Teacher Guide to Different Types of Writing
TEACHING DIFFERENT TYPES OF WRITING
INTRODUCTION
A good writing must have unity and coherence.
By unity, is meant that the essay discusses one main subject and that each paragraph or section of the essay contributes to the development of an aspect of that main idea.
In other words, collectively, all of the paragraphs put together make up the main idea.
We use the term coherence to mean that sentences are properly linked to one another by means of appropriate linking words and that idea are linked across sentences in a logical and sequential manner.
THE STRUCTURE OF A COMPOSITION
Every essay has a beginning, middle, and an end. The beginning of the essay is also referred to as the introduction. It serves the purpose of providing the reader with some background information on the topic by stating what the topic is about.
The beginning of the essay also tells the reader what to expect in the body of the essay or how the essay will be organized. It contains the main ideas of the essay.
A good essay is one in which ideas in the body are fully developed in well-written paragraphs. The body may consist of three or more paragraphs which develop aspects of the main idea. The end of the essay is the same as the conclusion.
It normally brings the essay to an end by re-stating the main points raised in the body or by re-stating the point of view expressed at the beginning.
The writer should ensure that the three parts to the essay discussed here are represented in all of the essays that he/she writes.
TYPES OF WRITING
Types of writing are as follows: narrative, descriptive, expository, and argumentative essays, and dialogues, technical writing, and so on
1. NARRATIVE WRITING
This type deals with telling a story or narrating events or incidents that took place in the past. It involves the narration of experiences or participation in events or activities.
Narrative essays are of different types –
- personal,
- reportorial,
- biographical,
- autobiographical, and
- historical.
Personal narratives are those in which the writer tells stories of his personal experiences or the experience of others. e.g.
“A Day I will not Forget.”
Reportorial narratives tell stories about incidents such as accidents, armed robbery attacks, and so on.
Biographical narratives tell stories about the life and times of people.
Historical narratives tell stories about the history of people or events that happened in people’s lives.
2. DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
Descriptive writing involves describing people and objects of a house, a scenario, and so on.
A good descriptive work involves making use of your powers of observation.
The description should be vivid by giving all the required details to create a clear picture in the mind of the reader so that the reader will not only sees, but smells, feels, hears and tastes, through the words used.
The objective is to produce in the mind of the reader a picture as clear and as accurate as the one in the mind of the writer.
The description should be systematic, such as beginning from top to bottom, left to right for objects or from head to toe, physical appearance. character, and so on for people.
The language should be clear consisting of long and short sentences.
3. EXPOSITORY WRITING
Expository writing deals with explaining how things are done, how a process is followed, how things work, and so on.
Expository writing can take the form of expository narration, which involves telling about an incident or event.
This requires logical sequencing, i.e. one thing happens before the next thing and so on.
It is writing one’s ideas and feelings in order to expose these to the readers. An example of how an expository writing can be taught is presented below.
WRITING TO EXPRESS IDEAS AND FEELINGS
1. When starting a sensitive topic with pupils, it is useful to explore their ideas and feelings beforehand.
2. Select a picture, poem or story to stimulate their thinking on the particular expository topic they are about to write.
3. Show the picture/read the poem or story and ask them to think about what it means to
them. Do not encourage them to speak to each other about this.
4. Ask them to write their thoughts about the resource and include their feelings as well.
5. Remind them that no one will mark this. It is for them to think about what they think and feel at that moment.
6. Next, discuss with your class the nature of the resource and what they think the messages are. If they are willing, but only if, they may want to comment on their feelings too.
How effective was writing about their feeling in helping pupils understand the issues?
Ask them.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
Following the steps taken above, teach your pupils to write essays expressing their ideas and feelings.
4. ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING
This type of writing involves how to convince someone or an audience to accept and act upon your ideas.
It involves arguing for or against an idea. Arguments involve reasoning, which can logically be done through deduction and induction.
Arguments can also be persuasive in nature.
Arguments can be done in three different ways:
1. through taking an affirmative position;
2. by adding further evidence that will counterbalance the arguments of the opponents:
3. by pointing out fallacies in an opponent’s argument as a way of discrediting them.
PUPIL’S ACTIVITIES
Write an argumentative composition on “A farmer is more important than a teacher.”