SEMINAR
Topic:-
Writing
-Subskills, Mechanics of writing, Characteristics of good handwriting
Submitted To Submitted
By
Beena Rani Miss Meera Vijayakumar
Assistant Professor English Optional
NSS Training College NSS
Training College
Changanacherry. Changanacherry.
CONTENTS
|
Sl.No.
|
Topic
|
Page
|
|
1
|
Introduction
|
3
|
|
2
|
Writing Skill
|
4
|
|
3
|
The Process of
Writing
|
5
|
|
4
|
Sub skills of
writing
|
6
|
|
5
|
Mechanics of
Writing
|
7
|
|
6
|
Characteristics
of good handwriting
|
8
|
|
7
|
Importance of
good handwriting
|
8
|
|
8
|
Features of good
handwriting
|
8
|
|
9
|
Methods to
develop handwriting
|
9
|
|
10
|
Conclusion
|
10
|
|
11
|
Bibliography
|
11
|
Introduction
Writing is a
productive skill which require the ability to organize the ideas in coherent,
correct ad appropriate style or diction Learning to talk is the first step in
learning a language and once the child has learned to communicate, writing can
be introduced. Writing requires conscious thinking and ordering. Writing a
language is much more difficult than speaking a language. A novice writer has
to learn how to make things explicit and unambiguous through syntactic
arrangement and lexical choice. Expressive writing needs preparation and
specialized instruction.
Writing skill includes the sub-skills of writing,
mechanics or writing, good handwriting etc., an effective writing will be the
co-ordination of all these. Also, in writing organization plays an important
role.
Writing
"Writing skill is the ability to convey ideas and
feelings as written material from one person to another person is the most
effective manner".
Writing is not as
natural as listening or speaking. It is not considered as biological need.
Therefore it has to be purposefully inculcated. Roughly three thousand out of
six thousand languages and dialects in the world have no written forms.
Therefore there is less scope for a detailed analysis of writing than it has
for listening or speaking. And regarding
reading it comes only after writing. If there is no writing, there is no
reading. But as teachers of English, we have to give due emphasis to teaching
writing skills along with the other major skills of language learning.
Writing is not
restricted to writing on paper only as in the past. Its scope has widened due
to the advent of modern information and communication technology. Now we can
read written material on the TV screen, Computer screen and take printouts from
computers and send e-mails and faxes. Writing is for communication of ideas in
written form. It is the visual representation of speech. It is a productive
skill. In the hierarchy of language skills it should be given a balanced
emphasis along with the other skills.
In the listening –
speaking process, response is immediate, but in the case of writing – reading
process the response is remote. Speech has the features of repetition, pause,
gestures, and facial expressions, intonation, modulation of voice etc... Since
these advantages are not available in writing, other devices have to be used in
order to compensate for them. Some of the more obvious devices are: punctuation
marks, paragraphing, use of capital or bold letters, underlining, italicizing,
use of various sentence connectors, eg; 'therefore', 'however', 'in short', '
in other words ' , 'finally' etc., use of different word order, use of
paragraph heading etc. It is therefore apparent that in order to communicate
through writing, one has to learn these
conventions besides acquiring the ability to write the letters of the alphabet
and spell the words. Further, writing doesn't come under the everyday use of
language. Except writers, teachers, journalists etc, others have very few
occasions to resort to this much of communication. It is become of these
reasons that writing is regarded as the mose difficult language Skill to
acquire.
The Process of Writing
The process of writing is usually divided in to three
stages: Manipulation, Structuring and communication.
Manipulation
Manipulation
consists in the psycho-motor ability to form the letters of the alphabet. This
is the most rudimentary stage in writing and for second-language learners it
should not pose much of a problem. Even for Indian students whose mother-tongue
does not use the Roman alphabet, the task of learning to write the letters should
be comparatively easy, for by the time they come to learn English they will
have developed sufficient muscle control by writing in their mother tongue.
Structuring
The second stage, Here the learner
is required to organize the letters into words, and the words into phrases and
sentences. This will also be comparatively easy if writing is preceded by
intensive oral work. In that case the learner has only to reproduce the words to patterns he has learnt
orally.
Communication
The higher stage in the process of Writing- Like
interpretation in reading, in writing, communication is the ultimate goal. At
this stage, the writer is able to select the appropriate structures and vocabulary
in the overall context of the passage, keeping in view the subject- matter and
the audience (ie, the prospective reader). This kind of insight into the
working of the language can develop only through long experience, intensive
practice, critical study of good writing and through mastery of the various
conventions used in written language.
Development of the
skill of writing should therefore proceed progressively through all these three
stages ultimately leading to the art of self – expression.
Sub skills of Writing
One can master
writing skill, only if he achieve the various other skills which are most
important and relevant in writing. These are the sub-skills of writing writing
skill include many sub skills. Anne Raimes gives the following as sub skills of
writing.
ü
Mechanics of handwriting,
spelling and punctuation.
ü
Word choice ie, Vocabulary,
Idiom, Phrase, Tone etc..
ü
Organization ie, ideas,
paragraphs, topics, cohesion and unity
ü
Syntax ie, structure and
boundaries of sentence, choice of stylistics etc.
ü Grammar ie, verb agreement,
articles, pronouns etc.
ü Content ie, relevance, Clarity, Originality, logic, sequence etc.
ü
Writing process ie, getting ideas, writing
drafts, revising etc.
ü
Purpose ie, the relevance and
justification for writing.
According to
David palmes, writing involves Graphics visual, grammatical, Expressive or
stylistic, Rhetorical and organizational skills
1.
Graphic or Visual Skills:-
This means writing graphemes (letter of alphabet) in the upper or
lower cases (Capital or small letters) as appropriately joined in the
conventional way. In spelling, the first language many interfere. In
punctuation and capitalization of should be noted that they differ from
language to language.
2.
Grammatical Skills:-
This refers to the ability of the student to use a
variety of sentence patterns and constructions
3.
Expressive or Stylistic Skills:-
This is the ability of the student to express the same idea in
different styles. For this , selection of appropriate words and sentence
patterns is necessary for the written medium.
4.
Rhetorical Skills:-
Here the student uses cohesive devices like connectives reference
words, ellipsis etc in order to link parts of a text in to logically related
sequences.
5.
Organizational Skills:-
In this case the student is concerned with the integration of pieces
of information into paragraphs and texts. This involves neglecting irrelevant
information and summarizing the relevant ones.
Mechanics
of Writing
In teaching the mechanics
of writing of English alphabet, the teacher has the advantages that his
students have learnt it in the process of acquiring their mother tongue, though
in a different way. The students now know how to hold the writing materials, at
what suitable distance and how the physical posture should be etc.
A few decades ago four types English alphabet were taught
to students the civil round hand and cursive writing (for handwriting), the
block capital letters and small letters (for print). But now, for handwriting,
only block capital letters and cursive letters (Italic) are being taught and
practiced, because that is enough. Italic writing is accepted and instructed in
our schools for children’s handwriting with block capital wherever necessary.
This mode of writing has serval advantages if it is done in the ideal way. It
is legible and clear and writing speed is not curtailed, and the letters
consist of strokes and the body of letters has the shape of a right triangle
with its angularities removed. One important thing is, in writing the letters
should be either vertical or a little slanting towards the right, not slanting
to the left. The body of the letters should have uniform size.
The few other features to be made part of our habit of
writing are: letters in words should be distinctive, proper spacing should be given
between words (One space), between the ending of a sentence and the beginning
of the next (two spaces). Committing mistakes in spelling will be construed
badly by the readers. Italic writing as described above can be made perfect by
practice for a few days and speed can be increased.
Characteristics of Good Handwriting
We should be seriously aware that one’s writing is either
for oneself two be read later or for others to be read sooner or later and also
to be preserved for the posterity. If these important purpose have to be fully
served, our handwriting, or if it is in print, the printed text, should have
some qualities regarding readability.
Importance of Good Handwriting
o
Good handwriting is generally
considered as a mirror of good culture. It does not mean calligraphy (Artistic
writing)
o
Good handwriting promotes
better readability and comprehension without giving room for dubious situation.
o
Good handwriting is naturally
in direct proportion to other language abilities.
o
From handwriting, a person’s
character can be presumed to a considerable extent.
o
In written examinations, good
handwriting really impresses the examiner; thereby the examinee will be getting
credit.
To have acquired a good
handwriting is a privilege
Features of good handwriting
·
Distinctiveness:- Each letter in a word and each word in a
sentence will be distinct.
·
Spacing: - There will be a space between words and two between sentences.
To begin with a new paragraph a line is left.
·
Size of the letters:- The body and stroke of the letters are
uniform for small letters and capital letters. At the beginning of learning to
write , the size may be exaggerated; in
normal adult writing proper size is important
·
Simplicity: - A good handwriting is simple and comfortable to see and easy to
read. By simplicity it means there is no ornamentation which makes reading
difficult.
·
Horizontality: - Writing lines is conspicuously
horizontal. In the early stage students may be allowed to write on lined paper-
double lined or four lined.
·
Vertical / Slanting towards the right:- Letters are to be
written either vertically or slightly slanting to the right, never to the left.
·
Punctuation Marks:- Punctuation marks are necessary at the early
stage especially, to read by phrases and to get the meaning easily and
unequivocally. Punctuation marks include capitalization, full stop, comma, Semi
colon, colon, question mark, exclamation mark, inverted commas, apostrophe etc.
In modern writing forms there is a trend of reducing punctuation marks. In such
cases readability and comprehensibility will not be hindered, if meaningful
phases are recognized.
Methods to develop handwriting
o
The best influence is derived
from teacher’s handwriting so teacher’s handwriting should be a model to the
students.
o
Regular writing exercise should
be given.
o
Italic writing should be
practiced.
o
In a week, a period should be
there for teaching and practicing good handwriting.
o
Frequent competition in
handwriting will provide encouragement
o
Posture, holding of the writing
material, the distance of paper or blackboard are important features to be
considered.
CONCLUSION
Writing
is a complex process that allows writer to explore thoughts and ideas, and
makes them visible and concrete. In the mechanics of writing good handwriting
posses an important role. The most important thing to remember when writing is
to check it thoroughly when it is completed. This unwritten rule holds true for
everything we write.
In the
hierarchy of language skills writing should be given a balanced emphasis along
with other skills. There is no mystery to good writing. It is a skill that we
can learn. The more we write the more fluent your writing will be. Therefore
read more.... write more...... and put your work to others.
Bibliography
·
Baruah, T.C (1984). The English Teacher’s Hand book-Sterling
publishers Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.
·
Dr.Sivarajan, K, T.V. Ramakrishnan, K. Mridula (2007). English
Language Education, Calicut University.
·
Communication Skills in English (1982), Oxford University
press (edited), Walton Street.
·
Viswanath, Harsha (2013). English Languages Teaching Approaches and
skills. Department of English, M.S.M. College, Kayamkulam
Webliograpy
·
www.kent.ac.uk/.../ written communication .
