§¹i häc Vinh T¹p chÝ khoa häc, tËp XXXVI, sè 2b-2007 89
USING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN
TEACHING ENGLISH WRITING

NguyÔn ThÞ T−êng
(a)
Abstract. The techniques that we covered in our writing class were centered on
using pair and group work to increase active student participation. By using this
method for teaching the first year students, we have got many benefits in teaching
and learning English writing. Therefore, we would like to introduce some writing
games for using pair work and group work in order to help the teachers teach
English writing more effectively.

I. A COMMUNICATIVE ON
WRITING SKILLS
Writing is an instrument of both
communication and self-expression.
Most people, however, especially when
writing in a foreign or second language,
use it primarily to communicate with
other members of their own community
or the wider world. Our main task is

Most language games are to reinforce
the language already taught or
acquired and to allow students to
practise the language they are learning
in a more interesting way.
The use of group work (which
includes writing games) might at first
sight appear inappropriate for the
teaching of writing. In general,
however, group work means that there
is some kind of cooperation between the
members of the class, who are divided
into conveniently-sized groups for the
purpose. They might be discussing
something in pairs before starting to
write; they might play involving two
teams; they might split responsibility
among different students so that one
student collects information, another
organises it and a third actually writes
whatever has to be written.

NhËn bµi ngµy 30/3/2007. Söa ch÷a xong 09/8/2007.

§¹i häc Vinh T¹p chÝ khoa häc, tËp XXXVII, sè 2b-2007
are then writing for a real reader, not
just for the critical eyes of the teacher.
Having a real reader will help them to
see their writing from the point of view
of the person who receives it – they will
be forced to consider whether it is clear
enough and will soon discover whether
it was successful or not for the purpose
of the activity.
As for games, needless to say they
should be lively and enjoyable. This
means that students should not be too
much inhibited by the fear of making
mistakes. Teachers will find adults
quickly adapt to games as long as their
purpose in the writing lesson is clear
and they do not overshadow what the
students feel to be their main
objectives.
III. SOME WRITING GAMES
EMPLOYED IN THE WRITING LESSON
In this paper, we will introduce
some writing games which we have
selected from different sources and
have given to our students during the
last few years. Most of the games below
are typical ones to meet the target of
teaching writing to the first year
students with an intermediate
knowledge of English who study in

pair from the other half of the class.
§¹i häc Vinh T¹p chÝ khoa häc, tËp XXXVII, sè 2b-2007 91
- Explain that they must try to
reconstruct the orginal text from the
alphabetical list, but they can first ask
the other pair six questions about the
text.
- Give the pairs a few minutes to
prepare their questions.
- In turn, each pair asks their
questions and the other pair
answers.
- Tell each pair to try and
reconstruct the text from the word list.
They should then check their version
against the original text.
3.3. Writing narratives, film
reviews
Procedure:
- Ask the students to get into
groups of eight or ten.
- Teacher reads aloud to provide
the students with the following
instructions:

- This game is used in groups of
ten.
- The teacher chooses a story that
is interesting enough to stimulate the
students to start writing immediately
and dictate the beginning of the story to
them.
- After the dictation, each student
adds up the story within two minutes.
- When the first student has
finished his part, he must fold the
paper to hide what he has written,
except the last line.
- Then he passes the paper to the
second student, this student starts with
the visible line.
- The procedure is repeated until
the last student.
- Then students read the story
aloud.
3.5. Writing clues for
crosswords
In this activity, students get the
opportunity to express themselves
imaginatively. They learn to express an
idea in various ways.
Procedure:
- Students, working in pairs or
groups, are given a crossword puzzle.
They have to write the clues. The clues

are used, no matter how good and
useful the books are, the basic teaching
techniques and supplementary
activities are of significant importance
to a writing lesson. Depending on
various teaching aims and situations
teachers can create suitable activities
to make the writing lesson more
effective and interesting.
Therefore, we can say that teachers
of English should devise a number of
communicative activities such as pair
functional discussion and simple role
play, so that a lesson can easily be
phased to hold the students attention
and interest.

References

[1] A. Littlejohn, Writing 1, 2, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
[2] A. Pincas, Teaching Writing, The MacMillan Press, 1982.
[3] A. Wright, Games For Language Leanring, Cambridge University Press, 1979.
[4] C. Hadfield & J. Hadfield, Writing Games, Nelson (HongKong) Ltd, 1983.
[5] D. Byrne, Teaching Writing Skills, Longman Group UK Ltd., 1988.
[6] M. Stphens, Practise Writing, Longman Group Ltd, 1986.
[7] S. Greenall, Language Games and Activities, Hulton Educational Publicationa
Ltd, 1984. Tóm tắt