Recent results fromOfsted inspectionshave highlighted the detrimental impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on students’ proficiency and stamina to write. Many teachers reported that students had fallen back on spelling, grammar, handwriting, punctuation, and presentation.
But why is writing so important? In this new digital age where students are completing the majority of their work online, is the old-fashioned skill of pen to paper still necessary?
The short answer is a big yes. Effective writing skills are essential for a student’s overall cognitive development. And even nowadays, students should actually be writingmore.So, let’s take a look at why and how…
Why is writing proficiency so important?
Many in educationno longer consider students developing their written proficiency as a skill they need to learn, but rather a skill they needforlearning. This is because the power of proficient writing skills is not only evident in English classes, but are linked tobetter academic performancein a variety of different subject areas such as Maths and Science.
Writing is also importantbecause it allows students to:
- Improve their understanding of class material and seek clarification
- Develop their critical thinking skills and make connections
- Communicate ideas, opinions, persuade others, and express feelings
- Effectively record, manipulate and analyse information
- Develop theirreading skillsby providing insight
If a student has weak writing skills, thenegative implicationscan be long-lasting. This is because writing is also a necessary skill for future success as applications for university and jobs all have written components: personal statements or cover letters are essential to the recruitment process.
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How to get students to write more
For students to maximise their full academic potential, we can encourage them to write more.Research showsthat in order to effectively teach students good writing skills, teachers can:
- Support students as they write.
- Provide students with opportunities to write frequently using different writing styles.
- Ensure their classroom is a motivational and supporting environment for writing.
- Teach the necessary writing processes, knowledge, and skills.
- Combine writing with other skills such as learning and reading.
Based on this information, here are five effective strategies that you can use to get your students to write more:
Set regular homework assignments that require writing
Consider setting your studentsregular homework assignmentsthat include tasks such as essays,making flashcardsto summarise their learning for the week, completing past papers, writing summaries and self-reflections, or making information posters by hand.
By regularly setting homework tasks that require them to use different writing skills, your students will be able to enhance their writing proficiency and stamina by the time exam season rolls around.
However, as a teacher, it is also important that you provide your students withtimely feedbackwhen addressing fundamental writing skills such as handwriting, spelling or sentence structure tosupport their learning.
Set creative writing assignments
Although writing instruction should focus on realistic tasks such as analysing source material, engaging in critical thinking or identifying information, the benefit of creative writing should not be overlooked.
Research showsthat creative writing can improve students’ focus, dedication to learning, and keeps them motivated. By allowing students to be creative, they also develop their problem-solving skills,creative thinking ability, logical skills, and a personal voice. Not only are these skills beneficial for overall written comprehension, but other areas of learning such as Maths and science too.
Favour handwritten notes
When typing on a laptop or tablet, students tend to take verbatim notes – resulting in shallow processing of the material, due to less engagement with the content they’re trying to learn.
Concurrently,taking notes by handcan lead to more in-depth understanding and better memory recall as students give more thought to what information they should be writing down, and what information is irrelevant. By successfully summarising this lesson material, students’cognitive loaddoesn’t become overwhelmed.
One useful note-taking strategy is theCornell Note Taking Method: students divide their sheet into sections dedicated to notes, key terms, and summary on the topic. Students can refer back to their note sheet throughout the semester and ask themselves specific questions about the course content or attempt to learn each key wordthrough retrieval(i.e. recall the definition of the key word from memory).
Encourage journaling
Research shows thatkeeping a diarycan improve well-being and metacognition, but for many, it is too time-consuming. A quicker solution for students is to grab a pen and paper tojot down their feelingswhenever their thoughts and emotions become overwhelming. Through writing, mind mapping, or even doodling – whatever suits them.
Asstudent life can be quite stressfulcan be quite stressful, encouraging your students to jot down their emotions can help to:
- Alleviate their stress
- Improve their concentration and memory
- Process their emotion
- Prevent overreaction
But it also allows students to further develop their writing skills in a way that is beneficial to their mental well-being.
Dedicate enough time to writing
Writing is an extremely complex skill for students to develop effectively and therefore requires good instructional teaching and time. It isn’t a skill thatshould be rushed. A report by the National Commission on Writing (NCOW) found that “in today’s schools, writing is a prisoner of time”. Although published in 2003, the findings have been consistently replicated.
Research showsthat teachers who are confident in their ability to teach writing effectively are more likely to devote more time to teaching it and apply written work tasks in their classroom. As a result, it is important that teachers alsoimprove their knowledgeof what good writing, vocabulary, evaluation, and sentence structure is to maximise students’ written development.
Final thoughts
The importance of writing should not be ignored. Not only can it benefit your students’ academic approach, but the way they engage with class content. Teachers play a vital role in developing writing proficiency in students, so it is important that the tasks you set reflect this. However, make sure to not overdo it to keep students engaged in the task.
If you feel your class or an individual student isn’t displaying adequate writing skills, then make sure you take the time to teach the skill and support them with their development. Reiterate the importance of knowing how to write and practise what you teach.
For more tips on how to improve student learning, considerwhy students should ask whyand how you can keep themfocused on the lesson at hand.
