When English learners first start their classes, they hear a lot about listening and speaking. Attention is paid to proper pronunciation, correct verb forms, and building their vocabulary. Reading is also an important part of their learning journey, especially when it comes to understanding texts and answering comprehension questions. However, the fourth fundamental language skill, writing, often falls by the wayside. Students are more focused on communicating verbally than in written form, and if they do write, it is usually a short text message or brief email. Writing in longer forms is rarely ever attempted, even in their L1. However, neglecting improving your writing skills means that your English fluency may be lopsided and uneven. Let’s take a look at some ways to improve your English writing skills that are easy and fun!
Define the Purpose of Your Writing
So you’ve decided to practice your English writing skills some more – great! The first thing you need to decide is on the purpose of your writing. All writing serves some purpose, and having it clear from the beginning will help guide your choices. Writing changes greatly depending on the context – an email is not the same as a report, which is not the same as a novel. There are two main questions to ask yourself before you start:
- Who is my audience? Am I writing to my boss, my best friend, or strangers that I have never met before but want to impress?
- What is my goal? Do I want to explain, inform, persuade, or make a request?
If you have the answers to these questions clear, you will find that your end product is more easily understood and stays in the readers’ minds longer. Remember: good writing is reader-focused writing!
Think in Ideas, Not Sentences
Many ESL students will take on writing assignments as if they were writing in their L1, and then carefully translate each thought into English. This means slow going, as they try to filter complex thoughts through the limited English that they know. A better strategy is to think in ideas first, not sentences. Use the English you know and get your ideas on paper first – don’t worry about the grammar or word choice. The important thing is to create a structure for your ideas and a flow that makes sense. Then, once you have your ideas in order, you can go back and fine-tune.
Why Clear Writing Is Better Than Complex Writing
A common pitfall for ESL students practicing their English writing skills is thinking that complexity = better quality. If they write in long, florid, “academic-sounding” sentences that even native English speakers have trouble understanding, that means that their writing sounds “better”. This could not be farther from the truth – writers should not attempt writing in this style unless they are confident that they will be able to do it correctly. An important thing to remember is that short, clear sentences are not “bad English”. If your ideas are clear and well-organized, it doesn’t matter that your sentences are 10 words long instead of 30 or 40. Try focusing on one idea per sentence, and making sure that your subjects and verbs match up. Then when you go back and edit, you can add connectors, adjectives, adverbs, and other words that add color – just don’t overdo it!
Build Natural English Writing Skills with Phrases and Collocations
A key component of improving your English writing skills is knowing what phrases and collocations sound correct and natural. Using a well-placed idiom will make your writing sound eloquent, while a botched phrase like “do a mistake” will distract readers from your message. That doesn’t mean it’s necessary to memorize long lists of fancy vocabulary words and seldom-used idioms, though. Try these strategies:
- Use model texts: if you come across a text that you really like for its clarity or color, take note of what phrases and techniques it uses and try to incorporate them into your writing.
- Keep a personal phrase bank: English is full of phrases that add sparkle to an otherwise dull text. Whenever you encounter one that you really like, add it to your personal phrase bank, along with its meaning and the context in which it can be used. Then, you can refer to this phrase bank while writing to use them for your own purposes.
How to Edit Your Writing Effectively
You’ve written down all your thoughts from beginning to end. Now it’s time to go back and edit – an extremely important part of the process. Read through your text twice, focusing on something different each time – first, content and clarity, and second, grammar and accuracy. Make sure it makes sense and can be understood first, then check your verb conjugations, articles, and prepositions. By breaking the editing process into two stages, you can prevent your brain from being overwhelmed by checking for everything at once. Try not to over-edit, though – obsessing over a single sentence for hours is not productive. Remember, “perfect” is the enemy of “good”!
Using Feedback and AI to Improve English Writing Skills
While relying on your English writing skills can be good practice, there’s no need to do it all alone. Asking an English-speaking friend, colleague, or family member to read over your writing is a great way to check your text’s effectiveness and readability. Sometimes there are things that escape our attention even after reading through a text three or four times! The use of AI can also be helpful while writing, but beware: it may be good for checking an English collocation or checking spelling, but it should not be used as a replacement for your own thoughts. Think of AI as your assistant, not your ghostwriter.
Improving your English writing skills doesn’t require talent or endless grammar drills – it requires consistency, feedback, and a safe space to practice. Writing a little every day, experimenting with ideas, and learning from small mistakes will take you much further than waiting for the “perfect” moment to write. At Craving English, we build writing into our method in a practical, low-pressure way, including daily writing challenges via WhatsApp that help you develop fluency naturally over time. If you’re ready to strengthen your writing with guidance from a supportive, expert teacher, we’d love to help. Book a Craving trial class today and start building confident, real-world English writing skills…one message at a time!