Teaching Writing within the Lifeworld

Mingrui Yang

【Abstract】This paper reports a biographic enquiry of how an college English teacher taught writing within the lifeworld， highlighting the pedagogical care in the process of meaning expression and negotiation.

【Key words】Writing; lifeworld; Pedagogical care

【作者簡介】Mingrui Yang， Honghe University.

1. Instruction

A is an English teacher teaching College English over 10 years. A believed that writing must mediate reflection and action; measure our thoughtfulness; exercise the ability to see; show something; rewrite （Max， 1990）. A confirmed：

Students should be guided to express creatively， to see and to criticize the world they live in through writing， which can only be achieved in the context of lifeworld. Instead of teaching how to write beautifully with formulas， I encourage students to write their own ideas and experiences（ Nov. 25th， 2017）..

This entry will present how A gave an instruction to write an exposition.

A once brought some turnip chips for her students in order to teach writing an exposition by sharing self-made food. She typed the content briefly one by one while introducing 8 stages of making the food with a title while the students were enjoying the food：

Preserved turnip chips

Select the good turnips first

Wash them then

Cut them into pieces like the middle fingers

Dry them in the open for 5-7 days day and night during a good weather

Wash them again and drip to dry

Mix them with salt hard. The degree of salt is based on your taste

Preserve them into a jar while pressing them hard

Cover the jar. They are ready to eat after 7 days

Then A assigned a writing task： write an instruction on sth you can make and ask peers to read it. If  your peers can not understand it， try to refine it again till your peers know how （fieldnote， 18th， Dec， 2017）.

Sharing food was not a simple experience for experience itself. A not only gave the instruction on how to write but guided students to learn to make contribution to life. It is an authentic life experience full of the pedagogical meaning， and through which the teacher could connect the lifeworld with further instruction.

2. Assignment

Writing assignment could also be an invitation for students to share their lived experience， uncovering what they known and experienced， triggering students to write for the desire of expression and master writing skill and principles. The life in the classroom was then not an isolated sphere for transferring objective knowledge， but a meaningful teacher-student interaction.

The following is a students reflection after presentation：

My topic is Greek Mythology. I dont know much about it before. Thus I spend many hours finding materials and preparing the presentation. After presenting it， I felt quite sorry that I couldnt answer my classmates questions. Maybe I havent prepared well enough， but after all this is the first time I make a presentation. I hope I can do it better next time （Jin 2nd， Nov， 2018）.

With writing invitation， students can be motivated to express themselves through experiencing or recalling something in the context of the lifeworld.

3. Evaluation

Evaluating writings is an effective way for A to communicate with students lifeworld. A attempted to show empathy to students personal feelings：

Sometimes love is silent， sometimes love is action. Your brother gives you help when you are in need. You have a wonderful brother because you are wonderful！

A also purposely gave students timely face-to-face feedback， highlighting good work and underlining language mistakes and giving guidance. Peer mentoring is also carefully and selectively used to stimulate students to refine their writings. Finally， a well documented portfolio of each student will be collected as a tool for the final evaluation.

4. Conclusion

If we write， we must show something to the potential readers but not merely practice the language forms to be capable of using the language （Zsuzsanna， 2019）. Writing was indeed a process of meaning negotiation between A and students， empowering students to learn and take the responsibility for learning， an effective and powerful skill in social interaction of human beings. In the process， teachers notion——“write for life” has been internalizing by students natural writing desire about their real life and feelings.

References：

[1]Max Ven Manen. Research Lived Experience[M]. Ontario： State University of New York Press，1990.