Transactional Writing Forms, Promoting Creative Writing in Grade 6

This essay delves into the realm of transactional writing, focusing on its significance in education and its practical applications for grade 6 students. It begins by defining transactional writing and highlighting its importance in communication, both in academic and professional contexts. The essay then explores various forms of transactional writing, including speeches, letters, and articles, outlining their structures, purposes, and key characteristics. Furthermore, it provides a comprehensive discussion on strategies for promoting creative and critical writing in grade 6 classrooms, emphasizing the role of teachers in fostering these skills. The essay also examines the literacy instruction theory and its three main approaches: skill-based, whole language, and literature-based, discussing how these approaches can be effectively implemented to enhance writing abilities. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and underscores the importance of teaching different forms of transactional writing to enrich students' writing skills.

ASSIGNMENT 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
VARIOUS FORMS OF TRANSACTIONAL WRITING........................................................3
PROMOTING CREATIVE AND CRITICAL WRITING IN A GRADE 6 CLASS...............5
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCE LIST...................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Teaching transactional writing helps students to learn the process of communicating ideas
between individuals. Teachers are liable to teach grade 6 students about the process of
transactional writing to help them in communicating through formal texts in the future. At
this stage, kids learn about different manners of formal writing in their schools. This essay is
focusing on different forms of transactional writing. Appropriate processes for promoting
critical and creative writing in grade 6 classes are being discussed in this study. Discussion of
this study may shed light on the importance of learning transactional writing in schools.
Responsibilities of teachers regarding this aspect are being elaborated.
VARIOUS FORMS OF TRANSACTIONAL WRITING
Transactional writing is a form of writing, which helps to inform or getting things done. In
addition, this writing also helps in persuading a particular audience to make them understand
something. In school writing, this is the most common category. As opined by Van Steendam
(2016), students who perform transactional form of writing can achieve benefit in future work
life. This is because; transactional form of writing is appreciated in different corporations,
industries, and public sector offices. There are different forms of transactional writing that
help students in both academics and work life.
Speech is a form of transactional writing, which is usually written to engage an audience for
a subject matter. As stated by Kempenaar and Murray (2016:942), speech often includes
three par structures that must be maintained during writing. Opening of the speech needs to
be highly engaging that can help to grow interested of target audience and engagement of
audience can be increased. Moreover, Rietdijk et al. (2018:640) contradicted that
attractiveness of audience can be increased in a speech through argumentative writing. The
main points of the speech should have provision for objection handling. Hence, different
contradicting points can be included in the speech that can help to form a well-structured
argument. In addition, speech can be ended through a dynamic conclusion. Generally, formal
language can be used while framing a speech. However, it is very essential to use a clear and
concise language while writing a speech. Barnlund (2017:52) contradicted that speech is
generally prepared for a professional audience, which includes teachers, business personnel.
Hence, it needs to be written in a formal language.
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This form of transactional writing is complicated and a student needs to give emphasis on
writing, texts, literature and word identification. Therefore, balanced language approach of
literacy instruction theory can be adopted for this purpose. Nevertheless, the language of a
speech needs to be persuasive, which can able to attract the audience. Persuasive devices
need to be included in this speech. For example, a rhetorical question where the speaker can
ask a question and predict the answer. Similarly, other tools of persuasion like an anecdote,
emotive language and hyperbole can also be used in a speech. Another example of a
persuasive device is personal pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘We’. Using these pronouns can make
the audience engaged within the speech.
Letter is another essential form of transactional writing, which follows a conventional
structure. As mentioned by Rietdijk et al. (2017:221), generally Standard English is used for
composing a formal letter. This form of letter is essential for different purposes like an
invitation, sharing information and others. Structure of a formal letter includes postal address
of the sender, which needs to be positioned on the top right corner. On the other hand,
recipient address is positioned on the left and just underneath it, date is given. A letter
generally starts with a greeting. For example, dear, respected are the words that are used to
greet the receiver. In addition, if the letter is written to an unknown person then the letter
needs to start with ‘Dear sir/madam'.
At the beginning of the letter, a description of the issue should be addressed. As stated by Soh
(2017:64), in the opening paragraph, the purpose of the letter needs to be described. This
helps to increase clarity of the letter. Moreover, in the following paragraphs elaboration of the
issue must be done. The ending paragraph needs to refer back to the purpose of the letter and
writer must write personal expectations in this ending paragraph. Moreover, a formal
language must be adopted to end the letter. For example, ‘yours sincerely’, ‘yours faithfully’
and others are formal language. This form of transactional writing must be taught to students
through teaching discourses. This includes teaching textual features and construction of
grammar. Skills discourse like correct handwriting, proper sentence construction can also be
identified as an essential approach to teach writing a formal letter (Ivanic, 2004:224).
Article is another important form of transactional writing that helps to elaborate a particular
topic. An article can be found in a magazine, newspaper, website or blog. As stated by
Barnlund (2017:53), an article is a piece of informative writing regarding a particular topic.
In addition, an article can be written as biased to prove a standpoint or can be written from a
neutral perspective. Students need to practice article writing that can help to increase the
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depth of them about a particular subject area. This is because for writing an article it is
essential to gather information about the topic of writing.
Article generally gets flavored by the style of writer. The standpoint of writer is generally
expressed in the article. An article must be written by analyzing the purpose of the article
(Van Steendam, 2016). Different subjects can be covered by article writing that includes
travel, sports, history, and others. Students are given article writing on study subjects and
other topics like hobbies and crafts. Structure of the article includes an opening paragraph
that includes the main points of the article. As opined by Kempenaar and Murray (2016:948),
an article needs to start with attractive lines for engaging the readers. The middle section
needs to have a proper description of the subject matter and information that are collected. In
the concluding paragraph, the writer needs to highlight all of the main points that are
discussed.
These are some forms of transactional writing that needs to be practiced by students to
increase their writing strengths. These writing forms can also help them in future career and
academics.
PROMOTING CREATIVE AND CRITICAL WRITING IN A GRADE 6 CLASS
Children of grade 6 try to write something on their own. However, they fail due to a lack of
knowledge regarding construction of sentences, grammar, and vocabulary. In this digital era,
technology has entered into the classrooms and teachers are using technologies to teach
(Obradović et al. 2015:292). It is not possible for kids to learn writing by typing. It is
important for them to focus on handwriting for learning from their mistakes. Teachers help
students to improve their motor skills by encouraging in handwriting. On the other hand,
handwriting is potent to help in concentrating and avoiding bad behaviors. As suggested by
Sa'diyah (2017:19), grade 6 students must be encouraged by teachers to use ball-pen while
writing and they can be allowed to use pencil for doing mathematics. Moreover, kids of this
grade need to focus on legibility and speed. At the learning stage, they get guidance from
their teachers about the appropriate process for critical and creative writing. The literacy
instruction theory is potent enough to help teachers in promoting creative and critical writing
in grade 6. Three main approaches are there in this theory and all of these approaches are
helpful in teaching kids about writing. A first approach is a skill-based approach. According
to Richardson and Mishra (2018:51), the skill-based approach has five specific requirements
including fluency, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, comprehension and phonics. This
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approach guide teachers to instruct students to learn from their awareness. On the other hand,
the second approach is the whole language approach. Teachers with this approach allow
students to argue on the basis of their real-life experiences (Sa'diyah, 2017). For example,
teachers ask students to use their experience while writing creatively. The third approach is
different from these two approaches and it postulates about emphasizing on genuine
literature, writing, texts, comprehensions, and responses. For example, teachers can use this
approach for allowing students to research for getting authentic information before writing
critically about a given topic. Additionally, this approach can help in promoting
comprehension, identification of words, phonics, writing, and spelling.
Teaching creative writing helps teachers to improve the ability of students to express their
thoughts. On the other hand, Kress (1997:86), have mentioned that learning critical learning
helps students in comparing and contrasting different perspectives of a particular subject.
Several approaches are there that help teachers to promote creative writing in grade 6
students. For example, teachers can show kids about using attractive graphic organizers.
Utilization of story map can be shown to those students for helping them to generate similar,
though innovative ideas. Teachers can also read creative writing in front of students.
Ivanic (2004:230) have mentioned that this approach can help them to encourage students to
learn from listening to creative writing approaches. Participating with students in creative
writing may help teachers to promote this specific form of writing. For example, teachers can
write small poems with their students in grade 6 classes. It will be fun for kids to learn
creative writing through writing poems. Encouraging students in writing fairy tales is
another example of an effective approach that can help teachers in promoting creative writing
in grade 6 class. For example, teachers may ask students to write family fairy tales from their
point of views. It can improve their skills in creative writing. According to Ivanic (2004:
232), layered view of language has mentioned about six discourses of teaching children
writing. In case of promoting creative writing, creative discourse can help teachers to
encourage students in reading and writing good examples.
Critical writing is a complex form of writing and it is difficult for teachers to promote this
writing form in grade 6 classes. At this age, kids do not understand the meaning of the term
‘critical’. The first duty of a teacher is to encourage them in thinking critically before writing.
Teachers can encourage both agreement and disagreement within the classroom for
promoting critical writing. For example, they can make a statement and students will be free
to write about their agreement or disagreement. This practice can help teachers in teaching
critical writing. Students will feel free to express their own thinking through writing and this
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aspect can help to create critical content. As opined by Florea and Hurjui (2015:565),
teachers can ask students to review different sources of knowledge. After that, they must
advise kids to compare and contrast different points of views. This strategy is potent
enough to help children in gathering experience of arguments. They will learn to write
critically with the help of their vast knowledge and experience. Among the six discourses of
teaching writing, genre discourse can be considered as appropriate in case of promoting
critical writing. While writing critical content, it is important to have a strong knowledge of
grammar and comprehension. Teachers need to focus on educating grammar and
comprehension in grade 6 classes for helping kids in developing skills for critical writing.
On the other hand, Willinsky (2017: 2) have mentioned that teachers can assess healthy
competition within the classroom. In that case, they can ask students to submit critical writing
based on a common incident. This strategy may help teachers in assessing gaps in knowledge
regarding critical writing in students of grade 6.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that different forms of transactional writing
are there that can help to enrich a student's writing strength. Different forms like letter,
speech has a proper format that needs to be adopted while writing. Transactional writing is a
process of written communication that is used to persuade or inform. Moreover, different
creative writing approaches can be promoted among the students of grade six. This includes
showing graphic organizers, participation of teachers in creative writing and others. These
approaches can help to enhance writing skills among children.
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p.904.
Ivanic, R. 2004. Discourses of writing and learning to write. Language and education vol. 18
(3). pp. 220 – 245.
Kempenaar, L.E. and Murray, R., 2016. Writing by academics: a transactional and systems
approach to academic writing behaviours. Higher Education Research & Development,
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Kress, G. 1997. Chapter 4: Drawing letters and writing dinosaurs. In: Before writing.
London: Routledge.
Obradović, S., Bjekić, D. and Zlatić, L., 2015. Creative teaching with ICT support for
students with specific learning disabilities. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 203,
pp.291-296.
Richardson, C. and Mishra, P., 2018. Learning environments that support student creativity:
Developing the SCALE. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 27, pp.45-54.
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Improving writing in primary schools through a comprehensive writing program. The Journal
of Writing Research, 9(2), pp.173-225.
Rietdijk, S., van Weijen, D., Janssen, T., van den Bergh, H. and Rijlaarsdam, G., 2018.
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Journal of Educational Psychology, 110(5), p.640.
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Sa’diyah, H., 2017. Improving students’ability in writing descriptive texts through a picture
series-aided learning strategy. The English Teacher, p.19.
Soh, K., 2017. Fostering student creativity through teacher behaviors. Thinking Skills and
Creativity, 23, pp.58-66.
Van Steendam, E., 2016. Forms of Collaboration in Writing. Journal of Writing Research,
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Willinsky, J., 2017. The new literacy: Redefining reading and writing in the schools.
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