Is writing a dying art?

Sanjhee Gianchandani

Ever looked at the writing section of an English main coursebook for students and wondered why they’re still required to write handwritten letters and postcards at a time when every written piece from emails to WhatsApp messages is mediated by technology? Would the next generations ever even need to pick up a pen to write, let alone learn about obsolete genres of communication, especially as most students do not really enjoy the skill of writing per se? This piece examines the current scenario, encourages focusing on the assessment parameters instead and offers creative suggestions to keep students engaged for them to churn out relevant and meaningful texts in genres they’re familiar with.

The story so far
Let’s look at a common scenario in an Indian classroom where writing is being taught.
• The teacher directs students’ attention to the writing section of the chapter.
• The writing format has been provided in the book which he/she asks them to refer to. They read the writing question given.
• The task is now set with no or negligible discussion.
• Students write the answer and hand it over to the teacher.
• The teacher checks the format, spelling, and grammar of the piece and marks the corrections in red ink.
• The writing lesson ends with/without having the students make the corrections.

Till about 2020, when the first draft of the National Education Policy was released, most schools were following the same pattern of teaching writing. Additionally, most boards across the country included a rigid and outmoded writing curriculum comprising genres such as informal letters, formal letters (to the editor, of complaint, leave applications), newspaper reports, magazine articles, postcards, diary entries, notices (lost and found, events), posters, invitations, short stories, and essays arranged grade-wise. Some of them even have fixed templates into which students need to put their content according to the question asked. Shobha Sinha describes this very accurately in her paper ‘Reading without Meaning: The Dilemma of Indian Classrooms’ (2012), in the context of early classes: “The only point that is being made is that when stories or other texts are used only to focus on language components excluding meaning.”

Moreover, the Indian education system of encouraging the process of cramming the necessary information and regurgitating it on exam papers has proven to be detrimental to developing students’ creative writing skills. Devi Kar, a veteran educator writes, “I remember an oft-repeated joke that you could write a good essay on almost any topic if you prepared just a single essay on God. So, if you were asked to write an essay on ‘a rainy day’, you could write about God’s natural creations, which included the sky and earth, sun and of course rain, and then move on to a rainy day.” Another critical observation in this regard is that in India, English is taught very differently than in other non English speaking countries. In India, educators tend to focus more on the syntactical construction of sentences, grammatical correctness, and the text type or genre. Whereas other ESL/EFL (English as a second language/English as a foreign language) countries emphasize the discoursal aspect of the language and pay close attention to the ‘process’ over the ‘product’.

What could be done?
While crafting the learning objectives for a writing lesson plan, educators must ensure that there is a proper process followed beginning from brainstorming to jotting down rough notes to making a draft to editing and revising the draft and finally to submitting the final version. A good writing lesson must include the following elements:
i. Engage: Set the hook and get them thinking about the topic.
ii. Explore: Facilitate learning by discovering and demonstrating new skills, exploring key concepts and beginning to probe. Ask inquiry-oriented questions while students share their ideas and make predictions.
iii. Direct instruction: Communicate new learnings, provide clarifications, justifications, new vocabulary, and definitions.
iv. Guided instruction: Provide the template and demonstrate one using sentence starters/prompts.
v. Independent practice: Adapt instruction and build in scaffolding to help students achieve independence in writing.
vi. Wrap-up: Consolidate, discuss responses, and do error correction if required.

While we debate over how to make writing interesting, let us delve deeper into how to manage teaching writing in the first place. Instead of making the writing task mechanical, a systematic and balanced approach must be adopted so that the text does not appear like a mere assemblage of words. While assessing students’ writing, there should be an equal focus on the following parameters:
• Coherence and cohesion – This means how sentences are linked using connecting words and linkers, how paragraphs must be connected, and also how ideas must be transitioned from one to the next.
• Grammatical range and accuracy – This is the use of correct grammar and syntax while constructing sentences. It also includes the felicity of expression using spelling, punctuation, register.
• Lexical resource – This refers to the topic – related and relevant vocabulary and structures being used in the written text. It also suggests how texts can and should be written using brevity and accuracy pivoting on the topic at hand instead of free-length essays which fail to highlight the main line of argument.

Types of writing
With the proliferation of technology, letters have been replaced by emails, articles by blogs, invitation cards with text messages, notices with infographics, and postcards with photo journals. Unfortunately, the curriculum has not yet adapted to these genres and continues to concentrate on the archaic ones. Instead of scurrying around the curriculum to find the new-age writing genres, let us understand what the broad types of writing that students must learn are.

1. Expository writing: This refers to a text that aims to describe, explain, or inform the reader about any topic. A key feature of this non-fiction writing style is that there is no opinion or agenda – the author only wants to convey information. Newspaper reports, notices, scientific journal entries, or even an events calendar fall under this category.
   Classroom tip: Instead of getting students to write a newspaper report right away, ask them to first create a web page or a Wiki page with that news. Show them popular news websites for reference. They would then be forced to think of a headline, the main points, and the supporting details and it would prove to be a more engaging activity than writing a bland report.
2. Descriptive writing: This is a style of writing that involves a detailed description of a place or person, which is intended to create a vivid picture in the reader’s mind and give them a better feel of the story. It uses minute details to create a clear picture while immersing all or most of the senses. Writing stories, descriptive paragraphs (about people, places, events, things), diary entries, and poetry fall under this category.
   Classroom tip: Encourage students to maintain their diaries online to keep them hooked to the process of writing every day. Instead of paragraphs, encourage them to write blogs interesting enough for their friends to read. Get their creative juices flowing by asking them to create graphic stories instead of stories and write micro-poetry instead of regular poems.
3. Persuasive writing: This type of writing is written to persuade the reader of something. It relies more on opinions than facts. A political leaflet, a brochure, an advertisement, an opinion piece/magazine article, a letter to the editor or a book review fall under this category.
   Classroom tip: Get students to create an infographic on Canva or a PowerPoint presentation to create brochures, leaflets, etc. There are many free templates available for use on the internet. They could also create a Facebook post or a tweet for spreading awareness about an issue with the same content that they would use in a letter to the editor. This would align perfectly with their technologically capacious scheme of things.

New-age writing genres
Not only ‘how’ we are writing but ‘what’ we are writing is also changing rapidly. To transform writing classes from dull and tedious to relevant and awaited, educators can and must experiment with genres. Attempt giving off-beat, topical themes that cater to one or more of the following genres with the same tasks prescribed in the syllabus and see it work magic in the classrooms.
• Cli-fi: Everyone is talking of climate change but this genre amalgamates it with fiction.
• Bizzaro: Strange and fascinating but fun to read and thought-provoking texts.
• Fanfic: This is fiction but written by a fan of a certain movie or book.
• Cyberpunk: a genre of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology.
• Mythopoeia: texts about myth-making.

This is not an exhaustive list. You can google emerging genres and get students to write something on the ones of their choice.

Getting students to write
Stories come naturally to students but most of them are reluctant when it comes to writing. Here are some pointers to keep in mind to get students to write:
• Students need time to write every day – Allot 10 minutes for free writing every day. Do not link it to assessments or constrain it to genres.
• Provide writing projects with a purpose and an authentic audience – make students write blogs and posts that would be read by an external audience and have some impact outside the classroom.
• Students need to see examples of good writing – make them read different kinds of writing including well-written books, real-world pamphlets, attractive book reviews, carefully drafted emails, creative advertisements and anything else you can lay your hands on.
• Get students to talk about writing – expand their horizons, involve their peers and see their writing flourish.
• Provide one-on-one feedback – students think and express themselves differently. Talk to them about their strengths and ask guiding questions to help them focus on their improvements.
• Celebrate – give them instant rewards for writing to motivate them to continue.

To conclude, while we wait for the new syllabi to be rolled out, let us work on fortifying the existing methods implemented in a writing lesson, cement our assessment parameters, innovate content using topical themes and contemporary genres and help students become confident writers with clear voices of their own.

References
• https://www.academia.edu/17801315/Towards_a_Synthetic_Balanced_Approach_to_Teaching_Writing_Skills_to_Students_of_Technical_Institutes_in_India
• https://www.twinkl.co.in/teaching-wiki/5-genres-of-writing
• https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/columnists/270521/devi-kar-blame-schools-if-indias-kids-cant-show-creativity-or.html
• https://www.edutopia.org/article/10-tips-motivating-reluctant-elementary-and-middle-school-writers

The author works as an English language curriculum designer and editor. She has a Master’s degree in English from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and a CELTA from the University of Cambridge. She has about seven years of experience working as an English language assessment specialist, a writing/speaking examiner for various international examinations, an item writer, and a content developer for the K-8 segment. Additionally, as a consultant editor with various renowned publishing houses, she has edited over 100 books ranging from academic to fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children’s writing. Her articles on ELT pedagogy and learning strategies have been published in several educational magazines and blogs. She can be reached at sanjheegianchandani28@gmail.com.