Man is blessed with a variety of inherent ways and means of communication that distinguish him from the rest of the creatures on the planet earth. Undoubtedly, he is the most expressive creature in the world, though, at times, also the most introverted. He makes use of both spoken and written words to convey the intended message. So, the art of aptly describing what’s on your mind boils down to your writing or speaking abilities and skills. While writing plain English is no big challenge, eliminating the nuances from one’s writing to get the message across adequately is a massive challenge for many. While even the best writers can capture the attention of readers with their succinct descriptions of events, most of them struggle to find words or phrases to perfectly fall in place with the content. Proper words are meant for proper occasions. Writing aptly and succinctly is a skill and it goes beyond the simple use of grammar in your prose. While grammar forms an essential aspect of writing, there are more aspects of writing which must be taken care of while working on it. Overuse of clichés, adverbs, bulky phrases, etc. is an apt example of poor writing and something which needs to be addressed. By all means, writing is a form of art and like every other form of art, it takes time and perseverance to see through the toughest challenges one faces while writing. Believe it or not, writing, apart from the spoken word, is one of the world’s oldest forms of communication that still exists today.
While even the best writers can capture the attention of readers with their succinct descriptions of events, most of them struggle to find words or phrases to perfectly fall in place with the content.
In today’s digital world, while we may no longer invest time in sending letters to one another, our daily communication is always accompanied by some form of writing, be it in text messages, daily emails, or posts you make on your social media accounts. Looking at the genesis of writing skills we come to know that one of the earliest known examples of writing dates back to 3500-3000 BCE, to the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia. This form of writing was known now as “Cuneiform”, which involved the engraving of various pictorial figures into stone as a means by which to communicate with others or record numbers, among other functions. Even if one’s chosen career path doesn’t necessarily involve writing as a form of income, being able to communicate effectively is incredibly important to ensure success in today’s competitive international job market. Think about email-writing; it hardly looks professional if an employee sends an email to his/her boss or colleague that isn’t well thought-out and contains many errors. This will definitely be viewed seriously and would negatively reflect on the intellectual acumen of the person writing it.
Therefore, writing is an important skill for language production. However, it is considered a difficult skill, particularly in English as a second language (ESL) contexts where students face many challenges in writing. There are many credible research studies conducted with the aim to investigate problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners’ writing and factors that hinder their writing skills. These were also aimed at obtaining suggestions on how to improve Pakistani ESL learners’ writing skills. For this purpose, focus groups of Pakistani English language teachers and undergraduate ESL learners were conducted. Writing samples were also collected from ESL undergraduate learners to find the major problems in their writing. The interviews and essays were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings revealed that the major problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners’ writing were insufficient linguistic proficiency (including command of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary), writing anxiety, lack of ideas, reliance on L1, and weak structure organization. These challenges are generally caused by various factors including untrained teachers, ineffective teaching methods and examination system, lack of reading and writing practice, large classrooms, low motivation, and lack of ideas. The same studies also shed light on the remedial measures such as increased reading, conscious and incidental vocabulary teaching, writing practice, trained teachers, and reforms in the examination system, and writing competitions.
However, here are some of the most pragmatic solutions to addressing the challenges in improving writing skills. The first and foremost is practice. Practice really does make perfect. If you compare writing to a skill like cooking, or even playing a sport, you cannot expect to improve if you don’t practice – it’s like expecting to become a pro football player after one practice with your team. Try to set yourself daily writing exercises – they need not be long-winded and time-consuming, even just committing yourself to write a paragraph a day is enough. You can even partner up with someone else who also wants to improve his/her writing skills and read each other’s paragraphs to see where changes or improvements need to be made. We learn best by example, and gaining writing skills is no exception to this rule. When we read, we learn how other people write to convey their messages in the best way possible, and we start to adapt our writing styles to those that we resonate most with. Incorporate daily reading into your writing exercises; maybe even make your practice paragraph a review or summary of what you read that day, taking different elements of the author’s writing style to develop your own voice. But remember not to use any complicated, long words in your writing. They often confuse the reader and make them disinterested in what you have to say. Keep your sentences short yet impactful. Never over-use filler words like “very”, “really”, “just”, etc. They tend to make sentences long and unnecessarily take up your reader’s cognitive space. Likewise, editing is an integral part of the writing process that is completely underrated and is frequently overlooked. Errors in your writing are likely to take attention away from the message you are trying to convey and decrease your reader’s trust in your viability as a writer. The human brain often overlooks certain small errors during the proofreading process, so using an online editing tool is highly recommended.
Last but not least is the ability to communicate with clarity. There is nothing more frustrating than a piece of writing that doesn’t get straight to the point. Think about what you want to say, what message you want your reader to take away with them, and make sure that you make this message clear from the very beginning. Similarly, it is also important to think about your audience; what do they want to hear, and how would they like it to be conveyed? Do you need to take on a formal, or a more informal tone? Would using humor help develop your message, or should you get straight to the point in a more businesslike fashion? These are important considerations that need to be taken into account before you even begin the writing process. Sometimes, the most difficult step in the writing process is the act of actually sitting down and getting the writing done. By this point, you should have a clear plan of what you want to say, and a general idea of how you want to say it. It may seem daunting, but remember that the hard work is now done! All you need to do is convince yourself that you are capable (which you are), sit down in front of your notebook or computer, and execute your communication. Putting all these tips into practice is the real challenge. Nothing big can ever be achieved without taking concrete actions. So, go ahead and do it now!
The writer is a civil servant by profession, a writer by choice and a motivational speaker by passion!