CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
B. Theoretical Framework
2. Academic Writing
a. Definition of Writing
Writing is one of the abilities that language learners value because it is crucial not only for their academic training but also for
17 Bambang Sugeng, Instructional Technology: Planning Strategies for Language Education (Yogyakarta: Yogyakarta State University, 2010) 74.
18 Shravan Kumar, ―Teaching Materials and Teaching Aids – 1 (Teaching Material),‖ Research Gate, no.12 (2017): 7.
their professional future. There are numerous definitions of writing.
Several experts have defined writing in the following ways.
Byrne(1997) It is possible to define writing as the act of creating symbols or markings on a flat surface of some type. Letters or string of letters related to the sound humans create when they talk are used as graphic symbols here. The symbols must be placed in a certain order to create words, phrases, or paragraphs. However, writing involves more than just creating graphic symbols. He adds that converting thoughts into language and encoding some sort of message are both involved in writing.19 The word "writing" is from the word
"write," which is defined as 1) Making words and other symbols on a surface, typically on paper with a pen or pencil 2) Putting down on a paper using words.20
Additionally, English language learners successfully master the necessary language skill of writing because writing is a form of media for communication and is seen as a sign of the target language's communicative proficiency. An effective writing style demonstrates a learner's proficiency with the English language. When communicating with people who are far in both time and place, written language is utilized.21 Writing is a practical kind of communication that enables students to construct imaginary worlds of their own invention. For a
19 Donn Byrne, Teaching Writing Skills. (New York: Longman, 1997), 1.
20 ―Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary,‖ Oxford University Press, 2020, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/write?q=write.
21 David Nunan, Second Teaching and Learning (Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publisher, 1999), 275.
specific goal, students can communicate their thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. through writing. Giving information is the goal of writing.22 From the explanation above, writing is a process of learning to express an idea that involves critical thinking of specific purposes to deliver that idea as a piece of information to others.
b. Component of Writing
According to Heaton, writing consists of five elements.23 1. Content
One component of writing is content, which is the section in which the writer expresses their opinions and where the entire piece will take the reader to. Kane asserted that the content of writing should be cohesive and complete for readers to readily understand and accept the information that the writer wishes to transmit.24 It indicates that the writer must use acceptable language to explain their views clearly. The writers must also provide sufficient information to provide the reader with an excellent mental picture of the key idea and overall theme of the work.
2. Organization
According to Heaton, The ability to coherently develop ideas, themes, and information is referred to as an organization.
22 Richard Kern, Literacy and Language Teaching (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 172.
23 J.B. Heaton, Writing English Test (New York: Longman, 1998), 135.
24 Thomas S. Kane, Essential Guide to Writing (New York: Longman, 1998), 135.
Writing organization includes coherence, order of importance, general to specific, specific to general, chronological order, and spatial pattern.25 The expression of thoughts and information in writing will flow naturally with the correct structure.
3. Vocabulary
Hughes describes vocabularies as word combinations that compose phrases, paragraphs, and essays. Appropriate word choice in writing can prevent misconceptions among readers, and if there are no misunderstandings when reading, it can be concluded that the writing is good.26
4. Grammar
According to Harmer, to write well, the writer must be a master of grammar. Correct sentences, tenses, words, and other language aspects can help you write well.27
5. Mechanism
The mechanism, according to Kane, is related to the appearance of the words, including their spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. The writer can avoid mechanism difficulties by adopting the proper writing mechanism such, as ambiguous sentences, making it easier for the reader to comprehend and visualize the writing.
c. Type of Writing
25 J.B. Heaton, Writing English Test (New York: Longman, 1998), 135.
26 Arthur Hughes, Testing for Language Teachers (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2003), 101.
27 Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English (Malaysia: Longman, 2004), 35.
According to Brown(2003), Four categories of writing exist.
1. Imitative
The student must master the essential, elementary abilities of writing letters, words, punctuation, and very short phrases in order to form written language. This category comprises the capacity to recognize phoneme-grapheme correspondences in the English spelling system as well as the capacity to spell words correctly. At this stage, students are attempting to understand writing mechanics. Context and meaning are currently of secondary importance, with form serving as the major, if not the only, point of attention.
2. Intensive (controlled)
Beyond the basics of imitative writing, students should be able to use suitable vocabulary in context, collocations, and idioms, as well as proper grammar up to the length of a sentence.
In assessing correctness and appropriateness, meaning and context have some influence. However, the test design carefully regulates most evaluation tasks, which are primarily concerned with a focus on form.
3. Responsive
Students must participate in limited discourse, turn phrases into paragraphs, and logically organize two or more paragraphs to complete assessment assignments. Tasks are in
response to lists of criteria, outlines, and other directives provided by the pedagogy. Examples of writing genres include brief narratives and descriptions, rapid reports, lab reports, summaries, quick responses to reading, and interpretations of graphs or charts.
Examples of writing genres include brief narratives and descriptions, rapid reports, lab reports, summaries, quick responses to reading, and interpretations of graphs or charts.
Examples of writing genres include brief narratives and descriptions, rapid reports, lab reports, summaries, quick responses to reading, and interpretations of graphs or charts. The writer starts to choose among several alternative styles of concept expression under certain circumstances. The writer is more concerned with the discourse rules that will help the written text accomplish its goals now that they have learned the essentials of sentence-level grammar. The discourse level receives the majority of form-focused attention, strongly emphasizing the importance of setting and meaning.
4. Extensive
Extensive writing is the efficient administration of all writing processes and techniques, up to the length of an essay, term paper, extensive research project report, or even a thesis. In order to produce a final product, writers often go through a process of multiple drafts. They focus on achieving a goal,
rationally organizing and developing ideas, employing details to support or demonstrate concepts, demonstrating syntactic and lexical variety, and using details to support or illustrate ideas.
Grammatical form is only sometimes corrected or edited in a draft.28
d. The Purpose of Writing
There might be various reasons for a student to write, including the following, discussed in Chapter 1: as a method of evaluation; as a tool for better comprehension, recall, and critical thinking; to supplement lectures and other formal meetings; to enhance students' communication skills; and to prepare students for careers as future professionals in certain fields. Students, who may view writing as only an evaluation challenge, might not be as aware of the variety of motivations for writing. The exercise that will help students investigate these topics is described below.
Activity 2.1 An introduction to the purposes of writing.
1. Ask students to think about all of the many forms of writing they have done in the past few sessions (e.g., shopping lists, text messages, lecture notes, experimental results, birthday cards, poetry).
2. There are multiple categories in which some writing styles can be placed. Students should classify the various forms of writing into
28 H. Douglas Brown, Language ASSESSMENT Principles and Classroom Practices (California:
Longman, 2003), 220.
small groups category. It is advised to employ functional classifications for assessment, such as learning about x, social communication, and memory aids.
3. Focus a class discussion on academic writing assignments including lab reports, essay drafts, and notes taken during lectures or while reading. Talk about the objectives of the various forms of academic writing that students have written. Ask students to think about the various readers for these forms of writing, the particular rhetorical intent of this sort of writing, and the vocabulary, details, and proofs they will need to use. Discuss more forms of writing that kids will use in the future.29
The purpose of writing is mainly to deliver purposes through media that can be read or seen. The purpose of writing can vary depending on several aspects, such as place, time, or activity. Writing in school for the student can be seen as an act of assessment, studying, or other. Writing can help students memorize and understand the subject they learn in school.
e. The Step of the Writing Process
According to Zemach and Rumisek (2005), there are four steps. The steps are followed:
1. Pre-Writing
In this section, there are three steps:
29 Caroline Coffin, Teaching Academic Writing (London and New York: Routledge Taylor&Francis Group 2005) 20
a. Choosing a topic
Before students write a text, the teacher will give a specific assignment or some idea about what they will write, but if not, the students can choose the topic.
b. Gather ideas
When the students have a topic, think about what they will write about it.
c. Organize
In this step, students decide which ideas to use and where to use them. Choose which ideas to talk about first, talk about next, and which to talk about last.
2. Drafting
Write a paragraph essay from start to finish, and use notes that have been written about the ideas and organization.
3. Reviewing and revising
Check what has been written. Read the writing silently or aloud. If there are several mistakes in the writing, ask other people such as friends or teachers are advised to have their opinion on the writing.
4. Rewriting
There are three steps of rewriting:
a. Revise structure and content. In this section, rewrite the text.
Maybe one of the texts is missing or needs to explain
something more clearly or add more details. This step can be called editing.
b. Proofread. Take another look at the completed text. This time, double-check your work for errors and pick your words carefully.
c. Make final corrections. Recheck the corrected errors discovered in steps five and six and make any other changes necessary to add. The text is finished.30
The author draws four conclusions about the writing process from the above quotation: planning (or pre-writing), writing (or drafting), reviewing (or editing), and finalizing (or rewriting).
f. Writing Assessment
Writing assessment is a process collective of students‘
writing learning objectives with some purposes to give feedback for students‘ writing. Brown 2000 there are six general categories about evaluation of students‘ writing those are content, organization, discourse, syntax, vocabulary and mechanics.31