Most students do not like doing writing assignment. The main reason for students’ dislike of writing is ‘insecurity’. This is caused by a lack of writing education in high school. To help students reduce the emotion insecurity, teachers should follow the writing process which is described below.
Coming to Terms with Reality is the first stage of the whole process, which is to help students to understand their real level of writing skill. Teachers need to give proper feedback in order to let students see their abilities themselves. “At this stage, commenting only on the positive aspects of a student paper will only create a false sense of confidence in the student. Comments on how to improve poor areas in writing both on paper and in person can help students understand just what their writing is in need of ” (Cimcoz, 1999). Afterwards, teachers should be able to start the next step, which is teaching students to build confidence in improving writing skill.
Teachers become very important to students as reassurance at the second stage. Teachers need to deliver messages such as ‘Nothing is impossible, just like improving your writing’.
The longest step in the whole process is motivation. Teachers need to be patient when making students practicing. Starting at easy task, teachers must then strengthen the level of difficulty when giving out the next task. The point is not to raise the gap between two tasks too wide; otherwise the students may lose their confidence.
Eventually, students prepare to start working on their first essays. Some of them might still make mistakes because of nerves. Teachers need to look for each good sentence, single word, and good organization or idea for each article. Letting students know that not everyone has the talent to become a writer is necessary. People who do not have good writing abilities might be good in other ways.
Cimcoz, Y. (1999). Teaching ESL/EFL Students to Write Better. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. V,...