Aula 01

Prévia do material em texto

Oficina de Redação em Língua Inglesa
Paula Bullio
Aula 1
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Introdution
When you are going to write something, you have to think about what and to whom you are writing. These two things will define the genre and the style of your writing. Afterwards, we have to take into consideration other aspects, such as: Reading, Writing and thinking are interrelated activities.
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In order to write well, you must engage with ideas, ideas that provoke.
Students must be aware of the context in which they are writing. They must understand the expectations of target audiences and the ways of thinking that typically fulfil those expectations.
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Fluency in writing is not to be confused with grammatical accuracy. When creating a text, writers focus on rhetorical and organizational issues. Once the text has been drafted, they need to pay attention to grammatical accuracy, this happens because grammar is much more important when we write than when we speak.
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Other aspects you have to consider: usually, when you write something, it is for a particular reason, for example to apply for a job or write a letter of complaint.  In these cases you are trying to create a positive impression. 
Verbal language is changing more quickly than written language, so there are instances of "street language" where even native English speakers use incorrect grammar.  This is not the case in written language, where the language is usually more formal and more structured. Thus you really need to practice your grammar and improve your knowledge and use of grammar. 
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Second, if you have a limited vocabulary, this will become more evident in written English because your words are concentrated together in one place. Third, you will not be able to improve your written English unless you have someone check your work.  Write as much as you can and ask someone to look at it. Whether it's a teacher, a co-worker or a friend, ask them to look at your work and show you any mistakes, although self-correction must be the first option as it helps a lot to develop language awareness.
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Fourth, there are different styles of English.  Different registers (levels of formality) apply to different kinds of texts and this makes writing English difficult sometimes. 
Fifth, one of the best ways to learn to write in English is to read as much as possible, in as many styles as possible.  The more you read, the more different styles of writing and the more vocabulary you will be exposed to. 
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Productive Skills: Writing and Speaking
What is writing? Writing is one of the four language skills: Reading, writing, listening and speaking. Writing and speaking are productive skills. That means they involve producing language rather than receiving it. Very simply, we can say that writing involves communicating a message (something to say) by making signs on a page. To write we need a message and someone to communicate it to. We also need to be able to form letters and words, and to join these together to make words, sentences or a series of sentences that link together to communicate that message.
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Our message and who are writing to influence what we write and how we write. For example, if you write a note to yourself to remind yourself to do something, you may write in terrible handwriting and use note form or single words that other people would not understand. If you write a note for your friend to remind him of something, your note will probably be clearer and a bit more polite. This is not only when you write using paper, but also when you use the computer, mobile phones, etc.
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Writing involves subskills. Some of these are related to accuracy, i.e using the correct forms of language. Writing accurately involves spelling correctly, forming letters correctly, punctuating correctly, using correct layouts, choosing the right vocabulary, using grammar correctly, joining sentences correctly and using paragraphs correctly.
But writing isn’t just about accuracy. It is also about having a message and communicating it successfully to other people. To do this, we need to have enough ideas, organize them well and express them in an appropriate style.
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Writing also often involves going through a number of stages, when we write outside the classroom we often go through these stages:
Brainstorming ideas
Making notes
Planning
Writing a draft
Editing
Producing another draft
Proof-reading or editing again.
These are steps of the writing process.
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Speaking
Speaking is also a productive skill because it involves using speech to express meaning to other people. Speaking does not allow us time to plan or to pay attention to the correct use of grammar or vocabulary, except in formal speaking such as making speeches. 
When we are speaking we often:
Use different verb tenses – this is related to grammar and vocabulary.
Answer questions, ask for clarification, take part in a discussion, greet people, ask and give information, respond appropriately, persuade, tell stories – these are related to functions of the language.
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Pronounce words and use intonation – these are related to features of connected speech.
Respond appropriately – this is related to appropriacy.
Smile – this is related to body language.
Correct ourselves, change the content, style of our speech according 
 to how the listener 
 responds, start speaking 
 when someone else 
 stops, take part in 
 conversations – these are 
 related to interaction.
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Interaction is two-way communication that involves using language and body language to keep our listener involved in what we are saying and to check that they understand our meaning. Examples of these interactive strategies are: making eye contact, using facial expressions, asking check questions, clarifying your meaning, confirm understanding.
We speak with fluency and accuracy. Fluency is speaking at a normal speed, without hesitation, repetition or self-correction, and with smooth use of connected speech. Accuracy in speaking is the use of correct forms of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
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Writing Product vs. Writing Process
Writing is a continuous process of thinking, organizing, re-thinking and re-organizing. Writing is not a finished product. Writing involves a number of steps or activities. All writers go through the same process, whether they are writing a short letter to a friend or a dissertation for a doctorate degree.
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Seven steps in the writing process
Assessing the assignment
This step in the process involves determining what is to be written, for whom, and where to get the information needed. The audience will set the tone which may be serious, humorous, personal, impersonal, formal, or informal. The purpose of the composition will determine the rhetorical form used. In addition, one must also think about how long the composition needs to be, when it needs to be completed, and for academic papers, the format to be used.
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Generating ideas
Brainstorming, clustering, and free writing activities can be used to help the writer develop ideas. Discussion of the topic with classmates or doing limited research in a library may also be used to aid the writer at this step. Keep in mind that if only a paragraph is being written, the topic must be narrowed sufficiently so the topic is not too broad.
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Organizing your ideas
Before writing the first words in any assignment, one must decide on the most logical way to present the information. Depending on the topic, this may include chronological order, order of importance,comparison, or cause and effect organization. Outlining is one method to use when organizing your paper. When outlining, first determine the main topic and list it. After the main topic is listed, supporting ideas are listed under the main topic. 
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Writing the first draft
The first draft is written after your ideas are generated and organized. It is important to consider your first attempt at the assignment as a draft, and not the finished product. During the drafting stage, the focus should be to put the ideas down on paper quickly and not worry about grammar, spelling, etc. Once the first draft is complete, it must be critically reviewed and analyzed to identify grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors in the editing stage. 
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Revising
Revision may be done immediately after the drafting stage. Revision involves adding or eliminating material and reorganizing it by moving sentences around so the paragraph is more logical and understandable. During the revision, your concern should be only content and organization, not grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
It is important to make sure that the organization of your paper is complete before worrying about how to revise sentences. Many students spend much time revising sentences, only to find out latter that, because of a change in the organization of the paper, that the sentence they so laboriously worked on is deleted.
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There are several questions that can be asked during the revision stage that can help the writer improve the material.
Have you achieved your stated purpose?
Have you said what you wanted to say?
What is the topic?
Is there a topic sentence and does it have a central focus?
Does the paragraph have unity and only talk about only one topic?
Are there any irrelevant sentences that do not support the topic sentence? If there are, eliminate them.
Is enough detail included in the supporting sentences to make the ideas clear?
Are sufficient and appropriate transition signals used so the paper is logical and coherent and easily understood by the reader?
Is there a conclusion? Does it need one?
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Editing
In reality, editing takes place all the time when writing. In the editing stage the focus is on checking spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, sentence structure, and page layout. When editing, check the following points:
Spelling
Does the reader use American or British English? Remember that there are spelling differences between some American and British English words. Whichever is used, be consistent and don’t use both British and English spelling in the same work.
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Punctuation
Is there a period, question mark, or exclamation mark at the end of each sentence? Are there ending and closing quotation marks? Are commas, colons, and semi-colons used appropriately to separate dependent and independent clauses?
Grammar
Do all sentences have subject-verb agreement?
Is there number agreement of nouns, pronouns, and possessives?
Are there any sentence fragments?
Are the correct verb tenses used?
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Vocabulary
Is just the right word used to express your meaning?
Are too many words repeated unnecessarily? Remember, using the same word over and over again results in boredom for the reader.
Sentence structure
Can some sentences be rewritten, using a different structure, so they are more easily understood by the reader?
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Page layout
Is the composition visually appealing?
Are new paragraphs indented?
If a block design paragraph form is used, does a space separate paragraphs?
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Publishing
In this stage the final copy of the composition is completed; the one that will be submitted for review. 
And now it is the time to check accuracy: speeling, grammar, punctuation, etc.
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Organizing information
Many topics are very broad or too general and may be difficult to write about effectively in a short composition. In these cases it is important to narrow the topic so it can be covered effectively and interestingly in a short composition. For example, the topic sports, is very broad and could cover countless games, events, or activities. This topic could be narrowed further to sports in the United States; however this topic is still too broad to write about in a short composition. It could be further narrowed to professional basketball in America. 
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Organizing information
This limited topic is much more manageable to write about in a short composition, Of course, it could be narrowed even more to salaries of professional basketball players, or cities with professional basketball teams in them, or the economic benefits of professional basketball teams on small businesses, or professional basketball teams and its’ effect on community pride.
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References
DAVIS, J. and LISS, R. Effective academic writing 3 – the essay. Oxford, OUP, 2006
SMALLEY, R., RUETTEN, M. and KOZYREV, J. Developing writing skills 2, 2006.
_____________. Developing writing skills 3, 2006.
_____________. Developing writing skills 4, 2006.
SPRATT, M., PULVERNESS, A. and WILLIAMS, M. The TKT Course. Cambridge, CUP, 2005
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Oficina de Redação em Língua Inglesa
Paula Bullio
Atividade 1
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Here are some suggestions for writing activities. Do they focus on (A) accuracy or (B) communicating ideas?
Writing letters telling people about yourself.
Labelling pictures or objects, e.g. clothes, animals.
Completing a story, e.g. the teacher gives the beginning or the end of the story and the student must complete the missing parts.
Copying words from a reading book into an exercise book.
Writing emails to other students in the school.
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The titles of some materials on teaching speaking are numbered 1-10 below. Match the titles with the aspects of speaking they focus on: (A) accuracy, (B) connected speech, (C) appropriacy, (D) fluency, (E) functions.
Intonation in wh- questions.
Language for asking for polite clarification.
Informal language for greeting.
Language for agreeing and disagreeing.
Using past tense in stories.
Distinguishing minimal pairs of sounds.
Disagreeing politely.
Using intonation to show doubt.
Taking part in discussions.
Telling stories.
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