innovative teaching of writing.

a. Genre-Based Approach

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 This genre-based approach is the most well-known approach to teaching writing.
Almost all English teachers in Indonesia know about this approach. In fact, those of you
who read this book will be very familiar with this approach because the English lessons
you went through in high school also applied this approach. Therefore, it will be very
easy for you to understand the content that will be explained regarding this approach.
In teaching using a genre-based approach, there are two important elements that
need to be taught to students. The two elements are generic structure and language
features. Generic structure is the structure of the genre that is taught to be able to assist
students in compiling writing according to that genre. Meanwhile, language features are
linguistic elements that students need to know to help write a genre. For example, this
linguistic element includes grammar, vocabulary more specifically such as active, passive
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, past verbs, etc. However, it should be understood that the
focus of teaching writing is on writing activities and not on teaching these two elements.
So, you don't spend your time just discussing these two elements. In the past, many
English teachers misunderstood what it meant to teach writing skills when at that time
they placed great importance on students mastering generic structures and language
features. Therefore, the questions on writing skills at that time were mostly about generic
structure and language features, so that the writing activities that should have been
carried out were forgotten.

There are several very common genres that are often taught in high school. The
genres are as follows.

1. Recount
This genre is a genre that contains the author's experiences in the past. These
experiences are then written down in the order in which they happened. The generic
structure of this genre is as follows:
a. Orientation in the form of an introduction to the character, place, and time.
b. Sequence of events which is the order in which experiences occur.
c. Conclusion which is a conclusion from experience and what value can be drawn
from that experience.

2. Narrative
This genre is a genre that contains fictional stories composed by the author.
These narrative stories can be myths, legends, or other types of narratives. This
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 narrative story always takes place in the past and there are usually stages from the
emergence of a problem, a climax, and an end to the problem. The generic structure
of this genre is as follows.
a. Orientation in the form of an introduction to the characters, place, and time of the
story.
b. Complication, which is the beginning of the problem in the story.
c. Climax which is the culmination of the problems that occur in the story.
d. Resolution which is a solution to the problem.
e. Conclusion which is the conclusion of the story and what value can be drawn
from the story.

3. Descriptive
This genre is a genre that contains descriptions of objects, places, people, and
other things that will be described in writing. The generic structure of this genre is as
follows.
a. Identification is the identification of objects, places, people or things to be
described.
b. Description is a description of things that have been identified previously.

This description usually contains several paragraphs that describe something

systematically, for example from top to bottom or vice versa, from front to back or
vice versa, and so on.
4. Procedure
This genre is a genre that contains procedures for doing something or making
something. For example, the procedure for making fried rice, the procedure for
washing hands properly, the procedure for making posters, etc. The generic structure
of this genre is as follows.
a. Introduction is an introduction to what procedures will be explained. Usually this
introduction also contains a description of the objects needed to carry out the
procedure to be described.
b. Sequences of steps are the steps of the procedure to be explained. These steps are
usually described in as much detail as possible.
These four genres are the genres that are most often taught when teaching
writing skills. Although, there are also other genres that are no less important.
However, this genre-based approach was criticized for being too normative.
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 Sometimes it is also not clear why students have to master all genres even though the
important genres that can support real life that they need to know are maybe only the
three or four genres described above. For example, students are taught about spoof.
Sometimes questions arise about how important it is for students to know spoof and
why students must be able to write spoof type text. Are all students expected to have
the ability to come up with jokes in the real world? Meanwhile, the ability to write
descriptive, narrative, procedural has very clear benefits and is really needed in the
real world. Therefore, teaching writing with this approach has received criticism.

c. Creative Writing
The approach to teaching creative writing is an approach that emphasizes
imaginative writing tasks such as writing poetry, stories, plays, etc. (Harmer, 2007).
Creative writing requires imaginative ideas to produce fantastic work. Generating
imaginative ideas is an activity that cannot be said to be an easy activity to do. Students
must have a lot of knowledge and experience to be able to generate these imaginative
ideas.
Apart from that, creative writing is a journey to find identity and understand what
is around you. For example, when writing a poem, students must really feel what they
want to convey in the poem. Thus, these students can find appropriate words that can be
used when writing a poem. Often, students will try to understand how they really are,
what they like, what their character is, etc. So that these values can be poured in the
imaginative tasks given. Therefore, creative writing will really help students become
more creative and at the same time develop their cognitive abilities.
But sometimes, students will find difficulties in creative writing activities
(Harmer, 2007). These difficulties can be in the form of difficulties in conveying what
will be conveyed, thinking of imaginative ideas to be written, and other difficulties.
Therefore, students sometimes feel unmotivated and feel that writing is an activity that
tends to be difficult. Therefore, those of you who will apply this creative writing
approach must know when and for what level of students this approach can be applied.
What's more, you should know how to assist students in exploring imaginative ideas and
help students understand what is to be conveyed when you decide to adopt this approach.

4.Other Writing Teaching Approaches

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 Apart from what has been described above, there are also other approaches that influence
the teaching of writing in English (Raimes, 2002). The approach can be stated as follows.
1. A structure-based writing approach
This approach usually centers on practicing grammar and sentence patterns.
Writing paragraphs is a basic exercise in applying this approach. For example, today
students are taught to write paragraphs using the past tense and the next meeting is taught
to write paragraphs using the present tense. According to Raimes (2002), this approach
was popular in the 1960s, but it seems that it is no longer.
2. Function-based writing approach
This approach requires students to write based on the writing function. For
example, writing a piece of writing that functions to describe something, tell something,
share experiences, explain something, explain procedures, etc. This function-based
approach is the same as the genre-based approach because each genre has its own
function.

1. A topic-based writing approach

This approach provides flexibility for students to write based on topics requested
by the teacher or mutually agreed upon, regardless of what function the writing serves.
For example, teachers and students agree that the topic to be written is about tourist
attractions. Students are free to write down the genre they like. Then, after finding these
ideas, the next activity that can be done is to apply the Padlet application to detail these
ideas such as main ideas and supporting ideas. If you want this activity to be carried out
non-online, students can use the note application on their smartphone or write it in the
Ms. application. word. Then, at the drafting stage, students develop the main idea into a
core sentence which is then supported by supporting sentences. To facilitate this drafting
stage, Google Docs, Padlet, or Mindmeister can be used according to their respective
functions. However, if the teacher wants students to write drafts non-online, they can use
the Ms. Word only.

5. Writing (While-Writing)
In the writing (while-writing) activity stage, the stages carried out are the revising
and editing stages. At the revising stage, students revise the ideas they have written. To
be able to revise these writing ideas, students must be given instructions in the form of
guiding questions. These guiding questions can be packaged using Ms. Word or by using
Google Docs if you want to make it online-based so that it can be opened at any time.
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 Then, at the editing stage, students revise their writing in terms of grammar, punctuation,
vocabulary, phrases, clauses, and sentences. At this editing stage, the use of the
Grammarly application will greatly assist students in checking grammar, punctuation,
vocabulary, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Google Docs can also perform this function,
but it is not as comprehensive and complete as Grammarly.

6. Post-Writing
In the post-writing activity stage, the activities that can be carried out are the
evaluating and publishing stages. In this evaluating stage, students usually carry out self-
assessments or peer assessments where students assess what they have written or assess
the results of their friends' writing and provide useful input so that their friends can revise
the writing. Students can exchange files Ms. Word or Google Docs and use the review
feature in both applications to be able to provide comments, suggestions, and necessary
improvements. Apart from that, in this activity, students can also be given guiding
questions so that they can assess the writing that is being read. Sometimes, questions or
guidance can be sourced from the assessment rubric used. Thus, students know what is
actually being assessed and carry out assessments according to the rubric before finally
revising and publishing it. Then, at the publication stage, students publish their revised
writings based on assessments both themselves and from colleagues.

8.6. Teacher Participation and Some Considerations

The role of the teacher must be carried out properly to guarantee success in
teaching writing skills. According to Harmer (2007), there are several teacher roles that
need to be considered when teaching writing skills. These roles are as follows.
1. Motivator
This role is the main role that must be carried out by the teacher when teaching
writing skills. As explained earlier, writing activities are complex activities and can invite
student boredom. Therefore, the teacher must be able to motivate students to continue to
actively participate in activities and also the teacher must think of innovative teaching
ideas so that students do not feel bored.
2. Source of Information
This role is the teacher's role in providing information when students have
difficulty finding main or supporting ideas when drafting writing. In carrying out this
role, we must also tell students not to be afraid to ask us if they find problems in writing.
3. Feedback Giver
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 In carrying out this role, the teacher serves as someone who provides feedback to
students. Even though in the explanation above feedback can come from the students
themselves or their colleagues, feedback from the teacher must also be given so that
students know more deeply what their weaknesses and strengths are through their
writing. Apart from knowing the teacher's role in teaching writing, there are several other
things that you need to pay attention to when teaching this language skill, especially
when teaching with technology. Some of these things can be described as follows:

1) If you choose to apply the writing approach as a process, then you should
consider implementing a portfolio as an assessment technique. This portfolio can be done
in a simple way where students are asked to collect everything related to their writing
assignments in a folder such as assignment sheets given by the teacher, drafts of writing,
results of self- and / peer-assessments, revised writing, assessment rubrics, and other
documents. However, if you are thinking about implementing an e-portfolio, then you
have to think about how this e-portfolio system will be implemented. For example,
combining the use of Google Docs, Google Forms, Google Drive, Blogs, or other
applications that allow it.
2) When teaching writing, you should consider introducing an assessment rubric
from the start to your students. Knowing what should be assessed will make students
enthusiastic about completing it.

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 CHAPTER III
CLOSING
A. Conclusion
Writing is a communication tool used by humans which is generated by ideas
which are then poured in written form. There are six stages in the writing approach as a
process. The six stages can be explained as follows: Prewriting Stages, Drafting Stages,
Stages of Revising, Stages of Editing, Evaluating Stages, and Publishing Stage.
There are several very common genres that are often use in writing namely
Recount, Narrative, Descriptive, and Procedure.

B. Suggestion
Writing is one of the fun activities if done wholeheartedly. Improving writing
skills is not an easy thing, but with the development of technology, we can improve our
writing skills with the help of applications that can help us make our work easier and
produce writing that is meaningful and has artistic value.

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 REFERENCES

I.P.I Kusuma(2020), Mengajar Bahasa Inggris dengan Teknologi teori dasar dan ilmu
pengajaran, CV Budi Utama,Yogyakarta, Indonesia

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