Read, read, Read and read some more

Cartoon taken from ToonPool.com. Cartoon created by AlexFalco Cartoons

. Web. 1. Feb. 2013.

   As an active learner of two languages other than my native tongue of English, I am well aware of the challenges that come to adult learners of a second language. I make progress but wonder if my methods are the most efficient, worried that I will realize after too much wasted effort that I haven’t climbed as far up the mountain as I would have liked.

Writing proficiency is a big concern both for native speakers and for those seeking to write in an acquired language. As a tutor at the writing center, I meet with many students who fall into both of these categories. So what’s the answer? How do we become better writers? Let me offer three important truths:

1. Learning to write well takes time—lots of time

Becoming a proficient writer isn’t something that can be made possible overnight—it takes lots of time and experience with language spoken and written before a comfortable professional style can be developed. This is a process that ultimately takes years.

2. You learn to write by reading

Of course, the long process of learning to write involves consistent effort—what kind of effort? It may make sense that writing every day would make you a better writer, just as swimming every day would make you a better swimmer. While it is important to spend time every day writing, it is perhaps more important to spend a significant time every day READING. When you read good books, essays, or other articles, you see writing in context and learn how writers creatively weave words together. You need to see how the game is played before you can play it yourself.

3. Lots and lots of reading

Reading just once in awhile isn’t going to cut it—you’ll have to read a lot. I would even suggest reading and re-reading articles that you like. Again. And again. And again. Repetition and memorization is undervalued in the U.S., but it has huge benefits. Repeated readings of a text allow structures and methods of thought progression to sink deeply into your mind allowing you room for higher-order thinking and analysis. The skills you acquire will improve not only your writing, but your reading comprehension as well as you are more fully equipped to process more types of writing.

So what should you read? The Internet is full of free resources. I recommend opinion pages of respected newspapers like the Wall Street Journal or New York Times, though great writing can be found all over the world wide web. You may not agree with the views expressed, but your focus as a writer-in-training is not on what is expressed, rather how it is expressed.

Peggy Noonan’s Opinion Blog for the Wall Street Journal

http://blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/

Opinion Page for New York Times Online

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html

--- Jonny, ASU Tempe (Tutor)