🌐

✏️

✏️ Writing

A Writing Process Lesson — Framework for Any Writing Task

Writing is not a test of what students know — it is a process that develops thinking.

45–60 minutes 5 stages 10 min read writing writing-process lesson-framework elt

What this framework is about

Traditional writing teaching sets a title, students write for thirty minutes, the teacher marks the work and returns it with corrections. Students read the marks, put the paper away, and write the next piece with the same errors. Nothing changes. The process approach treats writing as a sequence of stages — planning, drafting, responding, revising — not a single event. Each stage is a learning opportunity. Most of the learning happens before the final draft exists.

Core principle

The principle that changes everything: separate the stages, separate the skills

Writing is not one skill — it is a cluster of different cognitive activities that work poorly when combined. Generating ideas, organising them, choosing language, managing grammar, and thinking about the reader are all different mental tasks. When students are asked to do all of them simultaneously (sit down, write, get it right first time), they produce paralysed, over-monitored, narrow writing.

The process approach separates these activities into stages. In the planning stage, the only job is generating and organising ideas — grammar does not matter yet. In the drafting stage, the job is to get ideas onto paper as fluently as possible — perfection is not the goal. In the responding stage, the job is thinking about the reader — not correcting grammar. Grammar and surface editing come only in the final stage. Each stage liberates students from trying to do everything at once.

This is also why writing lessons in this framework include other people. Writing is a communicative act — it has a reader. Making that reader present during the lesson (through pair response, peer feedback, shared reading) transforms writing from a private exercise into a genuine act of communication.

The stages

Pre-writing — purpose, audience, ideas

Who is this for? What do I want to say?

10–12 min

Why this stage exists

Students who begin writing without knowing who they are writing for, or without having any ideas to write about, produce thin, uninvested work. This stage establishes the communicative context (audience, purpose, genre) and generates enough ideas that students can choose, not just struggle.

The teacher does

Set the writing task with a real audience and purpose. Not: 'Write a letter.' Instead: 'Write a letter to your local government representative explaining why the school needs a new water source. Your letter must be polite and convincing.'

Then generate ideas together:
• Brainstorm on the board: 'What reasons could you give? What examples? What would be most convincing to this reader?'
• Think, pair, share: students tell a partner three things they want to include.
• Plan on paper: students make a simple list or diagram of their main points before writing.

Also establish: what genre is this? What does a good letter / article / description / story in this genre look like? If a model text is available, read part of it. If not, discuss: what features do you expect to see?

Students do

Think about the audience and purpose. Generate ideas in pairs. Make a brief plan in their notebooks.

🌿 Zero-resource version

Brainstorming, pair sharing, and note-making all require nothing. The task description is given orally and written on the board. If no model text is available, discuss the genre features from the class's existing knowledge.

⚠ Most common mistake

Giving students no planning time — just setting the task and starting the timer. Students who have not thought about what they want to say produce the first thing that occurs to them and run out of ideas after one paragraph.

Drafting — getting ideas onto paper

Fluency first — no crossing out, no stopping

12–15 min

Why this stage exists

The drafting stage has one goal: get ideas onto paper. Not perfectly, not completely, but substantially. Students who over-monitor during drafting — stopping to check grammar, rewriting every sentence — produce slow, narrow, monitored writing that is grammatically cautious but communicatively poor. Fast, committed drafting produces more, and gives more to work with in the revision stage.

The teacher does

Establish the drafting contract: for the next 12 minutes, everyone writes. No crossing out. No stopping to ask questions. No checking with neighbours. If you don't know a word, write a dash or write it in your first language and continue. Keep the pen moving.

Write silently yourself if you can — this models that writing is a serious, quiet activity that even the teacher does. Circulate after 5 minutes. Do not correct — note what you see for the response stage.

If students finish early: they continue, adding detail or a second draft of a weaker section.

Students do

Write continuously. Do not stop to correct. Do not worry about being perfect.

🌿 Zero-resource version

Students write in their notebooks. No other resources needed.

⚠ Most common mistake

Allowing students to ask questions during the drafting stage. 'How do you spell X?' breaks the drafting flow for the student and for those around them. Establish before drafting begins: questions about vocabulary or spelling can wait. Write a dash and keep going.

Responding — peer response on content

A real reader responds — before grammar is touched

8–10 min

Why this stage exists

The most powerful feedback a writer can receive is from a reader. Not 'your grammar is wrong here' — but 'I don't understand this part', 'this was the most interesting point for me', 'you haven't explained why'. This kind of feedback improves the writing substantively, not just cosmetically. It also changes students' relationship to writing — they are writing for a real reader, not just for the teacher.

The teacher does

Students swap drafts with a partner. Give the reader a specific, limited task — not 'tell them what's good and bad'.

Good response frames:
• 'Read your partner's draft. Underline the three most interesting or convincing points. Put a question mark next to anything you don't understand or want to know more about.'
• 'What is the main message of this piece? Write one sentence. Then write one question you want the writer to answer.'
• 'What is the strongest part? What one thing would you change?'

Students read each other's drafts silently. Then they discuss their responses with the writer for 3 minutes.

Do not allow grammar correction at this stage. If a student says 'there's a grammar mistake here', redirect: 'We'll look at grammar later. For now — does the content make sense? Is it convincing?'

Students do

Read a partner's draft. Give focused content feedback. Listen to feedback on their own draft.

🌿 Zero-resource version

The response task is given orally. Students write their response notes in their own notebooks. No printed feedback forms needed.

⚠ Most common mistake

Asking students to correct each other's grammar in this stage. Peer grammar correction at this point is usually inaccurate (students often cannot reliably correct each other's grammar errors) and premature (if the ideas need reworking, fixing grammar now wastes effort).

Revising — improving the content

Making the message clearer and stronger

6–8 min

Why this stage exists

Revision is not the same as editing. Revision means re-seeing — looking at the draft again in the light of the reader's response and deciding what to add, remove, or reorganise. This is the stage where the writing improves substantially. It is also the stage most often skipped in traditional classrooms.

The teacher does

Students return to their own draft with their partner's feedback in mind. Ask: 'Based on what your partner told you — what will you change? Add a note to your draft: one thing you want to add, one thing you want to make clearer.'

In a 45-minute lesson, full revision may not be possible in class. Give 5 minutes for students to annotate their draft with revision notes — and assign the revised draft as homework if needed.

For a 60-minute lesson, students can make the revisions within the lesson.

Students do

Review the partner's feedback. Annotate their draft with revision notes. Begin revisions if time allows.

🌿 Zero-resource version

Students revise their own notebooks. Nothing else needed.

⚠ Most common mistake

Treating revision as 'write it again, neatly.' Copying a draft out neatly is not revision — it is transcription. Revision means changing the content: adding, cutting, reorganising, clarifying.

Editing and language focus

Grammar, spelling, punctuation — only after content is settled

6–8 min

Why this stage exists

Editing — attention to surface accuracy — is the last stage of the process, not the first. When content is still changing, editing is wasted effort. Once the content is settled, students can focus on accuracy without the cognitive load of simultaneously managing ideas.

The teacher does

Students read their revised draft looking for surface errors. Focus on one or two error types — not everything. Choose the types most common in this class's writing.

A useful editing instruction: 'Read your draft looking only for [verb agreement errors / missing full stops / apostrophe errors]. Circle anything you are unsure about.' Students are more effective editors when they look for specific things than when they try to check everything at once.

The teacher can address the most common errors on the board — anonymising examples from drafts seen during circulation.

Students do

Edit for one or two specific error types. Circle uncertainties. Review selected examples on the board.

🌿 Zero-resource version

Students edit their own notebooks. Teacher writes selected examples on the board. No handouts needed.

⚠ Most common mistake

Making editing the main event of the lesson by spending most of the time on grammar correction. If students spend 30 minutes on grammar and 5 minutes on ideas, they learn that writing is about grammar — not communication. The ratio of time should reflect the importance of each stage.

🌿 Complete zero-resource version

A complete writing process lesson using nothing except the teacher's voice and a blackboard.

Teacher sets the writing task with audience and purpose. Class brainstorms ideas together on the board. Students choose their points and make a brief plan in notebooks. (10 min)
Students write a continuous draft in their notebooks. No stopping, no crossing out. Teacher circulates silently. (12 min)
Students swap notebooks. Partner reads the draft and writes one sentence summarising the main message, and one question. Partners discuss for 3 minutes. (8 min)
Students annotate their draft with revision notes. Key changes identified. (6 min)
Teacher writes 4–5 common error examples from what she saw on the board. Class corrects and discusses. Students edit their own drafts for the same error type. (8 min)

Total: 44 min. Notebooks only. Final drafts can be completed as homework.

Variations and adaptations

For very short writing tasks (a paragraph, a message, a caption)

Compress all stages. Planning: 3 minutes. Draft: 5 minutes. Response: partner reads and writes one reaction word. Revision: 2 minutes. Editing: one specific check. The process still applies — the stages are just shorter.

For extended writing spread across two lessons

Lesson 1: pre-writing and drafting. Homework: complete the draft. Lesson 2: peer response, revision, and editing. This gives students time to think between the drafting and response stages, which often improves the quality of both.

For building writing collaboratively

In the drafting stage, pairs or groups write a single draft together — one student writes while the other dictates or suggests. This reduces the anxiety of individual writing, builds confidence, and generates more discussion about choices. Works especially well for lower-level students.

For exam writing preparation

Use the same process framework but with exam-style tasks. Emphasise planning (because exam time management depends on it) and editing (because accuracy is marked). The response stage can be done with model answers: 'Read this model answer and identify the three strongest features.'

Frequently asked questions

Should I collect and mark every draft?

Not necessarily. Process writing generates a lot of text — much of it exploratory and messy. Marking every piece with corrections is time-consuming for the teacher and often demotivating for the student. More effective: mark final revised drafts, not rough drafts. Alternatively, mark for one or two specific features per task rather than everything.

What if students won't write — they just sit there?

This usually means the task is too vague ('Write about your life'), too distant from their experience, or the planning stage was too short. A very specific, concrete task with a clear audience almost always produces writing. If silence persists: ask students to tell a partner what they would write, then write down what they just said.

Can students write in their first language first?

In the planning stage, yes — especially for students at lower levels. Generating ideas is easier in the language you think most fluently in. The drafting stage should be in English, but the plan can be in any language. This allows students to have richer, more complex ideas than they could generate directly in English.

How do I give feedback efficiently when I have 50+ students?

Three strategies: (1) Peer response — a reader at every desk, at no extra cost. (2) Whole-class feedback — write the most common issues on the board and address them once, not 50 times. (3) Select and rotate — mark 15 pieces thoroughly this time, a different 15 next time. Over three weeks, everyone has been marked. Individual detailed marking of every piece is not the most efficient use of the teacher's time.

What this framework is not

This is not a prescriptive writing curriculum. It does not tell you what genres to teach, in what order, or with what specific tasks. It is a process — a way of organising a writing lesson so that students learn how writing works, not just what to write. The genres, the tasks, and the topics are yours to decide based on your students' needs and your curriculum requirements.

All lesson frameworks