Writing for the L2 learner is a developmental process analogous to reading. It is also a direct communication from writer to reader. Note the following from the ACTFL Standards: "Learners present information, concepts and ideas to inform, explain, persuade and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers or viewers."

Writing can be viewed from four perspectives:

• Mechanics (low beginner)
• Extended use of language (high beginner and low intermediate)
• Writing with a purpose (high intermediate and low advanced)
• Full expository (terminal stage or advanced)

This is not a grammar of perspectives or a lock-step curriculum guide. All these points interact.

At the beginning of a writing class, the instructor may want to set the stage for the process. Find out how your students feel about writing. Put the words, "Writing is ..." on the board, and give the students three minutes to jot down their ideas. Allow students to read their responses aloud.

Explain that each of us is already a writer. We write lists, letters notes etc.

Prewriting

Writers ask themselves the following questions:

• The purpose: Why am I writing?
• The audience: To whom am I writing and how should I address them?
• The content: What do I know about my topic? What else do I need to find out?
• The organization: In what order should I present the details?

Here are some helpful hints for getting started:

Topic: To find a topic, if none is given in the instructions, students can start by making lists (for example, places I like, people I like or foods I like). They may need to target a set of readers, fellow students or business people, or they may want to write to the editorial page in the campus newspaper.

Brainstorming: Students may map their topic. They may write a word "circus," for example, and then come up with related words. They then circle related words and connect them with lines. This grid of words will serve as a starting point for the writing.

Drafting: This is the stage where students put their prewriting plans into effect. They concentrate on crafting the message. Students will need practice with opening paragraphs and topic sentences. The topic maps they developed during the "brainstorming" are a good source of topic sentences.

Editing and rewriting: Feedback is important because it has an effect on accuracy, more so than just spoken feedback. Learners may mistake spoken feedback as agreement rather than as a corrective measure. "Unlike oral feedback, written corrective feedback clearly indicates the presence of errors," write EunYoung Kang and Zhaohong Han. Most writing texts include a checklist to help students review and revise. The writer needs to see if the title fits the content, and if there is clear introduction body and conclusion and if there are any parts of the essay that are off topic.

Other factors: Before students begin to write, while they are outlining, they need to develop skills of analysis. They need to keep the thesis statement or topic sentence in mind as they write and revise. This process will help them to organize by headings and subheadings as part of writing a coherent paragraph or longer essay.

Basic level

What are some things that students at a really basic level can do?

They can practice writing phrases in lists:

• Things you would like to do on vacation
• Important places to visit
• Gifts to give for a wedding, birthday, national holiday in the U.S. or home culture
• 10 typical American (or home culture) sights and sounds
• Important things to do in our school

Sentence writing activities at the beginner stage provide opportunities to practice spelling, capitalization and punctuation. At this stage, simple dictation is also recommended.

Middle level

A variation on the dictation is the dicto-comp:

• Select a short passage at the learners' level
• Introduce the subject to the class. Write keywords on the blackboard.
• Read the passage to the students three or four times. Students may or may not take notes depending on the length of the passage.
• Students rewrite the passage in their own words.
• The teacher analysis the students' writing for correctness of meaning and structural accuracy.

Mid to higher levels

A class can start with dialogue journals, which are a good way to get students involved in writing since they open a new channel of communication and provide another context for language and literacy development. The writing is done in a nonthreatening atmosphere, and it provides more comprehensible input for the language learners.

The teacher and student are free to "converse" in a written form, and this is a way to encourage free writing since they are not marked. The journals allow the teacher to get to know the students on a more personal level and help them gain access into the new culture. Conversely, the teacher gains insights into the learners' home cultures.

Graphic novels are suggested by Lina Sun as a way to encourage L2 learning. They interest students and are a way to have them focus more on function rather than on the grammar involved. In addition, they provide an insight into the target culture and provide a starting point for writing.

Studying graphic novels can support language learning in the same way as reading traditional literary works and other prose texts. The combination of visual representations and narrative construction may help the student to learn to communicate in a foreign language.

Additionally, for those learning a second or foreign language, graphic novels can be used to foster intercultural learning. Through engaging with graphic novels and participating in subsequent in-class activities, students arrive at a better understanding of the other culture and different attitudes and opinions.

A graphic novel can be the basis for a writing activity. Students can go from a summary to an opinion to writing an alternative ending or comparing/contrasting the story line to something else they have read or seen.