What are the best ways to improve English writing?
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I admit that practicing is very important. By writing and being corrected, I can write more quickly and gradually reduce the grammar and spelling mistakes. But if there are no other means involved, will I ended up always using the simple expressions?
I wonder what else I should do.
Some recommend me to recite excellent passages from English language textbook such as New Concept English, stating that only the firmly learnt by heart expressions got their chances to be used in the a time-limited writing tasks. But reciting passages are time-consuming and unpleasant. Does it worth that time and effort?
Some think that if I have done enough reading and listening, my writing will naturally be better with practice, just the same way our Chinese writing improves because we use this language often enough. However, I suppose this is only a slow growth, is it?
Some suggest me to make sentences everyday with new words and expressions I learn. I recited around 6000 words to tackle the GRE, and probably can recognize 9000 words in total. Yet only around 1200 words have ever appeared in my piece of writing.
What is your suggestion? How to improve writing most efficiently and effectively?
I wonder what else I should do.
Some recommend me to recite excellent passages from English language textbook such as New Concept English, stating that only the firmly learnt by heart expressions got their chances to be used in the a time-limited writing tasks. But reciting passages are time-consuming and unpleasant. Does it worth that time and effort?
Some think that if I have done enough reading and listening, my writing will naturally be better with practice, just the same way our Chinese writing improves because we use this language often enough. However, I suppose this is only a slow growth, is it?
Some suggest me to make sentences everyday with new words and expressions I learn. I recited around 6000 words to tackle the GRE, and probably can recognize 9000 words in total. Yet only around 1200 words have ever appeared in my piece of writing.
What is your suggestion? How to improve writing most efficiently and effectively?
If you want to improve your English writing, you write and communicate with native Speakers. I think writing diaries on lang-8.com is good from one aspect however many and including myself at times, do not go through explaining the Do's and Don't.
As most foreign learners out there do have difficulty in grasping what is being said. Which is why, having an language exchange partner who speaks in your native language and in addition to the language your learning is a big boost in the effective learning.
You ask, how to improve?
Everyone has different method of learning, it varies from individuals, some find this method of learning effective than others. Which is why, for any foreign exchange learners, MUST know their client needs in order to assess whether their criteria matches theirs or not.
e.g. Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic or all round.
I'm all round learner, so I'm quiet effective in matching those of every aspect of people's needs.
The question is, what is your needs and how you learn things and are you really interested in it for yourself and self-motivated?
That is how I manage and boost your English writing. Find out what learner you are and then build an interactive session. However there are limitations to over online teaching when it comes to English Speaking but I don't talk about that just yet.
Firstly, Reciting words is a good practice so keep on doing that. However, refrain from reciting too much words. You could recite at least 10 words per day. Get to know what possible uses and functions they can take and what context can they be applicable.
Writing a diary entry everyday is still the best way to improve ones writing capacity. Online diary writing, may I suggest, is an effective way to accumulate opinions and comments about your writing which in return benefits you the most. However, merely writing a daily entry about activities done won`t suffice. Like speaking, writing is a matter of taking risk. You can do that by challenging yourself to take up various topics in almost all social issues or any issue which is most likely out of the box. In choosing a topic to write about, try to be more vigilant of your surroundings. What could be around you is something worth writing for.
I`d say writing is closely similar to speaking or any other skills. It takes time for mastery and there`s nothing you can do about it. You probably see your improvement mobility like a turtle but no matter how slow you are I am sure you`re getting there and you`re pretty much one step closer to writing effectively and efficiently.
Another way is reading articles. it needs not to be long or short one as long as the article came from a reliable source or written by an experienced writer whom you can emulate somehow. Observe how the writer writes, his choice of words, sentence construction, application of punctuation marks, etc.
Lastly, remember that haste makes waste. There`s no 123 shortcut to any skill you`re pursuing to master no matter what it is.
Best of luck!
Thanks for your encourage and suggestion.
I know that practicing is very important.
By writing and being corrected, I can write more quickly and gradually reduce the grammar and spelling mistakes.
But if there are no other methods used, will I always end up using simple expressions?
Some people recommend I recite excellent passages from English language textbooks such as New Concept English, stating that only the firmly learnt by heart expressions get their chance to be used in the a time-limited writing task.
Is it worth that time and effort?
Some people think that if I do enough reading and listening, my writing will naturally get better with practice, just the same way our Chinese writing improves because we use this language all the time.
However, I suppose this is only a slow growth, is it? However, I think my progress doing it this way may be slow.
Some suggest I make sentences everyday with new words and expressions that I learn.
I suspect that the more you learn the spoken language the easier it is to write the language. For me this is different as I have nobody here that talks the language so most of my learning is listening and writing. I find writing reinforces words that I actually want to use in daily conversation rather than spending time trying to memorize a dictionary.
In the end you should do what you enjoy doing. That way you will at least enjoy whatever your progress is.
If you want practice speaking Mandarin, you can find a conversation partner at conversationexchange.com
You can easily find a partner if you wish.
I found a partner there days before and arrange skype meeting to practice since then.