Motivating writing (teenagers)

Some people say that today due to technologies we don't need writing at all. Computers can correct our mistakes. Is it right? Do teenagers need writing activities? If so, how can a teacher make them motivating? 

We can't deny the fact that computers play a great role nowadays. They are everywhere and we can type or text rather then write, and computers or mobile phones can correct our mistakes. However, I strongly believe that teaching writing is still playing an essential role.

First, some people still write letters; 

Secondly, when you are talking on the mobile phone and you need to write something down, you will use a pen and a piece of paper (especially if you don't have a computer nearby);

Thirdly, well, it's no use denying that when you write you remember better rather then when you text or type. 

Writing is often associated with individual, ‘heads-down’ work done in silence.

Skills depend on one another and writing is often an extension of listening, speaking, or indeed reading.

When we think about writing activities, we should consider how much guidance and control we’re giving to our learners.

Controlled writing activities are important when the language is new and when the focus is on accuracy.

• Copying from the board is also a controlled activity. Although, in itself, this isn’t motivating, copying could become a more interesting exercise. For example, you could ask learners to copy the lesson summary and correct it. You could purposely misspell words or give incorrect information. This way, learners need to think while they are copying – in other words, they are actively involved.

Freer writing task - after having studied a topic or a grammar construction, you can ask your learners to write a story. You give them a context or a beginning and your learners use their imagination and writhe whatever they can create. However, as you have set a context, they a limited in the tense, for example, or in the theme, if have studied some vocabulary related to this topic. 

Guided writing tasks are less controlled. You might ask your learners to answer an email, but you’ll tell them what information to include. Here, there is some opportunity for creativity in both language and ideas.

And finally, we have free writing. This is when you ask your learners to write on a given topic, such as ‘the countryside’, but they can write whatever they want to.

The amount of control you give can depend on whether you are concentrating on accuracy or fluency.

It’s important that we give our learners a purpose for their writing. We can do this by choosing a real-life genre and by providing our learners with plenty of examples. But we can also encourage them to write carefully and clearly by providing them with a reader who’s not just the teacher!

Ideas how to make writing more motivating:

• You can be a reader and react to the work rather than mark it. As you are still a teacher, you can't ignore the mistakes, but you can correct them in green ink, not in red ink;

• Find penpals for your learners. They can be children from another class or children from another school;

• Ask them to read each other’s work before they hand it in. Either they choose someone to read it, or you tell them who’s going to read whose work;

• Put written works on the walls and give students a questionnaire. This will encourage them to read every work; 

What are the benefits?

• the handwriting becomes more neatly;
• nobody wants to be the one who has that awful spelling mistake;
• your learners are involved; 
• they write not only for the teacher but for everybody. There is a reader. 

Five principles for correction

• Learners make mistakes. 
• Learners expect teachers to correct their written work.
• It is demotivating to get a piece of work back covered in red ink.
• You do not need to correct every mistake.
• Involve learners in the correction process.

 "I told the learners that I wouldn’t be making corrections any more – I’d just be using the code to show them where they’d made mistakes. It was brilliant! They had to correct their own work! I also told them that I wouldn’t grade their work until they’d corrected their mistakes. This gave them an opportunity to get more points.  Also, I stopped pointing out every mistake. It’s silly! Of course they’ll make mistakes, they’re still learning! Now I might say, ‘In this piece of work, I’m going to correct your vocabulary.’. That way they know what I’m looking for."

By involving our teenage learners in the process of writing and in correcting their work, we help them to feel included. At every opportunity we need to allow our teenage learners to input their ideas. 

Links:

http://cambridgeenglishteacher.cambridge.org/pages/view/927195