Helping ESL students write well

Introduction

ESL students are expected to do written work in every class they take. Many of them find writing in English to be the most challenging of all the tasks they are required to do. For this reason it is important that teachers know how they can best support their students in completing such tasks successfully.

Helping students understand the writing task

In the Learners section of the site there is a page that explains the UDS method. UDS stands for Understand-Do-Show, which are the three essential steps in the process of doing good written work.

Students are advised to make sure they fully understand the homework writing task before they leave the classroom for the next lesson. Teachers could plan enough time at the end of the lesson to explain the task again to individual ESL students who do not fully understand what they have to do. Teachers could also make themselves available at break or after school to any student who needs further clarification.

Of course, such measures will generally not be necessary if the teacher has done a good job explaining the assignment in the first place. This page has advice on Helping ESL students understand what you say.

Analysing model answers

One good way to ensure that students understand exactly what is required in respect of a major piece of written work is to show and discuss a model answer.

For example, the teacher can point out how the introduction and conclusion have been formulated, as well as showing how the paragraphs are linked together in a logical sequence. A lab report can be analysed for its structure and the typical topic sentences for each section can be highlighted.

It may also be useful to discuss a piece of writing that fails to meet many of the criteria of a good piece of work in that genre Here are some examples of the different writing genres that may be assigned in the various classes:
Worksheet answers - lab report - book review - reflective journal - summary or paraphrase - field study - biography - letter - questionnaire.

Composition genres include:
narrative - descriptive - problem/solution - compare/contrast - cause/effect - persuasive essay. .

The following quote underscores the importance of the explicit teaching of the typical writing genres in the given subject. Analysing models is an essential aspect of such teaching:

Discussing grading criteria

It is usually desirable to discuss the grading criteria with the students, including the minimum word count if applicable. Doing this gives them the chance to prioritise the most important aspects of the assignment.

ESL students generally need longer than native speakers to complete the same piece of work. So it is not good if they fixate too much on, say, grammatical accuracy or spelling, if these are not graded.

Encouraging use of the writing process

For major pieces of writing it is helpful if ESL students are made aware of or reminded of the value of following the steps of the writing process.

One advantage of doing so is the potential for saving time. For example, it is not a good idea to edit work before finalising its content and paragraph structure. A paragraph that has carefully been edited may in fact end up being discarded.

There is a lot more on the topic at the Writing process part of the site.

Scaffolding tasks

Scaffolding is a term used to describe the assistance given to ESL students to help them complete a complex writing task. Scaffolding can include:

As an example of sentence starts consider a writing assignment to reflect Reflective writing is often assigned at the end of a course of work or project in a particular subject.

Alternatively, students may be expected to write regularly in a reflective journal. on a project in a particular class. The sentence starts might look as follows:

Sentence starts can also be helpful in the short answer writing tasks typical of many worksheets. Consider, for example, the following sentence start to get the student off on the right track in responding to the prompt "How are flowers pollinated?":

Sentence starts like the ones above are essentially topic sentences A topic sentence is in most cases the sentence which starts a paragraph. It indicates to the reader what the paragraph will be about and helps create a mind map of the structure of the writing.. So providing ESL students with such scaffolding gives them implicit practice in constructing topic sentences in other forms of writing.

One of the reasons why writing (and not just by ESL students) may lack coherence is due to a failure to head paragraphs with topic sentences. Another reason is a failure to use appropriate transition words, as listed above.

Here is more about scaffolding and when to remove it. And here is information about coherence, especially the role of transition words and other cohesive devices in achieving it: What teachers should know about cohesion.

Providing grammar advice

It is not expected that subject teachers be experts in English grammar and how to teach it. Nevertheless, it is helpful if teachers can remind students of the basic composition of every sentence: subject and predicate.

The subject is who or what the sentence is about, while the predicate gives information about the subject. The essential part of the predicate is the verb.

Students who have trouble formulating their thoughts sentence by sentence can be advised to determine the subject and what they want to convey about the subject. From these basic building blocks they can construct more complex sentences with additional clauses.

On the Learners site there is a page about Constructing good sentences.

Enlisting ESL teacher support

If a major writing assignment is planned, it is usually a good idea to alert the students' ESL teacher. He or she can then help the students understand the task, structure their answer and formulate their ideas clearly and accurately. Students can also be given ESL class time to work on the assignment.

Conclusion

With appropriate support as outlined above, written assignments can be made more manageable and less stressful for ESL students.