Longman Guide Chapter 2: "The Writing Process"

Main Points:

Contrary to what was once believed, writing is not linear. Writing is made up of four stages, planning, drafting, revising and editing or proofreading. Planning is when the writer begins to gather information and generate ideas for their writing project. Drafting is when the writer begins to develop the intention behind their text and writes a draft. Revising is when the writer makes changes to the organization or structure of the text in order to clarify his/her points. Proofreading or editing is where the writer fixes the mechanics of the essay and focuses on grammar and spelling. These stages are recursive, meaning that writers do work in each phase multiple times while writing a piece and do not work in these stages all at once or in order.

Another point that is emphasized in the chapter is that writing tutors must develop an understanding of the writing process and what goes on in each stage. They must then be able to help writers in these different stages while not creating clones of themselves, as what has worked for them may not work for another student. The chapter also talks about the concept of ownership and states that students must develop a sense of their text belonging to them. This is hindered by the fact that they may not care about academic writing.

What I got:

The main thing that I pulled from this chapter is that writing is a way to learn. You don’t just learn to write when you’re writing, you learn to think about ideas and not simply memorize them to report back on a simple test. This makes writing part of the learning process rather than just an end. Another thing that I found interesting was the techniques listed to help people in the different stages of the writing process.

Questions:

How do I know when a technique will work for a specific student? What types of learners work with the different methods?

How do I recognize what stage of the writing process a student is in? Sometimes they come in with drafts but talk like they are still prewriting. Usually they want editing when it’s obvious they need some work revising or drafting, so how do I recognize these things and then bring them to the writer’s attention?

What a beginning tutor might need:

This chapter provides a beginning tutor with an understanding of the writing process and introduces the concept of ownership.

Good For:

This chapter provides a lot of information that is useful for a beginning tutor, but does not provide examples or ways to use different techniques. The history related to teaching composition may not interest those who are just starting to tutor, as we have mostly been taught using process-oriented methods, and probably won’t need to be convinced that it is the best way.