Review

Overview of L2 Writing

1. Writing is a __________________ skill.

secondary

productive

receptive

passive

2. Writing should be taught for its own sake in the foreign language classroom because:

it is a prevalent form of communication in real life as well.

it may be helpful for students cognitively to have more time to plan their output and review what they want to say.

writing, especially creative assignments, may lead to higher levels of motivation in the students.

all of the above

3. Which of these statements is NOT true?

L1 writing skills will transfer to L2 writing skills among literate adult populations.

L2 writing needs to be built up in activity sets to develop sub-skills necessary for writing.

L2 writing can serve the same wide range of communicative functions as L1 writing.

L2 writing is a complex process, whereby learners have to pull together their knowledge of L2 lexicon, grammar, among other aspects of language.

In your last language class, how often did students write for the sake of learning to write and how often did students write in order to practice vocabulary or grammar?
Look at a chapter in your current textbook and identify how writing is taught. Do the activities primarily teach "writing" as a support skill or as expressive communication (or a mixture of both)?
Have you ever included group-writing projects in your teaching? What was the learners' experience with that activity? How did you set up the task and how did you evaluate the group's work?
What would be your policy if your beginning language learners sought out native (or more advanced) speakers to help them improve their essay? Would you approve of their seeking out outside help? Why?

Discuss your answers to these questions with a small group of your peers.