Content and Written Form: A Two-Way Street

Teaching students to outline their essays before they actually write them is a common practice which presumes that writing is a uni-directional process of recording pre-sorted, pre-digested ideas. While it is certainly true that much of an essay can be planned in advance, one must also recognize that the very act of writing can itself serve to facilitate thought and shape ideas. Essay writing is thus viewed as a hi-directional movement between content and written form. In the ESL classroom this model translates into an approach which places composition revision in a central position. Students are taught how to write and rewrite, refine and recast rough ideas and sketchy drafts into a polished essay. This approach more closely reflects what we actually do when we write.