Writing is a powerful way to improve language accuracy. Unlike when you speak, in writing you control the situation. You can take your time. You can experiment using new words and phrases that you have learned. At The Linguist we encourage learners to take the following approach to their writing.
Write easily. Do not try to compose complicated prose. Use your new phrases. We will correct every error we find. We may miss a few mistakes. We may also over-correct in some cases. There is always room for different interpretations of what is correct usage.
The important thing is for you the learner to focus on what we call CLEAN English. Clear, Logical, Effective, Accurate and Natural English. When you finish writing, before submitting the text, check your prose against the CLEAN criteria.
Is it clear? Are the sentences short and to the point? Are there run on sentences separated by commas? Have you used pronouns like "it" or "which" in such a way that it is not clear what the reference is? Is it logical? Do your verbs agree with their subjects? Have you got the verb tenses right? Have you left steps out in your arguments? Are you comparing like to like? If you use words like "however' or "therefore" are they used correctly? Is it effective? Have you used too many words? Can you eliminate some? Do you have a lot of meaningless words like "by the way" or "frankly speaking"? Have you made dramatic statements that you have not proven or substantiated?
Is it accurate? Have you used the noun form instead of the adjective form or vice versa? Are you sure the words you have used really mean what you think they do? Which words are you unsure of?
Is it natural? Which prepositions are you unsure of? Are there constructions that you have tried but which you doubt really work in English? Are there translations from your own language?
Go through and check you writing. Note the things that you are unsure of. Now send it in and see what The Linguist corrector does. When you get it back look at your original and the corrected version again. Note the full list of correct phrases provided by The Linguist. Check out what category of mistakes was most common. Now read the corrected version out loud five times.
This process is much more severe than what we do in our conversations. In conversations we just let the learners speak and make only a few comments on phrases or pronunciation. In correcting writing we do not want to let too much go. This is the chance to work on accuracy and CLEAN English.
The question is does this strict approach discourage or demotivate the learner? That is what I would like to find out.
Please let me have your views and comments.
