What is Process Writing?

June 4, 2018

Andreia Zakime

Process Writing is an approach to teaching writing that allows the teacher and the
students to go through the process of producing a text together. In process
writing, students have the chance to think about what they are going to write,
produce drafts, revise, edit, and give and receive feedback on their work before
coming up with the final version of the text. A process approach to writing
contrasts with a product approach, where the main idea is to reproduce a model
text.

Stages of process writing:

The creative process of writing a text is the focus of process writing. Writing is a
“productive” skill and the stages of a writing lesson differ from that of receptive
skills, like reading. A typical process writing lesson usually includes the following
phases:

Pre-writing
In this stage, learners are asked to come up with ideas and plan what they are
going to write. This stage might include:

• Brainstorming ideas
• Planning
• Organizing
• Selecting ideas

Learners can - and should - work collaboratively during this stage. They can use
techniques such as creating lists, mind maps and charts in order to brainstorm
and select the ideas they'd like to include in their texts. This can be done in or
outside the classroom. Using ed tech tools such as Padlet and Edmodo might
 enable the teacher to set collaborative work while students are at home.

Writing

In this stage, learners compose the first Tell children the first step is to just get their

draft of their texts. As students will be given thoughts on paper. If it’s hard for them,

the chance to revise and edit their texts you become their scribe. They talk and you

later, accuracy of language, punctuation write. If they do not have trouble at this

and vocabulary is not essential at this point. level, make sure they know the focus here

Composing the text can be done individually is on their ideas. They do not have to worry

or collaboratively - learners can be given the about spelling, punctuation or grammar.

chance to choose, according to their They will have time to go back and work on

preference. all that.

Your role is to read their drafts carefully

Revising
and address ONLY the content. Do not
This is when learners have the opportunity
correct for spelling, punctuation or
to look back at their texts and reorganize
grammar. Show your student you are
ideas, add, change or remove sentences and
adapt their choice of words to make sure interested in what they wrote. Laugh at

the ideas are being conveyed clearly. things that are funny and make positive

Feedback has an essential role in this stage. comments when you spot anything
It can be provided by the teacher or by interesting or well worded. “What a great
peers: learners can exchange drafts and word to use to describe that wolf! He
comment on each other's work. “lurked” behind a tree. I can just see him
“lurking.”
(Keep reading on next page.)

NOTES ON SPELLING
Some of the children in grades three and up will desperately want you to tell them how to spell words. If this is
the case – go ahead and spell! Don’t turn these guidelines into rigid rules. You should always be flexible and
arrive at what works best for your tutee. It is fine to keep telling them that they will have time to go back and
think about spelling later – but if it is challenging for them to do this, do not let it become an issue.

Children going into grades 1 or 2 should use “invented” or “temporary”

spelling. This is important because listening carefully to the sounds within
words also helps them learn to read. Again, don’t let these guidelines lead
to a struggle, but do your best not to spell every word for your younger
tutees.
After revising, students write another
There is likely a great deal to improve. Don’t try to
draft. That means they go back to
fix it all. Pick one or two content related points. “The
the "writing" stage. This essential part
way you describe the youngest cat is so vivid! I can
of process writing allows learners to
almost see all the crazy colors of her fur. I’d love to
write different drafts as they focus on
know more about what she looks like as she waits
the process, rather than on the final
result. for mice to come out from under the stove. Let’s
think of ways to describe it for your next draft.”

Editing Don’t forget to ask your child to read their own

After writing several drafts, it is time writing. Ask them if there is anything they want to
to proofread, check grammar, add, take out or change.
spelling and punctuation. Again,
encouraging peer help and getting With the second draft, address organization and
students to read each other's work coherence. Keep it collaborative. “As a reader, I
might be useful. would understand this better if I already know that
they had lost the magic feather. What do you think
of switching these paragraphs?”
Editing and Age Differences:
If your tutee is going into grade 4 and up, make sure they read and edit their work before you do.
Make sure they check for spelling, punctuation and simple grammar. There is no need for them to
find every mistake. When you type up their writing, type exactly what they leave in their final draft
EXCEPT the remaining spelling errors. Correct those.

For younger children, use a very “light touch” with editing. Give them one thing to look for at a time.
First, have them read over their drafts to see if they notice any words they would like to change to
“dictionary spelling.” Have them check to make sure the first word of every sentence is capitalized
and that every sentence ends with some kind of punctuation. (Feel free to introduce them to
question marks, quotation marks and exclamation marks.)
Some considerations when adopting a process approach to writing:

It fosters creativity:

Unlike product writing, process writing does not have a model text as the starting
point. That means that learners have the chance to use their previous knowledge
and start thinking about a text based on the ideas that they come up with. When
planning to use a process approach to writing, however, it is important to think
about what type of text - or textual genre - the students will be asked to produce.
If learners need to write a narrative, an article or an essay, focusing on ideas first
might be a good choice. However, if the genre conventions are very fixed, like in
e-mails, formal letters, or reports, a product approach to writing might be more
suitable.

It encourages collaborative work:

Most stages of process writing allow for group work and peer collaboration.
Learners can work together while they generate and select ideas - they might end
up many more ideas in the pre-writing phase if this is done collaboratively.

Feedback is of paramount importance when writing is seen as a process. As

learners can (and should!) write multiple drafts when this approach is adopted,
feedback is present throughout. Instead of being provided by the teacher only,
there is room for peer feedback and peer correction. For peer feedback to be
effective, however, the teacher must provide the tools for learners to give
feedback to each other. Some ideas might involve asking students to focus on one
aspect of the text at a time (e.g.: giving feedback on content first, then helping
each other revise the organization of the text, etc.)

One of the greatest advantages of teaching learners to collaborate with each

other when writing is that it resembles how writing takes place in most real-life
situations: when we write texts, before submitting it to the final reader, we
usually ask somebody to read and give us feedback. Why not trying this in the
classroom as well?

Time constraints

Writing takes time - and this is even more true with process writing. In order to
enable learners to focus on the process, it is important to give them time to go
through the stages, write multiple drafts, and incorporate the feedback they
receive on their work. Students will spend a lot of time not writing, so it is
important to help them keep their final objective in mind during the process.

It requires support

As mentioned previously, feedback is key for a successful process writing lesson.

In addition to that, staging the lesson coherently and providing the necessary
amount of support in each phase may help learners reach their objectives more
efficiently. For example, if learners are asked to proofread, it would be a good
idea to give them tools that will enable them to proofread effectively.

References:
Evans, F. 1998. Successful Writing.
Harmer, J. 2004. How to teach writing.
Reid, J. 2000. The Process of Composition.

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