Writing in the language classroom is something students need to get to grips with when they are learning a language. Here we take a look at writing and think about three important areas:

• the process of writing
• the teacher's role
• what direction writing lessons can take

Process

Think back to when you were writing essays at school or university – how did you get to the final piece of written work? You probably went through a process similar to the one outlined below:

• Motivated to write
• Pulling your ideas together
• Preparing a rough plan or outline
• 1st draft (there might be multiple drafts)
• Revising/editing
• Final draft
• Presentation (delivering the piece of writing to its intended audience)

Of course, in reality, we go and forth through the different stages. Depending on the type of text being written, then different amounts of time will be spent on each stage.

In the language classroom we need to be able to give sufficient time for writing (which isn't always possible). We need to pay particular attention to the motivation and revision/editing stages. Without interesting and stimulating topics, students find the motivation to write difficult to come by. At the revision/editing stage, we as teachers can get involved.

Role of the teacher

Obviously the teacher is there to provide guidance on issues like grammar/structure, vocabulary, punctuation and sentence structure. The teacher can also provide assistance with the organization of the content.

Correction will also take place during revision/editing sessions. Correction can take many forms in a written exercise. Wherever possible the teacher should encourage self-correction (by providing a clear system for identifying mistakes and giving the student enough information to correct their work themselves).

We could say that, in the language classroom, the emphasis should be on the process (especially the revision/editing stage) rather than the end product.

Therefore we as teachers should try to provide an environment where students can learn about writing and see good examples of good writing. At the same time, the teacher should provide practice in the writing process and assistance during the writing process. While all this is going on, teachers should let students help each other and look at each other's work.

Direction – what could a writing lesson look like?

You could say that a writing lesson is an example of task-based learning i.e. That the lesson assists the students to complete the writing task successfully and the lesson (and its procedure) helps them achieve this goal.