The Importance of Writing

Writing has a special position in language teaching and learning because the acquisition of writing is dependent on the practice and knowledge of other three language skills. Furthermore, it requires mastering of other skills as well. Learners are required to set an objective for their writing, plan it carefully, think over its layout and logical structure, and revise it. According to  Cohen, the general patterns shaping the path of learning behaviors as well as how a learner performs a task play a significant role in successful implementation of the cognitive and metacognitive processes concerning writing tasks, thus paving the way for achievement of the intended goals.

In the writing process, learners have to use cognitive skills; they have to analyze their sources and then put it into a compact piece of writing. Therefore, knowing how to write in L2 is a valuable asset in foreign language communication. According to Walsh (2010), writing is important because it’s used extensively in higher education and in the workplace. If students don’t know how to express themselves in writing, they won’t be able to communicate well with professors, employers, peers, or just about anyone else. Much of professional communication is done in writing: proposals, memos, reports, applications, preliminary interviews, e-mails, and more are part of the daily life of a college student or successful graduate.

According to Flower and Hayes (1981), the writing process is concerned with coming up with ideas as well as the requirement to select. This process requires the writer to make decisions on the topic, lexical items, structure, and the addressees. As Myhill and Watson (2011) argue, many theoretical perspectives are therefore required to understand the complexities of the writing process. The problem in writing has led teachers to search for appropriate ways of teaching it in EFL classes. Arapoff (1967) defines writings as “something much more than an orthographic symbolization of speech. It is most importantly, purposeful selection and organization of experience. By experience I mean all thoughts, facts, opinions- whether acquired first hand, through direct perceptions or actions or second hand through reading or hearsay” (p.33). Arapoff (1967) further remarks, “The process of learning to write is largely a process of learning to think more clearly.” Then we can say that writing is an active skill which needs intensive mental activity, a combination of thought and activities. As an enormously important skill, writing is a kind of process which research shows to be complex from a developmental perspective. According to Boekaerts et al. (2007), the successful writing requires the writer to have both linguistic and self-regulatory skills together with their interdependent processes in which the provision of feedback is crucially important .Based on Widdowson (1979), “writing is a communicative activity and so is carried out in accordance with certain general principles which underline the use of language in communication.” Rivers (1981) says that “the ultimate aim of writer is to be able to express himself in a polished literary form which requires the utilization of a special vocabulary and certain refinement of structures.” According to Hilton and Hyder (1993)” writing is conveying our message in words through which we express our thoughts, ideas, questions, remarks, etc.”