Controlled Writing

Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Batu Lintang

Teaching Writing Skills in the Primary ESL Classroom

(TSL 3073)

Techniques in Teaching Writing

Prepared by:Chai Kar NiNg Pui Mun

Ting Ming ChuoWinnie Tan Lee Ching

Techniques in Using Controlled Writing

What is Controlled Writing?

• The writing your students do for which a great deal of the content and form is supplied for them.

• Opposite of free writing because a model is given to the students to follow.

Advantages• For students:

Provide students with focused practice in getting words down on paper and in concentrating on one or two problems at a time.

• For teachers:It is easier to mark and much less time-

consuming.

5 Types of Controlled Writing1. Controlled Composition

2. Question and Answer

3. Guided Composition

4. Sentence Combining

5. Parallel Writing

Controlled Composition• When students write a controlled

composition exercise, they are given a passage to work with.

• Focuses the students’ attention on specific features of the written language.

• Good method of reinforcing grammar, vocabulary and syntax in context.

• Examples:

Rewrite a passage describing a man to tell the reader about two men, making only the necessary singular/plural changes.

Rewrite a present tense passage in the past or a passage of direct speech in indirect speech.

Question and Answer

• Students are not given the actual text that they will write; rather, they are given a series of questions, the answers to which form a text.

• Uses a question and answer format allows students a little more freedom in structuring sentences.

• Example:

Students write a paragraph that describes the daily routine of James by answering the following questions in complete sentences:

When does James get up?What does he do first?What does he do next?What does he do then?When does he go to work?Is the beginning of his day leisurely or very busy?

Guided Composition• It is an extension of controlled composition

but it is less controlled that controlled composition.

• It gives students some but not all of the content and form of the sentences they will use.

• The students’ finished products will be similar but not exactly alike.

• Example:Students are given a first sentence, a last

sentence, an outline to fill out, a series of questions to respond to or information to include in their piece of writing.

• Students are able to discuss, make notes, share findings and plan strategies together before they begin to write.

Sentence Combining• Combining simple sentences into longer

compound or complex sentences.

• Improves the students’ sentences structure, length of sentence and sentence variety.

• Introducing new language structures without going into complicated explanations and employing specialized terminology.

• Example:The train was late.

Students could discover these possibilities for combination:Since the train was late, she…As the train was late, she…

Parallel Writing

• Freest kind of controlled writing.

• Students read and study a passage and then write their own on a similar theme, using as a guide the vocabulary, sentence structure, cohesive devices and organization of the model passage.

• Example:

Students listen or read a textbook dialog a few times. Then, they write down what they heard or read in a narrative form and not the dialog form.Sue said firmly that she was leaving. (Sue: I’m leaving.)

Reference

• Raimes, A. (1983). Techniques in teaching writing. New York: Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data.