Let’s face it – Writing isn’t always the most enjoyable hobby. I once had a student who had spent many years practicing and improving his English. He was completely confident when it came to speaking and listening – I rarely had to explain new vocabulary to him, and I almost never had to repeat myself.
But when he spoke, I noticed something very interesting:
His grammar and sentence structures were very basic!
I would’ve considered him an advanced student, except for the fact that he spoke at a nearly basic level – somewhere in the B1 range. Why? What could be causing this?
I later learned that he absolutely hated writing. It was a skill he chose to completely ignore over the years of his English development. If he had a worksheet to study with, he’d skip the writing portions. If he needed to send a message, he’d use Google translate and copy it over. Writing was his enemy.
So, why does this matter?
If you’re an English student, you’ve probably skipped writing practice a few times. “Who cares, right?” Well, when you practice writing in English, you’re doing several different important things:
- You’re practicing your ability to think in English (because you speak to yourself while working through which vocabulary and phrases to use)
- You’re learning how to organize your ideas and arguments into sentences
And, most relevant to this article…
- You’re practicing your English sentence structures and tenses!
Writing is the most important and commonly used method to improve the grammar level of language students!
Think of those grammar worksheets you likely worked on during your early years as an English student – what did they involve? Checking sentences for grammar mistakes, practicing your tenses, rewriting sentences with different grammatical structures, and so on…
And this is exactly what you’re doing when you practice writing.
You might be as confident as my old student with your conversational skills and comprehension, but if your grammar isn’t great, you’ll likely sound unprofessional (and possibly even uneducated) when you try to use your English skills in a setting where they’re really tested.
If this is something you’ve experienced, I’m sure you’ve learned that there aren’t many things more embarrassing than showing up to a situation where advanced English is needed, such as a business meeting or interview, only to discover that your English level isn’t where it needs to be.
If you’re trying to decide whether you should begin writing or not, think of it like this…
Writing might not always be the most fun way to learn, especially when you begin, but you’ll see results very quickly if you stay focused and practice every day. And, as a reward for your efforts, you’ll be able to speak with far more advanced sentence structures and grammar, until you sound like a true English professional.
Hopefully I have you convinced – After all, don’t we all want to sound fancy and educated? But…
Where should you begin improving your English writing?
To many students, the hardest part about writing is deciding what you should actually write about. The less confident you are with writing, the harder it’ll be to think of something to write about. So, I’ll tell you what I usually recommend to my English students:
Keep it simple!
Think about your day, and spend ten minutes writing about the most interesting thing that happened during it.
Did you see a cat? Alright, now elaborate on that. What color was it? How old do you think it was? What would its personality be like?
It’s like you’re writing a diary, but in English. And if that’s too boring for you, I recommend you read a short news article, note down a few new vocabulary words you learned, and then spend 10-15 minutes writing about the information you read. This is usually the format I follow when teaching reading and writing classes.
Alternatively, if you’re preparing for an English exam, there are plenty of websites out there with official IELTS and TEFL writing prompts.
If you’re just starting out, I’d suggest you only spend a small chunk of time in your writing practice every day. After all, it is one of the more tiring ways to learn English, and you don’t want to burn yourself out.
I hope that helps you in your language learning journey!
