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THE WRITING PROCESS

In the process model, writing is seen as a process to be experienced rather than merely a product to be read and graded (Zemelman & Daniels, 1988). In addition, teachers recognize that writing for a variety of purposes and audiences affects the form, content and tone of the writing. Research shows that individual writers vary their processes, and that these processes tend to be recursive rather than strictly linear. As a result, the pace of writing may be slow since writing is often a social activity and the writer's task is to create meaning. Finally, teachers have learned that writers benefit from attempting entire texts rather than moving only from word to sentence to paragraph to whole text.

Terms such as "prewriting," "drafting," "revising," "editing," and "publishing" are often used to refer to stages in the process, but it is important to remember that not all pieces of writing will go through every part of the process and that the process tends to be recursive (moving back and forth among the parts of the process) rather than linear (starting with prewriting and moving straight through each part of the process in isolation). Writers may find themselves editing while drafting, using prewriting activities to develop their ideas in the middle of the composition, or revising and editing simultaneously. In fact, individual students will differ in their writing processes, and even the same student may use different processes for different assignments. As a result, there is no one "process" that all writing should go through or that every teacher should use with every assignment. However, the following explanations and suggestions may be useful during particular stages of the writing process.

"Prewriting" refers to activities done prior to or during early drafting which engage students in thinking about and gathering ideas. Students can benefit from "free association" techniques (such as brainstorming, listing, clustering, visualization, or freewriting) as well as more structured techniques (such as the use of graphic organizers, outlining, or questioning). They also benefit from activities that engage them authentically in an experience (such as a seminar discussion of ideas, a lab experience, an artistic process, a sensory activity) which leads into an opportunity to write about the experience or the issues that it raised.

Soven (1999) recommends that teachers use the following steps when introducing students to a prewriting activity:

• explain the purpose of the technique being used
• model use of the technique
• allow students to experiment with the technique
• ask the students how it felt to use the technique.

Soven also recommends that teachers help students understand that not all techniques work for all writers or for all writing situations and that while prewriting activities may take time, they can help make the actual writing of the paper much more productive.

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