Types of composition

1. reproductive exercise
2. guided composition
3. free composition
4. creative writing

1. Types of composition M.CHANDRAKUMARI

2. INTRODUCTION In teaching of language, writing is one of the basic skill to be acquired by the student. The student of the language writes alphabets first, then he learns writing of words by combining different alphabets and after that he is writing sentences and paragraph . In composition composing of sentence based on some ideas. Surely, composition is collection of sentences spun around one idea.

3. TYPES OF COMPOSITION REPRODUCTION EXERCISES OF COMPOSITION GUIDED COMPOSITION FREE COMPOSITION CREATIVE WRITING

4. REPRODUCTION EXERCISES / GUIDED COMPOSITION / CONTROLLED COMPOSITION Guidance is provided by the teacher. Guidance of vocabulary, structures, ideas is given to the students by the teacher. 100 % to 1% guidance is given . Even if a little bit of guidance is given it is called guided composition .

5. If 100% guidance is given by the teacher and the students reproduce the material exactly the same way it is called reproduction exercise. Guided composition is also called controlled composition, because there is control structures, vocabulary, ideas etc. by the teacher.

6. Examples of guided composition 1. Students are asked to read the paragraph and fill in the blanks eg : once a crow felt…… . He went in search of ……..soon he saw a jug. It had a ……… water. He put the pebbles into it. The…….. rose up. He drank…… and flew ……… . 2. A topic s given , the students are asked to speak or write. Some guidelines or hint may be given to them. eg : A Cow A cow ………… useful animal. ……… gives us milk.

7. 3 . The teacher gives some key word and the students are asked to develop composition by using this words. eg : cycle, price, hero-make, new, red colour, small, attractive, bell, opportunity for exercise, good for health. (I have a cycle . It is new . It is hero-make . Its price is rupees one thousand. It is of red colour . It has a small attractive bell . The children like it. It gives opportunity for doing exercise . It is good for health . I like it very much. )

8. 4. The teacher gives a paragraph in past tense. He asks the students to convert it into present tense. eg : the students of our class made a noise. The teacher was on leave. Soon the Headmaster came there. He asked the monitor to take care of the class. Then all the students were silent. 5. Match the sentence column I column II Neela was my student . He plays hockey everyday. Mohan is a good boy. She is innocent.

9. 6. A number of interconnected questions are put to the students. They are asked to give answers. The answer given by the students form composition. e g : (a) What is your name? (b) What is your father name? (c) Where do you live? (d) How many brother do you have? (e) In which school are you studying?

10. Principles of guided composition Topic is choose according to the mental level of the students. That way they will be interested. The teacher explains to the students the detail of the topic so that they may be fully familiar with it. The teacher prepares the guideline according to which the students move on with out facing any sorts of problems.

11. 4. Vocabulary, structures etc. are given by the teacher. The learner has to use them the way it is required by the teacher. The teacher is putting forth the string and the students go on putting vocabulary and structures along with the lines. 5. All work is done orally and then writing work is carried on. Drills are given if needed arises there to.

12. Free composition Here composition means doing composition work freely and independently . The learner is free to use any thoughts, structures, vocabulary etc. no guidance of any type is provided by the teacher. Free composition may also be called as unguided or uncontrolled composition.

13. A free composition is that which : 1. no restrictions on the pupils for the use of vocabulary and structures. 2. no restrictions on the length of composition. 3. pupils are free to tackle the topic set for them. 4. pupils are forced to think freely.

14. H.Champian , says “ The ultimate aim of composition is to enable the pupil to arrange his own ideas in his own way , freely; to choose his own word ; to express his own ideas , freely ”. Hence the term free composition .

15. GUIDED COMPOSITION TO FREE COMPSITION A good teacher adopts a strategy and then accordingly he proceeds . At initial stage he gives 100% guidance to the student . Then gradually goes on decreasing the guidance to students.95%, then 90%,80%,70% and so on . Over the years he comes to a stage when the learners don’t need any guidance. This free composition stage is reached which is the ultimate goal of teaching composition.

16. Free composition to creative composition At free composition stage , the learns are in a position to develop composition without any guidance. They become independent thinker’s a nd gradually they become creative persons. At that level, that can think of topic they are able to put their ideas in very systematic manner.

17. CREATIVE WRITING All type of writing gradually leads one to Creative type of writing. Guided composition enables a person to write free composition and that paves way to Creative writing. A person. Is enable to write reviews, short stories, Dialogue writing etc. And that may be used in the college magazine or published in somewhere in the standard magazine.

18. WHICH TYPE OF COMPOSITION AT EARLY STAGE? Controlled composition is used because beginners cannot write without any proper guidance. Free composition can also be introduced , but it is not advisable because it may lead to disastrous conclusion . Free composition is possible through guided composition. The more is the practice given in controlled composition at the early stags, the better would be the students in composition work.

19. DANGERS OF FREE COMPOSITION AT EARLY STAGES The students will compose in mother tongue and they will start doing literal translation . Structures and vocabulary are the basics of language are not given any practice. The learner will commit a number of errors and those errors and those errors will be fixed in their minds.

20. The learners will memorise a number of topics for composition work in the order to qualify the examination. Their will be heavy load of correction work on the part of the teachers. Introducing free composition at the lower level of language learning is not useful. The best approach is that controlled writing should be started and that should gradually lead to the level of free composition.

21. Stages of teaching composition Stages of teaching composition Pre-composition stage Oral composition stage Written compositions stage Correction work Oral development of composition by the teacher Oral development of composition by the students

22. Pre - composition stage It is the stage before teaching actual composition. Here learners are taught some language items like vocabulary, structures etc. They learn new vocabulary with the help of already learnt structures and new structures with the help of grasped vocabulary.

23. For eg : if the teacher wants to introduce the topics ‘A Chair’, ‘A Table’ to the students . Before teaching the composition the teacher will teach the words and structures which are to be made use in the composition .

24. Oral composition stage Whatever may be the topic is taken up for the composition , it should be dealt with orally first. This type of practice is quite useful at early stages. Once the students are able to think and speak orally, it will not make much time to write those ideas in a clear and precise language.

25. Oral development of composition by the teacher He can use some pictures and charts. It will make his speaking more interesting and learnable for the students. The students are getting listening practice. It is a sort of preparatory stage for the students where after they will find it easy to speak on the same lines.

26. Oral development of composition by the students The students are given vocabulary, structures, ideas etc. by the teacher. The students develop the composition orally on the line provided by the teacher. Oral development by the students enable them to have better grasp over the subject matter. The development is made by the teacher, here the students have to be more active.

27. Written composition stage The students are asked to write in their fair note-book in the class. The teacher will be present and supervising them. Any hints or guide line on the chart, flashcards, chalk board etc. should remain there at the initial stages of learning composition. Gradually the teacher will help them in growing independently

28. Correction work Note-book of the students are collected by the teacher for correction work. If possible the teacher should corrections should be made in the presence of the students. Some of the common mistakes of the students should be discussed in the whole class. A parallel topic should be given as home work to the students

29. conclusion Good composition work is in the hands of an efficient teacher, which results in the effective learning of the language. Only very few teachers are able to accept this challenging task of teaching composition, remaining are asking the students to copy down and cram the material. Whatever may be the language, the poor learning or the effective learning of the students lies in the teaching process of the teacher.