B.Ed.S4, P-23, U1, Eng Med.
B.Ed.S4, P-23, U1, Eng Med.
B.Ed.S4, P-23, U1, Eng Med.
Lesson No.
1.1 : Expository Writing- Article Writing and Bio
graphical writing
1.2 : Newspaper Writing, Magzine and Contem
porary Educational Issues.
1.0 Objectives: After reading this lesson Students will be able to:
1. Know about Expository writing
2. Understand Structure and writing of article
3. Understand the concept of Biographical writing.
1.1 Engaging With Expository Writing
1.1.1 Introduction
Language proficiency or linguistic proficiency is the ability of an individual to
speak or perform in an acquired language. Proficiency and language competence
demonstrate both accuracy and fluency while using a variety of discourse strategies.
Native – speakers of a language can be fluent without being considered proficient.
It is now fairly clear that before the twentieth century is over every
community of the world will have learned how to communicate with all the rest of
humanity. In this process of intercommunication the language of instruction plays a
significant role on earth. It would be rash to cut ourselves off from the language of
instruction which keeps us in continuous contact with the latest thought in every
field of life and culture.
Language is a skill subject so by creating a language sense, making it
interesting, forming a language habit, teaching with the help of proper methods of
teaching, the teacher can teach through the medium of instruction and the students
can be made to learn it. The modern trend is to strengthen the bipolar process of
teaching and learning and this is possible if we bring the teacher and the taught
closer.
The four language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing are inter-
linked. Good reading depends upon practice in listening and speaking, while good
writing depends on practice in all the others. And for expression, writing is as
important as speaking and sometimes even more important when we are unable to
express ourselves in speech.
Writing is the graphical representation of speech. Writing, thus, is very
important. Writing skill reinforces oral and reading work. Writing is a tool used to
enable us to express, what is in our mind, and for some people is almost as
important as speech. Writing is a beautiful art for communication, pleasure and
expression.
So, writing skill has to be very effective. Good writers formulate their plans
in their heads, think about what they have to say and to whom, constantly revise,
edit and review what they have written, in this way teachers can help the pupils to
strengthen their ability to ‘read’, ‘think’, ‘discuss’ and ‘communicate’ as well as to
‘write’.
B.Ed PART – II 3 PAPER - XXIII
known as the four styles, or types, of writing. Knowing all four different types and
their usages is important for any writer.
1.1.7 Teacher Can use Some Tips: Teachers can use the following tips to learn
more about expository essays and improve their students’ writing skills:
You should use the standard structure: the introduction containing the main
statement, three body paragraphs explaining the title, and the conclusion
restating the main idea.
1.1.9 Conclusion
In this way, expository writing is a highly effective way to learn how to write the
types of essays required for school, standardized tests, and college applications.
Students steadily build writing skills and confidence, guided by one-on-one
instruction with a dedicated, certified teacher. Our school courses teach students the
fundamentals of writing essays, including the expository essay. Expository writing
comes in a variety of forms, but, in general it is factual writing for the purpose of
informing others. The straight information report, a how-to piece, compare/contrast
writing, even biography is considered expository writing. This kind of
writing consists a main idea. Each main idea is explored through a variety of
supporting facts and details.
Article can vary from very serious to ordinary, that is, from religious to political,
and from social to personal. Mostly social aspects are considered for writing.
Articles are comparatively easy to write, and is a popular genre. Most magazines are
carrying articles, and then move to other genres. Articles should be objective and
only certain facts from verifiable sources. Mostly articles commence with a short,
eye-catching heading, designed to grab the reader’s attention and give a clue to the
content.
“A piece of writing bringing the subject to fore from one angle with a beginning, a
middle and ending, while all parts are juxtaposed systematically.”
“An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for
the purpose of propagating news, research results, academic analysis or debate.”
3. The main body of two to five paragraphs in which the topic is further developed
in detail.
4. The conclusion - summarising the topic or a final opinion, recommendation or
comment.
The article is usually on a well-defined topic or topics that are related in some way,
such as a factual account of a chain of events. The writer of a well-written article is
seen as objective and showing all sides to an issue. The sources for an article should
be identified and reliable.
i. Planning an Article
It can now be seen that in order to write a good article you need first to find the
theme or topic sentence which summarises what you are going to write about, and
then make a plan. This strategy will enable you to write quickly and clearly, help
you think of a title more easily and your work will have cohesion. Using this
method gives the topic sentence of each paragraph and connects it to the other
B.Ed PART – II 9 PAPER - XXIII
paragraphs. These topic sentences can be made into one paragraph and then
developed to form a whole article. Conversely, these topic sentences, when taken
together, can be used to cut down the entire article into a one-paragraph summary
of the whole piece.
ii. Write your article. (250 words)
First think about:
• Where is the article going to appear?(In a magazine.)
• Who are the intended readers? (Probably a fairly wide age group.)
• What is the aim of the article – to advise, suggest, inform, compare and contrast,
describe etc.
Then you need to decide:
• Which country have you studied in?
• How long were you there for?
• What did you study?
• What problems did you have while you were there?
• How have you changed?
iii. Brainstorm your ideas and make notes of what you are going to include.
Then, after some thought, you should be able to think of a topic sentence which can
be expanded into a paragraph. For example, a topic sentence which could start an
introduction is:
‘Studying abroad is an exciting experience, giving you the opportunity to learn
more about the traditions and culture of the host country and its people.’
These three points are the deciding factors in the layout of your article, its
style, language and level of formality. Determine the information you are going to
use and organize your ideas carefully into paragraphs.
Each paragraph should have a clear topic sentence.
VI. You are writing for the general public, not a close circle of friends.
VII. Your opinions are only interesting to other people if you can make them
amusing, justify them or explain them.
1.3.1 Introduction
A biography is the story of a real person’s life written by someone. It can be a page or
several pages. Biographical writing means the story of someone’s life. The life of
Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell and Abraham Lincoln, by Carl Sandburg, are two
noted biographies. The story of the writer’s own life is an autobiography. These days,
anyone of any age, can be the subject of a biography: Justin Bieber, at the tender age of 17, had
one written about his life. A biography is not to be confused with an autobiography, an account
of someone's life written by the subject himself. You'll find biographies in printed form
(remember books?), but also increasingly in the form of e-books, TV dramatizations, and
cinematic "bio-docs."
“Biography is a literary genre that portrays the experiences of all these events
occurred in the life of a person mostly in a chronological order”.
“Biography narrates the life story of a person written by another person or writer.
Biographies explore the events in a person’s life and find meaning within them”.
It should quickly and effectively communicate who you are and what you do. The
bio you would write for a personal web page might be very different than the bio
you would write for a college application. Adjust your tone to make your bio
appropriately formal, funny, professional, or personal.
Biographical writing is a specific form of writing and research that takes as its
subjects the lives of individuals. Biographical writing takes many forms, and can
range from published works to simple epitaphs on gravestones. Students might first
become familiar with Biographical Precis. An inquiry learning approach can help to
assist students to compose their own writings. Biographical writing is immediately
relevant to teachers of language. Teachers of language can help students to introduce
and understand the biographical writing skills in an engaging way. Before students get
started writing, they need to know who they are writing for. It should be quickly and
effectively communicate who is he and what he does. It is recommended by the
experts that biography must be written in the third person.
B.Ed PART – II 12 PAPER - XXIII
Whether you are hoping to become a published author or you just have a
school assignment to write about another person, writing a biography requires
special care and tact. In a biography, you are telling the story of someone's life. You
thus have to make sure you present them accurately and that you write interesting
and engaging information that leaves your reader feeling as though they learned
something from your writing.
For many people, writing about yourself isn’t easy. Whether you’re just
starting out in your field, or you have years of experience behind you, figuring out
how to describe what you do in a few quick sentences is a challenge. It will need to
be thoroughly researched and well-written. The key to picking a good biography is
picking a good subject who has lead an interesting life. While it may be tempting to
write about your favourite celebrity. People you are familiar with are also good
subjects for profiles. They are easily accessible for interview.
1.3.3 Steps to Write a Biography
A.BRAINSTORM
Biography means "writing about life." The key to writing a good biography is
picking a good subject who has lead an interesting life. While it may be tempting to
write about your favorite celebrity, you are strongly encouraged to select someone
who has lived an important life and made a lasting contribution to the world. People
you are familiar with are also good subjects for profiles. They are easily accessible
for interviews. Also, you can easily interview others about them. Teachers can ask
the students:
i. to make a list of 10 possible subjects for your biography. Think about all the
people in the world who fascinate you. Examples: Bill Clinton (former President),
William Shakespeare (famous writer) , your principal, Queen Elizabeth (famous
queen), one of your teachers, a relative and a mentor.
ii. Choose three people from your list who seem like the best candidates for a
biography.
iii. Run a quick search on the Internet to see how much information you can easily
find about your three candidates. As far as the people in your community such as
your principal or teacher the Internet will not be a helpful research tool. You will
have to talk to the person directly to see how much info you can quickly find out.
iv. Frame a list of questions for each of your three candidates (yes or no), to obtain
the information, like
B.RESEARCH
Now the students have to select a subject, can be named as Biographical research.
Biographical research is like detective work.
i. Visit the library, the internet, newspaper articles, magazine articles, biographies
and history books to gather information about your subject. If your subject is a
community member, dig up details through interviews. Interview your subject,
interview people who know your subject and interview people who have an opinion
about your subject.
ii. Track down basic facts about your subject, such as: Date of birth/death, place of
origin, parents/siblings, educational background, profession, marriage/children,
favorite books, music, art and hobbies.
iii. Find out which events shaped your subject's life, such as: Greatest
accomplishments, worst failure, biggest obstacles overcome and lasting contribution
to the world.
iv. Find out which people influenced your subject's life: Most influential teacher,
worst enemies, best friend(s), heroes and role models and favorite family member.
iv. Gather three quotations by and three quotations about your subject. Be accurate!
C.WRITE
Now the students have gathered enough facts and quotes, it's time to write!
i. To help organize your biography, draw a time line of important events in your
subject's life. Keep this handy when you begin to write. Include things like: Birth,
education, marriage/children, achievements, failures and death.
What is the most interesting thing you learned about your subject. That's where
your story should begin. Work in the rest of the details as the story unfolds.
ii. Write a first draft of your biography. In writing the first draft, students must be
honest. Tell the truth about your subject, good and bad. Be accurate. Check facts by
cross-referencing in other sources. Be clear. Always keep your readers in mind.
iii. It is time to read your biography out loud. It will help to answer the following
questions:
What new information have I learned about my subject?
Is my story always clear? If not, where does it break down?
B.Ed PART – II 14 PAPER - XXIII
came on shore. We survived the Tsunami. It was an act of God. When we returned
many days later we found our resort was no more.
1.4 Conclusion
The most important thing that you as a biographer can do is to write from the heart.
Write only about someone you care deeply about your subject, either positively or
negatively, so will your readers. If you take a biography about someone you could
not care less about, possibly for the money, or because you have received a good
contract, the readers won’t finish reading your book. Lastly, find the style of writing
that gives you the most pleasure, and stick to that style.
1.5 Summary
Laguage proficiency or linguistic proficiency is the ability of an individual to speak
or perform in an acquired language. Proficiency and language competence
demonstrate both accuracy and fluency while using a variety of discourse strategies.
Native speakers of a language can be fluent without being considered proficient.
Students can be proficient in developing their writing skills when a teacher helps
them and give opportunities to write different pieces of writing in exposition, some
selected articles as well as biographical concepts.
1.6 Suggested Questions
1. What do you understand by Expository Writing? What are its effective
writing styles?
2. What is the meaning of Article writing? How a teacher can help
students in writing selected articles?
3. How a good biography can be written? Write a personal biography on
your ‘Father’.
1.7 Suggested Reading:
Aggarwal, J.C. (2003). “Teaching of Commerce ; A Practical Approach, Vikas
Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Nandra, I. D. S.(2017). Strengthening Language Proficiency, Twentyfirst Century
Publications, Patiala, Punjab.
http://www.preservearticles.com/2012032829161/what-are-the-main-objectives-of-a-
school-magazine.html
http://www.merinews.com/article/importance-of-school-and-college-
magazines/15710541.shtml
B.Ed PART – II 16 PAPER - XXIII
http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/146098-Importance-school-college-
magazine.aspx
http://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/essay/importance-of-school-magazine-
and-its-uses/5430/
http://www.shareyouressays.com/2984/260-words-essay-on-importance-of-school-
magazine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_layout
http://www.magazinedesigning.com/structure-of-the-magazine/
B.Ed PART – II 17 PAPER - XXIII
article writing is a skill that can help students to pursue their career in journalism. It
also helps students to develop their writing skills. Newspaper writing is a planned
and concised way to convey the information.
News style or news writing style is the prose style used for news reporting in
media such as newspaper, radio and television. News style encompasses not only
vocabulary and sentence structure, but also the way in which stories present the
information in terms of relative importance. The tense used for news style articles is
past tense.
2.2 Newspaper Writing – An Aid to Teaching
News writing attempts to answer all the basic questions about any particular
event – who, what, when, where and why and also often how at the opening of the
article. Newspapers generally adhere to an expository writing style. Among the
larger and more respected newspapers, fairness and balance is a major factor in
presenting information. News writers try to avoid using the same word more than
once in a paragraph.
Students love being able to understand and read current news in English.
English language students discover a whole new world through newspapers, new
words, new phrases, new ideas etc. Reading news in English is so much exciting for
students. An English teacher can adopt number of ways to engage students to use
newspaper in an English language. Firstly, students can be instructed to know all
sections of a daily English newspaper. The purpose of each section must be clear to
all. Teacher can ask the students to take on different roles to produce a newspaper of
their own. Students could work in groups of two to four to produce different
sections of a newspaper as a whole class. Teacher may discuss the content of the
newspaper and the whole process of producing it. Critical thinking is the natural
outgrowth of using a newspaper to learn. The newspaper expands the curriculum
with an unlimited amount of information to use as background for learning
activities.
To better serve students, teachers need to explore a variety of ways to
develop their skills and increase their knowledge. One such move would be to bring
newspapers back the classroom and include them in the array of materials used to
teach important information and skills. Newspapers could be a strong motivator for
students to connect with the world today. Students could be benefitted to write
articles for the school newspaper, or letters to the editor of a commercial newspaper
expressing their views about what they have read.
Newspaper for students of different ages, abilities and interests would be of
great value like advice about driving, health, fashion, movies or sports, weather
reports, political cartoons and even word and number puzzles. Daily comics is also
B.Ed PART – II 19 PAPER - XXIII
tools: character, key moments, dialogue, telling details and place. The students learn
to track the notion of the journalist as a savvy, articulate, thoughtful and emphatic
witness of events.
For students, it can be hard to write from personal experience. But a personal essay
can help him to present their views before the audience, bringing attention to any
current educational issue. It helps students to emphasize the importance of creating a
clear connection between their personal experiences and universal topics. Students
may write interesting and worthy stories about the human condition using examples
from their lives. Writing must the truth. It’s worth it to write what’s real. Once they
have penned their essay, it is time for publication that is in the form of a personal
narrative. Students can submit their piece of written work for school magazine as
well as newspapers and blogs.
Magazine writing is an art to write feature-oriented pieces. Students at the
initial stage may focus on smaller stories, while others may produce long-from,
narrative, pieces. This can include exclusive interviews with sought-after subjects
and celebrities that can be of several pages long.
It is increasingly common that magazines need stories for their online
publications as well. Some of these stories never make it to print, instead, they are
published solely on the magazine's website.
2.2.2 Process of Magazine Writing
Firstly, it is important that students gain an understanding of the style of
magazine journalism. It is different than writing for a daily newspaper and
the best is to familiarize themselves with it is to read. Students may focus on
niche topics such as beauty, fashion or technology. Through this research,
they will learn about story length and format and how magazine writers
capture a reader's attention.
Student writers need samples of their work and practice their skills on it. The
best way to do that is to write and write often. Students may take it as a piece
of assignments and write sample stories.
Every student writer has their own voice and many choose to focus their
career on a certain topic. It keeps them motivated by finding a niche that they
will love to write about is good on many fronts. A niche doesn't have to be
extremely narrow, either. Many student writers may concentrate on broad
topics like politics or business, food or lifestyle, entertainment or sports.
The magazine world is very competitive. Persistence will keep the student
writers motivated. The magazine editorial process can be very slow at times
and after persistence comes patience.
B.Ed PART – II 21 PAPER - XXIII
Deadlines are key to any student writer success and it is vital that you make
every deadline they are given. Learn to love deadlines and consider them
essential to their career.
2.2.3 Engaging Students in Magazine Writing
Showing students an error-free, model piece of writing. Get old concepts of
magazines of all different styles from second hand stores or in school library
and read through the different writing styles.
Ask students to write four times more than they can assess.
The following structure creates a foundation for students to work from:
Read (what did they say?)
Analyze (how did they say it?)
Emulate (you try).
Before we ask students to write, a teacher can help them to develop a sense
out of that structure.
Students have now created a map of the writing that they can use to structure
their own.
Through the previous step you should be able to, determine your favourite
type of school publications (art, fashion, trade etc.)
Try to focus on your favourites, it is easiest to write about things you actually
have an interest in.
Students can gather the information from some instances, through
researching online also.
Since students are starting from scratch, they will need to create up to three
brilliant articles. These will serve simply as a reference of what you are
capable of.
At last, submit your piece of writing for school magazine for publication or
in any other renowned magazine.
2.2.4 Difference between Newspaper Writing and Magazine Writing
Newspaper Writing
Newspapers come out on a daily basis.
Writing about something that happened 20 days back would make no sense.
Newspapers primarily focus on politics, current events, financial reports and
various interests throughout the world.
Newspaper writing is more and smaller.
Newspapers are written for a general audience.
The newspaper writer compounded to a somewhat strict, strong and straight
to their point view as it is based on facts and figures.
B.Ed PART – II 22 PAPER - XXIII
Magazine Writing
Magazines on the other hand hit news stands every week/fortnight/month etc.
This gives the writer the luxury to writer longer, more opinion led pieces.
These pieces need not to be as current as a newspaper piece.
Magazines tend to focus on specific topics, such as, sports, home décor,
gardening or music.
Magazines writing is less and bigger.
Magazines are written for specific types of audiences.
Magazine writers have the tenacity and freedom to express things on a
creative manner.
2.2.5 Conclusion
“If we want students to become lifelong writers, students must see writing as
intrinsically important – not just another school assignment. Students must find
writing to be relevant and meaningful.”
2.3. ENGAGING STUDENTS IN WRITING CONTEMPORARY
EDUCATIONAL ISSUES
2.3.1 Introduction
When we think of student’s engagement in contemporary educational issues,
it is often convenient to understand engagement with an activity as being
represented by student thinking i.e. cognitive engagement (Fredricks, 2014).
Students may be intellectually exerting the necessary mental effort to understand
and master the knowledge, or skill that any educational activity promotes.
2.3.2 Engaging Students in Writing an Educational Issue
In aiming for full engagement, it is essential that students perceive
educational activities or issues as being meaningful. A teacher can connect students
with its previous knowledge and experiences, highlighting the value of an assigned
activity in personally relevant ways. Engaging student’s perspective of
contemporary educational issues determines their level of perception. When
students pursue an activity because they want to learn and understand, rather than
merely obtain a good grade, look smart, please their parents or outperform peers,
their engagement is more likely to be full and through. A teacher can also place the
emphasis on student’s progress by reducing social comparison and recognizing
student improvement and effort.
A teacher can engage students through discussion because discussion method
is the best method to draw out their inner views about an issue. Teacher must be
kept in mind that the topic of discussion should be announced earlier so that
students come well prepared. It will help students to gather related information
B.Ed PART – II 23 PAPER - XXIII
The next challenge is our corruption which has become the right of all
government officers and whole system. In many schools it is found that the fund
which was sending to the school disappeared on the way. A story is enough to
describe facts. Once a school principal demanded for funds for digging a well for
students.
Privatization of education is great issue. Some learned people say that
government officials take higher salaries but not work according to that. But in
private institutes teachers remains in very critical conditions which is not good for
the education system.
The issue of unawareness of teachers about the methods and techniques of
teaching. Even they are not interested in these. Teaching is the profession in which a
teacher needs to polish his /her knowledge day by day. And because it is the
profession daily updating of methods and techniques is compulsory. I think this is
the demand of the profession but our teachers are so rigid that they don’t want to
change themselves.
The issue of character of teachers. Our teacher’s character is going
downwards. A teacher is the only person who can change the direction of the
society. He is the person who is the center point of any education system. This
influences much our society than any other part of the society. This effects much our
education than all the above points. But nowadays we read news in different forms
in newspapers that a teacher kidnapped his /her students or a teacher raped his
student. And due to this many students left their schooling on the mid way. It is the
clear example how a teacher is degrading his/her character and to what extent.
2.3.4 Example of an Educational Issue
Barriers in Implementation of E-Learning in Teacher Education
2.3.4.1 Introduction
Teaching is becoming one of the most challenging professions in our society
where knowledge is expanding rapidly and modern technologies are demanding
teachers to learn how to use these technologies in their teaching. Traditional
instructor-centred teaching is yielding to a learner-centred model that puts learner in
control of their own learning. This has pushed the today’s teacher-educators to face
different challenges than their predecessors in teaching tomorrow’s teacher-
educators. E-learning refers to the use of Internet technologies to deliver a broad
array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance (Rosenberg, 2001). E-
learning can be used by teacher-educators to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of educational interventions in the face of the social, scientific, and
pedagogical challenges encountered during teaching and learning.
B.Ed PART – II 25 PAPER - XXIII
Better information, ideas via effective combination of old and new pedagogy
can be enhanced through e-learning among teacher-educators.
Secure commitment from all participants and identify and address potential
barriers to implementation.
Encourage active learning—self-assessment, reflection, self-directed
learning, problem- based learning, learner interaction, and feedback to the
teacher-educators.
Provide time for learning evaluate—both learners and course
2.4 Conclusion
E-learning can result in significant cost savings, sometimes as much as 50%,
compared with traditional instructor-led learning (AAMC, 205). Studies have
consistently demonstrated that students are very satisfied with E-learning (Candler
et. al., 2003 & Halley, 2001). Learners’ satisfaction rates increase with e-learning
compared to traditional learning, along with perceived ease of use and access,
navigation, interactivity, and user-friendly interface design (Harden and Hart, 2002).
Interestingly, students do not see E-learning as replacing traditional instructor-led
training but as a complement to it, forming part of a blended learning.
2.5 SUMMARY
Newspaper writing is different from writing other articles because news
article has a different way to present information in a specific way. News article is a
medium to convey all the relevant information in a limited word limit. Newspaper
article writing is a skill that can help students to pursue their career in journalism. It
also helps students to develop their writing skills. Newspaper writing is a planned
and concised way to convey the information. Magazine writing is an art to write
feature-oriented pieces. Students at the initial stage may focus on smaller stories,
while others may produce long-from, narrative, pieces. Engaging student’s
perspective of contemporary educational issues determines their level of perception.
When students pursue an activity because they want to learn and understand, rather
than merely obtain a good grade, look smart, please their parents or outperform
peers, their engagement is more likely to be full and through. A teacher can also
place the emphasis on student’s progress by reducing social comparison and
recognizing student improvement and effort.
http://www.merinews.com/article/importance-of-school-and-college-
magazines/15710541.shtml
http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/146098-Importance-school-college-
magazine.aspx
http://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/essay/importance-of-school-magazine-
and-its-uses/5430/
http://www.shareyouressays.com/2984/260-words-essay-on-importance-of-school-
magazine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_layout
http://www.magazinedesigning.com/structure-of-the-magazine/