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1.6: Review and Practice

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    Review and Practice

    Exercise: Discuss the following topics in groups. Then choose one of them to write a paragraph.

    1. What is academic writing? What are the characteristics of academic writing?
    2. What has been your best writing experience? The most challenging writing experience?
    3. The ten common misconceptions are explained in this unit. What are the ones that apply to you? What advice will be the most helpful to you?
     

    NSNT Practice

    a pen writing in a notebook
    a pen writing in a notebook

    Study the NSNT Free Writing Approach below. Then choose two topics from the Week 1 additional prompts (topics to write about) and practice NSNT free writing. Remember not to translate from your native language and not to stop writing once you start.

    What is Non-Stop Non-Translation (NSNT) Free Writing?

    a pen writing in a notebook
    a pen writing in a notebook

    Non-Stop Non-Translation (NSNT) Free Writing

    • Do you often translate from your native language to English when you think, write, and speak?
    • Do you find it hard to write your paragraphs and essays without translating from your native language?
    • Have you had challenges in making other people understand you?

    If your answer to any of these three questions is a yes, you may want to learn to think and write in English through the Non-Stop Non-Translation (NSNT) free writing approach. It is one of the most effective ways to practice thinking and writing without translating.  Free writing may serve different purposes, such as generating ideas and expressing viewpoints. However, in this NSNT approach, the goal is to help you think and write in English. As you gradually train yourself not to rely on your native language in your thinking, you will be able to speak, read, AND write more naturally in just English.

     

    The Importance of Thinking in English While Writing

    1. As you learned from Unit 1 Introduction to Academic Writing, the purpose of writing is to communicate your ideas accurately and effectively. As no two languages are exactly the same, your meaning usually gets lost or misinterpreted to some degree during direct translation from one language to the other.  Consequently, your writing may confuse the readers or cause misunderstanding.

    2.. When you formulate ideas in your native language and then translate them into English, the process takes longer than when you deal with only one language. As you prepare for your academic study in the U.S., you will be required to read and write a lot. You will not have enough time to complete them within the time frame set by your professors if you have to translate most of the times.

    3. Old habits die hard. This saying means that it is hard to break an old habit. The longer you rely on translating, the harder it will be to quit the habit. At this level of English, you are in a good position to START switching the language in which you normally think when you are writing in English: from your native language to English.

     

    Steps in NSNT Free Writing   

    1. Prepare a notebook just for this practice. If you choose to type, set up a special folder or file on your computer. Record the date. You need to write or type in English nonstop so that you will have no time translating from your native language to English. Try three minutes, four times a week, and then gradually increase the duration and frequency as you feel more comfortable.  Set your timer if needed.

    2. You may decide on your own topic or choose one of the topics provided to get started. If you start rambling or end up writing something totally different, it is OK!  The most important is that there is only one language – English – in your mind.

    3. If you run out of ideas, just keep writing. You may write “Oh, I don’t know what more to write.  Need ideas… 2 more minutes…”  If you are really stuck, just write “Monday, Tuesday…”, or “January, February …”, or even “one, two, three…” Do not let the tip of your pen leave your notebook page, or do not stop typing.

    4. Do not worry about grammar and spelling. Do not stop to check your dictionary. The purpose is not to produce perfect writing, but to think in English.  If you want to correct mistakes, do so after you complete the NSNT practice for that day.

     

    Example:

    1/15/2022

    My first time to write like this. teacher said no stopping, it’s hard, but I’ll try. The first topic my feelings about this new semester.  I feel writing is hard, but important. I want to take college classes after ESL. I want to practice good writing. What else?  No stop now,  keep writing.  One, two, three, four, five, Oh, yes, writing.  I took writing 3 last semester, I did well. I want to learn more and take this class. what else to write? no stopping, no translate, it’s hard, no native language, keep writing, writing. My language different from english, no translate is hard. Many mistakes but teacher said don’t worry about spelling, grammar, just keep writing. I feel uncomfortable with mistakes. Teacher say no stopping and no translate most important.

    The above is a very typical example in the first few days or even weeks of your NSNT practice, but soon you will feel much more comfortable and have more ideas to write about, all in English!

    It takes time to acquire this new skill, but if you keep practicing, you will be well on your way to thinking and writing in English. It may take some students a semester or even a year or more, so do not feel discouraged if you do not see progress right away.

     

    Just like working out, it takes consistent efforts to strengthen muscles. 

     

    Writing Prompts

    Choose one of these writing prompts and use it to practice the NSNT method.

    1. How do you feel about this first week of the semester? What are your plans for this semester?
    2. How are you going to study differently this semester from how you studied in the past?
    3. What is your classroom like? Describe it.
    4. If you are taking this course online, describe your surroundings (your house, room…).
    5. What does “academic honesty” mean to you?
    6. As you study Unit 1 Introduction to Academic Writing, which of the ten misconceptions is the most relevant to you? How are you going to improve in that area?
    7. What are your expectations of this course?
    8. (Spring Semester) Do you have a New Year’s resolution?  If yes, describe it. If no, why not?
    9. (Spring semester) What was an interesting event during your winter break? Describe it.
    10. (Fall semester) What was an interesting event in summer? Describe it.

    Summary

    1. Academic writing is what students write for their classes in colleges and universities.
    2. Academic writing is logical, direct, formal, clear, and concise.
    3. To improve writing skills, it is important to:
    • Try not to translate from your native language.
    • Do not rely on the information on the Internet.
    • Explore your topic by brainstorming and then organize your ideas by outlining.
    • Narrow down a general topic to a more specific one.
    • Get help from your professor and ESL tutors.
    • Be proactive in contacting your professor regarding errors in your writing.
    • Do not rely too much on the help of your family and friends.
    • Study grammar.
    • Read as much as you can.

    Attributions:

    This page titled 1.6: Review and Practice is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Connie Mathews, Elizabeth Stein, and Mary Elizabeth Wilson-Patton.