In
communicating information to the reader, the writer must be able to make the
reader feel as if he could see the event and share his responses with the
writer. Therefore, in getting the truth to be conveyed to the reader the writer
should record his impression, reaction, and interpretation vividly, concretely
and intelligibly enough
For
this purpose, the writer uses the journalist’s questions technique that is a
technique of questioning by using a set of questions which are usually used by
a news reporter. The news reporter often gets started on a story by asking six
questions about whatever incident he or she is covering. The six questions
are introduced by the following words: who,
what, where, when, how, and whywhich can be explained as follow:
Who :
What must the reader know about the person or persons involved in order to
understand what happened? What objective details must be included: age,
appearance, social status, economic status, family relationships? What
subjective elements about the person(s) should be supplied: background,
philosophy, values, and emotions?
What :
What led up to the event? In what order did the stages of the event occur? Were
there any foreshadowing (prediction) of what was to come? What effect(s) did
the event have, both immediate and long-range? What details must be included to
convey the drama of the event to someone who was not there?
Where :
How many locations are involved? How much description of the location(s) does
the reader require? What details will convey the scene?
When :
What time of day, what week, what year did the event occur? Of what
significance was the date, the time of day, the weather?
How :
In what way did the incident happen? How involved a description of the process
is necessary? What details are required?
Why :
Is the cause known for sure? Was there more than one cause? Was one person or
thing more responsible than others? Can immediate causes be distinguished from
distant ones? If there was no known cause, what interpretation can you bring to
bear on event? What general conclusions can be drawn?
This technique was chosen for
teaching writing news item text because there is integration between writing
skill and speaking skill and itpromotes group work or whole-class work.
In
implementing the technique, the teacher provides the students with pictures or
photos of current events to bring the lesson of writing more natural. Then, ask
the students to create a set of questions relating to the event communicated by
the photos. The teacher acts as the resource of information answers the
questions. The students use the answers as the outline of their writing and
develop it into a complete text following the generic structure of a news item
text. The results of their writings, then, were communicated to the readers,
their teacher and classmates in the classroom wall magazine.
In
brief, the teacher can use the following procedures:
- Teacher introduces the news-worthy topic and provide the class with a picture about the topic.
- Students write questions for the teacher to make the interview organized and efficient.
- Teacher asks the students to interview the teacher to find out information about the topic through the picture.
- Students take notes on what the teacher says.
- Students organize this information into a story.
- Teacher checks the students’ drafts for their grammar, choice of words, mechanics and also the content and the organization of the ideas.
- Teacher asks the students to re-write the draft for a finished writing.