Wikis and the Role they Play in the Process of Writing

I agree with the statement made in the online article Languages from a distance that writing is one of the most difficult language areas that has to be taught. Teaching writing is challenging in part because instructors not only have to teach complex essay organization and grammar rules, but also instructors have to make sure that students are aware of the fact that writing is a process. The stages of the writing process are: 1. Prewriting (This is the stage where the students should plan their writing by gathering information, and setting purpose and audience) 2. Drafting (Students are expected to turn in two drafts. With the first draft the student aims to get his/ her ideas across. The student does not have to worry about grammar and punctuation so much.) 3. Revising/ Editing (The actual revising and editing (including grammar mistakes) takes place during the second draft.) 4. The final stage of the writing process is publishing. A crucial question then is how do wikis make the practicing of the writing process possible. As it was mentioned in the online article Languages from a distance, wikis tend to provide opportunities for collaborative class work where ideas are exchanged, expanded, revised and edited. In this case students are engaged in the process of writing because they have to write from their personal perspective; proofread and comment/ give their classmates suggestions on how to improve the final product; correct their own errors (content or grammar). The most beneficial part of the wikis is that this process can exist regardless of specific location and time.