Writing Strategies

Some prompts that teachers can give to students can be:

If you could have a superpower, which power would you choose? Why? What would you do with your superpower?
What is your favorite food? Please describe it and talk about the ingredients and preparation process.
Where would you go if you could go anywhere? Why that place?
Do you have a pet? How do you feel about your furry friend?
Describe your hometown/country. What do you like and dislike about it?

Performing translanguaging while teaching writing strategies and learning a target language can be challenging for educators. One way to help students develop writing strategies is by having free writing or prompted writing in which students can identify themselves. These are great ways to promote writing and creativity in the class. Translanguaging in writing can be used by allowing students to write in one language, provide a summary, or do a verbal summary in another language. This strategy will give students a scaffolding as they contextualize the information in the writing process. Similarly, as students organize their ideas and thoughts in their preferred language, metalinguistic awareness develops, providing a decisive advantage to support students’ writing process.

Educators must assess English learners writing abilities in their first language. English learner's writing abilities may vary from students' backgrounds and schooling experiences. Students' writing awareness will impact the acquisition of academic English. Assessing students in their first language will provide the educator a starting point.

Areas to consider in assessing students can be, but not limited to:

Alphabet Awareness
Sentence Structure
Capitalization
Punctuation
Diacritical Marks