Speaking & Writing

Speaking and writing in L2 are interconnected, which is clearly shown in the Chapters from The Oral – Literate Connection (2008) book. According to Williams (2008), writing can facilitate speaking because writing allows for more experimenting with less familiar forms, since it implies planning and is usually less threatening than speaking. Williams (2008) also discusses the research focused on how speaking can influence writing. The main idea in all three areas of research she covers (student-teacher conferences, peer review, and writing centers) is that "talking about writing improves the overall quality of writing" (p.17).T

he connections are also confirmed through my own experience of learning the literacies: Most of the secondary school classroom instruction was "from writing to speaking", i.e. students had to write grammatically accurate sentences or paragraphs or dialogs and memorize them for oral reproduction. At the university level, it was similar in the way that students were supposed to use certain vocabulary and grammatical structures, which could not happen spontaneously. Many students were fluent in speaking English, so it was natural to avoid unfamiliar or just learned structures, especially in speaking. It took thinking and elaborating sentences in writing to be able to produce the required structures in speaking. However, there was also the reverse process: "from speaking to writing". Prior to assigning a short essay, the teacher discussed it in class. Students would go through the whole required organizational structure, offering possible development of an essay, suggesting contextual / genre-appropriate use of connectors, vocabulary, and grammar structures.

Here, in the MA program, I also employ both processes. I often use "writing into speaking" when I want to ask a question during class or at the conference. I usually do it for two reasons: 1) writing (whether in L1 or L2) does help to focus thinking and put my thoughts into making-sense words and sentences (Hirvela, 2004); 2) seeing the words on paper helps to make sure that the sentence is "grammatically correct". The "speaking into writing" process has a slightly different role. It is similar to Seloni's (2008) doctoral students' negotiating the meaning among themselves. I usually try to talk to someone about the writing I need to complete. In the course of explaining the topic, I myself learn to understand it better, plan the organization of a paper, and get to answer questions that I would not think to ask myself or would disregard as self-explanatory. In other words, speaking with other students about my writing helps me to write.

 

Belcher, D., & Hirvela, A. (Eds.). (2008). The Oral-Literate Connection: Perspectives on L2 Speaking, Writing, and Other Media Interactions.

Hirvela, A. (2004). Writing to Read. In Connecting Reading & Writing in Second Language Writing Instruction, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 71-109.

Seloni, L. (2008). Intertextual Connections between spoken and written text: A microanalysis of doctoral students' textual constructions. In D. Belcher & A. Hirvela (Eds.), The Oral-Literate Connection: Perspectives on L2 Speaking, Writing, and Other Media Interactions, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 63-86.

Williams, J. (2008). The speaking-writing connection in second language and academic literacy development. In D. Belcher & A. Hirvela (Eds.), The Oral-Literate Connection: Perspectives on L2 Speaking, Writing, and Other Media Interactions, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 10-25.