1.2.6. Writing: a channel or a goal?
Wingard ((1981: 140) points out that writing can be considered as a channel of
language learning, when students write in order to learn the language, or as a goal
when students learn to write. O’Brien (2000, Unit 1: 4) stresses that both writing to
learn and learning to write are necessary in a well-balanced English course. In the
early stages writing is mostly used to reinforce language learned orally and moves
from channel to goal as students become more proficient. Although in the case where
writing is used as a channel the emphasis is on the mastery of the language , this does
not imply that it must be done mechanically as, according to Oller and Obrecht
(1969),: “…aspects of grammatical competence should be taught in the context of
meaningful communication.”
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