EFL ESL Writing Tasks

Themes and Topics used for Teaching Writing

2.2.3   Types of themes used – past and present

As the teaching methods of general education have been undergoing changes and as the objectives of a language curriculum have been looked at from fresh points of view, the types of themes used and the way writing is taught also have changed.  The change that we can see here is a gradual evolution and not a sudden change.  An overall view of the teaching processes reveals four obvious times of change.  They are the Italian Renaissance with Guarino and Vittorino, the 17th century scientific movement with Comenius, the romantic reconstructive period of the late 18th and early 19th century of Pestalozzi, Herbart and Froebal and the early 20th century of the Progressive educators in the communist countries.  These changes and developments are worked out in some detail in the following sections.

a.         Early developments up to the 16th century

From the time of Iscocrates through the following 800 years in the general design of the European literary pattern of education there were three areas of study: Grammar, Style, and Eloquence. In Grammar the focus was on usage. Learners were supposed to memorise the rules and work out exercises.  Style was meant for developing oral and written expression.  The teaching methods aimed at leading the learners from appreciation of written works to production of compositions.  In the beginning learners were asked to appreciate the works of great writers.  Textual analysis was the main focus of his approach.  The teacher provided the pupils with all possible examples of rhetorical compositions.  First the teacher commented on these works.  Learners analysed them carefully.  They looked into the purpose of each composition.  They sought out the general structure of each passage.  They studied the manner in which various rhetorical devises were used and the desired effects produced.  For teachers such as Iscocrates and Quintillian it was a search for excellence in expression and the study of the way in which the intended effect was produced.  This analysis later led to production of compositions of similar kind.

Eloquence, the third area of study in the European literary pattern of education, was meant for giving practice in public speaking.  But here writing preceded speech.  Whatever was to be spoken was first written down, memorized and then presented.  In preliminary exercises learners wrote on topics such as:

?             Stories based on fables

?             biographies of famous men

?             comparison of good and bad characters

?             arguments for and against well-known divisions in history, and

?             carefully structured discussions of well-known sayings and debatable propositions.

More advanced learners composed substantial orations on fictitious legal cases or on abstract themes.  The topics were so selected that the learners would learn virtue while learning rhetoric.

Chinese literacy education

Chinese literary education was based on more or less similar methods.  Here also similar topics were used.  The goal of literary education was a composition in prose or a poem well-structured, subtly expressed pure in language and attractive in calligraphy.  Learners were closely involved in active participation with the teacher and other learners at all levels, culminating in the creative work of individual compositions and the delivery of major orations in the later stages of education.

b.         Language teaching in the Renaissance

A. distinctly Renaissance pattern was produced by the effective blending of the three educational traditions – the Chinese traditions, the later medieval education and the literary education.  The main exponents of this method were Vittotino de Felltre, Guarino da Verona and Erasmus.

The composition work of this period was based on the model of Cicero.  There were graded compositions which took into account the learner’s age, ability and stage of learning.  For the first time a number of sequentially organized large classes were formed.  Play activities were introduced and the motivation of learners was emphasized.  Competition, usually called emulation, developed as a useful and appropriate form of motivation.  Learners were graded and promoted to the next classes by regular examinations.