ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCESTYPES OF WRITING IDENTIFIED IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY
The four forms of communication identified in the North Carolina English Language Arts Standard Course of Study (1999) serve as a useful guide for considering some of the kinds of writing students may do in school.
- The first type, EXPRESSIVE, is the most personal in nature as the writer explores and shares personal experiences or insights.
- The second type, INFORMATIONAL/EXPLANATORY, involves a writer giving information to explain situations or ideas as a way of teaching.
- The third type, ARGUMENTATIVE, involves defining issues and proposing reasonable solutions.
- The fourth type, CRITICAL, involves interpreting, proposing, and judging.
Although writing can be classified for purposes of organizing instruction or helping students recognize features common to a particular kind of communication, these types are not meant to offer a rigid categorization scheme. According to the English Language Arts Standard Course of Study (1999),
While the goals of communication differ in their social context (purposes, audiences), there are elements that overlap. For example, in an editorial that presents an argument, a writer may illustrate a point by relating a personal experience; or a critic interpreting a television show may, for part of the essay, take on an informational stance to give the reader some factual background.
The English Language Arts Standard Course of Study advocates for a spiraling curriculum that identifies a particular focus for each grade yet incorporates elements of all four types of writing across the four years of high school.
PURPOSES AND AUDIENCES FOR WRITING
Kirby and Liner (1988) write that "One of the most desirable sensitivities to cultivate in growing writers is a heightened ability to 'feel' an audience out there as they write. Students develop distinct voices as they learn the control they have over their readers" (p. 154). Many students are used to writing "for the teacher" only, so they may need help seeing how they can make intentional choices in their writing with a specific audience in mind. They also many need help seeing how understanding the purpose for the writing can help them make those choices. For example, knowing that the purpose of a particular composition is to persuade a skeptical audience, a student learns to pay special attention to word choice and understand how certain words will be perceived by that audience.
To achieve this goal, students need to learn that writing does not occur in a vacuum. As stated in the English Language Arts Standard Course of Study,
A communication environment includes the following: a message sender, a message, a message receiver, and a social setting with relevant subject matter. To become proficient and skillful users of language, students should understand and demonstrate control of these elements of communication and employ language for different purposes, to different audiences, and in different contexts (why, to whom, and in what situation).
When they write for a variety of purposes and audiences, students make choices not only about what they say but how they say it. They ask questions about what the audience might already know, what political or philosophical perspective the audience might have, or what their goals are in writing for this particular audience. They begin to see their writing in the context of something larger than just the classroom, and they can judge the effectiveness of the writing in light of whether or not it is likely to achieve its purpose rather than just what numerical grade it might receive.
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