The subject of Hong Kong's ageing population has received a lot of media attention.
Hong Kong will inevitably face even greater challenges as a consequence of more of its citizens living for longer.
With a steady increase in the greying population and therefore a greater dependency, the need to deal with this issue and the problems it will bring should be high on the list of the
government's priorities.
We cannot afford to neglect this ageing trend and officials must come up with effective policies as soon as possible.
Luk Mei-yan, Tai Kok Tsui
Letters to the Editor, May 6, 2013 South China Morning Post
Reading…to write
Which phrase tells us that many people are concerned about Hong Kong’s
ageing population?
Who are the ‘greying population’? Why do they show greater dependency?
Is the writer satisfied with the
government’s current policies to cope
with the ageing population? Why/why
not?
Step2: Let’s work out the rhetorical structure of a letter to the editor
Policies needed for ageing issues
The subject of Hong Kong's ageing population has received a lot of media attention.
Hong Kong will inevitably face even greater
challenges as a consequence of more of its citizens living for longer.
With a steady increase in the greying population and therefore a greater dependency, the need to deal with this issue and the problems it will bring should be high on the list of the government's priorities.
We cannot afford to neglect this ageing trend and officials must come up with effective policies as soon as possible.
Luk Mei-yan, Tai Kok Tsui
Letters to the Editor, May 6, 2013 South China Morning Post
Task developed by Prof. Angel Lin and Dr. Tracy Cheung, with contributions from HKU facilitators ©
2015
38
Introduction
Supporting reason/detail 1
Supporting reason/detail 2
Conclusion
Policies needed for ageing issues
The subject of Hong Kong's ageing population has received a lot of media attention.
Hong Kong will inevitably face even greater
challenges as a consequence of more of its citizens living for longer.
With a steady increase in the greying population and therefore a greater dependency, the need to deal with this issue and the problems it will bring should be high on the list of the government's priorities.
We cannot afford to neglect this ageing trend and officials must come up with effective policies as soon as possible.
Luk Mei-yan, Tai Kok Tsui
Letters to the Editor, May 6, 2013 South China Morning Post
Structure of a Letter to the Editor
Can you highlight some useful language features in the different parts of the text? Mark
them in the table on the task sheet
Title
Text Structure Language Features
Policies needed for ageing issues
Title
The subject of Hong Kong's ageing population has received a lot of media attention.
Introduction
Hong Kong will inevitably face even greater challenges as a consequence of more of its citizens living for
longer.
Supporting Reason 1
With a steady increase in the greying population and therefore a greater dependency, the need to deal with this issue and the problems it will bring should be high on the list of the government's priorities.
Supporting Reason 2
We cannot afford to neglect this
ageing trend and officials must come up with effective policies as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Luk Mei-yan, Tai Kok Tsui Letters to the Editor, May 6, 2013 South China Morning Post
--- ---
Useful sentence starters or lexical phrases for writing letters to the editor
• The recent .... has aroused much interest.
• The recent … has started heated debates on…
• It would be …
• I strongly disagree with the comments made by …
• I am writing to support the view expressed by …
• I would like to comment on…
• I am writing in response to…
• I believe that…
• I think it will be a good idea to…
• I think the government should..
• In my opinion… / I wish to point out that…
• First of all… / First… Second… Third…
• For one thing..
• In addition… / Moreover…
• The reason why… / The reason is that… / Because… / Since…
• If this were the case…
• To conclude…
• I hope…
The letter to the editor can vary greatly on the formality scale:
There can be more formal phrases or less formal phrases used
Introduction
Supporting reason/detail
Conclusion
40
Implications for ‘reading to
write’?
+ SDL in While-writing
Use of Google Doc:
https://docs.google.com/
Creating a ‘community document’ in which the teacher can track individual group member’s contribution to its
development (in collaborative writing tasks)
Allowing the students to revise and comment on their own and each other’s work during the writing process (i.e.
assessment as learning for ideas and language)
Drafts with revisions and comments automatically saved for later access (writing portfolios automatically produced to keep track of the writing progress)
Creating mini-tests through the ‘Forms’ function for checking
the students’ attainment of the goals set during the writing
process
+ SDL in While-writing
Use of Google Doc
Demonstrations on some potentially useful applications:
Creating New Document (and a name for it)
Share: “can edit” for collaborative writing (in real time!),
“can comment” for peer evaluation/assessment as learning
Define (ToolsDefine): to look for dictionary definitions and synonyms, to expand range of vocabulary
Forms (FileNewForms): Highlighting specific goals
against which the students evaluate their work
+
+
+
+ SDL in While-writing
Other possible while-writing SDL Strategies:
Co-construction of written texts (prior to individual construction)(Elola & Oskoz, 2010; Storch, 2005):
Increased linguistic accuracy and complexity
Enhanced content
Focused process writing, i.e. production of multiple drafts with self-/peer evaluation in between