Improving students’ essay writing skills helps them to succeed inside and outside the classroom.
Today, many of our students are underachieving in reading and writing as they progress through secondary school.
Writing, particularly essay writing, requires students to combine several processes.
A common theme through effective writing instruction is to help students break down complex writing tasks.
Secondary English students should become proficient in as many of the individual processes as possible, from the word level to the text level. Support this by:
Ensuring adequate instruction and opportunity to practice handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Focus On Purpose
It isn’t easy to start writing without a central idea for the essay. Teachers should support students in determining a clear purpose for their essays before they begin writing.
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Secondary English students are expected to write for various purposes such as different types of essays (informational, persuasive and narrative) and audiences.
Educators can improve students’ writing by teaching them how to structure various essays. Research into writing frames showed students are better equipped to generate and organise ideas once they have a structure.
Similarly, students need to know which writing conventions are suitable for different essays. For example, while an emoji is welcome in a blog post, it may not be ideal for a formal essay.
In secondary English, reading will help students understand how writers use structure and language to form ideas within essays.
Traditionally students have been taught that essay writing is a linear process – plan, draft, edit and publish. As part of this process, the first draft is “free-flowing.”
To help struggling writers, English teachers should encourage their students to check their work as they write. Does the sentence sound the way it was intended? Is the punctuation correct for the sentence?
Writing strategies should be taught to struggling writers through a gradual release of responsibility. Firstly, the strategy needs to be introduced to the students and then be modelled by the teacher.
Sharing is a great way to model. By thinking aloud, teachers can share their thought processes with students.
These strategies will help struggling students develop essay writing skills to meet the writing standards. Once they master essay writing, it will be a skill for their future learning, life and work.
