Transformative Teachers
Webinar 12 - Writing process
Summary notes
Thank you for participating in the Trinity College London teacher support webinar series. We are delighted to have over 1000 teachers from 70 countries participate in the series.
In this webinar, Trinity's Cathy Taylor, Senior Academic, Language, interviews Tom Garside, Academic Consultant. They discuss the process of writing, - exploring how we can teach strategies to help learners improve their writing skills.
If you were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch is again via the following link:
Webinar 12 video - Writing process
Summary of questions and responses
Interview: Cathy Taylor and Tom Garside
Firstly, let's summarise what Robin was talking about in the video
Robin talks about the importance of approaching writing as a process, rather than a one-off action, and suggests that in a range of professions people use these writing processes on a day-to-day basis. This approach to writing can dramatically improve a learner’s performance, and we as teachers can help support learners and help them develop these writing strategies.
1) Could you give an overview of where writing sits within the four-skills of a language?
In the language classroom, writing is more than just putting pen to paper; it is a productive language skill. This means that during writing activity, learners are drawing on their existing knowledge of language to communicate their thoughts in an accurate, organised way for a reader. This involves a lot of subskills and the application of linguistic and metalinguistic competencies.
2) What were the stages that Robin outlined in the video, relating to the steps in process writing?
Robin goes into quite a lot of detail about the different stages of the writing process, but the common process is:
- Plan: This includes brainstorming, gathering and organising ideas, and critically selecting those that fit in the piece being written
- Draft: This is the first creative stage where ideas are put onto paper. A draft can be as messy and disorganised as the writer needs it to be, before they are happy with the basic flow of ideas. A more formal draft, to go forward to the review stage would need to be more together. This depends on whether the draft is being written for the writer or for an external audience to review.
- Review: At this stage, the piece is passed to a colleague, friend or classmate to read and give feedback. Reviewing involves critical reading, evaluation and honest feedback to the writer.
- Revise / edit: Based on the feedback from a reader, the writer changes the text to make communication clearer, improve accuracy and style.
- Submit: The writer submits the final text to the intended reader.
This process is adaptable depending on the type of text, its purpose and the audience, and is recursive, meaning that the writer may need to return to an earlier stage of the cycle and continue from that point again. The review / edit / redraft stages are commonly the most recursive parts of the process.
3) Why focus on the process?
The final written product is only as good as the process of creation that goes to create it. By breaking down the writing process we’re guiding our students to focus on what we actually do when we write and therefore the finished text will be more informed, better laid-out and more purposeful for the final intended reader. The writing process differs from writer to writer, depending on their levels of competence in different skills areas.
4) How do students react to the idea of writing as a ‘process’ rather than a one-off activity to generate a product?
This does pose challenges for learners: many education systems, for example many East Asian settings, are very product-oriented and learners may feel very uncomfortable with changing something when it has been written. The need for revision is often seen as ‘getting it wrong’ rather than a necessary step towards a better final product. Process writing therefore involves an amount of learner training, informing learners why they are doing it this way. When the reason is clear then it’s a lot easier for learners to understand and engage with the process of writing.
5) Does process writing help have a wider impact on language learning in general? What are the benefits of teaching process writing?
Taking control of the writing process entails a lot of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), such as evaluative/critical thinking and prioritising skills. These have been shown as beneficial to reflection in learning and can increase learner autonomy, enabling deeper development of communicative skills in many areas. These skills are applicable beyond the language learning classroom and assessment: they apply to third level education and the working environment too. A well-structured and coherent thesis is more likely to receive higher marks. In the workplace a report that is concise and presents arguments will be appreciated by all its readers.
6) Robin mentions that writing has only been part of human culture for a relatively short time. What kind of writing do our learners realistically do in an average day in English? What is the purpose of this writing?
Most writing done today is electronic (online posts, messaging and social media-related). The purposes of these genres of text are much more immediate than paper-based texts. Readers typically skim, respond and move on, perhaps never going back to read the post or comment again. Investment in the text itself is quite low, so accuracy and organisation of ideas is typically not a concern for writers. This is at odds to what we think of as writing in the language classroom, where the quality of content, style, organisation, cohesion and accuracy of a text are all important.
For learners, paper-based writing is assessment-linked, so may not feel ‘authentic’, but we can try to make it as authentic as possible in our lessons. For many learners, essay writing is about learning what is expected of them in different assessed essay types and following the formula to get a good grade (another symptom of a product-oriented view). This is quite a mechanical approach, and does not lead to improvements in all the different productive sub-skills that should go into a strong piece of writing. Looking into the processes behind writing can move students away from formulaic answers and into more expressive territory.
7) How can we encourage learners to engage with the process of writing?
By moving away from familiar writing task constructs, for example: A4 sheets of paper, long answer questions, no.2 pencils…etc. Instead we can use cut ups and different shapes: ovals for main ideas, triangles for connectors, diamonds for topic sentences. Learners can move these around to decide which structure is the best fit for the prompt, building a jigsaw template of a text to go on and write. This is a visual / spatial / tactile approach to planning and drafting texts which can make the creative process more engaging for learners.
Using a ‘Round Robin’ writing (nothing to do with Mr. Walker…), where learners write an introduction in response to a prompt, then pass it on to the next person to write the first paragraph, and building a text around the room focuses each student on the purpose of each section of text, thinking about relevance to what came before, making connections across paragraphs and building a direction through the whole text. Using different prompts as starting points around the class makes learners engage, criticise and revise others’ writing even more, which is the process in action.
8) What role do genre and purpose play in the process of writing?
Genre is an expected structure, with expected features. It’s important that everyone understands the features of writing that are expected in a compare-contrast essay, or argumentative piece, which are often overlooked for ‘accuracy’. Break down text types into the expected functions that learners are expected to achieve, and then look at the language that performs those functions. Matching structures, functions and appropriate vocabulary can get students focused on the types of language they need to be familiar with when writing different texts.
The’ purpose’ of a text includes who is going to read it and why. As teachers, we can experiment with this by formatting the same types of text for different audiences. Readers need to see the relevance of the text they are reading to their reason for writing so it’s important to make sure that the text is coherent and pertinent to the prompt. Again, including peer review stages in writing lessons can encourage learners to think about their readers. If they know their classmates are going to read and respond to what they write, they will be more likely to consider their reactions.
9) What does Robin mean when he talks about organisation of ideas? How can we deal with this in the classroom?
According to genre, the way in which ideas are organised has an effect on readers. We can organise texts from general to specific, or topic to development and, finally, summary (at paragraph level), through statements and examples or according to the ‘tragic cycle’ convention (for prose fiction). The effect of a poorly laid-out text can be confusion, lack of clarity or loss of interest in the reader.
Chopping up texts and ordering / re-ordering them for different impacts on the reader can bring critical reading into student work, for instance: discussing unusual genres, e.g. ’stream-of-consciousness’ (Allen Ginsberg) can form a productive reading-into-writing task. Jigsaw reading tasks, with a focus on how lines / paragraphs should be organised can also highlight this important aspect of writing.
10) Robin also mentions studying the writing prompt carefully when writing. What kinds of prompts can we work with? What techniques can students use?
We can create graphic representations of ideas that address the question. Unusual or engaging pictures make for good writing prompts as they are non-linguistic, meaning that the writer has to supply all the language to respond to the visual provided. Remember, writing is a productive skill, and writers have to supply ideas using the language they already know.
Semi-linguistic prompts can be adapted from comic book sources, where half the information comes from the pictures, and the rest comes from dialogue or continuity boxes. Short panels such as Garfield or Calvin and Hobbes (an endless supply of controversial and engaging 4-panel cartoons) are ideal. Learners can outline the issue being raised and offer their own opinion, or argue for one side or the other in writing. Try blanking out the last panel and asking students what they think happens next and why, or blanking the dialogue boxes and having the students rewrite the story, with their own added dialogue, in prose. Comic book resources are really an excellent starting point for a lot of writing tasks.
For essay planning purposes, a good visual resource might be a mind-map or a table, depending on the type of task. If it’s a linear descriptive task, then a simple mindmap or flow-diagram would work, but a more discursive task would benefit from a tabular approach, e.g. advantages and disadvantages or even a Venn diagram. These visuals are useful tools for the planning on an exam paper like ISE.
11) The final step, publication/submission - is it the end of the process?
No, in a classroom environment, someone still needs to read the final piece. One of the best ways to do this is not to rewrite unclear portions of the text for the student, but to highlight errors using a code, then pass it back to the writer to revise themselves. This reduces the focus on the product, and continues the recursive cycle to improve what has been written.
Teaching the writing scheme that you use to the students directly, then having them mark each others’ work is another nice technique that can expose learner-specific issues.
12) Robin mentioned getting feedback or peer review – can students really do this? How important is it and how can we encourage learners to help their peers?
Although it can’t be used during an exam it’s a critical part of process writing and we know from the findings of Evidence-based teaching (John Hatty and Jeff Petty etc.) that peer evaluation is more effective at driving learning than teacher feedback.
Many learners find peer assessment difficult and will need training on how to do it; about giving constructive and gentle feedback and not granular or prescriptive or grammar-based feedback. I’d suggest showing the whole class an example piece of work and work together to collate suitable feedback. It’s important to define exactly what you are giving feedback on. Robin suggested feedback on structure and relevance of content. You could guide learners to give peer feedback on any area you find pertinent, but it’s always worth defining what this is.
13) What challenges are there for a teacher with introducing process writing?
Many learners want to quickly write something and then hand it over and leave the teacher to give a full correction. Not all students are keen on brainstorming, planning, drafting and re-drafting their work. Introducing a process approach is about encouraging learners to take responsibility for their learning, and we can do this by explicitly stating that process writing will dramatically improve performance, and ultimately learning and, of course, this will influence exam outcomes.
14) How can we help learners with brainstorming?
You can use any approach to generating ideas. Of course mind maps and graphic organisers help, as we mentioned. There’s also the cube approach, where learners write quickly about the subject in 6 ways:
- Describe it
- Compare it
- Associate it
- Analyse it
- Apply it
- Argue for or against it
You can divide a page into 6 sections and ask learners to write a few ideas in each box accordingly, and then share their ideas with a partner. There are many approached to this, but it helps to identify a system that learners can bring to mind to help scaffold their thinking around a subject.
15) But process writing takes a lot of time? How, as busy teachers can we include it in our lessons?
Well, we know process writing yields better results and optimises the learning that the learner receives. This relates back to the old argument of product versus process. If we are using writing tasks that only focus on a singular attempt at a task response, this is not teaching – it’s testing. If we want to teach writing we have to carry learners through the processes involved.
This is also where self and peer evaluation of a task response become so key. Many learners fail to critically review their own work, something that can really help develop written performance. Also, a lot of the process-based steps can be handled outside the classroom as homework.
Time - In regard to time, start small – process writing does not have to be long texts and very time consuming stages. You could start with low word limits and simple tasks to familiarise learners with process stages, and gradually introduce more complex tasks. You could incorporate a feedback session and redrafting session into a lesson, where the first attempt was a homework task, incorporating group work and discussion. It’s often helpful to recast a task as part of the process, for example, by generating a role-play based on the writing task.
16) How can we generate more interest in writing tasks?
Authentic tasks, that is, they engage the learners in what is interesting for them and they have something to say. If a task is too abstract and removed from their real-world, learners will doubtless have difficulty associating with the task. But if the task and reader is someone learners can relate to, this will help a lot. For example, writing a letter, in long hand, to a theme park suggesting a new ride, is probably something a student would never really do. However, sending an email to apply for weekend job at a local amusement park might be; the key is to always contextualise the task to the learner.
It’s also a good idea to make it fun or try to add an element of humour. For example, you could start by writing the worst letter to apply for a job, and use writing processes to redraft and correct the letter.
Reading for writing (as in ISE) also helps learners to contextualise what they are planning / writing - using engaging visual sources and writing prompts, not just dry essay questions, will spark more imagination and give better end results
Questions from the floor:
How do you mark a jigsaw writing task?
The focus of the round-robin task mentioned above is to develop the process of building a text. As several students are involved in the creation of the text, I would ask the learners themselves to mark it, then perhaps mark it myself to compare their evaluation of different aspects of a text. I would certainly not use this as a summative exercise, giving grades to individuals for their work. It would be simply too complex a task.
How do you teach vocabulary?
This is an enormous question! In terms of teaching vocabulary for writing, we have to remember that just asking a student to write about space, or voting or health food, it does not mean that they have the vocabulary to do so accurately. I generally take a topic-based approach, leading a vocabulary-building session at the beginning of the week and reinforcing the vocabulary study through productive exercises later in the week. Brainstorming a few lists of words that students in the class know, to ‘equalise’ the class’ vocabulary, getting them on the whiteboard and then taking a picture of the full list enables you to pick up words in the week that were dealt with on the Monday, say.
If you write each week’s list on cards (different colours for different topics) and keep the cards in a box at the back of the room, there are plenty of revision games that you can play to recycle the words students learn.
How do you incorporate teaching punctuation into process writing?
Punctuation is a language system, like grammar and vocabulary, so when larking, or when asking students to mark each others’ work, focus specifically on accuracy of punctuation, and pick up problem areas that are common to a few students in the class. This allows revision work, and can form a focus area for ‘review / revise’ stages in future weeks
What is the impact of AI/technology on assessing writing?
In my opinion, there is no AI system that can assess written style or composition. Assessing accuracy can be achieved through computer-based systems, but this runs the risk of moving further down the product-oriented view of assessment. In order to develop all-round written communication skills, final pieces should be written by and read by humans who can evaluate and give feedback on the work.
Related resources
Tom Garside’s book TESOL: A Gateway Guide for Teachers of English outlines a lot of these writing-based methodologies, and includes teaching ideas and the markscheme mentioned in the webinar. It is available in e-book format from https://store.bookbaby.com/book/Tesol-A-Gateway-Guide-for-Teachers-of-English .
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We very much look forward to welcoming you to the thirteenth webinar on Wednesday 15 August at 13:00 UK time, when Trinity's Cathy Taylor, Senior Academic, Language, will be interviewing Senior Examiner, Rachel Clarke. They will be discussing writing organisation, - exploring how we can teach strategies to help learners improve their writing skills.
Click on the 'Join Webinar' link below at the appointed time for the next webinar.
