In this article you will read, how to develop writing skills.
LEARNING TO WRITE BY WRITING
It is increasingly
recognized that grammatical knowledge takes on its meaning when it is linked to
writing situations encountered at school and throughout life. However, in
Quebec, grammar is commonly taught on the margins of text writing; this is the observation
to which Suzanne-G arrived . Chartrand (Université Laval) at the end of the
research ÉLEF ( State of the teaching of French ), which she directed from 2008
to 2011. A first article summarizes the highlights of this study. Will follow,
in a second article to appear in January, the suggestion of tracks for a
teaching of the revision-correction of texts favoring the integration of
grammatical knowledge.
Learning to write continues at CEGEP and even after; to write
genres of texts properly, you must know their conventions: these principles,
familiar to Correspondence readers , are back in this issue. Thus, Roselyne
Lampron and Christiane Blaser (University of Sherbrooke) report two approaches
to the development of writing skills beyond high school. These are the Writing
Across the Curriculum movements , which encourage students to systematically
reformulate, for their personal benefit, the concepts studied in all their
courses, and Writing In the Disciplines, in which we explicitly teach the characteristics
of the text genres used in the curriculum. In her column, Julie Roberge (cégep
Marie-Victorin) chose to list a book on the concept of gender and its
applications in didactics, thus complementing the panorama drawn up by our
colleagues from Sherbrooke.
A PLAN, NOT A RECIPE
The pros of writing admit it sometimes, at a good distance from
chaste ears: if they write plans first, it is to better get away from them.
What good is it then to encourage students to follow detailed plans faithfully,
as is often the case in college? In fact, textual planning is a process that
evolves from elementary school to university and even after, so that the
strategies that underpin it differ according to skill levels and communication
situations. In the first of four articles on the writing process, Hélène
Paradis (Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier) describes strategies specific to
beginners and experts, and explains why the plan cannot be taught as a single
recipe.
CORRECTING, YES BUT ...
We legitimately expect that a certification evaluation like the
Uniform French Test will sanction all linguistic errors; but when the objective
is to stimulate learning during training, selective correction is an avenue to
consider. This is particularly the case in second language courses, since
learners are not able to process all the information contained in an exhaustive
correction. Adopting this point of view, Danielle Guénette and Gladys Jean
(UQAM) question the use of a single grid in FSL classes and propose criteria to
determine the types of errors that learners would be able to correct. .
Evaluating writing by targeting strategic elements is also the
Commando's proposal for promoting French in specific training. Led by Renaud
Bellemare (Ahuntsic College), this multidisciplinary working group has
developed an evaluation grid which allows for a global judgment on the quality
of the written language, taking into account the clarity of communication,
vocabulary and standards. relating to scientific writings. Without ignoring the
spelling and grammatical code, the approach envisaged recommends a selective
sanction for errors based on disciplinary requirements.
GOOD USE OF THE DICTIONARY
“Do you need a word? Your name is Robert, he has it, ”Fred
Pellerin tells us in a nice advertisement for Le Petit Robert 2013. If only
life were that simple! As it is not, students - especially in second language -
need support to explore the resources of the dictionary. Agnès Baron and
Juliane Bertrand (language teachers at UQAM) suggest didactic interventions
favoring the appropriate use of the monolingual dictionary in FSL courses.
To know more, click here.
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