How can I help my learner when s/he is afraid to write?

Being afraid to write is a common fear of adult learners often expressed by saying they don’t know what to write about. This fear and uncertainty can best be addressed by first, making sure the learner feels respected, safe, and valued. It is important to develop a good rapport with the learner and maintain a nonjudgmental attitude. A learner’s fear of writing may not go away quickly so it’s important to be patient and encouraging on an ongoing basis.

Other suggestions are:

Strategies to make writing less intimidating:

• start small by using half sheets of paper instead of full sheets for learner writing and asking the learner to write only a sentence or two

• ignore mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation and focus only on the learner’s ideas and what he/she is writing about.

Strategies to reduce fear through routine:

• write with your learner to serve as a model for good writing and the writing process

• do a regular “quick write”, a short, timed writing. It might be helpful to choose a word to write about. Words from nature (rain, ocean, snow) can be fun to quick write about.  

• begin a “dialogue journal” in which you and your learner write back and forth to each other about events in your lives

• Encourage your learner to keep a private journal where he/she can write about their thoughts and feelings and events in their lives.

Strategies to help learners know what to write about:

• discuss with your learner what she/he will write before it is written

• choose a wordless picture book to write the words for the story it tells

• respond in writing to a picture after a discussion about what is happening in the picture

• use sentence starters for basic writers

• use story starters for longer pieces of writing

• have your learner use events, people, or interests from his/her life to write about

ESL Notes:

ESL language learners should only be asked to write about things that they are very familiar with and know the English words for.  Be sure to choose wordless picture books and writing prompts that show images that your learner will understand and feel comfortable with.

An excellent strategy for helping learners who are reluctant writers is to use a Language Experience Activity (LEA). A LEA is an activity in which the teacher writes down a story as the learner dictates

it. The learner then reads the story back to the teacher. The story can be something that happened to the learner, information about a hobby the learner has, something the learner has accomplished, an event the learner has attended; in other words the story can be about anything the learner wants. The teacher/tutor writes the story in exactly the words the learner uses with no changes in grammar or sentence structure. In addition to the story becoming the text for word recognition and comprehension activities, the text also serves as a model of writing. The tutor can talk about and model the process of writing a story/personal narrative while writing the Language Experience Story with the learner. As the learner becomes more comfortable with the process, he/she can take over the writing.