EL 2: LANGUAGE, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

Prelim – Lessons 1 to 3
notes:

Language is a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed), or written symbols by means of which
human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture, express themselves.

“Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are
combined into sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts.”

~ Henry Sweet, English phonetician and language scholar

“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.”

~ Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager, American linguists

Functions of Language
✓ Communication ✓ Play ✓ Emotional Release
✓ Expression of Identity ✓ Imaginative Expression

CONSIDERATIONS IN THE DEFINITIONS OF LANGUAGE

➢ Every physiologically and mentally typical person acquires in childhood the ability to make use, as
both sender and receiver, of a system of communication that comprises a circumscribed set of
symbols (e.g., sounds, gestures, or written or typed characters).
➢ Different systems of communication constitute different languages; the degree of difference
needed to establish a different language cannot be stated exactly.
➢ Typically, people acquire a single language initially—their first language, or native tongue, the
language used by those with whom, or by whom, they are brought up from infancy.
➢ Language, as described above, is species-specific to human beings.
➢ In most accounts, the primary purpose of language is to facilitate communication, in the sense of
transmission of information from one person to another.

6 MACRO SKILLS IN LANGUAGE

Receptive Productive
- Listening - Speaking
- Reading - Writing
- Viewing - Visual Representation

LISTENING
- Listening is the active process of receiving and responding to spoken (and sometimes unspoken)
messages. It is one of the subjects studied in the field of language arts and in the discipline of
conversation analysis. ~ Richard Nordquist, 2019
- Listening is not just hearing what the other party in the conversation has to say. "Listening means
taking a vigorous, human interest in what is being told us," said poet Alice Duer Miller. "You can listen
like a blank wall or like a splendid auditorium where every sound comes back fuller and richer."

FOUR ELEMENTS OF GOOD LISTENING by Marvin Gottlieb

1. Attention - the focused perception of both visual and verbal stimuli
2. Hearing - the physiological act of 'opening the gates to your ears'
3. Understanding - assigning meaning to the messages received
4. Remembering - the storing of meaningful information" ("Managing Group Process." Praeger, 2003)

FOUR LEVELS OF LISTENING

Acknowledging Sympathizing Paraphrasing Empathizing

Active Listening
An active listener not only pays attention but withholds judgment during the speaker's turn and reflects
on what's being said. S.I. Hayakawa notes in "The Use and Misuse of Language" that an active listener
is curious about and open to the speaker's views, wants to understand his or her points, and so asks
questions to clarify what's being said. An unbiased listener ensures that the questions are neutral,
without skepticism or hostility.
 "Listening does not mean simply maintaining a polite silence while you are rehearsing in your
mind the speech you are going to make the next time you can grab a conversational opening. Nor
does listening mean waiting alertly for the flaws in the other fellow's argument so that later you can
mow him down," Hayakawa said.
"Listening means trying to see the problem the way the speaker sees it—which means not
sympathy, which is feeling for him, but empathy, which is experiencing with him. Listening requires
entering actively and imaginatively into the other fellow's situation and trying to understand a frame
of reference different from your own. This is not always an easy task." ("How to Attend a Conference"
in "The Use and Misuse of Language." Fawcett Premier, 1962)

IMPEDIMENTS TO LISTENING
A basic communication loop has a message going from a sender to a receiver and feedback (such
as acknowledgment of understanding, e.g., a nod) going from the receiver to the speaker. A lot can
get in the way of a message being received, including:
1. Distraction or fatigue on the part of the listener
2. The receiver prejudging the speaker's argument or information
3. Lack of context or commonality to be able to understand the message.
4. Difficulty in hearing the speaker (though that's not always the fault of the listener)
5. Too much jargon on the part of the speaker

"Listening" to Other Cues

When communicating, body language (including cultural cues) and tone of voice can also
relay information to the listener, so in-person communication can send more layers of information
about the topic being relayed than a voice-only means or a text-only method. The receiver, of course,
has to be able to properly interpret the nonverbal signs to avoid subtext misunderstandings.

KEYS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

Here are a dozen tips to being an effective active listener:
1. Maintain eye contact with the speaker if possible.
2. Pay attention and listen for ideas.
3. Find areas of interest.
4. Judge content, not delivery.
5. Don't interrupt, and be patient.
6. Hold back your points or counterpoints.
7. Resist distractions.
8. Pay attention to nonverbal information.
9. Keep your mind open, and be flexible.
10. Ask questions during pauses and give feedback.
11. Listen with empathy to try and see the speaker's viewpoint.
12. Anticipate, summarize, weigh the evidence, and look between the lines.

SPEAKING
The ability to speak confidently and fluently is something which children will develop during their
time at school, and something that will help them throughout their life.
Speaking skills are defined as the skills which allow us to communicate effectively. They give us the
ability to convey information verbally and in a way that the listener can understand.
Children will learn English speaking skills as well as speaking skills in other languages, in primary and
secondary school. Learning how to develop English speaking skills is so important for ESL students and
EAL students too. It's one of the most important parts of language learning as speaking is how we tend
to communicate in everyday life.
Speaking is an interactive process where information is shared, and if necessary, acted upon by
the listener. So, it’s important to develop both speaking and listening skills in order to communicate
effectively.
Speaking is the skill that makes human beings different from and superior to the species of living
beings. Speaking is a complex cognitive and linguistic skill. A child learns to speak through interaction
with the people around him/her in their native language. Every normal adult can speak in his/her native
language without effort and this skill is a natural one. But speaking in a foreign language is not natural
and it requires conscious effort throughout the whole process.
 THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF SPEAKING SKILLS
1. Vocabulary
To develop our speaking skills, we first need to know the right words. Vocabulary
development begins when we are infants, as we learn to describe the world around us and
communicate our needs. This progresses from single words to sentences when children are 2 or 3,
at which point they will normally have a vocabulary of 150-300 words.
Vocabulary development is where students understand the meanings and pronunciations
of words necessary for communication. When they understand what a word means, they can
check what the word or sentence means. This is so important so they can keep up a conversation.
If they understand what the other person is saying and they know what vocabulary to say back,
they are halfway there to communicating effectively.
Did you know that to be considered fluent in a language, you need to have a vocabulary
of around 10,000 words?
2. Grammar
You may think that grammar is something we only need for written language. But grammar
includes lots of important areas for spoken language such as an understanding of tenses and the
correct way to structure sentences. Grammar helps us to convey information in a way that the
listener will recognize and understand.
3. Pronunciation
Understanding how to correctly pronounce words is another important element of speaking
skills. We learn how to pronounce words by listening to those around us, such as our parents, friends
and teachers. Pronunciation varies from country to country, and even city to city!
A lot of this comes from phonemic awareness. This involves understanding the small units that
make up spoken language. English can differ quite a lot compared to other languages. Some
phonemes might not be in ESL students' native languages and children's minds are trained to
categorize phonemes in their first language, so it can become confusing. Developing this ability in
English can come from playing language games and using songs and poems to reiterate rhythm
and repetition. Phonics is where students start to see the relationship between the sounds of spoken
language and graphemes which are the letters and spellings representing sounds in written
language.
4. Fluency
Fluency in spoken language is something that naturally develops as children go through
school, as they are using and practicing speaking skills every day. Reading widely (and out loud) is
a good way to improve fluency as it introduces children to new vocabulary and reinforces their
knowledge of spoken language.
Fluency is the ability to hear words and understand them straight away. If they see a word
written down, they can read it aloud and pronounce it properly. Ways to develop this include
guiding your students to read passages out loud. You could also get your students to read aloud in
front of the class. This builds their confidence and also helps them to annunciate better.
The more fluent your students are in English, the more interesting, exciting and insightful
conversations they can have.

FACETS INVOLVED IN SPEAKING

Speaking is a verbal skill that involves words and sounds. It also involves:
1. Meaning: connotation, denotation, grammar
2. Sociality, Relationship, Affect: formal, informal, slang, turn-taking
3. Cultural Issues: class, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, dialect
4. Performance: articulation, projection, pronunciation
5. Sound Elements: how volume, pitch, pace, and nature of sound complement/contradict/
replace words

FUNCTIONS OF SPEAKING
There are a lot of functions of speaking in human lives every day. However, these functions can be
divided into three main categories.
✓ Interaction ✓ Transaction ✓ Performance
Speaking as Interaction
The role of speaking as interaction is mostly of a social conversation. It reflects the roles and
the relationships of the speaker in a social setting. For example, chatting to a fellow passenger,
 telling a friend about an amusing experience, etc. are the interaction that we conduct through
speaking.
Speaking as Transaction
The role of speaking as transaction is to make someone understood the message that we
want to give to him/her. The focus of this type of speaking is giving and receiving information and
obtaining goods/services. For example, classroom group discussions, shopping, making a
telephone call, ordering food from a menu in a restaurant, etc. use speaking as transaction of
information.
Speaking as Performance
The role of speaking as performance is to transmit information before an audience. It
generally incorporates public speaking. It focuses on form, accuracy, organization, and
sequencing, etc. of speaking. For example, political speeches, conducting a class debate, giving
a lecture, etc. use speaking as performance.

Why are Speaking Skills Important to Learn?

Speaking skills are one of the most important skills we learn, as they allow us to communicate
with others and express our thoughts and feelings. Speaking skills can be separated into formal and
informal speaking skills, and we use both types of speaking skills in a variety of contexts throughout life.

Informal Speaking Skills are important for conversations with friends and family, helping us to form
emotional connections.
Formal Speech, on the other hand, is necessary for workplaces, in presentations or for conversations
with people you don’t know. Formal language is important as it helps us to make a
good impression on people and communicate politely.

As an ESL (English as a Second Language) student, speaking skills are considered the most
important part of learning a language. In fact, many language learners measure their performance
by how well they can speak it. As most effective foreign language learning takes place through
interaction, it's a skill that can be honed to really build an understanding of the language and culture
of English-speaking countries.
Yet it can be so easy to find speaking daunting or challenging. It isn't as straightforward as we
may like. Teachers need to encourage students to speak as much as possible. They can make it as fun
as the structure of their lessons will allow. This might be through role-play, group work or even projects.

SPEAKING SKILLS ON THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM

The National Curriculum states that spoken language is a crucial part of learning English in
schools. Throughout primary school, children will learn to:
• Listen and respond to teachers and classmates.
• Build their vocabulary.
• Use spoken language to express feelings, give explanations and describe.
• Ask questions to increase their understanding.
• Participate in drama, conversations, role play, discussions, and debates.
• Understand formal and informal speech.
• Listen and understand different points of view.
• Hold the attention of the listener.

HOW TO DEVELOP ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS WITH ESL STUDENTS

Practice makes perfect when it comes to developing English speaking skills. Listening to English,
understanding grammar and reading can all help slightly, but they're never going to improve English
speaking skills to the extent it is possible. Your class need to actually speak. As ESL students,
understanding the nature of English can be a real struggle. Students with different native languages
can be at a disadvantage because of the nature of English.
Here are some helpful tips on how to develop English speaking skills:
• Learn new vocabulary in phrases - although learning new words and their pronunciation is always
beneficial, some words need to be learnt in phrases to be of much use when
speaking in English.
- For example, a cup of coffee might be more useful than just learning "coffee."
 • Focus on pronunciation. Although learning lots of vocabulary can boost English skills, if these
words aren't pronounced correctly, it can be easy to misunderstand what the
student is saying. A top tip to ensure students pronounce the words they've learnt
correctly could be to try some tongue twisters. For example, this PowerPoint full
of tongue-twisters would be really useful to get your class practicing.
• Ensure they understand how English flows. With ESL students, an important focus on how to
develop English speaking skills is to get them into the flow of how English is usually
spoken. This is because often their native language has a very different flow.
Native speakers of English link words together, often resulting in a sound
disappearing, or a new sound being made. There are often some syllables
stressed that wouldn't be in other languages or a different rhythm overall.
• Get them to practice self-talk. This involves getting them to talk loudly in English to themselves.
This could be before completing a task, such as "shall we go and grab a coffee?"
to "I need to go to the gym tonight."
• Encourage your students to download practice apps. This can break down difficult language into
manageable chunks that can be practiced on the go at regular intervals.

READING
"Reading" is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from them.
When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks and spaces)
and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs that communicate
something to us.
Reading can be silent (in our head) or aloud (so that other people can hear). Reading is a
receptive skill - through it we receive information. But the complex process of reading also requires the
skill of speaking, so that we can pronounce the words that we read. In this sense, reading is also a
productive skill in that we are both receiving information and transmitting it (even if only to ourselves).

In our own language, reading is usually the third language skill that we learn.

Do we need to read in order to speak English?

The short answer is no. Some native speakers cannot read or write but they speak English fluently.
On the other hand, reading is something that you can do on your own and that greatly broadens your
vocabulary, thus helping you in speaking (and in listening and writing). Reading is therefore a highly
valuable skill and activity, and it is recommended that English learners try to read as much as possible
in English.

When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks and
spaces) and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs that
communicate something to us.
• Recognition – identifying the words in print
• Comprehension – construct an understanding from text
• Fluency – coordinate identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and
accurate
TO DEVELOP WORD RECOGNITION, CHILDREN NEED TO LEARN:
• Phonemic Awareness – how to break apart and manipulate the sounds in words.
example: feet has three sounds: /f/, /e/, and /t/
• Alphabetic Principle – certain letters are used to represent certain sounds.
example: s and h make the /sh/ sound
• Decoding – how to apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to sound out words that are
new to them.
example: ssssspppoooon – spoon!
• Word Study – how to analyze words and spelling patterns in order to become more efficient at
reading words.
example: Bookworm has two words I know: book and worm.
• Sight Vocabulary – to expand the number of words they can identify automatically.
example: Oh, I know that word – the!
TO DEVELOP COMPREHENSION, CHILDREN NEED TO DEVELOP:
• Background knowledge about many topics
example: This book is about zoos – that's where lots of animals live.
• Extensive oral and print vocabularies
example: Look at my trucks – I have a tractor, and a fire engine, and a bulldozer.
• Understandings about how the English language works
example: We say she went home, not she goed home.
• Understandings about how print works
example: reading goes from left to right
• Knowledge of various kinds of texts
example: I bet they live happily ever after.
• Various purposes for reading
example: I want to know what ladybugs eat.
• Strategies for constructing meaning from text, and for problem solving when meaning breaks down
example: This isn't making sense. Let me go back and reread it.

TO DEVELOP FLUENCY, CHILDREN NEED TO:

• Develop a high level of accuracy in word recognition
• Maintain a rate of reading brisk enough to facilitate comprehension
• Use phrasing and expression so that oral reading sounds like speech
• Transform deliberate strategies for word recognition and comprehension into automatic skills

But if reading isn't pleasurable or fulfilling, children won't choose to read, and they won't get the
practice they need to become fluent readers.
Therefore, reading also means developing and maintaining the motivation to read. Reading is
an active process of constructing meaning. The key word here is active.

TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN THE MOTIVATION TO READ, CHILDREN NEED TO:

• Appreciate the pleasures of reading
• View reading as a social act, to be shared with others
• See reading as an opportunity to explore their interests
• Read widely for a variety of purposes, from enjoyment to gathering information
• Become comfortable with a variety of different written forms and genres
So…what is reading?
Reading is the motivated and fluent coordination of word recognition and comprehension.

THE READING PROCESS

Reading is a process that involves recognizing words, leading to the development of
comprehension. According to research, reading is a process that negotiates the meaning between
the text and its reader.

THREE STAGES THE READING PROCESS

✓ PRE-READING STAGE
This allows the reader to activate background knowledge, preview the text, and develop a
purpose for reading. A strategy for students to utilize during this stage is to look at the title of the
selection and list all the information that comes to mind about the title.

✓ DURING READING
This is when the reader makes predictions as they read and then confirms or revises the predictions.
For example, a double-entry journal enables the reader to write the text from the reading on one
side and their personal reaction on the other side.

✓ AFTER READING
This allows the reader to retell the story, discuss the elements of a story, answer questions, and/or
compare it to another text. For example, students can create summaries, where they take a huge
selection and reduce it to its main points for more concise understanding.

Comprehension is an intentional, active, and interactive process that occurs before, during and after
a person reads a particular piece of writing.
READING COMPREHENSION
Reading comprehension has two elements that complete the process. The first element is
vocabulary knowledge. The reader must be able to understand the vocabulary used by the writer. The
second element is text comprehension, where the reader puts together the vocabulary and different
comprehension strategies to develop an understanding of the text. Comprehension, or the mental
process that allows the reader to understand the text, begins before the reader starts the text and
continues even after the reading has finished.

ELEMENTS OF READING COMPREHENSION

✓ Vocabulary Knowledge. The reader must be able to understand the vocabulary used by the writer.
✓ Text Comprehension, where the reader puts together the vocabulary and different
comprehension strategies to develop an understanding of the text.

8 TIPS TO IMPROVE READING SKILL EASILY

Here are some simple and effective tips and ways to help students build reading skills to better
understand classroom curriculum.
1. Personalize reading materials: Students can increase their understanding by seeing how the
material connects with their life. Have your students make personal connections with the text
by writing it down on the page. You can also help students comprehend the text by helping
them see an association with current events.
2. Problem-solving perfection: Blend real-world problem-solving skills into your curriculum. Have your
students write out solutions to the problem and discuss their ideas as a class or in small groups.
3. Engage all five senses for different types of learner: Add in activities that reinforce learning and
comprehension by using more senses as they read. Remind students to read with a pen or
pencil to annotate the text. Have your students take turns reading out loud. Use projectors
to guide your lesson and write down questions for those who are visual learners.
4. Set reading goals to motivate students: Have each student set their own reading goals. This can
help them take action in building reading skills and students will be more mindful of how they
are improving.
5. Try student led reading activities: Your students process reading material and curriculum in very
different ways. As you implement reading activities to help your class learn complex
materials, you will learn what works best for each student individually.
6. Revisit and reread confusing sentences and texts: Revisiting the parts that were confusing for your
child (or that might simply need a quick refresher) can help your child gain a more complete
picture of what he or she is learning. This also helps ensure your child is able to understand
upcoming material in the text. You can also keep a record or list of words that your students
are unfamiliar or struggling with. You can then encourage your child to look these words up
in a dictionary to learn what they mean. Then, find ways to use them in a sentence that your
child can write themselves.
7. Talk it out: When your student has finished reading, talk about what he or she just read together.
Ask your child what he or she learned and his or her thoughts. For longer reading materials,
like novels for book reports, make discussion questions you and your child can talk about
together after each reading session.
8. Breakdown reading: Long, complex reading can be more digestible by breaking it up into pieces.
Shorter segments will help students retain the information as the class discusses the materials.
It can also help students build confidence in understanding a complex subject. When
teaching how to improve reading in short bursts, why not check out our 60-second read
packs that offer short and manageable reading materials to build reading skills. Our60-
Second reads to help your primary students practice their fluency and comprehension on a
daily basis. With only 90-120 words and four short comprehension questions, this is the perfect
way to dramatically improve English fluency.

WRITING
Writing is a process of using symbols (letters of the alphabet, punctuation and spaces) to communicate
thoughts and ideas in a readable form.

Writing as a System of Signs

Languages are systems of symbols; writing is a system for symbolizing these symbols. A writing
system may be defined as any conventional system of marks or signs that represents the utterances of
a language. Writing renders language visible; while speech is ephemeral, writing is concrete and, by
comparison, permanent. Both speaking and writing depend upon the underlying structures of
language. Consequently, writing cannot ordinarily be read by someone not familiar with the linguistic
structure underlying the oral form of the language. Yet writing is not merely the transcription of speech;
writing frequently involves the use of special forms of language, such as those involved in literary and
scientific works, that would not be produced orally. In any linguistic community the written language
is a distinct and special dialect; usually there is more than one written dialect. Scholars account for
these facts by suggesting that writing is related directly to language but not necessarily directly to
speech. Consequently, spoken and written language may evolve somewhat distinctive forms and
functions.
It is the fact that writing is an expression of language rather than simply a way of transcribing
speech that gives to writing, and hence to written language and to literacy, its special properties. As
long as writing was seen merely as transcription, as it was by such pioneering linguists as Ferdinand de
Saussure and Leonard Bloomfield earlier in the 20th century, its conceptual significance was seriously
underestimated. Once writing was seen as providing a new medium for linguistic expression, its
distinctness from speech was more clearly grasped. Scholars such as Milman Parry, Marshall McLuhan,
Eric Havelock, Jack Goody, and Walter Ong were among the first to analyze the conceptual and social
implications of using written as opposed to oral forms of communication.

WRITING SKILLS
Writing skills are the skills you use to write effectively and succinctly. A good writer is someone
who can communicate their point to their audience without using too much fluff and in a way that the
other person can understand.
Writing skills don’t just include the physical act of writing. Skills like research, planning and
outlining, editing, revising, spelling and grammar, organization and time management are critical
components of the writing process.
1. Research
Research allows writers to find accurate information and best practices related to writing in a
particular style or about a particular piece of content. Writers often have to write about subjects
that they are not familiar with, so finding quality sources quickly is an important skill.
2. Planning and Outlining
Outlining is creating a plan for the structure and flow of a piece of writing. Good writing needs to
have a logical structure to make sense to a reader. Your ability to organize sentences and
paragraphs in the most compelling way influences how others perceive you and understand the
point of your writing.
3. Editing and Revising
After writing the first draft of your piece, you need to be able to edit. From checking an email for
spelling errors to re-writing a grant proposal, all writing should undergo some level of editing. Editing
involves reading your writing from another perspective and considering how well it suits your goals.
When editing your work, think about your word choice and tone, removing any irrelevant phrases.
4. Spelling and Grammar
Get back to the basics to help you improve your writing. Knowing how to write complete sentences,
choose correct words, such as their, they're and there, and when to use a comma can help you
feel more comfortable with your writing tasks. Search for free online resources to refresh your
grammar skills.
5. Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension skills help you respond to prompts, reply to messages and learn about new
content. People use reading comprehension skills to assess the tone and main idea of a piece of
writing. Having good reading comprehension also helps you edit your work by determining if your
point comes across from the perspective of a reader.
6. Coherence and Organization
Coherence in writing is the logical bridge between words, sentences, and paragraphs. Coherent
writing uses devices to connect ideas within each sentence and paragraph. Main ideas and
meaning can be difficult for the reader to follow if the writing lacks coherence.
7. Time Management
Time management is key when writing anything beyond a simple message or email. You should be
able to spend your time efficiently when writing and accurately plan for how long it will take to write
and edit your piece. Many writers over-edit their work and end up wasting time without improving
the quality of their writing, so a good writer must recognize when to step away from a piece of
writing.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING SKILLS
1. Start With Your Audience
Before you start writing, think about who you’re writing for. Your audience affects how much
context you give, what tone you use, and even the message you want the audience to take
away. Ask yourself:
• Why am I communicating with them, specifically?
• What information do they already know? What context should I give them, if any?
• What do I want this person to do after I’ve sent my message?
2. Know the Right Tone
Every industry expects a different level of professionalism. So how do you know how formal to be
and what corporate jargon to use?
Start by looking at the job description, company website, and other company
communications, including employee LinkedIn posts. Of course, it’s always better to err on the
side of formality.
If you want to try your hand at professional writing before you apply, try one of Forage’s
virtual experience programs. You’ll get a chance to do the kind of work you would in an entry-
level role and learn how to communicate that work through client emails, email updates to your
manager, and more.
3. Get to the Point
“Writing an email is essentially like writing a media pitch and trying to capture the attention of a
reporter,” Jamie Levin, communications consultant, says. “Think about it, you have about 11
seconds to capture the attention of your reader, so what’s most important? I can tell you what’s
not…unnecessary words, adjectives that don’t add value and taking the time to explain
something that would be much better off communicated in a face-to-face conversation.”
Before sending an email, update, or other written communication, challenge yourself to
decrease your word count. For example, see if you can make the 200-word email only 150. This
exercise will help you know if you have any “fluff” words that might be overcomplicating your
writing.
4. Edit and Proofread
Sometimes, your best editor is your future self. Take a step back after you’ve finished writing
something — even if it’s an email — and look back at it five minutes or even an hour later (if you
have the time) to edit and proofread.
Don’t be afraid to rely on outside sources to help you catch spelling and grammar errors.
Sites like Grammarly can help make your writing error-free and suggest different wording
depending on your audience’s knowledge level and the tone you’re aiming for.
5. Seek Outside Support
Holcomb recommends taking advantage of online and in-person classes that can help improve
your writing skills.
“While you’re strengthening your skills in courses you can also seek support from people
—this can be colleagues, managers, or mentors — by asking them to proof your work and
provide feedback before you make your final submissions.”
Feedback is especially important in the job application process. For example, having another
set of eyes on your cover letter can help ensure you submit something clear, compelling, and
error-free.
6. Don’t Overthink It
While there’s a lot you can do to improve your writing skills, you don’t need to labor over
every written communication. In an increasingly virtual world, there are so many emails and
messages that you’ll waste valuable time trying to plan, edit, and revise every one.
“Don’t overthink – it’s an email. It shouldn’t take 20 minutes to draft, and then additional
20 minutes spent thinking about how it might be interpreted. Get to the point,” Levin says.
“Remember, it’s only an email (or a Teams chat) and it often requires additional elaboration in
the form of verbal communication and an open discussion, whether that be in-person or via a
video chat.”
Instead, focus on improving your writing and communication skills as a whole. With
practice, those short messages will become second-hand nature.
 TYPES OF WRITING
1. NARRATIVE WRITING
The purpose of narrative writing is to tell a story just like a storyteller but in written form.
The story could be a fictional story or a real story. Narrative writing is considered one of the most
difficult styles of writing to write and one of the easiest writing styles for reading. Because it requires
a lot of skills to write a story in such a way that it takes the reader in the world of the story. Writing
stories need great imagination and writing skills to convey it to the reader.
In narrative writing, the writer develops a lot of fictional character and tell what
happened to them in the form of a story. Mostly, stories are narrated from the point of view of one
character, which is called first-person narration. All novels, poetry, short stories, biographies, and
autobiographies fall under this category. A whole narrative writing is an answer to the simple and
small question “what happened then?”. Narrative writing always has a person who tells a story or
an event from his / her point of view. It has characters who carry the story. It has a dialogue.
There are situations in narrative writing such as actions, conflicts and fights, motivational
events. A narrative story always has a definite beginning, interval, and ending. Sometimes the
ending of a story is definite and sometimes write leave the story with an open ending. There are
two reasons behind leaving a story with an open ending. First, the writer is planning to write a
sequel to the story. Second, the writer wants his reader to imagine their own ending.
There are zillion examples of narrative writing which takes the reader into its world. one
among them is Harry Potter. It is a series of seven books. One who has read Harry Potter has
imagined the “Hogwarts” school differently.

2. EXPOSITORY WRITING
This type of writing styles is commonly found in textbooks. This type of writing is used to
explain things, people, place, relationship, or an idea. Expository writing is used to provide
information about various things; therefore, it is sometimes also referred to as information writing.
In these types of writing, the author provides factual information about a certain subject rather
than voicing his / her own opinion.
This type of writing is built on facts, statics, reasons, laws and principle, cause, effects, and
examples. As this information written in this type of writing is factual, therefore, it is written without
emotions and from the point of view of a third person. Self-reference can be used in expository
writing but to give an external description and explanation and not to explain personal feelings
and opinions.
Expository writing is sometimes confused with descriptive writing because both type of
writing are used to describe things. However, both types of writings are quite different from each
other. An expository writing style is used to explain and describe external things, situations, and
processes whereas descriptive writing is used to explain the point of view of someone about the
world or a subject or a thing at a particular time.
Moreover, the expository style of writing is written with neutral and matter- of – fact tone.
This type of writing usually explains things in a process with facts and figures in a logical order and
sequence. The expository writing style is used in textbooks, newspapers, magazines, recipes, how
to articles, editorial writing, business, scientific or technical writing.

3. PERSUASIVE WRITING
The main purpose of this type of writing is to persuade its audience about something. It
includes opinion and a personal point of view of the author. The author should have known about
the other side of the topic so that he can present the strongest information to counter it. He/she
should be able to develop a well-defined and debatable topic.
Sometimes the author writes about the other side of the opposing point and refute them
and give a strong explanation for why he/she does it. Even though persuasive writing includes a
personal opinion of the author, it is still written objectively. Persuasive writing usually uses emotional
appeal to win the heart and confidence of readers. Persuasive writing contains reasons,
arguments, and justifications.
The author takes stand about something and appeal his/her to do the same. In this type
of writing, the author appeals to his/ her readers to take some actions about the situation which
is referred to as call-to-action. Persuasive writing can be seen in editorial and opinion sections of
newspapers, reviews (of books, movies, music, restaurant, hotel or city), cover letters, letters of
recommendation or complaint.
4. DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
Descriptive writing is describing things such as characters, places, events etc. in details.
It is like painting a picture in the minds of readers. Descriptive writing is an art of shoeing something
through words. A writer describes everything with respect to all senses. Through words, he tells you
how it looks like, feels like, smells like, and sounds like. Descriptive writing does the job of
connecting the outer world with the inner world.
A writer uses various adjectives and adverbs to make the picture vivid for the reader.
Descriptive writing usually written with the point of view of the first person and the context of the
writing is emotional and personal. Haruki Murakami, a Japanese writer is famous for his descriptive
writing. His books like Kafka on the shore and Norwegian woods are the best samples of his
descriptive writing.
One not only read his books but also lives in the world of his books. Descriptive writing is
used along with all other type of writings because every now and then a writer needs to describe
a scene, character in detail so that readers can understand the story better. Descriptive writing is
poetic in nature. It focuses on describing everything in a deep- detailed manner, so a reader can
see, smell, taste, hear and feel things. This type of writing style is used in writing poetry, journals,
fictional stories, diary writing and nature writing.

5. OBJECTIVE WRITING
This type of writing includes writing something which you can support with facts and
shreds of evidence. The information provided should be well-researched and correct, statistically
and scientifically. An author should remain neutral and unbiased and let the readers make their
own opinion. Objective writing is a formal way of writing. Therefore, rather than writing “men and
girls” write ‘men and women”.
This type of writing is “to the point of writing”, therefore, a writer should not intensify
anything by using words like always, very, never etc. It is right to say that objective writing is fact
driven.

6. SUBJECTIVE WRITING
This type of writing is opinion-driven writing. An author writes his own feelings, opinions,
beliefs, and perspectives. The author does not bother about the correctness of the material.
Subjective writing is originated from authors own experiences and observations. Subjective
approach is important because it gives the reader an insight into the author’s thinking process.
This type of writing gives freedom to the reader to imagine things from their own unique
perspective.

7. CREATIVE WRITING
Creative writing is an art of making things up. This type of writing is far different from formal
writing. Writing fiction, non-fiction, horror, crime, biographies, screenwriting, scriptwriting, short
stories, and playwriting all fall under this category. Basically, any writing which origin from the
imagination of one person is called creative writing.
There are plenty of jobs available in the market which requires creative writing. Other
than that, many people are running successful websites, blogs, YouTube channel because of their
creative writing. Creative writing has become the need of the hour these days. Many people are
taking classes to improve their creative writing skills.

8. REVIEW WRITING
Reviewing things has become a trend these days. People review everything like
restaurants, food, cosmetic products, books, movies, and even mobile phones and laptops. Tech
savvy people read the review of things online before making any purchase. Therefore, it has
become so important that many companies pay people to review their products. Review writing
is art. It requires both persuasive writing skills as well as descriptive writing skills.