1. Writing when English is not
my first language
Viola Gjylbegaj

2. How is writing taught in USA
In writing classes, instructors teach a process
approach to writing.
The basic steps are:
Planning
Drafting
Revising
Editing
Proofreading

3. How does my past writing experience
affect my writing in English
Thinking about your own writing experiences
and learning about others’ can improve your
writing.
The following exercise can help you do both

4. Think about the following sentences. For each sentence
write “True,” “False,” “I’m not sure”
I’m better at writing in another language than I
am at writing in English
I have more experience writing in another
language than I do in English
I feel confident about writing in English
When I write in English, I have trouble finding
the appropriate vocabulary.
When I write in English, I use an English-English
dictionary

5. When I write in English I use a computer
grammar-check program.
I think I will need to write a lot in English for my
future career.
When I write in English, I sometimes have
trouble generating ideas.
A serious problem I have with writing in English
is writing correct sentences.

6. How do I organize my writing
In English you have to follow a “restricted
organization” that presents:
A thesis in the first paragraph
Supporting subtopics
Detailed examples

7. Exercise 1
Describe the differences of how you
were taught to organize your writing
in the past in your first language and
how you organize it now in English
Language, in a paragraph.

8. How can I use other writer’s work to
improve my writing
When you are writing in English you cannot use
someone else’s work without citing it.
In the USA it is a violation of copyright.

9. How can I improve the grammar and
vocabulary in my writing
The best way to improve English –language
writing, including grammar and vocabulary, is
by writing.
Improving your writing in a second language
takes time

10. How can I improve my sentence
structure
Sometimes students write sentences that are
hard to understand because of problems with
overall sentence structure or length.
Example:
One student wrote the following sentence,
which contains sentence-level errors.

11. First
When the school started, my first English class
was English grammar, I started learning the
basics of grammar, and at the same time the
basic of writing. I worked hard in that class,
taking by the teacher advice, try to memorize
a lot of grammar rules and at the same time
memorize some words I could use them to
make an essay point.

12. Second
When school started, my first English class, was
a grammar class, where I started learning the
basics of grammar. At the same time, I learned
the basics of writing. I worked hard in that
class, taking the teacher’s advice and
memorizing a lot of grammar rules. In
addition, I memorized some words I could use
in my essays to make my points.

13. How can I improve my word choice
(vocabulary)
An important aspect of writing in a second
language is having enough vocabulary to
express your ideas.
Many students enjoy learning more and more
words to be able to communicate precise
meanings so they can eliminate the routine in
writing.

14. How can I find and correct errors in my
own writing
By reading my writing aloud.
By asking a friend who is a native speaker in
English to check the writing for grammatical
mistakes.
By checking myself

15. The best system is to make a master list of the
errors in categories so that the checking can
be as efficient as possible.

16. How can I correct verb form (tense)
errors in my writing
Many multilingual writers consider verb-forms
errors the most difficult to correct. They want
to make sure that the verb forms express the
appropriate time frame for the event or
situation they’re describing.

17. Exercise 2
Read the following passage in which the student
describes her experience learning to write in
English. The teacher has underlined errors
related to time frames expressed by the verbs.
Correct the underlined verbs, changing them
to the correct time frames.

18. I must have started writing when I was nine years old. I remember my
father used to give us papers and watercolors and let us draw as much as
we want. At the end, he made sure that we write comments about why
we have sketched the way we did. The only written thing that I find dating
to that period was a kind of comment about a picture which I have
sketched of a village enveloped in water.
I don’t remember much about the kind of writing assignment we have at
school, whether in my native language Arabic, or in my second languages,
at that time, English and French. That period is a little bit hazy in my mind.
However, I remember that whenever we had the chance to go to school,
we made sure that we fill the playgrounds with creative farewell
sentences indicating that we have been there. It is our little game against
the witchcraft of war and against the will of the principal, who forgive us
easily once we have recited the multiplication table or sing the national
anthem.

19. How can I correct my errors in subject-
verb agreement
Subject-verb agreement means that a subject
and its verb must agree in number and in
person.

20. Exercise 3
Examine the following student’s description of
his experiences learning English. The teacher
has underlined verbs that do not agree with
their subjects. Correct the underlined verb
forms, changing them to agree with their
subjects.

21. I describe the way I learned English as a natural way,
where one first learn how to speak and communicate
with others, before learning the grammar rules that
supports a language. When I arrived in the United
States, I works hard to improve my communication
skills in English, trying to speak even when the
people does not understand me. Also, making friends
with native speakers help a person learn the
language. One can learn from them every single
minute that one spend with them.

22. How can I correct my preposition
errors
Prepositions are words such as in, on, for, over
and about, which usually show where, how, or
when. Unlike some other languages, English
has many prepositions, and knowing which
one to use can be very difficult. To practise
finding and correcting prepositions errors,
complete the next exercise:

23. Try to correct the prepositions errors
underlined. In some cases, more than one
answer may be correct.
I’ve always wanted to learn languages other than my
native language. I started taking English and French
lessons of school and I liked the idea of becoming
fluent for at least one language. I thought English
would help me a lot to the future because it could
help me communicate to people from all over the
world.

24. How can I keep track of my most
common errors
One way of becoming more aware of the types
of errors you make is to keep track of the
errors you often make in the papers you write.
Make an error list and examine it:
What are the most common errors that you
make?

25. How can I improve my proofreading
skills
The most effective way to improve your
proofreading skills is to practice frequently.
Proofread your own writing and ask a friend who is native
English speaker to point out the location of errors that you did
not see on your own. When you know which errors you’ve
made, try to correct the errors without help.
Exchange your writing with a partner. You can check for errors
in his or her writing and he or she can check for errors in
yours.

26. Exercise 4
In the following paragraph, a student describes
the study of English at private schools in
Japan. After you read the paragraph, rewrite
it, correcting the errors that you find.

27. Recently, the number of private language schools are
increased in Japan. These schools put special emphasize on
oral communication skills. In them, student takes not only
grammars and reading classes, which help them pass school
examinations, but also speaking, listening classes. They can
also study English for six year, which is same period as in
public schools. Some of the teacher in these school are native
speaker of English. Since these teachers do not use Japanese
in the class, the students have to use the English to participate
it. They have the opportunity to use the English in their class
more than public school students. It is said that the students
who took English in private schools can speak English better
than those student who go to public schools.

28. Thank you very much