TEACHING WRITING

LITERACY
CONCEPT OF LITERACY A BROADENED CONCEPT OF LITERACY

The ability of individuals to read and write (Smith, 1965)

The ability of individuals to communicate effectively in the real world. This must involve teaching the abilities to listen, read, write, speak, and view things, with thinking being an integral part of each of these processes. Literacy should be viewed as the ability of individuals to respond to the practical tasks of everyday life.

Potential employers want individuals who can listen, learn on their own, and analyze situations to identify and solve problems.

SCHOOL

...NEEDS TO CONCENTRATE THE OUTSIDE WORLD INTO THE GENERALISATIONS THAT CONSTITUTE SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE ... IS EPISTEMIOLOGICALLY AND DISCURSIVELY DIFFERENT THAN THE OUTSIDE WORLD ...IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OF ALL SITES OF POTENTIAL SOCIAL MOBILITY

THE NATURE OF THE WRITING PROCESS PRODUCT-ORIENTED APPROACHES TO WRITING

TASKS IN WHICH THE LEARNER: IMITATES COPIES TRANSFORMS MODELS PROVIDED BY THE TEACHER AND/OR THE TEXTBOOK CONCENTRATES ON SENTENCE LEVEL DISREGARDES DISCOURSE CONTEXT

PROCESS-ORIENTED APPROACH TO WRITING

FOCUSED ON

STUDENTS VOICE QUANTITY RATHER QUALITY STEPS INVOLVED IN DRAFTING AND RE-DRAFTING
(PRE-WRITING-DRAFTING-REVISION-EDITING WRITING FOR DISPLAY)

DISREGARDED

FORMAL CORRECTNESS

FACILITATING CONDITIONS

USE OF WORD PROCESSORS

Genre approach to literacy

GENRE THEORISTS CLAIM THAT
LANGUAGE EXISTS TO FULFILL CERTAIN

FUNCTIONS (purposes)

THESE PURPOSES WILL DETERMINE :

THE WORDS AND GRAMMATICAL

FEATURES THAT WILL APPEAR IN THE TEXT

THE GENERIC STRUCTURE OF THE TEXT

GENRE

SOCIAL FUNCTION

GENERIC STRUCTURE

SIGNIFICANT LEXICOGRAMMATICAL FEATURES Focus on specific and usually individualized participants Verbs of doing Temporal conjunctions Temporal circumstances Past tense Generalized human agents Simple present Imperative Temporal conjunctions to indicate sequence Verbs of doing Focus on generic participants Use of relational processes to state what is Use of simple present tense No temporal sequence

NARRATIVE

TO AMUSE-TO ENTERTAIN

ORIENTATION EVALUATION COMPLICATION RESOLUTION RE-ORIENTATION

PROCEDURE

TO DESCRIBE HOW SOMETHING IS ACCOMPLISHED

GOAL MATERIALS STEP1-n

REPORT

TO DESCRIBE HOW THINGS ARE

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION DESCRIPTION PARTS QUALITIES HABITS BEHAVIOR USES

Bibliography
Butt, D. et al. (2000). Using Functional Grammar : An

Explorers Guide. Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research. Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis (eds), The Powers of Literacy: A Genre Approach to Teaching Writing, Falmer Press, London, and University of Pittsburgh Press, Pennsylvania Eggins, Suzanne (1994). An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Pinter Publishers. Gerot, L. & Wignell, P. (1994). Making Sense of Functional Grammar. Sydney: Antipodean Educational Enterprises. Halliday, M. A.K & Hasan R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman. Hasan, Ruqaiya. (1996). Ways of Saying , Ways of Meaning. London: Cassell