Writing process

The term writing process usually describes the totality of processes that are necessary for the independent production of a text . Every writing process can be roughly divided into the phases of planning, formulating and revising. The individual processes place high demands on working memory ; a writing process usually takes a long time because you write more slowly than you speak and because you need time to think and formulate.

In writing research , several models have been developed since the 1980s that represent the individual components of the writing process. The model presented by John R. Hayes and Linda S. Flower (1980) became particularly famous . This model, which is based heavily on cognitive psychology , was further developed and modified by Hayes over the next sixteen years on the basis of empirical studies, until he presented another version in 1996, in which affective and social factors are also presented as important components of the writing process.

Writing researchers deal with the processes involved in writing in order to better understand which individual and external factors (such as motivation, work environment or addressee knowledge ) influence the success of text production. Writing plays a major role in school education, in university studies, but also in many professions; Therefore, one goal of writing research is to make writing more pleasant and effective through the knowledge about the writing process.

Cognitive and affective factors

As cognitive refers to the processes in the brain that relate to the processing of information for knowledge acquisition. A cognitive factor in writing is e.g. B. the capacity of the working memory. Affective, however, are the components that relate to emotions and moods. For example, the sensation of pleasure or discomfort while writing is an affective aspect. During the writing process, both cognitive and affective factors play a role, since on the one hand components such as processing capacity, but also more personal attitudes towards writing influence the success of the writing process.

The Hayes writing process model

The model by Hayes and Flower

In the model presented by Hayes and Flower (1980), the authors distinguish between three major components that influence the writing process: On the one hand, every writer has a specific task environment; d. H. a given writing task with a certain topic and certain addressees as well as different parts of the text already produced at each point in time of writing. Hayes and Flower saw the cognitive processes of the writer as another main component: planning, formulating and revising. These were monitored by a kind of control body, the so-called monitor. The third major role was assigned to the long-term memory of the writer: from this, the knowledge about the topic to be worked on, the writing plan and the addressees should come.

The 1996 model

In the modified model from 1996, Hayes only suggests two large complexes, to which he ascribes individual factors and sub-processes of the writing process: He differentiates between the task environment and the individual , thereby emphasizing the importance of individual differences in the writing process.

He sees the task environment divided into physical and social environment. For example, he attributes the writing medium (e.g. pen vs. computer keyboard) to the physical environment, but also the text that has already been written. Through the importance of the social environment, he draws attention to the fact that he sees writing - although usually alone is written - as a social activity: Writing is influenced, for example, by social conventions, the culture of the writer, the addressees, the social experiences of the writer and the Text by other authors that the author reads while writing.

Hayes sees all other factors anchored in the individual writer. The individual is influenced by motivation and affective influences: These include the goals that the individual has when writing (e.g. one can write to convey a certain content or to leave a certain impression on the addressee), but also Attitudes and beliefs about writing (e.g. many writers have had unpleasant experiences with writing and have therefore developed negative attitudes). However, negative or positive attitudes and emotions can only develop while writing, depending, for example, on the writer's reaction to the topic he is writing about. These motivational and affective factors are closely related to the three other areas of influence.

Long-term memory also plays a role in the new model: From this memory the writer takes the knowledge that is necessary for his text production: about task schemes, his topic, his addressees and about the type of text he would like to write. However, Hayes added working memory to this model. Based on Alan Baddeley's model, this consists of a central executive and two different memories that are controlled by it: the phonological loop, in which acoustic information is stored, and the visuospatial notepad, which records and stores visual information. Hayes gives another important place to the cognitive processes: this includes text interpretation, i. H. creating representations from the input such as reading other texts, reflection, d. H. the production of new representations, and text production, i.e. output (writing) in the context of the task environment.

All these components of the individual influence each other and make it clear why writing processes run with different problems and successes depending on the individual.

Further developments of the model

In 2001 and 2012, Hayes made another modification of the model. The model now has a three-level structure with the level of control, the level of writing processes and the level of resources. Writing goals and plans as well as motivation are located on the control level. The writing process level comprises the processes running within the writer as well as the writing environment. The resource level includes knowledge, memory elements and reading. Hayes also refrains from showing the planning and revision activities that are central to him individually in the model. The model now includes components involved in these processes, some of which are used equally for individual, distinguishable activities in the writing process. The monitor is also no longer found in this model.

Phases of the writing process

For the various phases of the writing process there are several suggestions in the writing research literature on how to divide and name them. So found z. B. the phase structure in planning, formulating and revising, but also in planning and preparing, structuring the material, drafting the text and revising. In RT Kellogg's model, the sub-steps are referred to as formulation, execution and control. It is important that in addition to what is usually understood as writing in everyday language - the formulation of the text - there are other phases: before the actual writing, a planning phase, after the writing, a revision phase. How these phases are designed in detail, and how much time and energy the overall process takes, depends heavily on the individual.

Model by Kellogg

Kellogg (1994) presents a model in which the writing process consists of three main processes: formulating, executing, and controlling. Planning and translation are carried out during the formulation phase. Planning here means developing and organizing ideas and setting goals. In the translation these thoughts, which are mostly only as propositions , i.e. H. small units of meaning, exist, transformed into understandable sentences.

During the execution, it is first “programmed” how the translation is implemented using a motor, ie how it is written. The writer then carries out this programming, either by writing by hand, typing or dictating. In the last phase, when checking, the writer reads what has been written, creates coherence and develops discourse structures . When revising, it is checked whether the goals set for the text have been achieved and where errors or inconsistencies can still be found.

With the exception of the execution, which according to Kellogg's model is largely automatic, all of these processes put a lot of strain on the working memory. The first phase of the writing process, planning, is particularly stressful for working memory. The central executive generates ideas, the visual-spatial notebook has to provide visual representations and information. With the help of the phonological loop, internal speaking takes place, i. H. the planner is already thinking and formulating words and later also sentences.

First draft and revision

David Galbraith and Mark Torrance conducted a number of studies to investigate the extent to which the phases of initial drafting and revision are interdependent. They assume that there are different strategies that writers use to approach text production. First of all, they differentiate between the planning and the interactive writers. The former only start writing when they are very clear about what they want to write and plan their first draft very carefully. Your subsequent revision is primarily reactive: you check whether your text has achieved what was planned. A completely different approach is the interactive one: Here the writers start with the first draft without much planning and only then develop their ideas and the structure of the text while writing.

Galbraith and Torrance still differentiate between rough drafts and multiple drafts. The first ideas for the text are organized in rough drafts and written down in full sentences - here too, the revision, in which the finished text is created, is rather reactive. Authors of multiple drafts, on the other hand, write down their first thoughts spontaneously and in a completely disordered manner; the revision is proactive, i. H. The resulting ideas are further developed during editing. However, it was not possible to clearly show which strategy leads to higher text quality; the planning strategy often achieves better results, but this also seems to depend on the disposition and the learner type of the writer.

Galbraith assumes a dual-process-writing-model: This model assumes that in the planning phase explicit knowledge, i.e. knowledge that the writer is aware of, is used. The writer has no access to implicit knowledge in this phase. Only while writing does the author find access to his implicit, i.e. unconscious, knowledge. Text production as a whole is about converting existing ideas into text on the one hand, and generating knowledge on the other by turning implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge . These two different demands placed on the writer make text production so demanding and often difficult.

Writing

Writing is often referred to as the individual approach of a writer to text production. Writing is shaped by the experiences and socialization of the individual and is reflected in the individual strategies that writers show when writing texts. Writing skills are developed practically but are embedded in specific fields of practice. Their practical and social anchoring is shown in empirical studies (e.g. Zembylas / Dürr 2009). In addition, different writing researchers have established different categories for typology of types of writers and writing strategies.

Writer types

Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia differentiate between two basic writing strategies that make up different types of writers: "knowledge-telling", i.e. H. communicating what the writer knows and “knowledge-transforming”, d. H. transforming the writer's knowledge so that it reaches and is understood by certain addressees. Knowledge-transforming is more likely to be attributed to experienced writers, knowledge-telling to more inexperienced ones. However, even experienced writers often first use knowledge-telling in order to become aware of their own knowledge before they revise it in such a way that it can reach their readership.

Sylvie Molitor-Lübbert, on the other hand, differentiates between the two approaches of top-down and bottom-up . Top-down writers first develop an outline and use this to produce their text; with bottom-up writers, the text structure only emerges while writing. Text writers often use elements of both strategies.

Writing strategies

Ortner developed a very differentiated writing strategy model. He assumes that strategies are chosen by the writer. The choice of strategy is e.g. B. depending on the writing task, but also on which strategy the writer has experienced as successful so far. On the basis of the statements of writers, Ortner records ten strategies that divide the writing process into its individual phases to varying degrees:

1. Non-decomposing writing:
   writers who use this strategy write their text without much thought and without intermediate corrections. Type of out-of-the-gut (= flow) writer
2. Writing a text about an idea:
   A text is produced based on a topic or a figure. This strategy is taught to students early in their schooling.
3. Writing text versions of an idea:
   Here, too, the text is inspired by an idea; However, different versions of the text are written for this idea.
4. Production of texts about the editorial work on preliminary
   versions : First, a preliminary version is created as a basis for processing; this is then rewritten and edited.
5. Planning writing:
   By creating a plan and an outline, a kind of framework is built for the text to be written. On the basis of this, users of this strategy write their text right through to the final version.
6. Type of writer / head worker:
   Text is formulated completely in the head and edited to the end and then written down without significant corrections (example: Kafka, Johnson)
7. Step-by-step approach - following the logic of production:
   This strategy is often used when writing scientific texts. One step follows the next: collecting the material, conceiving, structuring, formulating, etc.
8. Syncretistic-step-by-step writing:
   writers who follow this strategy always start with new parts of the text and leave old ones behind. Individual parts are linked together.
9. Type of partial text
   writer : Here the author does not write in linear order, but begins e.g. B. with the end or with the main part instead of the introduction.
10. Writing according to the puzzle principle - extremely product-breaking down:
    Here, writing is done without an overview or prior structure; the end point of the text is also not clear before writing, so that the text is often not finished at all. (Example: L.Wittgenstein)

Writing techniques

In contrast to writing strategies, writing techniques are small-step methods that writers use, mostly to make it easier for them to get started with text production. Techniques that prepare for writing and prevent writers from sitting in front of a blank sheet of paper without knowing how and where to start are often associative writing techniques. The most famous among them are:

brainstorming

→ Main article : Brainstorming

In brainstorming, the author spontaneously writes individual words that occur to him on the topic he wants to write about, vertically one below the other. It is important that nothing interrupts him and that he does not put the pen down if possible . Also, under no circumstances should he read the words he has already written and not evaluate what he is writing.

Open freewriting

→ Main article : Freewriting

Here, too, the writer writes without interruption or evaluation. In contrast to brainstorming, however, entire sentences or parts of sentences are written down horizontally in open freewriting . Although these are partly whole sentences, formal correctness or logic should be disregarded.

Focused freewriting

Similar to open freewriting, in focused freewriting sentences or parts of sentences are written down continuously. However, the writer should concentrate more on his topic: As soon as he notices that his sentences differ from the topic, he starts a new sentence in a new line.

Clustering

→ Main article : Cluster (creative writing)

The idea of ​​clustering developed by Gabriele Rico assumes that associations always appear in bundles and not linearly. With this technique, the subject of the text is written in a circle in the center of the page. Around this central circle, new circles are drawn with keywords. These are in turn connected to related words in circles.

Mind mapping

→ Main article : Mind mapping

The procedure is similar to that of clustering: associations are written down in circles and connected to one another. In contrast to clustering, mind mapping should try to discover an inner order of thoughts: The author of a clustering tries to find focal points, topics and structures of his associations and to mark or sort the keywords accordingly.

In all of these techniques, it is important that the writer never stops writing. If he can't think of anything for a while, he writes filler words (such as "What else?") Or draws lines with the pen. The brainstorming and freewriting techniques take about three minutes, and clustering or mind mapping about six minutes. The function of all of these techniques is to make oneself aware of one's communication needs before the text is produced and to discover topics and structures of one's own thoughts.

Didactic consequences for writing

Writing research has found that various conditions help make writing easier, more enjoyable, and more successful. Since a large part of education in schools and colleges consists of writing, it is particularly important for teachers to set writing tasks in a way that is motivating. Writing tasks are motivating when the following conditions are met: The text itself should serve as a learning medium, e.g. B. by finding a solution to a problem while writing. Students also need to understand that writing is the right means of doing the task. The written text should have an outcome, the consequences of which are meaningful to the writer. Favorable situational conditions are also motivating, e.g. B. various writing media and materials, writing games, collecting and presenting texts as well as cooperation with other writers. In addition, authenticity plays a major role, i. H. writing should address real problems that there is a real need to solve; there must also be real addressees. Feedback (also during the writing process), the perception of the writing object as an individually significant learning medium, writing as self-understanding, the experience of learning and work strategies and the later (also public) presentation of the text are also motivating. In addition, the writing should be reflected on during the writing process.

Academic writing also plays a major role at universities. In the USA, where writing didactics originated, writing centers are available at almost all universities, while in Germany writing centers have only developed at a few universities. Writing centers offer courses on scientific or creative writing. They also support students, e.g. B. in the form of individual writing advice if they have problems with writing work, for example due to loss of motivation, lack of time, blockages, disturbing conflicts or other psychological problems. Writing advice should also serve to convey to the writer how they can acquire knowledge by writing and how to write texts that are effective for reading. Writing groups or writing workshops can also have a positive effect on the individual writing process, because they work cooperatively on writing projects and write people give each other feedback on their drafts.

In more recent publications on didactic writing, various funding approaches are proposed that both relieve the burden on writing by either decelerating processes (teaching writing strategies) or automating them in a targeted manner (promoting writing fluids). There are also funding approaches such as feedback or cooperative writing. In addition, Anglo-Saxon findings are increasingly finding their way into German-speaking writing didactics.

See also

• Scientific writing and publishing
• Illiteracy

literature

• Ulf Abraham , Claudia Kupfer-Schreiner, Klaus Maiwald (eds.): Writing support and writing education. An introduction for schools and universities. Auer, Donauwörth 2005, ISBN 3-403-04344-4 .
• Jürgen Baurmann: Write - Revise - Assess. A workbook on writing didactics. Kallmeyer, Seelze (Velber) 2002, ISBN 3-7800-2045-9 , pp. 53-68.
• Michael Becker-Mrotzek, Ingrid Böttcher: Developing and assessing writing skills. Practical handbook for secondary level I and II. Cornelsen-Scriptor, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-589-22218-2 , pp. 24-39.
• Gerd Bräuer: If there are specific users ... Text work in real situations. In: Friedrich Annual Issue. Vol. 21, 2003, ISSN  0176-2966 , pp. 23-24
• Ann N. Chenoweth, John R. Hayes (2001): Fluency in Writing. Generating text in L1 and L2. In: Written Communication, H. 1, pp. 80-98
• David Galbraith, Mark Torrance: Revision in the context of different drafting strategies. In: Linda K. Allal, Lucile Chanquoy, Pierre Largy (eds.): Revision. Cognitive and instructional processes (= Studies in Writing. Vol. 13). Kluwer, Boston et al. 2004, ISBN 1-4020-7729-7 , pp. 63-85
• John R. Hayes: A new framework for understanding cognition and affect in writing. In: C. Michael Levy, Sarah E. Ransdell (Eds.): The science of writing. Theories, methods, individual differences and applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah NJ 1996, ISBN 0-8058-2108-2 , pp. 1-27.
• John R. Hayes (2012): Modeling and Remodeling Writing. In: Written Communication, H. 3, pp. 369-388
• Otto Kruse , Katja Berger, Marianne Ulmi (eds.): Process-oriented writing didactics. Writing training for school, university and work. Haupt, Bern et al. 2006, ISBN 3-258-06948-4 .
• Otto Kruse: Don't be afraid of the blank sheet. Without writer's block through studies (= Campus concrete. Vol. 16). Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2005, ISBN 3-593-36659-2 .
• Hanspeter Ortner (2000): Writing and Thinking Tübingen: Niemeyer (= Series German Linguistics; 214), ISBN 3-484-31214-9
• Maik Philipp (2014): Basics of effective writing didactics and systematic school writing support. Baltmannsweiler: Tailor Hohengehren. ISBN 978-3-834-01343-9
• Maik Philipp (2014): Self-regulated writing. Successfully convey writing strategies. Weinheim: Beltz. ISBN 978-340-762899-2
• Gabriele L. Rico : Guaranteed to learn to write. Methodically developing linguistic creativity - an intensive course based on modern brain research. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-498-05703-0 , pp. 27-49.
• Sandro Zanetti , Davide Giuriato, Martin Stingelin (eds.): "Writing means: reading yourself." Writing scenes as self-readings (= On the Genealogy of Writing. Vol. 9). Fink, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7705-4654-1 .
• Tasos Zembylas , Claudia Dürr: Knowledge, ability and literary writing. An epistemology of artistic practice. Vienna: Passagen, 2009, ISBN 978-3-85165-913-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Linda S. Flower: Revising writer-based prose. Pp. 62-74
2. ↑ John R. Hayes, Linda S. Flower: Identifying the Organization of Writing Processes. In: Lee W. Gregg, Erwin Steinberg: Cognitive Processes in Writing. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale 1980.
3. ↑ Ronald T. Kellog: The Psychology of Writing. Oxford University Press, New York 1994
4. ↑ Tasos Zembylas , Claudia Dürr: Knowledge, ability and literary writing. An epistemology of artistic practice. Vienna, 2009.
5. ^ M. Scardamalia, C. Bereiter: Knowledge building: Theory, pedagogy, and technology. In: K. Sawyer (Ed.): The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York 2006, pp. 97-115.
6. ↑ Sylvie Molitor-Lübbert: Writing as a mental and linguistic process. (1996) In: Hartmut Günther, Otto Ludwig (Hrsg.): Schrift und Schriftlichkeit. An interdisciplinary handbook of international research. 2nd half-volume., De Gruyter Berlin, New York, pp. 1005-1027.
7. ^ Sylvie Molitor-Lübbert: Scientific text production under electronic conditions. A heuristic model of cognitive requirements. Pp. 47-66