Authentic Writing Tasks For English Language Learners

I was recently doing some work with English teachers in Luxembourg, looking at written assessments and making them more fit for purpose. We were particularly focusing on ways of making written tasks and assessments more relevant and authentic, trying to think about how students might use their English in everyday life, for work or further study. I thought it would be useful to pick up this theme here and discuss what we mean by authenticity in writing and how we might achieve it.

• Shopping lists

• ‘To do’ lists

• Inventories

• ‘Top Tens’

• Contents lists

• Packing lists

• Ingredients lists

• Playlists

• Pros and cons lists

• Lists of facts about a historical event

You can introduce these listing tasks with a quick fun activity such as a list race:

“List ten things you can… fit in a matchbox…use to put out a fire…do to stop a baby crying.” And why not follow up with a creative activity such as a list poem?

• Prepare a series of questions and answers for an interview

• Prepare a survey to find out information

• Write an FAQ section for a website

• Devise a questionnaire to understand customer habits and get feedback

• Write some questions for a classroom quiz

Much daily communication focuses on exchanging information, which is why question and answer activities are so useful. Written question formation is a key skill that students need to learn. Also, these kinds of tasks have obvious follow-on/extension activities and are great for generating personalised resources for communicative pair-work, group work or whole class Q and A.

• Describe yourself to someone you have not met before, so they can recognise you when you first meet

• Write a description of something when you don’t know what it is called

• Describe what food and drink tastes like

• Describe the facilities at a resort or hotel

• Describe your symptoms to a doctor

• Describe a lost pet

• Describe the plot and characters in a book or film

As you can see from the list above, we use descriptions in many real-life situations – including as a strategy for when we don’t have the necessary vocabulary. With these kinds of activities, you may also use written material your students produce for listening quizzes (‘Who or what am I describing?), true/false activities, listening for specific information, or as a jumping off point for an extended project.

• Write an ‘about us’ section for a company website, with a timeline of important dates and achievements

• Write a holiday itinerary

• Write a chronology of the events in a book you are reading

• Write a plan for a party

• Write an Itinerary for a trip or visit

• Devise a weekly exercise schedule

• Makes some notes, with approximate timings, as a reference point for a talk you are giving

Much of our time is spent on planning and organising our lives, so opportunities to practise this are pretty useful. Planning things often involves interaction and discussion with others, so there are plenty of opportunities for integrating spoken language practice into these kinds of activities, especially if you want to make the task a pair-work or group work activity.

• Create a contents page for a book or magazine

• Write a glossary of specialist terms and their definitions for a hobby or pastime

• Write a glossary of literary terms

These are useful activities to help students think about ordering contents and writing definitions. They are ways of navigating information and clarifying meaning. The glossaries can also be used for creating sets of revision cards for the study and memorisation of key vocabulary.

• Summarise the rules for a game or sport

• Write a list of classroom/school rules

• Devise house-share rules for a flat-share

• Write a list of rules for a club or society

• Write a list of rules for visitors to a gallery/zoo/museum

• Write a list of health and safety rules for a specific place or job

• Interpret icons and signs and write the rules they represent

In most situations, our behaviour is constrained by common rules and expectations. Both being able to understand these rules and to write our own, helps to keep us safe, means standards are applied consistently to everyone and, if agreed in advance, helps us to avoid difficulties and arguments about what is acceptable behaviour. Rule writing is a straightforward activity for students but can also generate interesting discussions about what are reasonable and unreasonable expectations in a variety of contexts.

• Write a recipe for your favourite dish, with ingredients and instructions

• Write a ‘how to’ guide on the topic of your choice

• Write a set of assembly instructions for a piece of flat-pack furniture

• Write out instructions detailing what to do if someone has an accident or a medical emergency

• Describe how to get between two locations, one on either side of town

We are likely to encounter a variety of instructional texts as we go about our daily lives and sometimes need to provide instructions for others. These activities all provide useful practice of the imperative. They can also be easily adapted into speaking and presentational activities, such as producing instructional videos or giving informal talks. In these cases, the written element could be given as a planning pre-task.

• Draw and label a map of the area where you live

• Draw and label a floor plan of your house or bedroom, including any doors, windows, or major items of furniture

• Draw and label a diagram of the water cycle

• Choose some photos for a topical article and write a caption for each

• Create a flowchart for an everyday activity such as deciding what to wear

• Create a graph or bar chart from a survey and write a short analysis of your findings

Activities that involve both visuals and written content sometimes feel more creative, and images provide a clear context for writing tasks. Sometimes, for lower levels, incorporating visual information provides a focus on the task, rather than on the language, and this makes it feel less like a daunting writing task, even if it includes written elements. Labelling activities can also be done as a whole class activity on an IWB.

• Write a short hand-written note explaining that you have gone out. The note should say where you have gone and when you will be back.

• Write a text to someone asking them to do you a favour.

• Text a friend who has been messaging you and explain why you haven’t been able to respond until now. Apologise and check how they are doing.

• Think of the different occasions on which we might want to send someone a greeting card. Choose one occasion and write a suitable message to a close friend or family member.

Notes are still one thing many of us tend to write a lot of. Whether it’s a post-it left on a colleague’s desk or a short, hand-written note for someone we live with. As well as using written notes, these days we often just send phone messages, to remind people of something, to update them on a situation, or to re-arrange a meeting time. They are also just a quick way of keeping in touch with someone, or checking on how they are.

• Imagine you are going to attend a protest or march for a cause you believe in. Prepare some placards for attendees to hold up.

• Come up with ideas for slogans or texts to be printed on promotional T-shirts for an environmental charity.

• Create a lifestyle manifesto based on your core beliefs.

• Choose a company and come up with some possible straplines that encapsulate its products or services.

• Choose some movies that you know and create some taglines for trailers and posters.

We sometimes need to capture our ideas and beliefs or provide a clever way of distilling a message or idea into something simple. Use some of the above ideas to spark interesting discussions and to give students practice in conveying a message simply and clearly.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways in which we can ground our writing activities in more functional (and personal) tasks. Not every writing task has to have this focus, and it is good to include a few more creative writing tasks. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Create and describe a fantastical animal

• Describe and illustrate a crazy invention

• Describe your dream home

• Create a travel brochure for an imaginary world

• Choose two characters from different books or movies and create a whole new character by combining their looks, styles and personalities