LET'S WRITE AS HABIT!

A General Concept of Writing 

By Agustinus Marjun

    English is a means of communication either in spoken and written. The ability of communicating is the ability of understanding and producing texts in spoken and written which involving four skills consisting of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The four skills are used to perceive or discourse in society. There are two forms of language, spoken and written form. The spoken form comes first. It can exist freely without writing, whereas the written form has never been known to exist without speech. We start learning how to use spoken language since we were still a kid. At that time, we just listened to other persons’ speech and tried to imitate them. By doing it everyday it becomes easier to communicate using the spoken language. On the contrary, written language is more difficult to be learned. In writing, we need to pay attention to a lot of things. Some of those things are vocabulary, grammar and the arrangement of sentences we make. 

When the word writing is mentioned, may be some people think that writing as the act of picking up a pencil and forming letters either by printing or writing them in cursive.The way we choose the right words is not enough to send a message to other people. We also need the right structure of words. It is known as Grammar. By looking at its definition we will get the figure of what grammar is and how it works. According to Hornby in Oxford advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1989:542), grammar is defined as rules for forming words and combining them into sentences. While Harman in Ulfa (2000:4) says that grammar is the study of words and their function. Moreover, Robert in Aswadi (2002:11) states that grammar is an analytical and analogical study of sentences. Still in Aswadi, Robert says that grammar is the total set of signals by which a given language expresses its meaning or the total structure of a language. In hence, grammar is an analytical and analogical study for forming words and combining them into sentences to express its meaning or the total structure of a language. Verb as part of tenses in grammar is important. It contains some information. It tells an event and the time it happens, whether it happened in the past, at present or in the future. Willis (1981:6) says that a verb gives an indication of the time of occurrence of the action or state of being. When we use the right verbs, it doesn’t mean that the sentences we write will be good sentences. The verbs should be combined in a good order with other words in the sentences. For example, it is better to write “the benefit of doing it is to make my body healthy” rather than “the benefit of doing it is make health my body". 

Writing is not something which is natural to humans. It is the most complex skill to be developed. In tone with it Finochiaro (1974:86) states that writing skill needs some practices done step by step. It means that to really able to write is not an easy job, it takes time. The practices will be worthless if they do not have a motivation to write, as Tidyman (1959:66) says that the important thing in writing is attitude-willingness to write. The purpose of writing is to give some information to other people by write it down. That is why writing is so important in the society. Nilson (1984:134) says that writing is a skill which has been developed in civilized society to pass on knowledge or messages. Furthermore he (1996:134) says that writing as one of the language skills has given an important contribution to human. Thus, writing is the most complex skill to show the relationship of ideas which needs the willingness to write and some practices done step by step to pass on knowledge or messages. Writing activity needs a process by which people comprehend what they have trough seen. So, writing is one way to speak what is on our mind. It involves more than just producing words and sentences. To produce a piece of writing, we should be able to write a connected series of words and sentences which are grammatically and  logically linked. If we choose the right words and in our sentences then the kind of purpose we have in our mind will suit the intended readers. 

Furthermore, There are five components of writing, namely:

1. Content

   Content is the substance of writing. It is the expression of ideas, which the writer needs to design her writing, such as to carry her thought to the reader head effectively. The content will be acceptable to the reader if it is constructed so well.

2. The language use

   To compose the specific writing purpose especially persuasive composition, we should determine the types language we use. The writer should be able to use effective sentence patterns. In other words,

   types, the length and the variety of sentences should be applied in writing article.

3. The vocabulary use

    Vocabulary is the special set of words in a particular kind of business worth. A strong vocabulary is an important tool of effective communication. The more words you know the more clearly you will be able to express yourself.

4. The organization

   One very common problem in longer composition is weak paragraph ideas organization. To make readers understand the content of writing, it will be difficult without well organization. We have to collect our information in well-organized way. We should decide which scheme use for ordering the main point. We have to realize that the best order is the one that makes our topic clearer and to be understood.

5. Mechanics

  In all writing refers to the use of punctuation, capital letter, and abbreviations. In a scientific or technical report, you pay special attention to mechanics in order to express your thoughts more precisely.

It is important for us to know the nature of writing. To be good writing the we should practice to write and improving vocabulary. The writer details the stages of writing process as follows:

PRE-WRITING

Pre-writing is the time to gather information, experiment with ideas and to plot a course. It is time for the students to get ready to write, and it is time to think where they are going. It is all about "THINK AND DECIDE", namely:

·      Make sure you understand your assignment.

·      Decide on a topic to write about.

·      Consider who will read your work.

·      Brainstorm ideas about the subject. 

DRAFTING

This is the process that most of people think of as writing. During this stage, one translate his though and ideas into sentences and paragraph. 

·    Put the information you researched into your own words.

·    Write sentences and paragraphs even if they are not perfect.

·    Read what you have written and judge if it says what you mean.

·    Write some more.

·    Read it again.

·    Write some more.

·    Read it again.

·    Write until you have said everything you want to say about the topic.

REVISING 

    During the process of revision, the writer expands ideas, clarifies meaning and reorganizes information (MAKE IT BETTER).

·    Read what you have written again.

·    Rearrange words, sentences or paragraphs.

·    Take out or add parts.

·    Do more research if you think you should.

·    Replace overused or unclear words.

·    Read your writing aloud to be sure it flows smoothly.

EDITING

   The writer focuses on the conventions of language, spelling, punctuation, syntax, structure are analysed and corrected (MAKE IT CORRECT).

·    Be sure all sentences are complete.

·    Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

·    Change words that are not used correctly or are unclear and make sure you are using the appropriate Style formatting. 

PUBLISHING

   The writer completes her work. It can a variety of form: individually books, class books, news letters, literary magazines and so on. But not all pieces of writing need to be presented in a polished form.

Conclusion

   Writing is a process of creating, organizing, writing and polishing. In the first step of the process, you create ideas. In the second step, you organize the ideas, in the third step, you write a rough draft, in the final step; you polish your rough draft by editing it and making revisions. Writing itself is considered as a means of communication. Communication in writing tends to involve a thinking process. Writing, particularly academic writing is not easy. It takes study and practice to develop this skill. For both native speaker and new learners of English, it is important to note that writing is a process, not a product. Thus, let's make it as habit.

References

Broughton, et al. (2003). Teaching English as a Foreign Language. New York: Routledge

Brown, H. Douglas.1980. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New

     Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Finochiaro, Mary. 1974. English as A Second Language from Theory to Practice. New York: Regent Publishing Company.

Frank, Marcella. 1972. Modern English. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Halliday, M. A. K.2004. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Oxford University Press

Hornby, A. S. 1989. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press.

KU Writing Center (2018) Writing Process. Retrieved on October, 28 2020, Available at https://writing.ku.edu/writing-process.

Martin, J. R and David Rose. 2003. Working with Discourse. London: Continuum

Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English Language teaching. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Tlnetkids (2015) The Writing process Step 5. Retrieved on October, 28 2020, Available at https://tlnet-kids.com/2015/04/22/the-writing-process-step-5/. 

West, C. (2008). Perfect Written English. Britain: Random House Books.