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50TEACHING THROUGH CREATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES
Ismatov Asliddin Fazliddin o'g'li Uzbekistan State World Languages University
Abstract: In recent years language researchers have shifted their focus from developing individual linguistic skills to the use of language to achieve the speaker's objectives. This new area of focus, known as communicative competence, leads language teachers to seek task-oriented activities that engage their students in creative language use. In the process of learning English as a foreign language, writing is considered as one of the most essential skills. In addition to being a communicative skill of vital importance, it is a skill which enables the learner to plan and rethink the communication process. Therefore, writing skills should be taught in a proper way. Some creative modes that are going to be mentioned in this article will be only of assistance for especially teachers.
Keywords: Creative writing, mind map, journal writing, writing poem, peer checking
Teaching writing is not an easy task, because many of us are in thrall to the controlled language of textbook English as teachers of language. The reason is that we surely have a responsibility to keep our primary resource alive. But with rightly-chosen creative writing activities and good motivational techniques everything can be procured in terms of writing.
Creative writing is one way of keeping teachers' English fresh and vibrant. Creative writing has an effect on the writer's level of energy in general. This tends to make teachers who use creative writing more interesting to be around, and this inevitably impacts on their relationships with students. Moreover, we both benefit from creative writing. Students would profit, because learning to write is enjoyable for them, teachers benefit because they feel the need to improvise to make writing more attractive to students and think of and look for more creative tasks. In order to be able to select and use appropriate procedures and materials, as well as assess their learners' needs and progress, teachers need to clearly regard the desirable outcomes of a writing and the processes involved in it.
There are a lot of techniques to teach writing. One of them is using mind maps. Mind maps can be utilized for a multitude of purposes. They can effective in helping to support and develop students' writing skills. Mind maps work especially well when created in groups. Furthermore, mind mapping is a strategy for making notes on a topic, prior to writing. It is a structured strategy, which shows the relationship of ideas, as opposed to an unstructured strategy, such as brainstorming, in which
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students produce notes at random on paper. Having an organized display of information from the outset of the writing process may help some students, as it is more easily converted into a draft, whereas in brainstorming, the random recording of ideas might lead to problems with the structure of students' texts. But it is important to confess the fact that it is only effective when mind map is a spontaneous pre-writing activity. Mind maps work well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed.
Journal writing is another good way to reinforce writing. It gets them to unleash their ideas about the topic in a non-threatening way. It also gives teachers to have insight into how much the students have processed and to what extent. Journal writing is commonly appreciated as it helps to get students to write what they are truly thinking.
Writing poem is also very effective activity for students to develop their writing skills. Poems also encourage an understanding of relationships since the top and the bottom lines of the poem can be dissimilar but related in some way. Poetry can be regarded helpful as it provides a creative language atmosphere that makes teacher uses alternative assessment to test student knowledge of nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Another creative writing activity is giving students a certain situation where they can create their own ideas according to the given situation. Here, ready-made templates are given to students in order to give them an idea to get started. Templates are enclosed. The topics can be changed in accordance with the themes in their textbooks. Peer checking gives more opportunity for students to check each other and learn from each other.
We can say that matter of motivation is crucial thing in creating a good language atmosphere which is based on writing aspect, bearing the following fact in mind: learners tend to discover things for themselves about the language and about themselves too. Inevitably, these gains are reflected in a corresponding growth in positive motivation. It can be increased by promoting cooperation among the learners, promoting learner autonomy and rising learners' satisfaction.
References
1. Boden, Margaret.The Creative Mind. London: Abacus. 1998
2. Burkland & Grimm, Motivating through responding. Journal of Teaching writing.5(2),1986.
3. Harmer, J. The practice of English language teaching. Harlow, England:Longman Group UK Limited. 1993
4. Mukundan, Jayakaran. (ed) Creative Writing in EFL/ESL Classrooms II. Petaling Jaya: Pearson Longman Malaysia. 2006
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5. Tan, Bee Tin (ed).Creative writing in EFL/ESL Classrooms I. Serdang: UPM Press. 2004
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