Learning how to write is important

Our students who all live in today's literate world need to learn how to write for very practical reasons. Newcomers to a country soon have to start communicating through writing. They have to write notes to a child's teacher. They have to take down telephone messages. They have to fill out job applications and applications for health insurance. Sometimes they have to leave a note for the mailman or write a thank-you letter. Students in school at all stages of the academic ladder need to express themselves in writing to do well in school.

Writing is a valuable skill for many other reasons as well. Lonely people find a companion in their diaries. Writing reinforces spoken language, and many people claim that writing helps them to think. There are language learners who say that they cannot possibly learn a word unless they write it down. Some people cannot make a decision unless they sit down and write the pros and cons of each side. Through sentence writing, students reinforce grammatical structures, as well as vocabulary.

Teaching writing is not easy

Literacy, unlike talking, is not a natural skill. We must remember that humanity existed for centuries in highly communicative and linguistically sophisticated societies that were largely illiterate. Reading and writing are social inventions that have to be taught and learned, practiced and mastered.