The Concept of Writing
These subtitle explains the basic definition of writing and types of writing proposed by experts on the field.
Writing was derived from the word ‘write’. In Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary the word ‘write’ is allotted : (1) make letters or numbers on a surface, especially with a pen or pencil on paper (2) to put information, a message of good wishes. In a letter and send it to somebody (3) to produce something in written form so that people can read, perform or use it,etc. It means that writing is an activity that people doing in sheet of paper and pen in making information for another people surrounding or in the world.
The definition of writing was stated by some experts. Sanggam Siahaan says that, writing is a psychological activity of the language user to put information in written text. It is realized by writers’ ability to apply the rules of the language she or he is writing to transfer the information she or he has in her or his mind to her or his to her or his readers. So writing is an activity of someone who writes information or gives information to the other people or readers.
On the other hands, Dorothy E Zemach and Carlos Islam, states that writing is an important form of communication in day-to-day life, but it is especially important in high school and college. It means that writing is tool to communication in our life and writing is one of the difficult skills in English lesson. It is caused by the students, it is challenging to find ideas to include in their writing and each culture has its own style for organizing academic writing.
Another definition of writing was also defined by Nathan L. Mertens, he states that writing is a complex and cognitively demanding activity. It could not be performance as a sequence of discrete steps, it requires the simultaneous combination of several strategies and applications of various mental resources.
Types of Writing
However, there are many kinds of written product which is used for writing. More ever, it is usually described namely in one object, there are five types of writing, as follows :
Descriptive
Descriptive writing is about sensory experience how something looks, sounds, tastes. It means that the writer described that picture by presenting specific details in an organized way ( as viewed from right to left, or back to front, or top to bottom, etc).
Descriptive writing requires the used specific details and vocabulary that carries a strong meaning. Moreover, descriptive usually described merely in one object like a person, place, or thing. Moreover, it usually describes merely in one object.
Persuasive
It is a verbal art that the purpose is to make a people do something that the writer said at this time or the future. It means that persuasive is sentences or paragraph that giving the writer’s opinion on the topic and trying to get the reader to agree with it.
Ex-positive
Ex-positive writing explains that how things work-an internal combustion engine. Ideas-a theory of economics. Fact of everyday life-how many people get divorced.
But whatever its subject, exposition reveals what a particular mind thinks or knows or believes. It means that exposition is constructed logically. It organizes around cause or effect, true or false, less or more, positive or negative, general or particular, assertion or denial. It includes editorials, essays and informative and instructional material.
Argumentative
Argumentative is used in persuading and convincing. Argumentative is often combined with exposition. Argumentative is used to make a case or to prove or disprove a statement or proposition. It means that argumentation is illustrates that consists of several statements to be obtained the point of view. In addition, sometimes to lead logically to a general conclusion by a series of facts.
Narrative
Narrative is a meaningful sequence of events told in words. It is sequential in that the events are ordered, not merely random. It means that, narrative writing is the way to present a story that consists of events that happen one after the other. The story that you tell can be true or fictional. Any time you relate actions that take place over a period of time you are writing a narrative.
The researcher concluded that, narrative was a paragraph in which a writer recounts an event to their readers. It could be about biographies, autobiographies, historical event, instructions and processes. It was case as a product which are ordered, and are not merely random. In this case as a product of writing, the text functions to recount what is being narrated to the readers.
Based on the above quotations, the types of writing was divided into some types namely description, argumentation, narration and exposition. Every types have the characteristic it self and also different one another.
Stages of Writing
Writing was the one of four basic skills in English which in it implementing needed several strategies. Some linguistics propose some strategies in writing.
According to Harmer the writing strategy and the writing process were categorized identically. It has four elements :
Planning –> drafting –> editing –> final draft
Planning
Before starting to write, the writer decides what they are going to write. In this case, the writers should be thought about three main issues. The first is they have to consider the purpose of their writing, including the information that they will choose to construct their writing. Secondly, the writer has to think of the audience who read their writing. For example, it is formal or informal writing. Thirdly, the writer has to consider the content structure of their writing. It is about how to sequence the facts, ideas, or arguments which they have decided to include.
Drafting
The first action in making a piece of writing is drafting. It should be arranged after planning. In others words, the writer starts to write their ideas based on their planning before. It will be the first version of writing that produced by the writer.
Editing and Revising
The writer needs to correct the draft which they have produced. Perhaps the other of the information in the text is not clear. The content of the text may be equivocated or confused so that it hard to be understood by the reader. Consequently, the writer has to make an editing that wise for changing in correct writing. In other words, the writer revises her/his writing to make appropriate revisions.
Final Draft
After the writer edited their draft, making the changes what they consider to be necessary, they produce their final draft. It considerably different from both the original plan and the first draft, because it has changed in the editing process. It becomes the final version that will be read by the audience.
From the explanation above, it could be inferred that the writing strategy involves rewriting, while writing and post writing. Rewriting was an assent step in writing process. It is relevant to the asserting the main idea of writing, the content structure of writing and brainstorming. Furthermore, while writing is process of drafting. It was the implementation of rewriting that needed the real action of writing such as developing the main idea. In addition, the post writing was the revising process like verity the ideas, scratch out the irrelevant information, find out the grammatical errors and change the text order or make some additions.
Aspects of Writing
A good writing needed a sustained element such as cohesion, coherence, collocation and register. Therefore, without those elements a good will not be produced.
Cohesion and Coherence
Cohesion is one of the elements of writing. According to the Eli Hinkel says, that cohesion refers to the connectivity of ideas in discourse and sentence to one other in a text, thus creating the flow of information in a unified way. In additional, in the textbooks on writing and composition, cohesion can also refer to the ways of connecting sentences and paragraphs into a unified whole. The term of coherence is commonly defined as frequently achieved by way in which a writer sequences information, and this bring us right back to the issue of genre and text construction. Coherence is happen when the supporting sentences are ordered according to a principle.
Based on quotations above, the researcher assumed that cohesion is an important aspect within composing sentence. Its function is to harmonize the sentence in order that it is able to be read and it can be inferred that coherence plays a crucial role in making a paragraph well. It becomes a connectivity between the topic sentence and supporting sentence in the paragraph.
Collocation
According to the Feliciti and Michael, they say that collocation is a natural combination of word; it refers to the way English word are closely associate with each other. It means that collocation is a pair or group or word those are often used together. These combinations sound natural to native speakers, but English students have to make a special effort to learn them because they are difficult to guess. Some combinations just sound wrong to native speakers of English. For example, the adjective fast collates with cars, but not with a glance.
Register
The last aspect of writing is register. Jeremy states that register is a vocabulary to show an appropriate language that is used in a certain situation in communication with a particular group of people. It could be inferred register refers to the choice of word which would be used to communicating whether formal or informal situation based on the group of people.
According to the Martin said that, the nation of register helps to clarify the inter relationship of language with context by handling it under three basics headline as follows:
- Field is refers to the activity itself ( subject matter: chemistry, linguistics, music).
- Tenor is refers to the kind of social relationship enacted on or by the text (sometimes referred to as style, e.g formal, informal, intimate).
- Mode is communication that entail immediate contact and those that allow for deferred contact between participants (medium of the language activity, spoken, written, twitter).
It means that register is using three basic for heading conversation in daily activity.
The Measurement of Writing
Writing skill involved the mastery of all elements in target language such as grammar, content, vocabulary, organization and mechanics. It involves complex process. There are criteria of measurement in writing skill, they are:
Categories for Evaluating Writing
|
Writing Ability |
Score |
Categories |
Indicator |
|
Content |
30-27
26-22
21-17
16-13 |
Excellent
High
Average
Low |
The student really understand the content of writing. Their writing are really wide, and complete. It is very suitable with the title. The student can understand the content of writing. Their writing are wide, complete and suitable with the title but less detail. The student less understand the content. Their writing are less complete, and less detail. The students do not understand to content of writing. |
|
Organization |
20-18
17-14
13-10
9-7 |
Excellent
High
Average
Low |
Writing really organized and neat. It is really clear, much ideas, and the sequence is very logic. Writing is organized, neat, clear, much ideas, and the sequence is logic. Writing is less organized and neat, it is less clear, less ideas, and the sequence is less logic. The sequence in not logic. |
|
Vocabulary |
20-18
17-14
13-10
9-7 |
Excellent
High
Average
Low |
Thestudents have many vocabularies. They use the words very effective and appropriately. The students have good vocabularies, use the words effectively and appropriately. The student have little vocabulary, the words less effective and less appropriate. The student do not master the words and their writing like translation. |
|
Grammar |
25-22
21-18
17-11 10-5 |
Excellent
High
Average Low |
The student can master the grammatical well. The student uses and arranges the sentence simply. The students are difficult in using and arranging the simple sentence. The student do not master the grammatical in their writing. |
|
Mechanics |
5
4
3
2 |
Excellent
High
Average
Low |
The student can master the mechanics in writing. The student master the mechanics in writing. The student less master the mechanics in writing and many mistakes. The student do not master the mechanics in writing and their writing are difficult to read.[16] |
Criteria of Assessment :
35 ≤ 48 = Failed
48 ≤ 61 = Poor
61 ≤ 70 = Fair
71 ≤ 85 = Good
85 ≤ 100 = Excellence
The Concept of Blog
Weblogs is one of the appropriate media and easy for students to journal their learning processes, if the students use this technology appropriately it has potentials of facility reflective learning.
Weblogs environments could promote reflective actives in learners since they lengthen the distance between learners and the content to be learned. However the used of weblogs in English Writing is relatively recent and our understanding of impact of this technology in supporting reflection is incomplete.
According to the Zhang said that, a weblogs or blog is a web-based space for writing where all the writing and editing of information is managed through a web browser and is immediately and publicly available on the internet. It means that blog is one of the technology which could be used for every people, they could write and also publish in the internet.
On the other hand, Jones said that Blog is a personal online diary in which an individual submits his/her entries and occasionally gets comments from outsiders. It means that blog is personal online that she or he could write and directly she or he could submit their written in their personal journal and someone who red the written they could leave the page with a comment for the writer.
Blog is different from list serves, discussion board, or Wikis. In the blog are controlled and owned by the blogger and are primly centered on and identified with their author or authors themselves, rather than organizes around specific topics. It means that someone who has blog they can control, or publish their writer depend on the blogger freely.
From the explanation above the researcher concluded, that blog was a contraction of the words web log. Blog usually provided commentary or information on particular issue, event and topic. In some case blog could be about particular person, an online, public, personal diary. A blog usually maintained by a single person or a small group of contributors. And also the visitor or the participants of the blog could give comment on the entries made or respond to comments made by the visitors. Blog also primarily text but can also be the format of photos or other images, sounds / musics, or films.
Types of Blog
However, there are many kinds of blogging product which is used for writing, below are some basic types of blogs :
Personal blogs.
Personal blogs share thought, original art, poems, writing or photography. It can be tricky to create a blog of personal anecdotes that will draw followers beyond your friends and family. If wide readership is a goal for you, choose your anecdotes carefully. There are universal experiences that everyone can relate to: love, loss, embarrassment, etc. Make sure that your anecdote draws on such themes and that it has a story arc (a beginning, a middle, and an end) and a point.
Business blogs.
Business blogs are created in the voice of the company, as a crucial component of marketing.They can function as direct-sales tool and are outstanding for both messaging and two-way communication as part of a company’s public relation efforts. Blogs are effective and cost-efficient vehicles for small organizations that need to publish in formation for their costumers or members.
Niche/topical blogs
Niche/topical blogs focus on a particular interest. It can be about health, gardening, education, sports, fashion or lifestyle. Name your special interest and you can blog about it. If you are a collector of antiques, a true-mystery fan, a travel addict or just love cooking, there may be a blog in your future. Niche blogs easily attract loyal followers, which contributes to the fun of blogging.
Media-type blogs
Media-type blog share defined by their content. If you enjoy video blogging, then you’re a blogger. If you curate content from other websites, you have a link blog. If you post photos or art sketches on your blog, you are hosting a photo blog or art blog.
Reverse blogs
Reverse blogs are a unique but popular type of blog. Instead of the owner creating content, the content is supplied by the public. A reverse blog has a team who moderate posts, prevent unpleasant interactions and promote slow topics for greater interactivity.
From the explanation above, the researcher concluded that there are five types of blog. In every types also have different function and also advantages and disadvantages. We could choose one of the types above that suitable with used and what blogger wanted to know blogger could open one of the types above.
Theoretical Foundation of Web blogging
Among the top 100 US websites in the term of estimates monthly unique visitors, we no longer only find traditional websites that were established in the 1990s such as yahoo.com, msn.com, ebay.com, Microsoft.com, aol.com, amazon.com, but also websites and platforms such as facebook.com, youtube.com, wikipedia.com, myspace.com, blogspots.com, wordpress.com, blogger.com, etc. It means that there are many of products that we can open in the internet, one of them maybe we ever opened. All the product it can be useful for the visitor.
World Wide Web, namely Web 1.0 as a tool for thought, Web 2.0 as a medium for human communication and Web 3.0 technologies as networked digital technologies that support human co-operation. This means that we distinguish between a cognitive Web, a communicative Web, and a cooperative Web. The discussion in part 2 of this paper has shown that when people speak of Social Software or Web 2.0, what they normally mean is that the World Wide Web is today dominated by communication and co-operation (including community-formation).
In order to distinguish between these two aspects, we have suggested the distinction between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. Hypertext is a Web 1.0 technology, blogs and Web-based discussion boards are Web 2.0 technologies, wikis are Web 3.0 technologies. Web 1.0 is based on an understanding of the social Web 2.0 adds the Weberian idea of communication, Web 3.0 the Marxian idea of collective co-operative production and Tönnies’ idea of communities. [25]
The researcher argued that, the co-operation in mainly a mere potential of the contemporary Web. Web 3.0 expands the understanding of the social it was a system of online collaboration that enables the formation of virtual communities co-operative knowledge, and cooperative labour.
Advantages of Blog
In every technologies, it has advantages, the advantages of using a blog in language teaching especially in writing can be divided into the following categories, as follows:
The most appealing aspect of using a blog is the ease of use. Blogs users do not need to know how the blog is designed or programmed. Most blog hosting websites allow blog users to choose the template and publish their blogs within seconds. The user-friendly design attracts user to post information or maintain their blogs on the content basis.
Discussion
A blog is the space to jump-start class discussion by asking students to post questions or discussion before class. Or students might be asked to follow up and unfinished in class discussion. The teacher can foster class discussion and interaction.
Record
The students can submit their paper, assignments or notes on their blogs. They can observe their writing over time. Teachers’ handouts and comments can be viewed by all the students. The handouts can be read before or after the classes. Students do not need to worry about missing teachers’ notes in the class, and they can focus on the content instead of immediately copying down teacher’s notes from the black or white board.
A blog provides a color code system of correction. When correcting students’ assignments, a teacher can quickly alter the color of particular mistake. Also, teachers can correct students’ writing at school or home as long as they can access the Internet. They do not need to carry a heavy bag of students’ compositions to school or home.
Anytime and anywhere accessibility was one of the most common advantages of the blog that most of the participants reported. They found the blog accessible through their computers, laptops, iPods, and iPhones on a basis.
Alternative Source.
The participants found the blogging activity to be an alternative source of getting different or easier solutions to the problems they attempted to solve.
From the explanation above, the researcher concluded that there ware six of advantages of blog. How we used the blog was depending on the blogger it self. When we known about the advantages of using blog we would use the blog effectively.
The Implication of Blog in Teaching Writing
Blog are similar in format journal or diary entries. Depending on how blog are used, they can have a number of benefits, both academically and socially, for students with learning disability. In the instance of blog, the blogger or the students can post assignments, classroom notes, video lecturer and other classroom material on their blog. Many teachers also used blog as the facilitate class discussion or for writing assignments. For the students a classroom discussions blog can serve a number of purposes.
According to the Ghada Awada said, that blog is a good tool for fuse technology and writing inside and outside the classroom. It is because their format is similar to a personal diary, where recounting interesting experiences and events is prevalent, blogs provide an arena where self expression and creativity are boosted. Its connections to other bloggers establish the same peer-group relationships found in the real world. Hence, blog is one of the media for improving students writing with a strength and the effectiveness in using blog as they can motivate the students writing. Write with a computer that connect to the internet can increase the number of students writing, and also can improve the competence of students writing. Because when the students write on the blog they can express their written , feeling, their experience which is creative and innovative freely. For some teachers also use educational blog software to create individual students blog, allowing teacher complete control over content. This ensure that students blogs do not become places for inappropriate comments and bullying. If your child with LD creates their own blog separate from school, be mind of issues of internet safety and appropriate online behavior.
The researcher concluded that, a personal blog could be a great way of expressing thoughts and feelings and encouraging writing. Because journal writing, creative writing and personal storytelling tend to be high interest, they might help encourage reluctant or struggling writers to write more frequently. Indeed a recent study has shown that teen bloggers tend to write more often (both online or off) then teenagers without blogs. Additionally, the act of telling stories help improve language and writing skill. So, blog writing can potentially help students with LD to become stronger writers. The act of writing a blog also means students are writing for an audience, which can be motivating.