Written speech increasingly penetrates interpersonal and professional intercultural communication, into the process of teaching foreign languages, which can also be explained by the increasing role of information and communication technologies in all spheres of human activity.
The teaching of productive written speech as a learning goal is present in programs for all types of educational institutions, at all stages of teaching a foreign language. The tasks of teaching English in the field of writing in a non-linguistic university include the ability to write essays or reports on a well-known topic, arguing their point of view, and to conduct business correspondence in English.
There are at least two approaches in the teaching of written speech:
1) concentration on the process of producing a written text and;
2) concentration on the result of written activity:
- writing-for learning and;
- writing-for-writing.
If you compare the letter and, for example, reading as two basic language skills, then it should be noted that both of these skills are quite difficult to achieve. However, according to L. G. Kuzmina «if from reading we primarily expect pleasure, then the letter is more likely to involve great effort and effort» [2, p.14]. In order to motivate students to take these efforts and to give them the joy of creativity in the process of writing, one can use the potential of creative writing.
Creative writing can be used at any stage of training. First, you can offer students different types of supports in the form of visual and auditory clarity:
− objects,
− pictures,
− photographs,
− audio texts,
− songs,
− instrumental music,
− video films, as well as graphical presentation:
- instructions,
- poems,
- stories,
- ready-made samples of written speech.
Gradually, one can accustom them to compose letters, stories on behalf of a hero or an object about the history of his life, a written continuation of an interrupted history or a well-known literary work, writing mini-essays or an essay on the chosen quotation or article. Also, business texts of information character can be used for creative written works. Students are asked questions of a personal nature, for example: What does this information mean to me? How would this situation differ from the situation in my country (family, school): What would I do if I were them? Why?
Written creative assignments have tremendous teaching potential and can be used in every lesson in a foreign language. The teacher selects and applies them in the educational process, based on the learning goals and level of communication skills of students. One should not forget the three most important conditions when introducing creative writing: teaching goals, principles, methods and methods of teaching, as well as educational control, i.e. An estimation of a level of possession of the given speech skill. Under the level of possession of foreign-language written speech L. G. Kuzmina understands its compliance not only with normative linguistic and stylistic parameters, but also ethical, communicative and sociocultural requirements, necessary and sufficient for the implementation of effective communication on the letter [1, p.57].
The following parameters can be proposed as criteria for the evaluation of written communications:
- Content (correspondence to a given topic, situation, degree of disclosure of the main idea, argumentation)
- Organization of the text (sequence, logic, structuring, composition)
- Style and register (official / unofficial style, adequate register)
- Language design (a variety of lexical-syntactic and grammatical constructions, orthographic and grammatical correctness)
- Connectivity (communication within and between sentences, proportionality of parts of the text)
- Arrangement of parts of the text (fields, red line, volume)
- General impression (interest of the addressee to the written text, positive effect). Domestic and international experience in the development of modern forms of control of foreign language activity shows that it must have a complex character and consist of communicatively-oriented control tasks.
References:
- Kuzmina L. G. Criteria for assessing the level of the formation of skills in written foreign-language speech // the experience of bilingual education in native and foreign languages in Russia. M, Euro school, Part 2, 1999 — P. 56–58.
- Kuzmina L. G. New challenges in writing: A Handbook on the Development of a Culture of Written Speech. — M. «Euro school», 2000 — P. 46–48
- Methods of teaching foreign languages. / Ed. A. A. Leontiev. — M., 2002.
