The Steps

Learners Write

First, learners at whatever level, with whatever skills they may have, write. Some will refuse to write; some will “forget” to write; some will leave their writing at home or avoid writing in other creative ways. I don’t worry about them because I know it will change when they see the respect I show for the writing of other learners, and hear the positive feedback I give.

Some learners will write for themselves, either by hand or on the computer. Some will write with you using the Language Experience Approach (LEA).

A Quick Proofread Together

When the learner has produced a draft, even just one sentence long, practitioner and learner do a quick proofread together.

Prepare the Writing for Sharing

The writer, or another person if necessary, types the writing for ease of reading. The practitioner photocopies the set of writings for the writing group or prepares to share it on a screen. Sharing is always optional.

The Writing Group

The practitioner convenes a writing group where learners take turns reading their writing aloud to the group. After the first learner reads, the practitioner gives specific positive feedback about the writing in front of the whole group, giving equal time and enthusiasm to every learner’s writing.

The practitioner never mentions errors of grammar or spelling or organization, nor do they offer any suggestions for improvement. Ever. When attention is focused on what learners do well, a warm and supportive atmosphere develops.

After the feedback for the first reader, every learner picks their favourite sentence from the piece and reads it aloud.

The process is repeated until all the pieces of writing have been shared.

The Advanced Writing Group

When learners begin to take a more active role in noticing what’s good in a piece of writing, you can change the format of the writing group to give them more responsibility for pointing out what is good about a piece of writing.

As before, a learner reads their writing aloud. The practitioner does not give any feedback; instead, the whole group is divided into groups of four, each small group to become a panel of judges. They look at the piece again, consider the beginning, the ending, the organization and the details used, and decide which of those areas is best. As a group they award a medal for that aspect of the writing.

Then, as before, every learner picks their favourite sentence and reads it aloud to the group.

For details of the method, see The Never-Fail Method in Practice