For a very long time, people have been studying the differences of writing among different cultures. Native speakers write texts which are very different from the texts written by foreign language writers. The main reason is that each culture has its patterns of thinking and it determines the way that they write. As a result, foreign language students need to learn the patterns of the language and the way that native speakers usually develop their ideas. If you want to make texts in a foreign language, you need to study how people arrange their knowledge. American writers, for example, tend to arrange their ideas in a straight line of development. In general, we have a central idea, known as main thesis, followed by subdivisions of this central idea. These subdivisions have the purpose of developing the main thesis, preparing the addition of other ideas for the other paragraphs. In Bander words, "the flow of ideas occurs in a straight line from the opening sentence to the last sentence." (Bander 1971, 22) An English paragraph is very different from a Japa...
In an excerpt of Unteaching the Five-Paragraph Essay," Marie Foley reveals how the Five-Paragraph Essay formula contradicts writing instructor's most basic goals. Foley shows that the formula deters from generating individual thinking. In today's society, essays are used by millions of people in order to express their different ideas. The Five-Paragraph Essay formula was originally developed to help retain the efficiency and clarity of the essay. Foley, however, believes that this process eventually separates the student from his or her written expression and should be used only as a first step tool for beginning student writers. Foley insists that the formula blocks discovery, squelches authenticity and undermines the reader's need for coherence. Foley shows that patterns of organization and more natural thinking can benefit the student.
However, though John Warner’s argument is strong, Kerri smith’s argument is stronger. In Kerri Smith’s article “In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay,” She claims that the five-paragraph essay should stay taught in schools as a guideline for a well-structured essay. She explains the five-paragraph essay as an “introduce-develop-conclude structure” that even great expository writing follows this structure (Smith 16). She purposefully communicates to her audience this idea to show that this structure gives students the knowledge and capability to write a professional essay. The five-paragraph essay includes the three key points to have a well-structured and organized essay. By mentioning that other great writers use this form of structure, she creates a stronger argument as to why the five-paragraph essay is important to education. She continues her article by explaining her early stages of writing and how she was taught; over time, her teachers would show her new ways to improve her writing which, in the end, she was told to think “of those five paragraphs simply as a mode of organization” (Smith
“The best compositions establish a sense of momentum and direction by making explicit connections among their different parts, so that what is said in one sentence (or paragraph) both sets up what is to come and is clearly informed by what has already been said.” This piece of advice that is mentioned in the book “They Say, I say with Readings” is very useful when constructing an elaborate string of ideas and the writer intends to make them flow smoothly and effectively for his audience. The four techniques that are used in implementing this flow are: “using transition terms,” “adding pointing words,” “developing a set of key terms and phrases for each text you write” and “repeating
...to be structured in a specific way, I have to follow certain rules for the writing to be successful. I have to have thesis statement, I have to follow grammar, punctuation and spelling. Because of these requirements and English not been my first language it has been hard to performance a good writing style.
Typical outlines aren't the only way I prepare to write my papers. I often tend to simply start writing random paragraphs about my subject, in no particular order, and slowly begin to bu...
The vast varieties of different ways people move their tongue to form and produce words is endless. Language should just be a part of someone’s personality, as common as his or her shyness or boldness in behavior. Someone’s dialect, shouldn’t decipher who he or she is as a person, but should give a person as idea of who he or she is culturely and ethnically. In Hairston’s essay she expresses her strong belief in multiculturism in a classroom. I agree with her idea of everyone sharing their writing and comparing cultures and backgrounds. After you learn to speak, you learn to read then you learn to write. I think writing has a lot to do with the way you speak and if you speak different from your peers, the writing you produce will mimic that and give students another way to understand your ethnic background and culture. I responded to Hairst...
As a writer, my greatest strength is to layout the essay as introduction, body and conclusion and especially thesis. In EAP, I was taught carefully in this regard, the construction of introduction, a thesis is the main factor because it is the main point of the essay. However, arranging ideas and put them into sentences are not my strong. For example, in the essay, there were a lot of ideas and arguments that I collected and I put them randomly in paragraph...
“Man is an animal that lives in language as a fish lives in water and so written communication is just one of the ways that man can survive through” (English scholar Annie Dillard). Writing is a skill to give information. Like all skills, it is not inborn and so it needs to be learnt. To give information you need good communication skills including the ability to write simply, clearly and concisely (Harris & Cunningham, 1996).
In the past, I used to start writing an essay without writing an outline. I even did not brainstorm before I began to write. As a result, my essays were undoubtedly messy and disorganized. For instance, after I finished writing my Paper 2, I asked my professor for suggestions. He advised me to rearrange the order of paragraphs since my essay was disorganized and disordered. At that moment, I finally realized that if I did not plan out what I was going to write, my essay would be less likely to be logical because outline is like a base and foundation of an article. Hence, I started writing an outline from then on. For example, I nowadays would like to write my thesis statement down first. After that, I will briefly write down what I will talk about in body paragraphs. After using pre-writing skills and techniques, I notice that my essays are much more organized; and thus, my essays are no...
Academic writing and professional writing are very important in an engineering student’s life. Students fail in their career because of limited proficiency in writing skills. It is very important for an engineering student to express what he knows in his exam paper to prove his technical knowledge and expertise. Students miss on good abroad chances for career and higher studies because of lack of written communication skill. Engineering English course which is in the first year for students, is based on the LSRW concept. Even though the engineering English gives equal scope for all the four components, still student’s attitude towards writing skills is lethargic and taciturn. It is wrongly etched in the minds of L2 learners that speaking in English alone could help them in their professional life and they can avoid other components of English. “We do not write in order to be understood, we write in order to understand” (Lewis, cited by Scardamalia & Bereiter 1987). The statement is self-explanatory that a student who is competent in writing will surely fare well in his studies and will be able to comprehend his subject well. (c2) According to Scardamalia & Bereiter (1983), “We do not truly own our thoughts or experiences untill we have negotiated it with ourselves and for this writing is the prime medium”(c2). It is important for a student to have competency in writing skill to prove the
Good reading skills are very important in learning languages. Reading improves spelling because as students learn to sound out letters and words, spelling comes easier. It helps to expand the vocabulary, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read. Students learn new words as they read and put them in their mind for later use. . They also unconsciously absorb the information about things like how to structure the sentences, how words are used in different contexts, and it gives a better understanding of the word usage and definitions than the cold facts of a dictionary. It improves a person’s vocabulary and knowledge without the person even knowing it. Even if students do not understand every word, they will hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments and detect implications. Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. Krashen (2004) found that reading is extremely important in learning English, since it is the only way to “become a good reader, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammar” and the only way to “become a good speller”.
The process of learning and teaching is continuously affected by many different factors of different nature among which are learner characteristics, teacher characteristics, teaching materials, methods of teaching. One of the early recognized important factor is the mother tongue positive and negative interference in the learning process of the target language. In the heyday of structural linguistics and pattern practice language teaching methodology which derive insight and justification from linguistic description nothing was more important for them than comparing and contrasting the rules and structures of the mother tongue with that of the target language. If one
Writing proficiency is an obstacle which most students, especially those who should start writing in academic style, can face. However, more difficulties are likely to be faced by international students in the UK, who have to succeed in achieving two main aims; the first one concerns the ability to understand what might be the requirements that they should fulfil. Secondly, how they manage to express their ideas through the UK academic procedure. In fact, the cultural factor plays a pivotal role in a student’s progress as regards academic writing, while the UK readers often struggle to understand what non-native speakers try to say in their papers, which probably lead to unsatisfactory assessment. More recently, many studies have carried out to consider what possible justifications of this problem. This paper seeks to discuss whether the overseas students should change their attitude in academic writing using the UK pattern through evaluating Linn (2009).
This makes it important for the learner to learn a language gradually allowing them to master each word without making major mistakes while using them. This is especially important when considering much language syntax differs from English which making many sentences be forced in the opposite structure. This makes it important 2nd language learners to first take time to learn how to place the words which would then translate to the right meaning. Failing to understand the word and grammar arrangement can lead to major complications and result in the learner having bad experiencing dealing with native speakers which can result in serious complications (Halliday 1970).
The topic of this study was Difficulties in Academic Writing: From the perspective of king Saud University post graduate students. The result of this study is that it is difficult for students to write on their own. Students are unable to make an outline before writing drafts and it is also difficult for them to distinguish between written and spoken English. According to researcher “students are unaware of skills which are needed for successful writing”. All these drawbacks affect their writing