Writing: A Valid and Expressive Form to Reflect Language Abi(2)

Considerable literature has been produced concerning the purpose of EFL writing. One of the most concise but comprehensive discussions is given by Jeremy Harmer in his book How to Teach English. According to Harmer, the reasons for teaching writing to college students of English as a foreign language are not only that writing is a basic language skill but also that writing can 1) reinforce acquired language ability, 2) develop language ability further, 3) help to learn style, and finally 4) serve as an authentic means of communication. (Harmer:79)

Reinforcement of acquired language ability
Harmer puts “Reinforcement of acquired language ability” first because he believes that people can acquire their mother tongues in a purely oral / aural way, but students of a foreign language in college tend to rely more on the written form to have a sound command of the language. Most college students say that they benefit more from seeing the language written down by themselves as well as by others. The visual demonstration of language construction is invaluable for both understanding how it all fits together and as an aid to committing the new language to memory. Students often find it useful to write sentences using new language shortly after they have studied it. (Harmer:79)
Further language development
It seems, though Harmer himself cannot be for sure, that the actual process of writing (rather like the process of speaking) helps us to learn as we go along. The mental activity that we have to go through in order to construct proper written texts is all part of the ongoing learning experience. For college students of English as a foreign language, writing is an especially effective way of further developing their language ability since it is such an active (compared with reading, which is receptive) and direct (compared with multiple choice exercises, which are indirect) form of language practice.

Learning style
Although he admits it is possible for a few students to be fairly quick at picking up language just by looking and listening, Harmer argues that for most of the college students of a foreign language, it may take a little longer. To be more exact and to show greater elegance in communication, they have to learn how to write.  

Writing as an authentic means of communication
One of the most important reasons for teaching writing, in Harmer’s opinion, is that it is an authentic means of communication. College students of a foreign language need to know how to write letters, how to put written reports together, how to reply to advertisements and, increasingly, how to write using electronic media in the foreign language that they are learning. They need to know some of writing’s special conventions (punctuation, paragraph construction, etc.) just as they need to know how to pronounce spoken English appropriately. They also need to know what is proper, effective and idiomatic writing in order to fulfil their communicative tasks.

Writing as a good source of feedback information

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