Stage 2 guidelines for writing: Discourse

Here are some discourse objectives for Stage 2 for writing:

• To use grammatical and lexical references appropriately so that readers can keep track of the people and objects being referred to
• To use appropriate grammatical and lexical devices to signal to readers which parts of the discourse are most prominent and which parts are supporting materials
• To be able to construct the following kinds of discourses: procedural discourses, narratives, descriptions, and personal and simple business letters

Here are some discourse strategies for Stage 2 for writing:

• Analysis

  Use text analysis techniques to identify the ways native writers handle cohesion and prominence in discourse. Have a language associate (LA) write a draft of a document type you want to work on, and notice how he or she organizes the thoughts or events. Work toward that style in your draft.

• Practice

  Practice writing different kinds of discourse. Ask an LA for correction. Before you write, plan the structure of your text. Use examples from the Text Portfolio to see how it should be organized. Work for good organization, not just a random gathering of sentences.

• Selective attention

  Pick out a particular feature, for example, how people introduce a topic and practice that feature in your writing that day.

Here are some discourse techniques for Stage 2 for writing:

• The Text Analysis technique
• The Text Portfolio technique
• The Series technique
• The Picture Description technique
• The Familiar Stories technique
• The Shared Experiences technique
• The Write and Rewrite technique

Here is a discourse activity for Stage 2 for writing:

• Write letters to friends.

• Generic module: Stage 2 guidelines for writing: Discourse
• In overview module: Stage 2: Writing modules
• In modular book: Guidelines for a Language and Culture Learning Program, by Carol J. Orwig
• In document collection: Other Resources
• In bookshelf: Language Learning

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 8 December 1998

© 1999 SIL International