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Early stages of writing 
Proficiency level 
Low beginners 
Skills and features of English to learn 
Use printed/cursive forms of Roman alphabet (as appropriate
Use simple word, phrase, and sentence forms 
Materials to use 
Basic literacy materials 
Writing tasks to follow up on oral and reading exercises 
Short narratives/descriptions using Language Experience Approach 
Dialogue journals 
Expanded writing skills 
High beg
Skills and features of English to learn 
Use commonly occurring word, phrase, and sentence patterns 
Write paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details 
Use link words to signal organization of paragraphs 
Practice techniques for pre-writing, revising, editing 
Materials to use 
Dialogue journals 
Compositions using Language Experience Approach 
Exercises to teach organization of paragraphs 
Paragraphs of narration, description, simpler logical relationships 
Proficiency level 
High intermediate and advanced students 
Skills and features of English to learn 
Use discourse patterns expected in academic writing 
Develop a thesis with appropriate supporting details 

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Become more independent in the writing process 
ercises to model and guide students' essays 
Writing tasks simulating assignments in subject-matter courses 
Yo
sho
atures of advanced writing tasks are present in embryonic form at 
wer levels of the sequence. Further, most students find that as they become more skilled at writing in one 
d language to the first. 
General Lesson Plan for Composing Assignments 
It is difficult to give a lesson plan which will cover all types of writing assignments. When your students are 
composing (as opposed to doing writing tasks to reinforce oral or reading activities) you should always have 
a p
sep
ive of this manual has a section on basic literacy training, and the Peace Corps Literacy Handbook 
lower case, has the advantage that there will be 
as well as the use of common punctuation marks (especially the period, question mark, 
Even beginning students can handle simple writing assignments, once they are able to form English letters 
in 
ep in mind 
that your students should be able to 
to 
wh
Materials to use 
Sequenced ex
ur students may not need to learn the most advanced forms of writing in this sequence. However, you 
uld keep in mind that many of the fe
lo
language, their writing in any other language they may know also improves. Perhaps surprisingly, this 
increased skill may even transfer from a secon
re-writing phase and you should always allow plenty of time for revising. In fact, it is so difficult to 
arate writing and revising that the most appropriate lesson format consists of just two main phases: 
Pre-writing
Brainstorming in various forms, oral and written
Analysis of models
Reading
Notetaking 
Writing and revising
Time for multiple drafts
Feedback from teacher and other students 
 
 Basic writing skills and reinforcement of speaking and listening 
Your students may need writing instruction at the most basic level-learning to form the letters and other 
symbols of the English writing system. Students needing such instruction range from those who have neither 
reading nor writing skills in any language to those who are fully literate but who happen not to have learned 
language which uses the Roman alphabet. 
a
hapter F
C
(Manual M-21 available from Information Collection and Exchange) provides detailed guidance. Here are 
some general points to consider when teaching writing at this very basic level: 
• Teaching the printed forms of letters, both capitals and 
a closer match between the shapes which the students write and the shapes which they must read. 
However, older learners may feel that printed letters are for children and insist on learning the cursive 
forms which they associate with adult handwriting. Choose the forms which work best for your students. 
• When you began to learn to write in English, you may have learned the letters in alphabetical order. A 
more efficient way is to group the letters according to their shapes. For example, a number of lower case 
letters in their hand printed form are "ball and stick" figures: a, b, d, p, q.
• At the same time that students are developing a legible handwriting, they can also learn spelling rules of 
wide applicability, 
comma, and apostrophe). 
a legible and consistent way and can recognize a few English words in their written form. Ke
understand everything that they are asked to write. Thus it makes sense 
present new content first via the listening and speaking skills, and to use reading and writing to reinforce 
at has been mastered in the aural/oral activities. 

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In 
ay of teaching reading to 
eginners. It is easy and natural to extend this technique as a way of teaching writing to beginners. When 
the writing assignment and to provide support in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and 
ocabulary as needed. 
At 
Th
meaningful topics, in the same way that you use students' dictation 
f their own experiences as the texts for beginning reading. 
. Have talk precede writing. Because writing is more difficult than dictating stories for the teacher to 
a form of communication, not a series of drills. 
cal details such as spelling and punctuation. 
of unrelated sentences, either as practice 
o 
are
wa
ha
Th
irst, but it is just as important. Composing is viewed as an 
iterative process. Writers 
information, rehearse vocabulary and 
ph
of 
con
pro
punctuation. 
Note how much of this process is concerned with meaning. Note also that the writer usually does not "get it 
rig
the
product. They fail to appreciate the importance of the pre-writing activities, and they are likely to think of 
revision solely in terms of proofreading for grammatical and mechanical errors. 
If you
lmost guaranteed that you will encourage your students to 
communicate through their writing. But you must remember two key points. First, give your students enough 
time i
establish the focus of the compositi
concern is the message they are trying to convey. You will defeat your purpose if you immediately start 
marking up the grammatical and mechanical errors that you find. 
Chapter Five, the Language Experience Approach (LEA) was discussed as a w
b
used for writing, the LEA allows your students to express their own ideas, but it also permits you to control 
the difficulty of 
v
this point you should return to Chapter Five to refresh your memory of the use of the LEA for reading. 
en look at the following guidelines for using the LEA in basic writing activities. 
1. Base student writing on personally 
o
2
write, students should be given many pre-writing opportunities to review orally what they want to say in 
writing. 
3. Emphasize the act of composing. Present writing as
4. Recognize errors in usage, awkward phrasing, and difficulties with mechanics as natural outcomes of 
limited mastery of English. Handle errors very sensitively, placing more emphasis on helping the student 
make the meaning clear than on perfecting mechani
5. Relate writing assignments to reading and oral language activities. At first, writing should be directly 
related to stories dictated by the students. As students are later exposed to a greater variety of reading 
material, the additional models of English can be used to refine written expression and broaden the 
content of written work. 
[Carol N. Dixon and Denise Nessel. Language Experience Approach to Reading (and Writing). Alemany 
Press, 1983.] 
Two themes which appear in Dixon and Nessel's guidelines deserve further comment. The first is the 
emphasis on getting the students to communicate through writing. They recommend that even the earliest 
writing assignments be tied to narratives about personally meaningful topics. Contrast this type of 
ssignment with another type in which the student writes out a list 
a
t reinforce a particular grammar topic or as an exercise in the application of certain translation rules. If you 
required to use textbooks which present writing as drills rather than as communication, you will certainly 
nt to devise supplementary writing activities which allow your students to communicate on topics which 
ve meaning for them. 
e second theme is not as explicit as the f
gather their thoughts, search out additional 
raseology, put something into rough written form, review what they have written, evaluate it for adequacy 
content and coherence of organization, ask for critical feedback from another reader, add or delete 
tent, reorganize to make the narrative or argument easier to follow, review and revise again (in fact, 
bably several times), and finally, edit to check for accuracy in grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and 
ht" the first time around. Unfortunately, because of the way composing is most often taught, students get 
impression that once they start putting words on paper, the result should be very close to a finished 
teach writing as a process it is a
n pre-writing activities to gather their thoughts, discover the language needed to express them, and 
on. Secondly, show by your response to their writing that your first 

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Many teachers find it unnerving to return a composition to a student in which there are errors which have not 
been cked out with red ink or otherwise commented upon. Perhaps it will help to view your students' 
composin
f learning the writing skill, the goal is to 
gradually
on't expect polished productions. Instead, place the 
emphasis
down on paper. As your 
students'
hniques for revision and you can 
set up wr
ore non-final drafts. Even then, as you 
respond to an early draft you should think primarily of how clearly and effectively the message has been 
pre
stu
nswers to questions on reading 
ssignments are two other types of controlled writing. Even when you use the LEA to teach writing, you are 
ontrolling the composing efforts of your students. 
hese controlled writing assignments play an important role in developing the basic language proficiency of 
ting details, or discovering an appropriate way to 
rganize their compositions. 
So
e purposes, your students' writing activities need 
to e expanded in two ways. They must be allowed to be more communicative and they must be 
en