ELT365 · Day 201 — Planning a piece of writing: why bother?

Idea — Planning forces learners to separate content decisions from language decisions. Without it, writers spend working memory on both at once and produce thin, underdeveloped paragraphs.

Example — A learner given five minutes to plan a discursive essay lists her three points before writing. Her draft has a clearer argument and stronger development than one written without planning.

Try — Set a three-minute planning task before your next writing activity: list main points, order them, pick one example for each. Compare the planning-first draft to one done without.

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