The Process Writing Method
By Daniel J. Jarvis Palmquist Elementary School (Oceanside, California, USA)
Six years ago, while beginning my teacher education program, I came across a book called Whole Language Strategies for ESL Students by Gail Heald-Taylor (1994). In her book Heald-Taylor describes an approach to writing called Process Writing. Now that I am getting ready to begin my fifth year teaching, I have realized that I have not only continued to use this approach, but have found it to be one of my most valuable tools to improve the writing of my English as a Second Language (ESL) students. I have used this approach with ESL students in grades 3-5 and beginning, intermediate, and advanced Adult ESL students at the community college level. In this article I am going to summarize Heald-Taylor`s Process Writing approach with the addition of illustrations from my own experience at the elementary and community college level. The Process Writing Method would be a valuable tool for any ESL teacher who wants to improve the writing of their students.
Process Writing Method
Heald-Taylor (1986) describes her method in the following way:
"Process Writing is an approach which encourages ESL youngsters to communicate their own written messages while simultaneously developing their literacy skills in speaking and reading rather than delaying involvement in the writing process, as advocated in the past, until students have perfected their abilities in handwriting, reading, phonetics, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. In Process Writing the communication of the message is paramount and therefore the developing, but inaccurate, attempts at handwriting, spelling, and grammar are accepted, know that within the process of regular writing opportunities students will gain control of these sub-skills. These skills are further developed in individual and small group conference interviews."
Getting Started
ESL students are ready to begin writing as soon as they are able to speak in social and classroom situations, especially if they are initiating the conversations. The beginning writer will often use a variety of approaches when writing from illustrations, wiggles, invented spellings, or other representations of words. It is important that the student is able to discuss with the ESL teacher what those representations mean in order for the instructor to help the ESL student develop their writing skills.
Materials
Every student will need a writing dairy notebook, which later will be replaced with a writing folder in which ESL students will keep their completed work and works in progress. Students will also need a daily journal with about 30 pages of lined or unlined paper. Unlined paper is especially useful for the beginning writer, who may communicate their messages using illustrations or wiggles. The daily journal is intended for students to make journal entries on a daily basis. Students are asked to write on one side of the page. The other side is for comments made by the teacher and for translation. Having students write in a daily journal is extremely useful in that you have a daily record of the student`s growth. These are very useful to use over the course of a school year. Teachers can pinpoint specific areas that students need assistance in. I have also found these very useful during parent-teacher conferences or problem solving team meeting. This allows the teacher to show what specific areas they have been working on with the student, what strategies they have used, and the results of the work done. At the end of the school year, students often value their journals because they can visually see the growth they have achieved. Journals can also be saved to show growth over multiple years.
Illustrations
Many of the ESL students I have had in my classes have preferred to draw pictures first because they can include many concepts that they would not be able to express verbally. Drawings and illustrations are a very important part of beginning writing. However, not all students will draw first. Many will prefer to write before they draw a picture. Illustrations are a way for ESL students to understand new concepts or vocabulary in a context that makes the new concepts or vocabulary meaningful and more readily internalized by the learner. Illustrations also enable ESL students to link new concepts and vocabulary to prior knowledge by visually showing the connection between different concepts. I have had many students who have had a love and a talent for art, which helped develop their love of writing because they could see the connection between how writing can influence art and how art can influence their writing.
The First Lesson
The very first lesson will be a modeling of how to develop and write a story. Modeling the process helps to ensure that the students grasp the assignment. The class will begin by developing a class story with the students assisting in the development and the writing of the story. The story can be written on the chalkboard, chart paper, or on overhead transparencies. Give the students the option of what to write about and ask them what you should write for the very first sentence. Have the students try to say the sentence out loud and have the author try to write the sentence on the chalkboard, chart paper, or overhead transparencies. The student may only know one of the letters of a word or may not know the work