Essay about the “Process Approach to Writing”

The process writing is a comparatively new method of writing, which is a part of process pedagogy. In contrast to usual writing centered on the final result the process writing centers on the process itself. So, we can state that usual writing is a product-based writing while the process writing is process-centered one. For many years all teachers’ assistance in the writing process was reduced to simple analyzing of the ready papers and commenting on the results of the work. The process pedagogy assumes that writing is something that can and should be taught and writing skills can be developed. The process writing centers on the open dialog between a writer and a teacher assuming that thoughts are changed and developed in the process of writing and final variant can differ a lot from the first draft or outline. In the process writing students work on several drafts or separate pieces of work before it’s accomplished. The teacher evaluates each draft or revision and gives recommendations about the improvements of the writing style in general and exact task in particular. Writing as a process is regarded as a sum of several steps, united together in one process. These steps or stages of the writing process usually include prewriting, composing, revising, editing and publishing.

Now I would like to center on the stages of the process writing giving their descriptions, meaning and purposes.

Prewriting stage includes collecting the information necessary for writing the paper, defining the purpose of writing and most suitable form and style. Brainstorming, collecting information, reading, discussing, studying data are usually performed during this stage. The main purpose of this stage is to formulate the main purpose of writing, to choose the most suitable form and style of writing and to decide on the sources to be used for writing.

Composing stage includes the process of writing itself when students put their ideas on paper. They don’t have to be neat on this stage, as there can be several drafts. Reading aloud for yourself or for the audience and discussing in groups are also performed on this stage as all these activities can give additional ideas for writing and change already written. The main purpose of this stage is to make students put their ideas on paper. Knowing that the variant is not final and corrections and revisions are possible, students can act without fear of punishment and become more creative and feel less fear for the writing process in general. The number of drafts can be different for different groups and even for different students. After all necessary drafts are written, read and discussed and necessary comments are put down it becomes possible to pass to the next stage, which is called revising.

Revising stage consists of revisions and rewritings of the drafts taking into account all commentaries, changes and corrections. Revising is considered sometimes the core of the writing process. This stage is very important to process writing as main ideas of the paper can be changed and revised on this stage. More attention to main ideas is usually paid on this stage. Correction of minor spelling mistakes and proofreading is referred to the next stage called editing. The purpose of this stage is to evaluate critically main ideas of the paper and change them if necessary. On this stage students can share their drafts with other students in order to get their feedback and take into account their remarks. The purpose of this stage is to create logically complete paper where all the commentaries, editorial remarks and new ideas are taken into account.

After revising stage is completed it’s possible to pass to the next stage called editing. The purpose of this stage is checking the essay for any kind of mistakes and correcting them. Editing includes several steps. They are grammar check, spelling check, style and organization check. Spell checking and proofreading should be paid special attention to on this stage. Another important steps performed on this stage include checking up the logical structure of the paper. It’s necessary to make sure that all components of the paper, such as introduction, body of the paper and conclusion are present. Reading aloud can be very useful on this stage as listening to the paper you can find things you’ve missed while reading it.

Publishing is the last stage of the writing process. The main purpose of the step is to prepare their work to sharing with the audience. On this stage you produce the final copy of your work and get ready to share it with others.

Each of the stages can consist of several types of activities. For example, prewriting can include brainstorming, diagramming, outlining; writing can include plan writing, writing drafts, writing separate parts of the essay, peer and teacher commentaries; rewriting includes revisions. What is notable about the process writing, is the fact that steps of writing don’t make a linear structure and don’t follow each other in direct order. Two or more subprocesses can make a circle, repeated for the necessary amount of time.

References

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