Why Guided Writing?

Abstract

The basic purpose of writing is to replace speech. It is writing that conveys a personal ‘colouring’ and feeling that makes others sense and feel and react in a way that the writer wishes them to do. Like reading, writing means two things at once. A person writing a letter is thinking out something and writing it down at the same time. Writing is a service activity, consolidating work as well as reinforcing an exercise. When pupils write, they read more, they become more involved in language. Composition is the act of writing one or more sentences appropriate to a given situation. The problems of composition are problems of selecting and ordering of words. This is the main problem of our students today. They have to think of too many things at once; they have to think of what to say and how to say it. Often they become discouraged and many will give up trying to do a good piece of work. To help the students, five stages that lead to free writing have been suggested.