Making writing meaningful

<b> Forum for ESL/EFL teachers working with secondary school students </b>

Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2

Post Reply
[email protected]
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 2:29 pm

Making writing meaningful

Post by [email protected] » Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:53 am

I teach English to Chinese and Korean internationals in a private school in the USA. I've read some differing opinions lately about the value of teaching academic writing (as in essays and research papers). The reasoning was that this type of writing is rarely used in life and is only for display as opposed to authentic writing that will be used in day-to-day living. I hear that, but something about this attitude toward academic writing doesn't sit well with me (any surprise that my undergraduate degree was in English Writing?).
Anyway, I use content-based units to teach grammar and various writing genres throughout the year. I know it is challenging for my students to adapt to the Western style of writing. However, I do believe that writing is a valuable tool in learning English. Thus, I am wondering if anyone has found and used any writing techniques that make academic composition more meaningful. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks! :)

Natalie Harvey
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 12:02 pm
Location: Georgia, United States
Contact:

Academic writing

Post by Natalie Harvey » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:58 am

I agree with you; not teaching students academic writing would be doing them absolutely no favors. I'm not sure if you teach at a K-12 school or university, but if they have any intentions of continuing their education they will have to know how to write in academic language. Besides, social writing is much easier for them to teach themselves. You would make better use of their time with you focusing on academic writing. I watched this great webcast on this subject. Here is the link:
http://www.colorincolorado.org/webcasts ... clanguage/

Good luck!
Natalie
http://www.teachesol.wordpress.com

Post Reply