William Cope
Nithin Kalorth
Jako Olivier
Ida Brandão
Mitchell PetersMultimodal Literacies MOOC’s Updates
Section 10: Making Meaning by Writing
This update continues to examine written language, this time from the perspective of representing and communicating meaning by writing. We begin by looking at how making meaning in the written mode develops with a discussion of how speaking and writing differ. We then explore alternative approaches to describing how written language works, from the traditional grammar of didactic pedagogy, to Chomsky’s transformational-generative grammar, to Halliday’s functional approach. We end the update with our own Multiliteracies approach, which describes what we call the ‘design elements’ of written texts, and a discussion of the design process.
To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.
Comment Below: How and why is writing different from speaking? What are the implications for literacy teaching and learning?
Make an Update: Find an approach to learning to write that you have encountered, or used, or would like to know more about. Describe and analyse the approach using the concepts introduced in this section.
For my Diploma Dissertation, I audited the writing classes of one of my professors, where she engaged learners in business communication. The module I observed was on writing, and the syllabus involved everything from resume writing and cover letter writing to LinkedIn profile creation and email writing. However, the teacher did not stick to the traditional pedagogic strategies and made in multimodal in all capacities. Throughout the semester, the learners were assessed based on their portfolios and these portfolios were uploaded on Google Drive with viewership rights given to the entire class. So, along with self and teacher assessment, there was also peer-assessment involved. Learners were encouraged to comment on each others' resumes, cover letters, and emails seeking jobs and to suggest ways of making these writings more effective and flawless.
The teacher too gave continued feedback. It all culminated in impromptu job applications for different contexts and I think, because of the open-access culture, learners engaged in all the tasks diligently. There was hardly any below-average performer in the group, and by the end of the semester one could see the individual and group progress made by the team!
I think this approach is very similar to the one we saw in video 10.6 where the Scholar portfolio of learners facilitated a visual and more appealing means of engaging with each others' writings in a classroom.
Of course, writing and speaking are speaking abilities and skills, even though they are both language skills. Writing ability is the ability to express ideas in written form, while speaking is expressing ideas in spoken language.
Of course, writing and speaking are speaking abilities and skills, even though they are both language skills. Writing ability is the ability to express ideas in written form, while speaking is expressing ideas in spoken language.
Of course, writing and speaking are speaking abilities and skills, even though they are both language skills. Writing ability is the ability to express ideas in written form, while speaking is expressing ideas in spoken language.
Of course, writing and speaking are speaking abilities and skills, even though they are both language skills. Writing ability is the ability to express ideas in written form, while speaking is expressing ideas in spoken language.
Of course, writing and speaking are speaking abilities and skills, even though they are both language skills. Writing ability is the ability to express ideas in written form, while speaking is expressing ideas in spoken language.
An aspect of spontaneity stands out as the primary difference. Our speech is uncontrolled and may include repetitions because of this. Writing, in contrast, is a systematic way of expressing ourselves.
Writing is different from speaking in many ways. Writing is about distance and not real time. We can go back and forth to rewrite, edit, remove some words or phrases to make a piece of writing correct in terms of our planned ideas and grammar. On the other hand, speaking happens at the same time of the sender and receiver. It can be full of ungrammatical errors and repetition of words because speakers cannot go back in time to correct them. It can also talk about speaking as linear and writing as multilinear.
I agree with the statement made by Margaret Atwood that A word after a word after a word is power. because I think that learning to read and write is one of the most important skills for sharing and acquiring knowledge. However, we will all agree on the fact that not all people are privileged to learn, particularly those people in unfortunate positions. That being said, I believe that we can be a tool and a way that will help them in the future. According to White (1986:10), writing is the process of expressing ideas, information, knowledge, or experience and understanding the writing to gain knowledge or some information to share and learn. During this course, I learned the different approaches to learning to write. I can say that most of them I am familiar with, such as the traditional grammar that represents writing in a basic way. We all know that morphemes, parts of speech, and syntax are some of their components due to the fact that these are taught in school. Next is the difference between speaking and writing. To sum it up, I learned that while both writing and speaking might have similar purposes of interacting, sharing, and gaining knowledge, they consist of quite huge differences when it comes to structures, concepts, and more. Another one is the process of writing. This topic helped me gain knowledge and a deeper understanding of the proper way to create a research paper, story, paragraphs, and more, which will be a great advantage in my academic life as well as the interaction of social and cognitive in writing, through which I gain insight into its process. An approach to learning to write that I would like to find out more about is the different theories stated by different linguists, such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Halliday.
Reference:
https://www.inc.com/glenn-leibowitz/50-quotes-from-famous-authors-that-will-inspire-yo.html
http://repository.ump.ac.id/5266/3/CHAPTER%20II_NAILATUL%20KHASANAH_BIOLOGI%2715.pdf
As the theorists of language learning state, the best way for learning is through imitation. A good way for writing it works for me is imitation, I mean, modelling the text and strategies