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PRACTICAL TIPS FOR STUDENTS TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS
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Bekkulova Yulduz
Kashkadarya region, Guzar district 1st secondary school teacher https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7248897
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Abstract: Learning another language as English requires a combination of knowledge of the target language with skills and strategies that enable an individual to use them effectively. That is a learner has to develop knowledgeabout receptive skills; i.e., listening and reading, as well as productive ones; i.e., speaking and writing. Though all the skills are important for language learning, the writing skill is probably the most needed in academic and professional communities. It constitutes an important means of communication through which the writer expresses feeling, ideas and arguments. In the case of English language learning, writing in a language
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that one is not familiar with constitutes a hard task. In fact, though writing represents
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a crucial skill for learning any language, its complex nature makes it a challenging affair for both the learners and the teachers. It requires the learners to be guided and assisted in their efforts to reach success.
Key words: EFL, online Encyclopaedia, writing systems, Succinct, clear message, writing skills, reading, sources.
The English language plays an important role worldwide. Its use in different fields like business and education has made it a necessary tool to contri bute to the social changes cau sed mainly by the globali zati on process. Globalization is a socioeconomic movement that involves many countries all over the world. Attaining proficient literacy is a goal that any EFL learner strives to reach. This objective constitutes a real hurdle facing both learners and teachers mainly when it concerns writing skill. The latter requires not only a mastery of the language system but also a mastery of the writing techniques necessary to the achievement of a coherent, organized and a comprehensible message. This can be realised by involving learners in reading literary texts that would facilitate the process of gaining writing proficiency. Thus, a general outlook about the writing skill as well as the diverse connections between reading literary texts and writing skill are discussed.
Writing as a means of communication had been attributed variousdefinitions. According to the Online Encyclopaedia of Writing Systems and Languages, "writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile form. Writing systems use sets of symbols to represent the sounds of speech, and may also have symbols for such things as punctuation and numerals". However, writing cannot be limited to orthography symbolisation of speech as it extends it to reach purposeful selection and * : j*
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organisationof expressions according to the conventions of the target language. The latterconcern grammar, vocabulary, handwriting, spelling, layout and punctuation [1]. Equally important aspect of writing is crafting which Hedge explains it as "the way in which a writer puts together the pieces of the text, developing ideas through sentences and paragraphs within an overall structure".
Many people underestimate the importance of having excellent writing skills. Read on to learn more about how you facilitate the improvement of what is arguably
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one of the most indispensable skills to have; written communication!
Writing is a linguistic activity that is very important in human life. Writing is one of the skills that students must master. By doing writing activities students can express thoughts, ideas through writing. However, writing activities cannot be mastered only through theory, but must do exercises and also practice so that they can produce good writing [2]. Similar to Brown said that the process of writing can be through thinking, drafting, and revising procedure that requires specialized skills. According to Elbow in Brown said that writing is a two steps processWriting is generally considered one of the most difficult that other skills for foreign language students. A student sometimes has difficulty writing to convey ideas through good and correct language. Nugriyantoro argues that writing is an activity that expresses ideas through language media and writing is one of the most recent language skills mastered after listening, reading, and speaking. Most of the students are fluent in English but do not have a definite understanding of writing. There are still many students who often make mistakes in writing, this is because students are less interested in writing skills, less focused on learning, and consider writing skills easy.
Writing as a skill reflects the learner's mastery of language and ability to
express his ideas in a correct and coherent way. Since it is a challenging task, EFL learners encounter several obstacles namely grammar, vocabulary, interference and other factors when engaged in the process of writing. As concerns grammar, Harmer [1] gave a detailed definition in which he referred to grammar as "the description of the ways in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in that language". Students wholack knowledge about the rules of the target language will face difficulties in writing correct texts and coherent ones. Grammar rules mostly J-jt incorporatedifferent standards that learners must have control on them such as tenses, prepositions, adverbs. Therefore, considering this important element of language use is necessary.
Regarding the use of vocabulary is regarded as one of the main hurdles facing EFL learners. While writing, the choice of the appropriate words fitting the ideas they want to express becomes a real challenge that needs to be faced. In fact, in their process of learning, they meet plenty of words. Some of them are common to them
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which they use without any problem while others constitute a challenge as they are
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new words that they ignore their meanings or ambiguous ones that that their essence is still unclear. In this context, Seely lists significant components in vocabulary issue namely active, passive, new and ambiguous. The first one is linked words that are commonly usedby learners in their writing.
The second type refers words understood by the learners but notused in writing. The third item concerns words that have never been dealt with; and the last type of vocabulary is related to the linguistic items which were seen before, but their
meaning is ambiguous.
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With regard to spelling, Yakhontova [3] claims that "English spelling is rather difficult and irregular". She adds, "In academic writing, spelling should always be consistent, either American or British throughout". In this regard, proof reading is essential for academic writing, which is based on finishing a piece of writing, reading it, detecting mistakes and adjusting them. This procedure will be simpler given that the writer checks the spelling while processing the texts. With reference to punctuation, the latter is considered as an additional challenge to the writer who is compelled to master its rules. It plays a great role in attributing meaning to the written text. That is any use of punctuation marks in a wrong place will lead to change the meaning of the transmitted message, hence misleading the reader. This idea had been underlined by Seely [4] who claims that "the person who has learned how to use commas has learned how to write". Thus, knowing where and how to punctuate means that the writer understands well his/her ideas and is able to transform them into a written products.
The last obstacle that may face EFL writers is first language interference. It is perhaps the most difficult issue that can hinder students' writing. Indeed, this issue arises when the learner tries to apply their knowledge from their native language to the foreign one which results in the deviation of the intended meaning. This phenomenon is unavoidable as it is linked with the way the target language is learnt and the extent to which the writer is knowledgeable about the target culture. Besides, translating anidea from the mother language to the target one will alter the whole meaning of the message. Unfortunately, such interference often leads to inaccuracy and ambiguity of the written texts.
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Believe it or not, writing, apart from the spoken word, is one of the world's oldest forms of communication that still exists today. Think about it; while we may no longer invest time in sending letters to one another, our daily communication is always accompanied by some form of writing, be it in text messages, daily emails, or posts you make on your social media accounts.
In the university space, academic writing is a whole other ball game and often takes on a very different form to other types of writing out there, but the simple fact
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is that you cannot achieve a high level of college writing if you don't know how to improve your basic writing skills!
One of the earliest known examples of writing dates back to 3500-3000 BCE, to the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia. This form of writing is known now as
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"Cuneiform", which involved the engraving of various pictorial figures into stone as a means by which to communicate with others, record numbers, among other functions.
Even if your chosen career path doesn't necessarily involve writing as a form of income, being able to communicate effectively is incredibly important to ensure success in today's competitive international job market. Think about email-writing; it hardly looks professional if you send an email to your boss or colleague that isn't well thought-out and contains many errors.
Here are 6 simple tips to improve your writing skills! 1. Make Writing a Daily Exercise
Practice really does make perfect! If you compare writing to a skill like cooking, or even playing a sport, you cannot expect to improve if you don't practice - it's like
We learn best by example, and gaining writing skills is no exception to this rule.
expecting to become a pro football player after one practice with your team.
Try to set yourself daily writing exercises - they need not be long-winded and time-consuming, even just committing yourself to writing a paragraph a day is enough! You can even partner up with someone else who also wants to improve their writing skills and read each other's paragraphs to see where changes need to be made.
2. Read, Read, and Read Some More!
When we read, we learn how other people write to convey their messages in the best way possible, and we start to adapt our writing styles to those that we resonate most
with.
Incorporate daily reading into your writing exercises; maybe even make your practice paragraph a review or summary of what you read that day, taking different elements of the author's writing style to develop your own voice.
3. Be Succinct
Try not to use any complicated, long words in your writing. They often confuse
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the reader and make them disinterested in what you have to say. Keep your sentences short. Never over-use filler words like "very", "really", "just", etc.
They tend to make sentences long and unnecessarily take up your reader's
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cognitive space.
4. Never Underestimate the Importance of a Thorough Editing Session Editing is a part of the writing process that is completely underrated and that is
frequently overlooked. Errors in your writing are likely to take attention away from
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the message you are trying to convey and decrease your reader's trust in your viability as a writer.
The human brain often overlooks certain small errors during the proofreading process, so using an online editing tool, like Grammarly, comes highly recommended.
5. Develop a Clear Message
There is nothing more frustrating than a piece of writing that doesn't get straight to the point. Think about what you want to say, what message you want your reader
to take away with them, and make sure that that you make this message clear from the very beginning [5]
It is also important to think about your audience; what do they want to hear, and how would they like it to be conveyed? Do you need to take on a formal, or a more informal tone? Would using humour help develop your message, or should you get straight to the point in a more businesslike fashion?
These are important considerations that need to be taken into account before you even begin the writing process.
6. Sit Down and Write!
Sometimes the most difficult step in the writing process is the act of actually sitting down and getting the writing done. By this point, you should have a clear plan of what you want to say, and a general idea of how you want to say it.
7. Manage Writing Tasks Efficiently
Academic writing is purely based on facts and figures. Putting together an academic paper isn't a one-day job. A good academic paper is a cumulative result of
diligent research through credible scholarly sources, collation of relevant data, assimilation of the content, and then drafting a final paper. All these tasks need efficient management skills.
You can improve writing skills beginning with planning out your day with some dedicated time to writing activities. Define writing tasks such as practicing structured and unstructured abstract writing, essays on topical events or research in your field, a narrative of your visit to a seminar, workshop, or exhibition, or practice writing your curriculum vitae (CV).
Analyze the elements of each of these and understand nuances amongst them. This will invoke a sense of alertness and will give you a perspective to write academic papers more effectively. Set some internal deadlines and reward yourself for adhering to the same. 8. Set Time for Reading
"A well-read person is dangerous"! Therefore, a voracious reader can never get stuck at finding a word whilst speaking or writing. However, the benefit of reading is
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not just confined to adding to your knowledge bank but also inculcates a knack for writing in you.
Reading well written and formatted work helps you get better insights into scientific style of writing. Most importantly, reading books and papers on similar or
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closely related topics help you discover your analytical skills. Additionally, reading works of different authors help you learn different aspects of writing with a goal to communicate with broader audience.
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9. Proper Use of Vocabulary and Grammatically Correct Writing Knowledge dissemination is the primary purpose of an academic paper.
Therefore, it is important to write your paper in lucid language. Unnecessary insertion of your vocabulary in the paper will only make you sound pretentious. It is important to know the words you use and its relevance to the context. Subsequently, avoid using jargons so that your academic article is accessible and understandable to all readers. Furthermore, framing grammatically correct sentences play an imperative role in academic writing.
10. Organize Your Sources
Plagiarism is a pervasive threat to an academic's successful career. However, correct referencing of sources can help you keep your hands off the unethical practice. Referencing can be a tedious task. However, it can be easily managed by organizing your sources as you find them. Therefore, it is better to complete sections one by one and then cite them together. There are several online tools such as RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley, Quiqqa, and EndNote to help you manage your sources and cite them where due. All these tools allow you to collect, download, organize, and use bibliographic references in an efficient manner. You must also annotate your digital copies with freely available online annotation tools such as Diigo, A.nnotate, Markup.io, etc [6]
It may seem daunting, but remember that the hard work is now done! All you need to do is convince yourself that you are capable, sit down in front of your notebook or computer, and execute your communication!
Conclusion.Writing represents a crucial skill for learning any language. It involves the ability to transmit and receive information, developand support a point of view, and underline other facets of the outside world in terms of culture and beliefs. Its complex nature makes it a challenging affair for both the learners and the teachers. It requires the learners to be guided and assisted in their efforts to reach success. Besides, the teachers are expected to furnish the appropriatemeasures to achieve the teaching goals. Thus, in this piece of work, we tried to highlight the importance of the writing skill and how it can be promoted via the implementation of
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reading literary texts and organize another vital methods in the language classroom.
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References:
1.Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman Harmer.
2.Maley, A. (2009). Creative Writing for Language Learners and Teachers. Retrieved April 12, 2011
3.Yakhontova, T. (2003). English academic Writing for Students and Researchers. AIvan Franko: National University of Lviv.
4.Seely, J. (1998). The Oxford guide to effective writing and speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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6.wordstream.com
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