Saturday 10 June 2017

Writing in English: a point of view


Writing on the whole is a thorny issue -- even more so in a foreign language. Writing is closely linked to your knowledge of the world directly through your experience or as a result of your exposure to books, films or any kind of creative work that develops your imagination or cultivates your mind.

I often wonder about the usefulness of writing models and/or writing plans in most course books. Writing is a process of thinking, creating, organising ideas or events in a meaningful coherent way, which is unique for anyone who tries their hand at it. If a teacher is to help their students through this laborious task, it must be done by following each student’s line of thought, trying to guess or verify with the student the intention behind the wording and proceeding to correct, rephrase or reorganise.

Quite often there is a dearth of ideas on the topic, in which case writing should be preceded by a text – article, poem, literary extract – which will stimulate interest and will serve as a springboard for students to provide their own response to the input.

However, mostly the writing topics in course books are so narrow in scope that many a resourceful and imaginative product slips through this strictly delimited net. It seems to me that this adherence to highly formalised and standardised writing topics is meant to prepare students for a formal exam which will come much later and which is equally restrictive for candidates’ creativity and power of imagination. Indeed, sometimes it may even not have been thought out by the creators or examiners themselves.

By way of illustration, let us look at a topic for the essay task in the Cambridge First of Schools published by Cambridge University. In fact it is a test that has been sat. Here it is:

In your English class you have been talking about free time. Now your English teacher has asked you to write an essay for homework.
Write your essay using all the notes and giving reasons for your point of view:
Having a chat with friends in your free time can be as important as studying. Do you agree?
Notes
Write about:
1.    learning to get on with people
2.    wasting valuable time
3.    ……………………………………….. (your own idea)


I am citing here a question my students had about this topic: if they are supposed to chat with friends in their free time, how can it be a waste of time? I find this a very sensible question to ask, and it came from children of 13 and 14 years old.

But quite apart from that, I have an objection of essence concerning the compulsory writing task in First for Schools. Why provide some points for inclusion rather than allow the candidate to write the answer from scratch? The two ideas which must be included are often representative of two opposing views on the subject. However, many candidates would much prefer to give a one-sided answer -- for or against -- supporting their views with sound arguments. This actually sounds much more reasonable and feasible considering the word limit that applies (150-190 words), which hardly permits a rounded development of both points of view.

One may wonder why this attitude persists in a world where imagination and individuality appear to be sought-after and rewarded. I can only think of establishing some criteria for the examiners to assess and grade the composition. But then again shouldn’t examiners be knowledgeable and experienced enough to judge a piece of writing on its own merit? Personally, I have on occasion been stumped by how some learners can transcend teachers’ or any adult’s imagination in the freshness of approach to various topics when given space and freedom.

On the whole I find that by setting limitations to the development of a subject, we deprive young people of the opportunity to reveal their way of thinking and mindset, which may happen to differ from adults’ but which are,  nonetheless, complete and systematic and should be judged in their own right.

By way of conclusion I will provide some examples of topics which could lead to some excellent responses from young students and not only. These examples are not suggestions for writing topics in exams but could be used and recycled during a five- or six-year course. The list is random and by no means complete. Each teacher can draw up their own list on the basis of their students’ background, experience and preferences.

·       The sea
·       The wind
·       Mountains
·       Our neighbours
·       A day in the life of
·       The toys have come alive
·       I don’t have many friends but …
·       Are we free?

All in all, the sky is the limit.









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