AULA 1

ESTUDOS AVANÇADOS DE
LÍNGUA INGLESA –
COMUNICAÇÃO ESCRITA E
ESCRITA ACADÊMICA

Profª Thereza Cristina de Souza Lima

CONVERSA INICIAL

In this lesson, we are going to approach several topics, such as reason why
we communicate by writing, characteristics of written text, definition of textual
genres and narrative text.
Since writing is a subject that has always frightened students, the main goal
of this first lesson is to show future writers that everybody can produce a good
piece of writing.

Writing is a learnt skill.

Some people are born writers, but everyone can become a good writer!
It is a matter of practice!

Due to the fact that it is usual hearing things like, “I don’t like writing” and “I
can’t do it”, we have introduced the narrative prose with simple mechanical
exercises that can be easily followed, and, gradually, we will move to a less
mechanical one and finally to a communicative activity exercise.

CONTEXTUALIZANDO

People have always spoken a language, but not all the people in the world
have always communicated by writing.
If it is possible to communicate by speaking a language, why is it important
to be able to write well?
Because, without the written language, the world would be in complete
chaos, a world without a memory of its history. In relation to business for instance,
how would people prove that they are who they are, and that their houses and
other things really belong to them?
In addition, it seems that writing well gives the writer a kind of prestige, which
does not happen in other forms of communication. As an example, we have the
tests and exams that people go through. Most of them are in the written language.
However, all these subjects need some reflection, and they bring us some
important characteristics of the written text.

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 TEMA 1 – CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WRITTEN TEXT

According to Ur (1996), the written text has some characteristics, which

makes it quite different from oral communication. It is important to observe them.
Here we will mention some:

1.1 Permanence

Written texts are forever, so the reading may be done at any time. Looking
at the picture below, we can see the meanings of written communication used in
Egypt thousands of years ago. That is the reason why writing is forever!

Picture 1 – Egyptian hieroglyph on limestone, 1500-1200 BC

Crédito: Paolo Gallo/Shutterstock.

In addition, how could it be possible to know the history, to keep the

memories of a person, a country, or a planet without the written language?
To fully understand the importance of writing, let us take a look at the Greek
mythology, narrated by Karnal (2004).

It is said that after a huge battle, Zeus had beat all his enemies. He
wanted everybody to remember his victory, so he made love to
Mnemosyne, who was known as the incarnation of Memory. In fact, they
coupled for nine nights and from this union, nine muses were born. One
of them was Clio, the muse of History. Thus, History was born from the
union between Zeus, her father, and Memory, her mother. This way,
Memory and History have always been together and were responsible for
the register of everything in life: the good, the notable, as well as the bad
and the terrible parts of life. Memory and History are associated with life,
so the opposite, Forgetting, is associated with death. Considering this
story, it is essential to write in order to register and live to avoid dying.

1.2 Explicitness
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 Written communication must be explicit, since it has to clarify the context
and all references. If there is no explicitness in the text, there may be ambiguity,
which may prevent understanding and communication between the reader and the
writer. In addition, it is necessary to take care with the so-called deixis, such as
this, here, etc. as they may also cause ambiguity.

1.3 Organization

Differently from the spoken language, writers must have time to organize
their ideas thoroughly as well as to edit anything they may consider confusing
before making it available for reading. Thus, a written text is usually well organized
and carefully formulated. Besides, it must conforms more to the rules of grammar,
and the register and its vocabulary must be quite precise.

1.4 Standard language

In written language, dialects tend not to exist, as the text is usually produced
in standard language. Considering this, it is possible to say that a written text may
be more easily understood than a spoken one, because to understand standard
language is easier than understanding dialects.

1.5 A learnt skill

Most people learn their spoken language quite intuitively, whereas the
written form is usually taught and learned. Only few people are born writers, but
everyone can become a good writer.
Another relevant point are the different genres of different texts used in the
communication, so the next topic refers to this.

TEMA 2 – TEXT GENRES

First, let us define what text genre is. According to Marchuschi (2006), “text
genres are stabilized textual forms, historical and socially situated. This definition
is not related to linguistics, but due to its sociocommunicative nature, with
pragmatic and discursive baselines”1.

1
All the translation in this paper is of my responsibility.
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 In fact, different genres circulate in our everyday life as we deal with different
people, in different circumstances, at different times, all the time. For example, the
dialogue we have with the door attendant in our building is a text genre. Then the
conversation during a business meeting is another; the telephone call that we
answer is another, and so forth. Actually, people communicate by using different
text genres all the time, no matter how formal or informal the situation might be.
As it is common for human beings to tell stories and reproduce facts that
have happened to them and to others, let us have a look at the narrative genre.

2.1 Narrative or story telling

A narrative is a sequence of connected events, which may be real or

fictional. The definition of narrative is the same definition of story.
There are many types of narratives, and examples of narrative can be found
anywhere. Narratives that are related to human expression, creativity, and even
the scientific reports may contain elements of narrative, when the hypothesis is
presented and the researcher tells how it has changed over the course of the study.
Thus, from childhood to adulthood, from the beginner to the advanced level
of students, everybody tells stories. It is a written exercise that must be used in all
levels, and the activity itself must be mechanical or communicative.

TEMA 3 – MECHANICAL NARRATIVE

A mechanical narrative is the one that is not meaningful but it is necessary

in order to show students how to use language, whereas in a communicative one
real-life situations are used. Here is an example of a mechanical guided exercise
(Cane, 1999):

Look at the sequence of pictures and tell a story based on them, using the
words below:

Last Saturday/weather nice/painters paint/benches in the park. After/put a

notice/ say/wet paint. Suddenly/ start wind. Father/ walk in the park/ decide take a
rest/. Sit down/ clothes dirty/ angry/ take them/ dry cleaners.

Picture 2 – Telling a story

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Source: Meganesl, 2014.

A typical answer from a beginner student would be: “Last Saturday the
weather was very nice, so some painters decided to paint the benches in Hyde
Park. After that, they put a notice on the benches saying: ‘Wet paint’. Then they
left. Suddenly the weather changed and it became windy. Unfortunately, the strong
wind blew the notice away.
My father always walks in the park on sunny Saturdays. One day, after
walking, he was tired and decided to rest. Then, he sat down on a bench. ‘Oh my
God’, he said to himself when he realized what happened to his clothes. Then, he
went home very angry because his pants were completely dirty and he had to take
them to the dry cleaner’s the next day.”
The production above may be considered mechanical because the writer is
not so free to create, once the words used were given to him, which makes the
exercise rather guided. However, as it was said before, many students need to
follow a model in order to feel more secure when communicating by means of
writing.
It is important to remark that this story has no background because beginner
students usually go straight to the point. Thus, it is a teacher’s task to remind them
that a good story should have (Cane, 1999):

● background information and scene setting;

● first actions;
● later actions and consequences;
● final result.

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 If a teacher received a text like the one above, a suggestion would be to
make the student rewrite the text, including a suitable background information and
a scene setting.
A follow-up activity, a little less mechanical, would be:

Based on the story, write about the day you went walking in the park and
something unusual happened to you.

At this time, the activity remains mechanical, as it follows the same structure
as the other one, but a little more freedom is given to the writer.
Another important point that is worth noting refers to the fact that a narrative
should be an interesting piece of writing, so it is necessary to add adjectives and
adverbs, as they make the story more interesting, as well as more exciting.
Besides, they give the reader further information and maintains the interest, and
there is a higher chance that the story will be read until the end.
A good example may be seen in the paragraphs below, adapted from
Newbrook (1997):

1. The girl walked into the class. She looked around and saw that there was
no one else there. She had no idea where she was, so she walked to the
window and looked out. She saw a lady outside and she felt afraid. She
had the impression that she was in danger.
2. The little girl crept silently into class, glancing suspiciously, as she did
so. With great relief, she realized that there was no one else there. She
had no idea of where she was, so she ran to the large open window and
stared out. She glimpsed at a tall, dark woman outside, who seemed to
be watching the place with binoculars. She was terrified and started
trembling! She was sure the situation was extremely dangerous.

By analyzing both paragraphs, the students may notice that adjectives and
adverbs are useful not only in descriptions, but in narratives as well, but
unfortunately, they usually forget to use these kinds of words. Therefore, it is
teacher’s task to help them improve their vocabulary and use different and more
interesting words in their narrative.
In order to have students improving their vocabulary, the teacher should
give them some lexical activities such as the one below, adapted from Newbrook
(1997):

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 Answer the questions with the most suitable word given, related to ways of
walking: MARCH – CRAWL– LIMP

1. How do the people who hurt their foot walk? (They limp.)
2. When there is a parade, how do the soldiers walk? (They march)
3. How did the baby reach the toy? (He crawled)

Similar exercises may be done with other verbs, such as ways of looking:

Complete the sentences with the following different ways of looking:

WATCH – STARE – GLANCE – FROWN

1. The French teacher angrily at the students who were talking in

Portuguese in class. (frowned)
2. The children usually spend hours television, which may
be harmful for the eye. (watching)
3. The customer impatiently at his watch while he was waiting
for the late manager to arrive. (glanced)
4. Looking at the other side of the restaurant, Mary saw the long-bearded man
at her insistently. She was terrified. (stared)

Complete the sentences with the following different ways of speaking:

WHISPER – SHOUT – SCREAM – CALL
1. As the girl saw the woman holding a knife, she in terror.
(screamed)
2. The new-born baby got a religious name. Her parents her
Maria in honor of Our Lady. (called)
3. The students at the back of the class kept quietly to each
other all the time, which made the teacher very angry. (whispering)
4. The porter of the hotel at the thief to stop, but after taking the
lady’s bag, he ran away. (shouted)

All the verbs mentioned above should also be used in communicative

narrative.

TEMA 4 – COMMUNICATIVE NARRATIVE

As mentioned before, communicative activities have real purposes, for

example, to find information, talking or writing about something, someone or the
writer himself, learn about the culture of a country, etc. Many researchers on
second language acquisition agree that more learning takes place when students
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are engaged in relevant tasks within a dynamic learning environment, rather than
in traditional teacher-led classes (Moss & Ross-Feldman, 2003).
An example of a communicative task would be like this:

You have entered a competition involving telling funny stories. The winner
is going to win a trip to Paris – You have always wanted to visit the “City of Love”.
In order to win the prize, you should write a funny story that happened to a friend
of yours and made everybody laugh:

A possible answer would be:

Ole died, so Lena went to the local paper to put a notice in the obituaries.
The gentleman at the counter, after offering his condolences, asked Lena what she
would like to say about Ole.
Lena replied, “You just put ‘Ole died’.
The gentleman, somewhat perplexed, said, “That’s it? Just ‘Ole died?’
Surely, there must be something more you’d like to say about Ole. If it is money
you’re concerned about, the first five words are free. We must say something
more.”
So Lena pondered for a few minutes and finally said, “O.K. You put ‘Ole
died. Boat for sale.”2

Although the passage above looks like a joke, there is no doubt that a story
has been narrated. The verbs are in the past, direct and indirect speeches have
been used and there is a coherent sequence. So it is a simple but effective
example of a communicative task.
Another example, suitable for an intermediate level would be:

Your friend, Alice, always wanted to study in England and she was always
talking about how this experience would be useful for her. Her aunt Jane who was
very fond of her, gave her, one day, the trip of her dreams as a Christmas gift.
Write a story, based on the information above, starting with the following sentence:
Alice knew that it was going to be a very special day for her.

Here is a typical intermediate level example:

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Available at: <http://www.literarydevices.com/narrative/>. Access on: 15 Jan. 2018.
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 Alice knew that it was going to be a very special day for her. She had been
looking forward to this moment for a very long time and now as she was going to
the airport she got stuck in a terrible traffic jam. She said to herself, “Oh, my God,
if only I had left home earlier”. She couldn’t avoid thinking about her excitement
the moment she heard Aunt Jane’s voice saying: “your gift this time will be
unforgettable! I will pay for your plane trip and covering all expenses for you to
spend a year in England”.
Suddenly, the cars began moving again, she calmed down and, with a sigh
of relief, caught a glimpse of the airport with airplanes taking off and landing.
Finally, she had arrived at the airport. She left her mother’s car in a hurry
and, all of a sudden, to her surprise, she saw familiar faces: all her school friends
were there to say goodbye to her. Alice was extremely happy!
Then, with tears in her eyes, she boarded the plane and departs for
England, where she would spend one year studying English.

Advanced students would be able to include more details using a richer

vocabulary. A good exercise would be to give them examples of intermediate level
texts and ask them to rewrite them in a more suitable way for advanced-level
students.

TEMA 5 – IMPORTANT POINTS TO CONSIDER

Now that both mechanical and communicative narratives have been

approached, we shall revise the important points that need to be emphasized:

• Learn how to plan and to organize the text. This is very important because
it gives cohesion to the narrative and avoids losing ideas.
• Keep to the sequence of past verbs, that is, past simple, past continuous,
past perfect, conditional, etc.
• Use the present tenses only in direct speech.
• The use of direct and indirect speech makes the text more interesting.
• Attention to the punctuation of direct speech.
• Avoid repeating the same reporting verb, that is to say, use other verbs,
such as shouted, remarked, complained, asked, threatened, promised,
ordered, enquired, cried, suggested, etc.
• Connectives related to sequence are important because they help the
reader follow events. Some of them are:

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 • Firstly... then... finally
• While ...
• When ... As soon as...
• At this moment...
• Before... Before that...
• Previously...
• After... After that...
• Afterwards...
• Later...
• Lastly... finally... eventually

5.1 Suggestions of narrative-writing exercises

• Give students a scrambled narrative text and ask them to put it in the right
order.
• Give students a text without connectives and ask them to include the
suitable connective, without repeating it.
• Give students sentences in direct speech and ask them to rewrite the
sentences using indirect speech.
• Give students sentences in indirect speech and ask them to rewrite the
sentences using direct speech.
• Give students sentences in indirect speech repeating the reporting verb
“said” and have it change for another one.
• Give students the middle part of a narrative and ask them to write the
introduction.
• Give students a narrative without an end and have them write different
endings.
• Give students pictures and have them tell the story.
• Ask students to write a story starting or finishing with some given words.

FINALIZANDO

It is known that the written language has some important characteristics

and, in this lesson, some of them have been approached. Let’s remember them:

• permanence;
• explicitness;

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 • organization;
• standard language;
• learnt skill.

We have also approached both mechanical and communicative exercises

so that the teacher may choose which one is more suitable for his/her class at that
moment.
Concerning vocabulary, we have seen that it is a teacher’s task to make
students aware of the importance of using more interesting words, as they should
make the passage more vivid for the reader.
Some important points to remember have been emphasized, including
examples of connectives related to the sequence of events in a narrative.
Finally, some suggestions of effective exercises that the teacher may give
to their students, depending on their level, have been offered.

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REFERÊNCIAS

CANE, E. & CANE, P. Write for first certificate. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson Lt,
1999.

KARNAL, L. A escrita da memória. São Paulo: Instituto Cultural Banco Santos,

2004.

MARCUSCHI, L. A. Produção textual, análise de gêneros e compreensão. São

Paulo: Parábola, 2008.

MEGAN’s ESL HELPER. Making meaning #1. Disponível em:

<https://www.google.com.br/search?q=pictures+that+tell+a+story+in+sequence&
tbm=isch&source=iu&pf=m&ictx=1&fir=axrrpyleibfhrm%253a%252c5vlwn9por9v
ofm%252c_&usg= ts4nphay_tqi-
m6fwsvxwdiqn44%3d&sa=x&ved=0ahukewih55ldlmtxahvee5akhd5vah0q9qeiltac
#imgrc=ky786jbidrykkm>. Acesso: 4 jan. 2018.

NEWBROOK, J. & NEWBROOK N. How to pass FCE. Cambridge, Burlington

Press, 1997.

PUBLIC RADIO. From the Joke Collection. Disponível em:

<http://www.publicradio.org/applications/formbuilder/projects/joke_machine/joke_
page_iframe.php?car_id=20318>. Acesso em: 4 jan. 2018.

UR, P. A course in language teaching: practice and theory. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1996.

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