discuss ways to improve the learning of foreign languages essay

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Learning a Foreign Language Essays

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IELTS essay about the reasons for learning a foreign language

by Manjusha Nambiar · Published February 3, 2017 · Updated April 25, 2023

IELTS essay topic

Some people say that the only reason for learning a foreign language is in order to travel to or work in a foreign country. Others say that these are not the only reasons why someone should learn a foreign language. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Sample essay

Travel and work are obviously the most popular reasons to learn a foreign language. People all over the world learn foreign languages like English, German and Spanish with the objective of living or working in countries where these languages are spoken. This, however, does not mean that someone who has no intention to visit or work in a foreign country does not have to learn a foreign language. Actually, learning a second or third language benefits everyone.

Language improves our cognitive skills. Studies have shown that bilingual people are smarter than people who speak only one language. Multilingual people are even smarter. Learning a foreign language helps our brain in many ways. It allows us to make connections faster and remember things better. It is not surprising that bilingual people earn higher salaries and make better relationships.

Thanks to the advent of the internet, the world has become a village. We can now meet people from all parts of the world online. If we speak a foreign language, we will also be able to talk to them, share ideas and get answers for our questions. This clearly explains why an inability to speak a foreign language is a disability in this modern world. When we learn a foreign language, we also develop respect for the culture of the people who speak that language. This understanding and admiration for other cultures forge better relationships between people and nations.

To conclude, there are numerous benefits to learning a foreign language. Travel and work are just two of them. Language skills also make us smarter and better.

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Benefits of Knowing a Foreign Language

There are numerous advantages of learning a foreign language. Essay sample is focused on social, health, and other foreign language benefits, as well as reasons to learn another language.

Benefits of Learning a Foreign Language Essay Introduction

Benefits of learning a second language essay body, benefits of learning foreign language essay conclusion, works cited.

Why are foreign languages in demand and popularity? Not everyone probably thinks about it until they face a particular situation. Let us consider several reasons for bilingualism, such as advantages in career, travel, unlimited communication, cultural content, and the fact that knowing at least one foreign language makes the person smarter.

The first cause of foreign language usefulness is professional opportunities. You need to know a foreign language to increase your employability, work in a prestigious fast-growing company, and get the appropriate payment. It also applies to study and internships in foreign countries because plenty of companies are trying to learn from the experience of their foreign colleagues. In the case you know the foreign language, you can help in the translation of texts, preparation of documents, or during negotiations with foreign partners. Besides, you can learn some interesting and helpful information by reading foreign professional literature.

The second reason concerns traveling. Knowing the foreign language, you will be happy to listen to guided tours in original, chat with people with great ease and pleasure, and, who knows, maybe the foreign language you can speak will save the life of someone. Traveling around the world, you can always find your way, talk to the locals, learn about their lives and culture, and perhaps, receive a useful lesson (“Ten Amazing Reasons Why You Should Learn a Foreign Language,” par. 8). In other words, knowing the foreign language allows penetrating the traditions of the other culture.

The third reason in favor of knowledge of a foreign language is communication. Usually, to learn a foreign language well enough, it is necessary to plunge into the environment of living in that particular culture. In turn, such a dive does not pass entirely but forms certain personal qualities. For example, some studies have shown that people, who know more than one language, expand their horizons and are more likely to empathize taking the first steps in communication. Communication in a foreign language with native speakers will significantly strengthen your communication skills and develop life-long friendships (“Ten Amazing Reasons Why You Should Learn a Foreign Language,” par. 14).

Moreover, a foreign language helps you to enrich yourself culturally by watching movies in their original, listening to the voice and intonations of actors, and avoiding translators. You can listen to your favorite songs of foreign singers and understand their meaning with great pleasure. Despite the considerable amount of translated literature, the knowledge of a foreign language opens the door to the world of original literature. It is also essential to point out that by learning a foreign language, you can improve your native language as well. When people start to talk in a foreign language, which has its grammar, logic, and exceptions, they choose words and phrases in the native language to translate, which helps to increase the speech culture and vocabulary of the native language.

Besides, if you are interested in the events taking place in the world, the knowledge of the foreign language would be your advantage. You can easily understand the news as many world newspapers and Internet posts are published in a foreign language. Consequently, you will be able to understand the meaning of the above, taking into account all the details. It is much more objective than hearing a translation, where a lot can be unsaid or translated inappropriately. Thus, knowledge of a foreign language provides access to information, while it is commonly considered that he who owns the information – owns the world.

Finally, the last but not the least reason is probably, the most important. Knowledge of a foreign language expands consciousness. According to Merritt, “speaking a foreign language improves the functionality of your brain by challenging it to recognize, negotiate meaning, and communicate in different language systems” (par. 3). Your mind will be reconstructed to understand completely new concepts. In this sense, learning foreign languages is highly efficient due to switching codes. Switching from one language to another is a challenging job for the brain that is undoubtedly useful. Several studies have shown that among patients with dementia, symptoms began four years later in people who know two languages than in people who know one language (Merritt par. 6). In other words, the brain of bilinguals was struck but continued to operate at a higher level for a longer time.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that people are blacksmiths of their happiness, and a lot in life depends on them. Knowledge of foreign languages gives people plenty of advantages. It is the opportunity to travel around the world without an interpreter, to read foreign literature, to watch foreign films in the original, and to have friends from different countries. If you are willing to change something in your life for the better, then learn a foreign language, and maybe somewhere, there is a pleasant surprise waiting for you, such as an exciting journey or attractive employment.

Merritt, Anne. “ Why Learn a Foreign Language? Benefits of Bilingualism. ” The Telegraph . Telegraph Media Group, 2013.

“Ten Amazing Reasons Why You Should Learn a Foreign Language.” Lingholic . n.p., 2014.

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IELTS essay, topic: Is learning a foreign language essential or a waste of time (opinion)?

• IELTS Essays - Band 9

This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is close to IELTS Band 9.

Set 5 Academic book, Practice Test 25

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people feel that learning a foreign language is an essential component of a child’s education. Others feel that learning a foreign language is often a waste of time that can be better spent on learning about technology and other more vocational subjects.

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Band 9 Essay

Throughout the history of education, learning a foreign language or languages has been a constant component. Of course, many people feel that this is really an unnecessary part of education for everyone, but this is not a point of view that I share.

The opponents to learning a foreign language might argue that most people do not travel that often outside their own country. In addition to this, out of all the countries of the world, comparatively not many share the same language. Therefore, learning a foreign language will only be useful for the very limited time that one spends in a country where this language is used. For some people, the language might never be used in their entire lives. When one thinks about how much time and money are spent training language teachers, buying resources, going on trips and delivering lessons for such a negligible benefit, this would seem to be a very inefficient allocation of resources.

However, the benefits of learning a foreign language go further than just the ability to use it from time to time on a holiday or business trip. Firstly, through learning one language, one gains an understanding to some extent of how all languages work. Thus, no matter where people might end up around the world, the knowledge of language can be of use. Secondly, with the study of a foreign language, one also opens oneself up to other cultures. This allows in turn an appreciation for different points of view and belief systems. With an ever-shrinking world due to globalisation, the ability to empathise and understand the people from other countries is vital to reducing conflict and creating a more tolerant society. Finally, quite simply learning languages is excellent for the improvement of general cognitive skills.

It seems to me that learning a foreign language, therefore, is more than just gaining the ability to speak a few words of a foreign tongue. It is part of intellectual and social development and needs to be continued for everyone in today’s schools.

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3 thoughts on “IELTS essay, topic: Is learning a foreign language essential or a waste of time (opinion)?”

Education today is an essential key to becoming successful in the future. The curriculum in these institutions should be designed in such a way that it is helpful in the overall development of a child. In this essay I will talk about if foreign language as a component of child’s education is beneficial or not. Learning a foreign language as a part of curriculum doesn’t have so many benefits when a child is growing up because they don’t have opportunities to go abroad and converse with people who speak that language. Sometimes these extra subjects create a burden on a child as there is already a lot to study, if time management is not done appropriately, they can lag in important subjects. Rather the focus of educational institutions should be on including more vocational and technology driven subjects as they make students more curious and innovative in approaching different things in life. But as said learning a foreign language has positive sides as well, as it makes a child open to other cultures and creates curiosity in them to learn more about that culture. Also, in future whenever they visit that place, they can have better communication with them without feeling helpless. Also, globalization has opened different spectrums in the world, a new language can always be beneficial to use it for your advantage in opening a new business or working in partnership with people of that country. In conclusion I would like to mention that learning a foreign language doesn’t come with lots of advantages when a child is growing up. If parents feel a need that their child should know a foreign language, then they can opt it as an additional subject which students can study in summer or winter breaks without jeopardizing their regular curriculum.

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Student Essay: The Value of Foreign Languages

Tips to Ace the Foreign Language Essay Writing Task 2 IELTS

Although you can find an endless number of relevant examples for the essay writing task in IELTS, there really is no fixed format that can guarantee you a good band score in the writing section. So, what really works in helping you get a good score in task 2?

• A strong introduction and conclusion that are in coherence with the topic assigned: This will immediately get your examiner hooked onto the paragraphs written inside your piece and will leave a great impression on them!
• Use of refined vocabulary along with excellent use of grammar: Making use of good (and sometimes complex) vocabulary accompanied by an accurate usage of the English grammar is a pre-requisite for getting a good score in writing. It shows the examiner that your own knowledge of the language is vast.
• Providing relevant examples from different parts of the world: Many aspirants miss out on supporting their arguments along with good examples from either their own country or a different country. This leads to them losing out on marks in task 2.

Following these three tips will really catapult your writing task 2 score, which will have a greater impact on your overall band score for the writing section. To make the application of these tips more clear, let’s take a look at some of the sample answers for the foreign language theme.

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Foreign Language IELTS Essay Samples

Question – Some people believe that the only reason for learning a new/foreign language is for travelling or working in a foreign land. While others argue that there are many more reasons as why someone should learn a new language apart from their native language. You have to discuss both these arguments and give your own opinion on the following topic. Make sure to give reasons for your answers and provide examples. Minimum word limit – 250 words

Sample Answer 1

Learning a second language or a foreign language is linked to many advantages that far surpass the sole reasons of learning a new language for travelling or working in a foreign land. However, for the sake of playing the devil’s advocate, I’ll say that some people belonging to a different school of thought consider better job opportunities and travelling to be the only motive behind learning a foreign language. I am of the opinion that there are other reasons like learning about a foreign culture, and the bright prospect of cognitive development that propel many monolingual people to study a new language. With ever-increasing globalization and the opening up of international barriers, more and more people choose to emigrate to new and foreign lands in the hope of better job prospects. This often requires them to learn a new tongue. For instance, many people prefer learning languages like English, Spanish, and French, rather than the Russian language because countries speaking the former tongues have shown more affinity towards emigrants and provide a multitude of better job opportunities. This makes many people believe that jobs and sometimes travel are the only driving forces for learning a new tongue, especially for a young learner. On the other hand, some people including myself have researched the pros and cons of learning a foreign language thoroughly and have found that the pros far outweigh the drawbacks. The onset of memory ailments like dementia can be slowed down by cognitive development that comes with learning a foreign language. Furthermore, multilingual people are more confident and can easily acclimate themselves to new and alien surroundings by the virtue of their communication skills that have been expanded and upscaled. They find it easy to overcome language barriers and truly become global citizens speaking the global language. In conclusion, to go through the tough process of honing effective communication skills in a third language or a second language, people realise that it is not just for the sake of travel or work that they are doing this process. Instead, it stems from a deeper love for the language and the confidence that speaking a new tongue instills in them. Question – When living in a foreign country where you have to speak a new language, you can face serious social and practical problems. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give reasons and examples in your answer and write at least 250 words.

Also Read: SAT Writing & Language Test 2022

Sample Answer 2

Language barriers arguably form the backbone of the biggest social and practical problems that people living in a foreign land have to face and overcome often. In my personal opinion, it can also spark serious problems in various countries, however, the widespread use of technology in curbing these issues to a certain extent over the past few decades. People belonging to different cultures can have issues in understanding each other because of speaking different languages and sometimes even because of different ways of pronunciation of the same words. Migration is not on the rise in the twenty-first century and people often move to distant lands in hopes of jobs, travel, and sometimes studying. In such a scenario not speaking the land’s language can become a basis for social problems like discrimination, racism, etc. Interestingly enough, technology has played a pivotal role in curbing the extent of practical problems faced by people when moving to a new land without being savvy with the foreign language. For instance, there are many web-based applications that do the translation job for people and save them the trouble of having to explain their point to the natives merely through vague hand gestures.

By way of conclusion, I stand firm on the point that social problems can far exceed practical problems when migrating to a foreign land without being fluent in the foreign language and perhaps, some language learning could really help in becoming a part of the foreign culture quicker and better. Although, as far as practical problems are concerned, technology is a boon that is eliminating most of them.

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Essay#47 | Learning a Foreign Language

How to write an advantages and disadvantages essay.

Very often in the IELTS exam, you will have to write an essay called an ‘advantages and disadvantages’ essay. This is where you have to write about the good and bad points of a common situation.

Here is a typical question:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of leaving your country to live or study abroad?

• write an introduction to the topic
• think of two advantages to the situation and provide clear examples
• think of two disadvantages and write about these with good support
• write a short conclusion giving your overall opinion

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of three of the following ways of learning a foreign language.

State which you consider to be the most effective.

• studying on your own
• taking lessons with a private tutor
• taking lessons as part of a class
• taking lessons online
• going to live in a country where the language is spoken

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model answer.

The question of how to learn a foreign language has become increasingly important in recent years as business has become more international. Although there are a number of effective ways, l am convinced that living in a country where that language is spoken is the most efficient way of learning.

Traditionally, people have learned languages as part of a large group in a classroom. This has the advantage of providing many opportunities to practise what you learn with a number of different people. In addition, the fees for this form of education are usually reasonable, since a large number of people are taught at once. However, the size of the group means that more demands are placed on the teacher’s time. Students may not get the individual attention they require to improve.

The amount of individual attention you receive is certainly an advantage of working with a private tutor. Also, the student can work at a pace which is comfortable for them. On the other hand, working with a private tutor can lack the social element, which is crucial in learning to communicate well in a foreign language. It can also prove to be beyond the means of many people.

By far the most natural way to acquire a language is to go where it is spoken. Not only is every social interaction a chance to practise, but you are also exposed to the real, living language. As well as that, you are able to acquire a natural accent by imitating the people around you. This is not to say, of course, that there are not drawbacks. Many people suffer from culture shock away from home, and it can be very difficult to integrate into a foreign culture.

In conclusion, I would argue that the advantages of going to another country to learn far outweigh the disadvantages, making it the best option.

(312 words)

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How to Improve Language Skills: 19 Effective Ways to Build Fluency

Just because someone can speak a language, it doesn’t always mean their reading and writing abilities are on par with their verbal communication skills.

Language proficiency is measured in several different ways.

In order for you to reach native-level fluency, you need to balance your time between all the foreign language skills.

In this post, I’ll show you 19 great tips for improving your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in foreign languages, so that you’ll see a steady improvement in your abilities.

How to Improve Speaking Skills in a Foreign Language

1. improve your pronunciation and accent, 2. find a language exchange partner, 3. always read out loud, 4. speak often—and make mistakes, how to improve listening skills in a foreign language, 5. listen according to your interests, 6. diversify your listening resources, 7. don’t forget about passive listening, how to improve reading skills in a foreign language, 8. take advantage of parallel texts, 9. read like a child, 10. venture into comic books, 11. read literature you’ve read before, how to improve writing skills in a foreign language, 12. write by hand whenever you can, 13. keep a journal, 14. install foreign language keyboards, 15. have a native speaker provide feedback, how to improve grammar and vocabulary in a foreign language, 16. immerse yourself in the language, 17. turn language learning into a game, 18. watch foreign language media, 19. give yourself a “word of the day”.

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Speaking in a new language can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! To boost your speed, confidence and overall fluency in speaking, keep the following tips in mind.

One of the biggest reasons why people feel uncomfortable when speaking in a new language is because they sound drastically different from natives. That discomfort goes away once you perfect your foreign language pronunciation .

It’s completely normal to sound awkward when you’re a beginner or an intermediate learner. To be honest, there are even advanced learners out there who still haven’t quite nailed their accents yet.

Rather than obsessing over that awkwardness, put the work in to improve your accent . By taking the time and effort in refining your pronunciation, communication between you and native speakers will eventually improve, ultimately boosting your confidence in the language.

If you aren’t ready to casually converse with native speakers or are too anxious to attend language meetups, find a language exchange partner instead. This language exchange partner could be a friend who happens to be a native or fluent speaker of your target language. It could also be a fellow learner interested in studying a language you’re proficient in.

Aside from meetups, you can search for a language partner online through language exchange websites and apps, perhaps participate in some language exchange on Skype . You can also go on WhatsApp for language exchange to connect with like-minded language learners.

If this type of social interaction is just not your thing, you can always find a language tutor to help you with speaking, in addition to the rest of the language skills.

Reading is obviously a very important language skill. Though if you ask me, silently reading in your head is a missed opportunity for improving your verbal communication skills.

Whenever you find yourself reading any kind of text in your target language, say the words out loud! It doesn’t matter if you have a book in front of you or if you randomly spot a vocabulary sticker on your fridge—if you see words in your target language, vocalize them.

Volume isn’t totally necessary for this exercise. If you’d rather whisper because you’re reading in a public space, that’s totally fine. What’s important is that you practice the mouth movements to help you feel more comfortable when speaking in a foreign language.

If you want to know how to speak a language fluently , be vocal as often as possible. Any opportunity you have to speak in a foreign language, do so! Talk to fluent speakers, make those mistakes and learn from them.

And when you fumble on a word or translation, try your best to describe it in conversation rather than resorting back to English. By doing this, you stop translating in your head and start having a natural conversation instead of spitting out textbook responses. It’s achievements like these that push you closer towards language proficiency.

I should add that you don’t have to be with other people to practice speaking. In fact, when you’re on your own listening to or watching foreign media, you’re more than welcome to do language shadowing exercises to learn how to speak as naturally as the natives.

Your speaking ability depends on your listening, so let’s discover how to improve listening skills in a foreign language for better verbal communication.

To make sure you pay attention during your listening activities, choose resources that you’re actually interested in. You’ll be more devoted to the content when you listen to language audiobooks that aren’t only appropriate to your level but also fall under genres that you genuinely enjoy.

The same goes for foreign language audio and video clips. When you listen to and watch foreign language videos that align with your interests, hobbies and whatnot, you tend to pick up new words and concepts quicker because you’re invested in the topic.

Whether you enjoy pop culture or like to keep up with the news, FluentU has an extensive library of authentic audio and video clips. On this platform, you get to learn languages through your interests, making your language learning journey entertaining yet educational.

Every video is equipped with both foreign language subtitles and English subtitles, so you have all the information you need for comprehension.

Don’t forget that while you’re watching foreign news and movies, you’re also listening to the language. Although some might consider those examples as unconventional ways to learn, you’d be surprised with how much you can pick up from unlikely sources, such as international films and foreign language cartoons .

Here are some resources you could try:

• YouTube is a great place to find all kinds of content in foreign languages, so try searching for things you’re interested in in your target language and see what pops up.
• Streaming sites like Netflix and Disney Plus have options for listening to foreign language dubs on your favorite TV shows, which can be a great way to practice your listening skills.
• Coffee Break Languages has a range of options available for podcasts and other listening resources that you may find helpful.

Active listening is crucial for learning a new language. Arguably, so is passive listening.

Passive listening language learning is language immersion for the subconscious mind where you’re mentally disengaged with the audio . An example of this would be listening to foreign language audio for entertainment purposes or falling asleep to foreign language songs.

Although passive language listening is hotly debated as a method of learning, you can’t deny that it’s an effortless way to immerse yourself in the target language. By immersing your subconscious, you’re basically covering all the bases in order for your brain to retain the language.

Reading, both foreign language e-books and books on paperback, broadens your understanding of the target language as you discover the subtleties between the written and spoken forms.

Bilingual e-books exist for you to transport yourself into the world of foreign literature without having to toggle between the story and a dictionary. Additionally, parallel texts allow you to see how words interact with each other in a descriptive setting.

Parallel texts are perfect for both  intensive and extensive reading purposes. For an intensive reading activity, treat each chapter as a lesson where you take notes on new vocabulary, grammar or syntax.

Once you’ve got a good grasp on vocab and grammar, you can move onto extensive reading, which simply means reading for pleasure.

Need another less intimidating way to practice reading in a foreign language? Go for easy language books . You know, the ones that use simple language and are filled with tons of pictures.

Dual language children’s books let you embrace your inner child, learning language basics in the most adorable, imaginative and uncomplicated context. In all honesty, learning a new language as an adult can be complex and boring at times. Thus, reading children’s stories helps you dial back on the seriousness of language acquisition. It also lets you have some fun with it.

Children’s literature is an escape and an easy way to track your progress. Just as teachers do in school, you can use graded readers to level up your reading and thinking skills in your target language.

Believe it or not, you don’t have to love superheroes or be a graphic novel collector to benefit from foreign language comics . In fact, comics are ideal for visual learners, as the graphics offer picture translations of the comic captions.

Comics are a quick read, yet they also can function as extensive reading activities for teaching language . Instead of immediately blitzing through the comics, read through them in two stages.

First, skip the pictures, skim through the captions for unknown vocabulary, do basic translations and make a prediction about the plot. Next, read through the story, compare it to what your prediction was and then reflect on the story overall.

Bilingual parallel texts are blessings for language learners. But once you reach a certain stage of fluency, you need to progress from bilingual books and move on to foreign language reading material.

To ease the transition, don’t dive into the deep end with new literature. Instead, opt for stories and books that you’ve read before. That way, you don’t get lost in all the foreign words since you already know the plot of the text.

For news articles, one of the foreign language reading strategies you can implement is reading related articles in English beforehand. Doing so will provide you with contextual information needed to understand the foreign language headlines.

Lastly, let’s discuss the ways to enhance your writing skills.

Whether your target language uses symbols or the Latin alphabet, the fastest way to improve your writing skills is simply writing by hand.

Because many of us are learning through our gadgets these days, it’s more important than ever to put a pen to paper as much as we can. If you don’t have a pen and paper, just hand write it on your phone’s note taking app.

Daily writing exercises can be as small as jotting down a list of groceries or as extensive as writing a book review. It’s less about the word count of each writing exercise and more about the frequency of writing to build that muscle memory.

A language learning diary is an effective way to monitor your writing skills and is generally very convenient for daily writing practice.

If you have no idea how to keep a language journal because you can’t even write full sentences in your target language just yet, that’s okay! The truth is that you don’t have to be fluent to keep a language journal.

The earliest entries in a journal always begin as a tracker for new words you’ve learned in your lessons. Once you’ve obtained enough knowledge to formulate sentences, you can start using foreign language writing prompts to guide your entries.

In order to write in a foreign language, not only do you need to learn how to write by hand, but you also need to learn how to type in that language. Typing Cyrillic on your phone or computer is a completely different experience from typing in English.

Foreign language keyboards aren’t just about the symbols. Even if your target language does use the Latin alphabet, having that foreign language keyboard installed on your devices is still extremely helpful since it instantly detects the right spelling in that language.

You could be writing every day. However, that daily foreign language writing practice wouldn’t be as productive without feedback.

Traditionally, feedback comes from language teachers and tutors. So what happens if you’re studying independently, with no authority figure to grade your assignments?

Text exchanges with a language partner would take care of that. If you want to go old-school, another option would be to have a  foreign language penpal and communicate via snail mail. Whatever method you choose for feedback, be sure to pay attention to the colloquialisms in the correspondences and request for your language partner to mention any glaring mistakes in your writing.

Vocabulary and grammar are the building blocks of language skills. Proficiency in those areas automatically improves reading and writing. Moreover, it increases your confidence in speaking and helps you recognize words and structures in conversations.

Enhancing your grammar and vocabulary is critical for boosting foreign language skills, and there’s a myriad of language learning systems you can experiment with to help build that foundation.

Regardless of what language system you set up for yourself, make sure you keep these tips in mind.

Language acquisition isn’t about adding another skill to your CV. To learn a new language means to open yourself up to an entirely new, unfamiliar world, as language intertwines with its country’s history, culture and social customs.

It’s essentially a lifestyle change because you can’t immerse yourself in the language without immersing yourself in the environment.

Think about how children learn a language . They learn it in school with teachers and friends, and they learn it at home with their parents. Children absorb new words and phrases quickly because they’re completely surrounded by the language. Immerse yourself likewise and you’ll be acquiring a language like them in no time.

Tests and quizzes totally take the fun out of learning a new language. Yes, assessments are necessary to see if you actually know your stuff, though why go with the common vocabulary quiz when you can challenge yourself with a game?

Foreign language games are board or card games that can be played with native speakers or fellow language learners. They’re also great as a family bonding activity if you’re learning a language together.

Games can also be a solo activity. There’s a whole collection of language learning video games and apps you can find online to fit your needs.

The truth of the matter is that foreign language media is one of the most underutilized secrets of grammar language learning .

If you’re wondering how to learn a language by watching movies , there are tons of ways to do so. You can watch dubbed versions of movies you’ve already seen, memorize songs from the soundtrack or change the captions on the streaming service to your target language.

Another strategy is dividing the film into half-hour chunks, writing down new words and structures as you watch each segment. This also works well with television shows since episodes are much shorter.

To stay on top of vocab practice, make it a habit to learn one word a day.

By giving yourself this little language learning challenge, you’re turning passive vocabulary into active vocabulary . Rather than memorizing words on flashcards, you find ways to apply the new terms in your day-to-day life. You can do this by incorporating your “word of the day” in conversations or in an entry in your language journal.

You don’t even need to read or write the word down, although it’s good practice to do so. Just thinking about the word is enough, given that you’re recalling the definitions and formulating sentences with the word in your head.

Wow, that was a lot to go through but so worth it! By separating the language skills, you have a better understanding of how to develop each on its own, as well as a skill in conjunction with another.

Now that you have all the tips and tricks to advance your foreign language skills, fluency is just around the corner! Just keep at it!

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Learning Foreign Languages in High School Essay

Introduction, history and status of the issue and overview of problems, problem statement.

English is undoubtedly a very beautiful language, and it is a good thing to love it and be proud of it. It is among the most prominent languages in the world. However, Americans cannot do without other languages in this century.

The 21st century has experienced an increase in international jobs and business opportunities, threats to both global and national security and other factors that necessitate international understanding. Therefore, American students should learn at least one foreign language to enhance their chances of favorably competing with other nations for job opportunities, economic development and national and international security.

The call for a second language is not a new issue in the American educational set up. It has been a concern since the 1970s. In 1979, the President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies proposed a second language for all tertiary institutions in America ( Foreign languages an essential core experience , 2014).

This recommendation was followed by another one by the College Board in 1983. The new recommendation required schools to teach all students at least one foreign language. In 1996, school administrators unanimously endorsed foreign languages as crucial for the development of K-12 students ( Foreign languages an essential core experience , 2014).

However, the achievement of all these recommendations has not been good enough because only 18% of the American population can speak at least a foreign language (Grosse, 2004). Therefore, America has achieved fewer outcomes compared to what other countries have achieved (Liu, 1999).

Firstly, learning a foreign language has a great cognitive effect on an individual ( Foreign languages an essential core experience , 2014). Scholars have found out that learning a foreign language contributes to the improvement of the learners’ aptitude in other subjects. Several studies compared the performance of students taking foreign languages to that of students who only take English.

The results indicated that the performance of those learners taking foreign languages is better than that of other students ( Foreign languages an essential core experience , 2014).

Secondly, the 21st century world is dominated by globalization: technological advancement has made it possible for people from different countries to interact in attending to global issues (Rubin, 2001).

As a result, people from different parts of the world meet in educational institutions, conferences to discuss the development and use of technology and other global issues such as global warming (Block & Camer, 2012). It is also common for people to compete for international jobs and business opportunities (McKay & Wong, 2006). Communication is always a very big problem whenever such groups and organizations meet.

The third and perhaps the most problematic issue concerns attaining international peace and understanding. The last two centuries experienced widespread war between and among many countries in the world. Countries fought in the World War II, World War I, the cold War and many other wars.

Worse still, countries are still fighting each other even in the 21st century. For example, Russia is still in a conflict with Ukraine. In addition to the war between countries, terrorism has become a global issue. Terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, Al-Queda and Al-Shabab have become a global concern. Therefore, nations must come together to discuss the best ways to bring peace and co-existence and fight terrorism.

The 21st century requires the knowledge of more than one language. This century is has witnessed the reduction of the world into a global village. People from different countries meet very often to discuss emerging issues such as global warming, terrorism and economic matters.

They also meet during interviews to compete for the same job opportunities. Therefore, all US students should take a four-year foreign language course in high schools to help them compete favorably with candidates from other nations for jobs and business opportunities. These languages also help them contribute in international conferences on issues such as global warming, peace and terrorism. In addition, research has proven that learning foreign languages enhances the aptitude of learners in other subjects.

Block, D., & Camer, D. (2012). Globalization and Language Teaching . New York: Psychology Press.

Foreign languages an essential core experience (2014). Web.

Grosse, C. U. (2004). The competitive advantage of foreign languages and cultural knowledge. The Modern Language Journal , 88 (3), 351-373.

Liu, J. (1999). Non-native‐English‐speaking professionals in TESOL. Tesol Quarterly , 33 (1), 85-102.

McKay, S. L., & Wong, S. L. C. (2006). Multiple discourses, multiple identities: Investment and agency in second-language learning among Chinese adolescent immigrant students. Harvard educational review , 66 (3), 577-609.

Rubin, J. (2001). What the “good language learner” can teach us. TESOL quarterly, 2 (3), 41-51.

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How to Improve Your Writing Skills in a Foreign Language

• Kaitlyn Tagarelli
• March 16, 2023
• Author(s): Itziri Moreno
• How to learn a language , Tips and tricks for learning , Your Learning Language Guide

Improving your foreign language writing skills requires lots and lots of writing practice. Writing practice gives you experience figuring out how to communicate in a clear way, and can help you develop your overall language skills. However, simply putting down what you want to say on paper is not enough; writing needs to be carefully crafted in order to convey meaning effectively. For example, you’ll need to consider the purpose of your writing, what topics you are discussing, and who your audience is. In this article, we’ll take a look at what it means to be a good foreign language writer, and outline eight ways you can improve your foreign language writing skills. Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

1. read everything you can in your target language.

It’s so important to read everything you can in your target language! Good writers tend to be good readers. Reading is a pathway to learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures. It reinforces your spelling skills, and familiarizes you with writing conventions. You can then turn around and apply these in your own writing. The trick here is to read different styles of writing to get an idea of how native speakers express themselves in different contexts. Formal styles of writing (books, articles, magazines) will help you learn the type of language commonly used in the professional world. Informal writing (social media, text messages) will help you learn the ins-and-outs of how people actually speak and communicate socially (slang, common expressions). Be aware, informal writing may not always have correct orthography and punctuation, and may contain lots of typos and shortened words. So make sure that you read both types of texts to develop a robust knowledge of the language!

Pro-tip! Keep a language journal handy so that you can jot down new words, expressions, and structures to look up while reading.

2. Ask a native speaker to edit what you write

Asking a native speaker to edit what you write is a great way to receive feedback that will help you improve your writing. A native speaker can give you pointers on how to phrase sentences more naturally, suggest alternatives to words, and highlight differences between your native and target languages. All of these things will help you communicate more clearly and sound more native-like! But what if you don’t know a native speaker? Have no fear, the internet can help! There are plenty of online communities on various social media platforms where you can set up language exchanges—you help a learner of your native language with their writing skills while they help you with yours!

3. Pay special attention to grammar

Paying special attention to grammar while you are writing can help you use language more accurately. Because you typically have more time to think when writing, you can take your time to look up rules you are unsure of, or find examples of phrases in order to construct coherent sentences. While grammatical mistakes are often overlooked in spoken language (because listeners are often still able to work out what the speaker meant to say), they tend to stand out more in written language. Readers may have a hard time understanding a text full of errors because they aren’t able to ask for clarification!

When you write, try making an effort to write grammatically correct sentences. This can help you improve your overall knowledge of the language. When you are unsure of a grammatical point, just look up how to use it. For example, if you don’t know the correct word order in a sentence, look it up in the textbook or a grammar blog (Did you know that Mango has  language-specific grammar articles ?). Actively researching and applying grammar rules will likely help you the next time you want to use a similar structure in the future. 

One thing to keep in mind is that the writing conventions of your target language might be different than English. How many times did your English teacher tell you to fix your “run-on” sentences? Well, in other languages, long sentences might actually be the correct way to write! Learning these differences will help you become a more natural writer in your L2.

4. Think in the target language while writing

Another way to improve your writing skills is to think in the target language while writing, instead of translating directly from your first language. Direct translations can result in awkward sentences and end up being a crutch because you can end up relying too much on your native language rather than on the target language. Instead, once you have a plan for what you want to write, think of the types of structures you will need in the target language and build your sentences piece by piece. Once you have a finished product, you can always go back and fix those sneaky grammatical and spelling mistakes. With time and experience, thinking in the target language, and your writing skills, will start to feel more natural.

5. Make a phrasebook for yourself

Making a phrasebook while you read is an excellent way to keep track of new expressions, words, and grammatical structures. Homemade phrasebooks are also a great way to learn common idioms—expressions whose meaning is not the same as what is literally expressed by the words that make it up (e.g., “He’s driving me up the wall” involves no cars or driving!). When used correctly, idioms can help you sound more native-like. Just be aware that these phrases can be tricky as the meaning or grammar can differ from the norm, and may not make sense out of context. It’s best to memorize them as chunks, rather than trying to break them down. So why not keep a notepad (or your phone) handy to jot down words and phrases that catch your attention? This will help accelerate your learning process, as well as giving you an easy way to retrieve this information when you sit down to write.

Pro-tip! Transition phrases such as, “in addition,” “consequently,” “in other words,” “in conclusion,” etc. are very useful and can help make your writing seem more fluid. Make sure these are included in your phrasebook!

6. Learn how to write in a variety of styles

Learning how to write in a variety of styles is extremely beneficial both for learning vocabulary and developing the ability to write in different registers (i.e., formal vs. casual). After all, texting with your friend is very different from writing a report for school. Writing in different styles can also push you to use different grammatical structures. For example, many novels and stories are written using the past tense, and present dialogue using natural sounding, informal language. On the other hand, a breaking news report may use formal language, and could focus on the present and future tenses. Thus, challenging yourself to practice writing in different styles—from poetry and stories to essays, blog posts, and text messages—will help you expand your overall knowledge of the language and improve your ability to communicate in a wide variety of situations.

7. Edit your writing with a grammar and spelling checker

Another great way to improve your language skills is to edit your own writing using a grammar and spelling checker. Most word processing software have multiple language tools built-in, so this can be as simple as changing the spell checking language of what you are using. This will give you immediate feedback on both spelling and grammatical mistakes! You can also use online tools that can help you revise your grammar. Simply search “grammar check in (insert target language)” and you will usually find a variety of resources (including browser extensions) that can help.

Although technology can be very helpful, it’s important to know that it has limitations. Spell checkers do not always interpret what you are trying to convey correctly (have you ever had a hilarious autocorrect mistake?). Always double-check the suggestions against your own knowledge of the language, using dictionaries or other resources when necessary. This can help you identify mistakes made by the software, and can be a great opportunity to learn new words and grammar.

Pro-tip! When using grammar checking software, try to focus on individual phrases or sentences. Software often has issues correctly interpreting larger chunks of text.

8. Keep it simple

Keeping sentences simple can help you take advantage of what you already know when you write. For instance, if you’re in your first semester of a language class, focus on the basics. Did you include the subject and the verb? Does your sentence need an object? Is the adjective in the correct place? Don’t jump immediately into trying to use more complicated structures or verb tenses you don’t yet know. Instead, save these for when you are further along in your language learning progress. You will master them with time!

One thing to keep in mind: As a beginner writer, you won’t have the same level of expression that you have in your first language. But that’s ok! Find creative ways to express yourself using what you know to make short, clear sentences. Simple coherent sentences are better than incoherent mumbo jumbo, even if they do seem a bit robotic.

How important is writing for improving your language skills?

Writing is very important for improving other language skills, especially when it comes to accuracy. Writing lets you focus on using language correctly and avoiding mistakes because it is more slow paced. The slow pace of writing also lets you take the time you need to fill in the gaps in your knowledge—basically, if you’re missing a word or don’t know a structure, you can look it up or ask someone. This will indirectly improve other aspects of language use as well (e.g., comprehension, speaking). Writing also gives you a physical record of your work, making it easy to ask for and receive feedback, which can help you reassess your knowledge and correct/clarify any gaps. 

What tools can you use to improve your writing skills?

A good dictionary and thesaurus are two tools which can help you improve your writing skills. Dictionaries and thesauruses are instrumental in helping you find and select the best words to use. Beyond these, translators, grammar checkers, and word processors can help you improve your writing as well. Here’s a list of some tools you can check out to help you become a better writer:

• 1)    Vocabulary/dictionary tools
• Wordreference supports about 20 languages, and includes definitions, as well as help with phrases, collocations, and conjugations.
• Linguee is both a dictionary and a translator that allows you to search strings of words. It will provide authentic examples using the words, as well as a side by side comparison with an English translation.
• 2)    Grammar checkers
• Reverso.net has a grammar checker and conjugator that supports about 15 languages.
• LanguageTool is an app that checks grammar and style in over 20 languages.
• For Spanish learners, Spanishchecker not only points out errors, but also explains why they aren’t correct.
• Plagly ’s grammar checker can proofread a text in 20+ languages.
• Word processors: Google docs supports over 70 languages and Microsoft Word over 50 languages.
• 3)    Native speaker communities
• lang-8.com , mylanguageexchange, polyglotclub are social networks that can help you connect with native speakers to socialize, ask questions, or request corrections.

What kinds of books should you read to improve your writing skills?

There are many types of books that can help you improve your writing skills. They can range from children’s with simple language and pictures to advanced classics written in the target language. Here are some ideas to get you started!

• Find translations of popular books. Popular books translated into your target language are a great choice for improving your writing. Try reading a wide range of books , from children’s stories like “Little Red Riding Hood,” to more complex works like “Hamlet” or “The Odyssey.” I personally find that Harry Potter is an excellent way to learn writing, because the books are very accessible. Even if you haven't read them in English, why not give them a chance in your target language—you will certainly learn lots of new vocabulary you can use in your own stories!
• Use bilingual books. Bilingual books can be an excellent resource for developing writers. These books are usually made for children who are raised bilingual, and usually have text in both languages presented side-by-side. They also have tons of pictures, easy vocabulary, and engaging story lines!
• Read short stories. There are many compilations of short stories designed for language learners. These books are categorized by level of proficiency, and typically have a glossary, summary, and comprehension questions. You can practice writing by answering the questions or creating your own summary and comparing it to the one given.
• Read popular authors in your target language. Reading books by popular authors in your target language is an excellent way to learn about writing, literature, and culture. For example, try Umberto Eco if you’re learning Italian; Victor Hugo if you’re learning French; Dostoevsky if you’re learning Russian; or Haruki Murakami if you’re learning Japanese. These books will most likely have English translations in case you ever get stuck on something.

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8 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills in a Foreign Language

According to experts, writing is an integral skill that everyone should master, especially students and professionals. When you write, you have the ability to take your time and use language that best represents the tone you wish to inflect. While in the process of writing, it’s only natural to make spelling and grammar mistakes or make poor word choices. This, however, does not mean you should quit writing. Instead, you should take it as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes, and further your writing skills. Additionally, there are many custom essay services that have essay samples you can use to help smooth out the process.

If you want to improve your writing skills in a foreign language, read on for some tips to help with the transition!

1. Use a Grammar and Spell Checker to Edit Your Writing

These days, writers and students have increased their dependence on services such as Grammarly , Ginger and other similar spelling checking programs. While writing English as a second language, you may make certain mistakes in the essay. One of the best and most thorough ways to mitigate this issue is to run the final draft through a spell checker. If you fail to do so and submit the paper to the teacher as is, it may lessen your chances of receiving a good grade.

2. Look at Mistakes as Learning Opportunities

As mentioned above, while writing in another language, you might leave a lot of spelling or grammar mistakes. The most important thing you need to remember is that you can learn from your mistakes. Though editing the text may alleviate most of these issues, you can save time in the future by learning the areas in which you need to improve.

3. Learn How to Write with Style

Experienced essay writer Joel Donnelly – from Essay Kitchen – states that “If you do not learn to write with style, it will not be possible for you to get recognized as a student or as a writer.” Do you know that more than 90 percent of writers and students, who call themselves intelligent and successful, know how to write with style? If your vocabulary is basic, then this is the right time to build vocabulary and to improve your writing skills by bringing home a dictionary. By enhancing your vocabulary, and learning how to use these words correctly, you will be able to further your writing style.

4. Become an Avid Reader

Before writing in a foreign language, it is important to read stories and essays written by others. For example, if you are a Chinese student who has just received admission in the United States, it is important for you to read papers that have been written in English. Once you have read enough work, you will be one step closer to being able to draft an essay of your own.

5. Create Your Own Phrasebook

Noting down new words and phrases in a notebook will allow you to reference them later. For example, when you read a new word or phrase from the internet, a book, or a dictionary, keep a note of them. Then, instead of learning them temporarily, you will be able to look back upon the new words you have discovered, and further acquaint yourself with them. You should repeat the same process every day so that your notebook becomes a good source of information. Then, when it comes to crafting your essay, you will have a notebook full of new and interesting words you will be able to use.

6. Think in the Foreign Language While You Write

Though it may take more effort than thinking in your native tongue, you should try and think in the foreign language while you write. This practice can be of great assistance when it comes to writing in a new language, as it forces you to become acquainted with new words and phrases. For instance, let’s say you are learning Italian. You can start by memorizing the complex words and practice your Italian grammar so you can use them in your essay. This way you can ensure that the final paper reads flawlessly and looks great. If you are unsure about how to think like a native, you can always seek help with essay writing.

7. Study Grammar

The best way to study grammar is by bringing home a couple of dictionaries. Be diligent in your studies by setting aside time to learn new words from the dictionaries you acquire.

Another helpful tip is to familiarize yourself with different writing styles. For this purpose, you can go through various essays in the foreign language that deploy different writing styles, and trying out some of these styles for yourself! This will help you improve your writing skills, sharpen your mind, and allow help you become a proficient writer.

8. Ask a Native Speaker to Edit Your Writing

Lastly, you should ask a native speaker to edit your paper . You may not know anyone personally who would be able to do this, but if you are studying in a foreign country, there are native speakers all around you! You can meet and interact with them in your college, or find a native editor on social media or another useful resource. It is important to remember that a different language is a different vision of life, so only a native speaker can fix your text to make it look flawless and professional.

Make sure to keep the above points in mind next time you try and write an essay in a foreign language. Just remember, it is a process, and it requires time and attention!

For more great college tips, check out the other blogs on College Basics.

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How to improve your foreign-language skills

• August 22, 2018
• Marketing Team

Investing your time into learning a language is never wasted effort. Being able to converse at business-level in a foreign language opens up a whole world of opportunities to you. Here’s how to improve your foreign-language skills:

Improve your grammar:

Read children’s books

Children’s books are designed to teach you the basics of the language, including vocabulary and grammar. They are a great way to learn how regular and irregular words function.

Expand what you read with different materials

Another way to improve your grammar skills is to pay attention to how writers use the language. Focusing on different styles of writing, such as classical, academic, biographies, storytelling, news articles and informal blogs will give you a different perspective on word order and tone of voice.

Spend time on homophones

It’s really important when you’ve mastered the basics of the language to delve deeper and learn the difference between some confusing words. In English, some of these include it’s vs its or there vs their . Swapping these words around is incorrect but the reader will still get the gist of what you’re saying, especially as many native speakers make these exact mistakes. Other confusing words hold different meanings and can change the message of your sentence.

Develop your vocabulary:

Make vocabulary part of your everyday world

Did you know that memory begins to fade after it’s formed and it could disappear completely if it isn’t part of your long-term memory? To ensure you retain all the vocabulary you’ve learnt, label things you see every day and say them out aloud. Connecting words to objects in real life will help you memorise those words.

Learn in context

The best way to improve your vocabulary is to learn individual words by putting them into sentences. Seeing words in context will give you more understanding about the word and its meaning.

Boost your reading comprehension: 

Read on the go but also set aside specific time

If you’re lucky enough to study abroad surrounded by the language, then take the opportunity to read everything from the text on bus stops to the back of cereal boxes. If you aren’t exposed to the language 24/7 it’s important to set aside time to read. Find a cosy, quite spot where you can focus and get stuck in to your reading.

Read at your own pace

Read, re-read and re-read again. Sometimes you’re so busy reading the words and trying to understand them that you forget to concentrate on the story. Don’t stress trying to understand each word but rather focus on getting the gist per sentence, and don’t be afraid to re-read sentences, paragraphs and pages.  

Improve your writing skills:

Write something every day

Take control and write your everyday tasks, reminders and shopping list in your new language. Working on it bit by bit each day means sentence structure will become second nature and help you build your confidence with writing.

Enhance your listening skills:

Watch movies in that language

Watching movies in another language is a great way to improve your listening skills. Start with subtitles in order to understand what they’re saying, and by hearing the same words over and over again you will eventually become familiar with what the different words mean.

Practise with natives and non-natives from different countries

Speaking to natives allows you to pick up nuances of the language and the correct pronunciation of words. Hearing the native accent and the speed at which they talk may prove difficult at first, but it will help your listening skills profoundly. On the other hand, talking to non-natives, preferably from a different country to you, who are learning the same language will pronounce words a bit differently, see it as an opportunity to improve your listening and speaking skills.

The importance of English is essential if you want to progress your career. Whether you are just starting out on your English language journey or wanting to go from proficient to fluent, why not invest in your future and study English. Learn with Kaplan International English and choose from over 35 English language schools across the world. 

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Learning English as a Foreign Language Writing Skills in Collaborative Settings: A Cognitive Load Perspective

1 School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

Slava Kalyuga

2 School of Education, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Associated Data

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Learning to write in a foreign language is a complex cognitive process. The process-genre approach is a common instructional practice adopted by language teachers to develop learners’ writing abilities. However, the interacting elements of procedural knowledge, linguistic knowledge, and generic knowledge in this approach may exceed the capacity of an individual learner’s working memory, thus actually hindering the acquisition of writing skills. According to the collective working memory effect, it was hypothesized that teaching writing skills of English as a foreign language by adopting a process-genre approach in collaborative conditions could lead to better writing performance, lower cognitive load, and higher instructional efficiency. The reported experiment compared learning writing skills of English as a foreign language in individual and collaborative instructional conditions from a cognitive load perspective, a rarely adopted approach in this field. The results indicated that the collaborative instructional condition was more effective and efficient than the individual instructional condition in improving the quality of written products as well as in optimizing the cognitive (working memory) load experienced by the learners. Measures of cognitive load were used to support the cognitive load theory’s interpretation of the results, which is the unique contribution of this research study to the field.

Introduction

Learning to write in a foreign language is a complex problem-solving process, requiring not only a range of skills from writing English letters to composing complete essays but also the ability to make claims and provide appropriate supporting details ( Kirkland and Saunders, 1991 ; Bruning and Horn, 2010 ; Howell et al., 2018 ). Students need to develop the skills of generating, organizing, and refining ideas by being involved in complex activities, such as brainstorming, discussing, outlining, drafting, monitoring, and revising ( Raimes, 1992 ; Hyland, 2003a ). Cognitive load theory aims at designing effective instructional materials and procedures to facilitate learners’ acquisition of complex knowledge and skills based on the mechanisms of human cognitive architecture ( Van Merriënboer and Sweller, 2005 ; Sweller et al., 2011 ). According to this theory, learners can build new knowledge about writing processes not only with the help of explicit formal instruction or through personal reading but also using problem solving via individual or collaborative efforts (through personal introspection or pair/group discussions).

The collective working memory effect in cognitive load theory refers to the working memory space created by communicating and coordinating knowledge by each collaborator ( Kirschner et al., 2011 , 2018 ; Sweller et al., 2011 ). An individual who studies alone processes all the interacting elements of the instructional material in his or her working memory. By contrast, under a collaborative learning condition, all the interactive elements can be distributed among the working memories of group members. This effect allows a better understanding of cognitive processes in collaborative learning environments and the conditions under which such environments provide more efficient instructional options.

However, to our best knowledge, differences between the effectiveness of individual and collaborative instructional approaches in learning writing skills of English as a foreign language from a cognitive load perspective have never been investigated ( Kirschner et al., 2011 , 2018 ). Moreover, despite that collaborative writing as a teaching strategy has been actively implemented in foreign language classrooms since the 1990s ( McDonough, 2004 ; Shehadeh, 2011 ), the issue of how developing writing skills in collaborative settings impact learners’ cognitive characteristics has not been investigated extensively. In addition, more empirical research should be done to examine how learners in collaborative learning conditions would perform on individual writing tasks rather than on co-authoring tasks in the post-intervention phase ( Storch, 2005 ; Chen, 2019 ). Accordingly, the experimental study reported in this paper was conducted in an attempt to fill these gaps.

Models and Approaches to Teaching Writing Skills

Cognitive model of writing processes.

Writing involves a range of cognitive activities. Flower and Hayes (1981) proposed a cognitive model of writing processes, which regarded writing as a decision-making process, consisting of a range of cognitive activities orchestrated in cyclical or recursive rather than linear orders ( Racelis and Matsuda, 2013 ). Flower and Hayes (1981) argued that a writing process “involves three major elements which are reflected in the three units of the model: the task environment, the writer’s long-term memory, and the writing process” (p. 369). This cognitive model generally corresponds to the three phases of writing: planning, translating, and revising phases. The three cognitive processes do not necessarily appear in a linear order but can happen at any moment in the writing process ( Berninger et al., 1996 ; Baaijen and Galbraith, 2018 , p. 196). Jones (2014) highlighted that the cognitive model of writing processes emphasized the functions of planning (i.e., generating ideas) and translating ideas into texts. Even though Flower and Hayes (1981) stressed that the three types of cognitive activities were recursive, they did not identify the “distinctions involving the temporal dimensions (before, during, or after translation) and spatial dimensions on which the planning and reviewing/revising processes operate (whole text or a portion of it)” ( Berninger et al., 1996 , p. 198). The distinctions are of great significance to instructions as an awareness of stages or phases in writing could help learners internalize the phases of writing, which was evidenced in Jones’ (2014) study that some of the participants were not fully aware of making distinctions between planning and translating while others were struggled with how to organize ideas in the writing process. It can be assumed that explicit instruction in planning and organizing ideas in the pre-writing stage could improve writing quality. Orchestrating the cognitive activities into stages or phases in this study attempted to actualize these abstract activities for instructional purposes. However, as Bizzell (1982) and Atkinson (2003) noted, this post-cognitivist approach to writing may neglect the genre nature of writings—shared features of texts shaped through social conventions. Therefore, it is of equal significance to teach genre knowledge when adopting the cognitive model of writing processes in teaching writing skills.

Approaches to Teaching Writing Skills

The genre approach and process approach to teaching writing skills have been used extensively to promote learners’ abilities to write in English ( Hyland, 2003a , b ; Muncie, 2009 ; Keen, 2020 ). The process-based approach in writing instruction, which was introduced in the 1980s, usually consists of four stages: prewriting, writing, revising, and editing ( Tribble, 1996 ). Participants in Keen’s (2020) study adopted a process approach to learning skills: discussing topics in small groups, writing ideas about the topic, writing first drafts, carrying out peer reviews, writing second drafts, and sharing their accounts with the whole class. It was found that the participants developed a sense of ownership and learned how to write more effectively. Even though Keen (2020) used young learners of English as a first language as research subjects, he identified the beneficial role of procedural learning in cultivating students’ writing abilities. However, it should be noted that such approaches demonstrate “how some writers write, they do not reveal why they make certain linguistic and rhetorical choices” ( Hyland, 2003b , p. 19), as the process-based approach “is seen as predominantly to do with linguistic skills such as planning and drafting, and there is much less emphasis on linguistic knowledge” ( Badger and White, 2000 , p. 154). In a response, ( Hyland, 2003b , 2008 ) put forward a genre-based approach to teach writing skills, in which genre is conceptualized as “a term for grouping texts together, representing how writers typically use language to respond to recurring situations” (p. 544). The genre-based approach emphasizes explicit instructions for communicative purposes, key language features, and structural patterns.

Graham and Sandmel (2011) advised that “advocates of process writing instruction integrate other effective writing practices into this approach” (p. 405). Researchers (e.g., Flowerdew, 1993 ; Badger and White, 2000 ) have endeavored to integrate the process-approach and genre-based approach in teaching writing skills of English as a foreign language as the two approaches could be mutually complementary ( Raimes, 1991 ; Badger and White, 2000 ; Racelis and Matsuda, 2013 ; Deng et al., 2014 ; Huang and Zhang, 2020 ; Jiang et al., 2021 ; Rahimi and Zhang, 2021 ). For example, Flowerdew (1993) introduced a process consisting of six types of activities to explicitly teach the process of learning specific genres. Badger and White (2000) proposed the process-genre approach to teaching writing skills, which consists of several stages starting from understanding a situation to completing a draft. By process-genre approach, Badger and White (2000) emphasized the significant roles of language skills, situational knowledge, and processes in cultivating writing abilities. Learning to write also means learning the techniques of self-regulating cognitive activities and procedures. Students who learn how to regulate the writing procedures collaboratively could transfer the knowledge when writing independently ( Teng, 2020 ).

Learning English Writing Skills Through Collaboration

Taking a social stance, a process-genre approach to teaching writing skills encourages interactions and collaborations, which involves some kinds of collaborative activities such as “modeling, eliciting, supporting, probing, and suggesting alternatives or extension” to a learner’s initial attempts ( Wette, 2017 , p. 72). Dillenbourg (1999) and Prince (2004) defined collaborative learning as an instructional method through which students work together in small groups to pursue common learning or writing goals. Although collaborative learning, in general, has a long history of research, learning writing skills through collaboration was not actively implemented in foreign language classrooms until the late 1990s ( McDonough, 2004 ). Learning writing skills through collaboration, with a primary aim of learning curricular content, focuses on both deconstruction and construction processes ( Karnes et al., 1997 ). Granado-Peinado et al. (2019) found that participants who received collaborative practice and explicit instructions about writing synthesis identified more proportions of arguments and higher levels of integration of different sources than those in the collaborative practice conditions without instructions about writing synthesis. However, their research showed that providing collaboration opportunities does not sufficiently warrant effective learning, which also needs not only guides about how to collaborate but also explicit instructions about learning tasks. Accordingly, Teng (2020) investigated the effect of collaboratively modeling text structure and explicitly teaching self-regulated strategies on younger English learners’ abilities to write summarizations and essays. After 1-month intervention, it was found that participants who adopted self-regulated strategies and collaboratively modeled text structures demonstrated better performance than the participants in the control group in terms of the three measurements. It should be noted that the available research studies have reported mixed results about whether learning writing skills through collaborations could effectively improve the quality of written products or not ( McDonough, 2004 ; McDonough and De Vleeschauwer, 2019 ; Matos, 2021 ). For example, some studies (e.g., Storch, 2005 ; Fernández Dobao, 2012 ; Hsu and Lo, 2018 ) indicated that texts written by collaborative learners were more grammatically accurate than those by individual ones. However, it has also been reported that learners in the individual learning conditions produced more syntactically complex text than collaborative learners ( McDonough et al., 2018 ). The divergent findings in the collaborative learning of writing skills can be related to the following three issues: the lack of explicit collaborative tasks in the learning phases, not considering cognitive aspects in the experimental designs, and not evaluating individual writing outcomes. Accordingly, Kirschner et al. (2009) recommended that research in collaborative learning should directly measure learning outcomes in a test condition, focus on one aspect of the learning goals at a time, and investigate the performance of individual learners instead of the group as a whole. They also advocated that research studies need to consider human cognitive architecture to better understand and compare individual and collaborative learning. In addition, ( Berninger et al., 1996 ) noted that “working memory, and not only long-term memory, is involved in writing development” (p. 199), as the cognitive activities in relation to the task environment and writing process should be carried out in working memory.

Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitive load theory aims at designing effective instructional materials and procedures to optimize learner cognitive resources in the process of acquiring complex knowledge structures ( Sweller, 2010 ; Sweller et al., 2011 ). Cognitive load refers to the working memory resources needed for completing a particular learning task. Theoretically, learners may experience two types of cognitive load: intrinsic cognitive load and extraneous cognitive load ( Van Merriënboer and Sweller, 2005 ; Sweller et al., 2011 ). Intrinsic cognitive load is defined as the working memory resources demanded by the innate complexity of information that a learner must learn ( Sweller, 2010 ). Extraneous cognitive load, conceptualized as the working memory load that is unnecessary and extrinsic to instructional goals, is generated by the presentation manner and structure of the instructional material ( Van Merriënboer and Sweller, 2005 ; Sweller et al., 2011 ).

The level of cognitive load experienced by the learners is determined by the level of element interactivity which refers to the degree to which information elements or components of a learning task should be processed simultaneously for meaningful learning ( Sweller et al., 2011 ). For example, learning new vocabularies in a list can be considered as low in element interactivity, as individual vocabularies can be acquired without reference to other information in the list. By contrast, most writing tasks have high levels of element interactivity, as the writing process involves a relatively large number of interconnected elements of information, as well as cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective activities ( Negari, 2011 ).

The levels of cognitive load that learners experience can be measured by subjective rating scales of effort, a simple and reliable instrument first adopted by Paas (1992) . In this type of rating method, learners were asked to recall, reflect, and report the level of mental effort during their previous learning after they completed instructional activities. Even though subjective rating scales were capable of measuring the overall cognitive load, researchers also needed information about the levels of particular types of cognitive load that learners experience ( Paas et al., 2003 ; DeLeeuw and Mayer, 2008 ). Leppink et al. (2013) proposed a more recent version of subjective rating scales: three items on intrinsic cognitive load, three items on extraneous cognitive load, and four items on germane cognitive load. However, the results of confirmatory factor analysis in Jiang and Kalyuga’s (2020) study showed that the two-factor (intrinsic and extraneous) model was an acceptable fit. Therefore, the cognitive load rating questionnaire in this study, which was developed on the basis of Leppink et al.’s (2013) version, adopted the two-factor model.

Cognitive load ratings are frequently combined with learning performance measures to calculate the relative instructional efficiency for different learning environments. Instructional efficiency in this study was calculated using Paas and van Merriënboer’s (1993) formula E = ( P-R )/√ 2 , in which E stands for efficiency, P for performance z-score, and R for cognitive load rating z-score. In this study, the average of intrinsic cognitive load and extraneous cognitive load ratings were used to calculate the cognitive load z-score. According to this formula, higher values of instructional efficiency are achieved in situations where learning performance is high and cognitive load is low; lower values of instructional efficiency occur under conditions where learning performance is low and cognitive load is high.

Collective Working Memory Effect

Cognitive load theory considers a social interaction situation as a collective working memory system and extends the instructional focus from individual learning to collaborative learning. A collective working memory system can be developed from individual cognitive systems through collaboration, coordination, and communication. The collective working memory effect happens when learners acquire knowledge more effectively and efficiently through collaborating with others than through learning individually ( Sweller et al., 2011 ). The collective working memory space constituted by multiple working memories has a larger capacity and longer duration than any of the constituents in individual working memories. This concept was supported by Dillenbourg (1999) who argued that in the collaborative conditions, “the horizontal division of labor into, for instance, task-level and strategy-level tasks, reduces the amounts of processing performed by each individual” (p. 10). Villarreal and Gil-Sarratea (2019) found that the texts produced by pairs were more accurate and grammatically complex than those by individual learners. They attributed the difference partially to collective scaffolding.

Collective working memory refers to the working memory space created by communicating and coordinating knowledge by each collaborator ( Kirschner et al., 2018 ). An individual who studies alone processes all the interacting elements of the instructional material in his or her working memory. By contrast, under a collaborative learning condition, all the interactive elements can be distributed among the working memories of group members. The multiple working memories constitute a collective working memory space that has a larger capacity and longer duration than individual working memory. As a result, an individual learner in the collaborative instructional condition may experience lower levels of the cognitive load than a learner who studies alone. The collective working memory effect, a recently developed cognitive load theory effect, occurs when learners learn better through collaborating with other learners than through learning alone ( Sweller et al., 2011 ). This effect assumes that “students working in groups have more processing capacity than students working individually” ( Janssen et al., 2010 , p. 139). Even though interacting with group members in the collaborative learning condition may generate extraneous cognitive load, the interactive process should be beneficial as elaborating and eliciting could result in forming more advanced knowledge ( Dillenbourg, 1999 ).

Under the individual learning condition, all the interacting elements of the learning task are processed in the individual learner’s working memory. By contrast, learners who collaborate with others in their learning distribute all the interactive elements among the working memories of group members. Consequently, a collaborator would experience lower levels of the cognitive load than an individual learner. This assumption was supported by Zhang et al. (2011) , who compared the effectiveness of collaborative and individual instructional approaches in learning the complex tasks of designing web pages. They found that the participants in the collaborative learning condition demonstrated better performance and experienced a lower level of the cognitive load than the individual learners.

Task complexity or element interactivity can influence the effectiveness of collaborative learning. For simple learning tasks, individual learning is expected to be more effective and efficient, as the transaction costs associated with sharing knowledge and coordinating communication will nullify the benefits offered by collaborative learning. By contrast, for complex tasks, the benefits offered by the collective working memory could be higher than the transaction costs, thus fostering efficient learning. Kirschner et al. (2009) found that individual learners performed better in remembering biological knowledge (simple tasks) than learners in collaborative conditions, whereas collaborative learners performed better in transferring the skills to solving similar problems (complex tasks) than individual learners. Similar findings were reported by Kirschner et al. (2011) who found that learning low-complexity biological tasks individually was more effective and efficient while learning high-complexity tasks benefited more from the collaborative approach.

Experimental Study

Learning writing skills of English as a foreign language has long been regarded as a complex process that usually generates a heavy cognitive load ( Vanderberg and Swanson, 2007 ; Kellogg, 2008 ). Based on the review of literature on cognitive load theory and writing learning, the study was conducted to examine the following research hypotheses:

• (1) Participants taught through the process-genre approach in the collaborative learning condition would demonstrate better individual writing performances than participants in the individual learning condition.
• (2) Participants taught through the process-genre approach in the collaborative learning condition would experience lower levels of the cognitive load than participants in the individual learning condition.

The reported experiment focused on the effect of collaboration in creating a collective working memory among the members of a group. Previous research studies seldom included controlled randomized experiments and assessed learners’ writing products as a means to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative learning. Therefore, according to the collective working memory effect, the reported experiment was designed to test the hypotheses that learners of English as a foreign language in the collaborative process-genre instructional condition would achieve better individual learning outcomes in terms of writing skills, experience lower levels of cognitive load, and have higher instructional efficiency than learners in the individual process-genre instructional condition.

Materials and Methods

Participants.

The study adopted a purposive convenience sampling method; 64 undergraduate students (29 females) voluntarily participated in this experiment after reading the recruitment notice. They studied at a technological university in Shandong Province, China. They were also briefed about the aims, the procedures, their rights through the study, and their rights to access the research results. They were requested to return the signed consent form if they determined to participate. These college students were on average 21.5 years old and had spent 11 years learning English as a foreign language at the time of the experiment, so they could be regarded as having an intermediate level of English proficiency. They were randomly allocated into the individual learning condition (IL) ( n = 32) and the collaborative learning condition (CL) ( n = 32). The participants in the collaborative learning condition were further randomly allocated into eight groups with four members in each. This arrangement was based on the rationale that groups consisting of no more than six members could maximize participation by all group members ( Herner et al., 2002 ).

The participants were required to write an essay as a pretest. The design of the pretest was based on Task 2 of the writing section in International English Language Test System (IELTS): General Training . Two independent raters examined their writings by complying with the IELTS writing band descriptors . These raters were proficient IELTS tutors with experience in applying the band descriptors in evaluating IELTS essays. An independent samples t -test indicated that the pre-test scores of the IL group ( M = 5.16, SD = 0.91) were not significantly different from the CL group ( M = 5.00, SD = 1.02), t (58) = 0.61, p > 0.05.

The instructional material was about how to write complaint letters. The development of the teaching material was based on the book The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS authored by Cullen et al. (2014) . The experimental materials included four teaching components (structural features teaching, language features teaching, model essay teaching, and essay planning teaching), one essay planning phase, one testing phase (essay writing), and one subjective cognitive load rating phase ( Appendix ).

The instruction was delivered in seven phases (see Figure 1 ). The participants in the individual learning condition were allocated to a lecture room. Each participant sat with at least 1-m distance from other participants to prevent collaboration and interference. The 84-member CL instructional groups were put in one lecture room. Each group kept a distance of at least 5 m from other groups to prevent collaboration and interference between groups, if any. The participants in the IL condition were required to complete all the seven phases individually; on the other hand, the participants in the CL condition completed the first five learning phases collaboratively, but the last two phases were completed independently. Associated questions were provided for thinking (for individual learners) and discussing (for collaborative learners) as Proske and Kapp (2013) argued that “learning questions might also be suitable to support the construction of a richly interconnected situation model of a writing topic which in turn may allow writers to produce better text products” (p. 1340). As it was generally believed that cognitive activities involved in writing procedures were recursive and dynamic ( Flower and Hayes, 1981 ), the participants were reminded that they did not necessarily treat the phases as absolute linear orders and had the freedom to revisit the previous phase or skip to next one when they feel necessary.

Seven phases of the research study.

The first part of the instructional materials (10 min) introduced the purposes and structural features of complaint letters, as well as the functions of each structural component. The structural features of complaint letters covered in this study include the following: the introductory paragraph elicits the purpose of complaint letters; the body paragraphs elaborate on the problems that letters are about and the suggested solutions; and the conclusion paragraph generally states the expectations and closes the letter. The associated questions for thinking (for individual learners) and discussion (for collaborative learners) were: How do structural features reflect communicative purposes? and Are there alternative structures for this genre? The second part (10 min) elaborated on the common language features of complaint letters, such as phrases and sentence structures for specifying the problem, outlining the consequences, making and justifying a specific claim, and so on, with the questions for thinking and discussion being: Are there alternative ways to give reasons and solutions? By using graphic organizers, the third part (10 min) showed the essential steps in planning writing. The question for introspection and discussion in this phase was: If there exist alternative structures, how can these steps in essay planning be adapted to suit those structures? The fourth part (15 min) introduced a model letter, in which the participants were required to identify the structural features, explain the functions of each feature, and the language features that were used for achieving the purposes. The associated questions in this phase were: What tenses have been used mainly in each paragraph? and Why tenses were used in these ways? The fifth instructional phase (10 min) required the participants to plan a letter on a given topic and scenario. In these five phases, the participants in the collaborative instructional conditions were encouraged to learn the materials through collaboration, share their understandings, ask questions, and provide responses, while the individual learners were encouraged to talk to themselves or engage in an internal conversation. In the sixth phase (15 min), the participants were required to individually write a letter on the topic they discussed in the fifth phase by using the skills learned in the first four phases. The last phase of the experiment (5 min) was a subjective cognitive load rating questionnaire ( Appendix ).

Traditionally, subjective ratings of working memory load have proven to be able to collect reliable and valid estimations of mental load in a non-intrusive way ( Jiang and Kalyuga, 2020 ). The cognitive load rating questionnaire was developed from the questionnaires designed by Leppink et al. (2013) , with the first six items on intrinsic cognitive load and the last six items on extraneous cognitive load. The questionnaire was written in Chinese, the research participants’ first language. The participants were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of a certain aspect of the instructional design that could orchestrate their mental resources to facilitate learning by choosing a number on a Likert-type scale, ranging from 0 (not at all the case) to 10 (completely the case). In addition, the instructor was available to clarify and explain puzzles and queries, if any.

The quality of the letters was assessed according to the IELTS General Training Writing Task 1: Writing band descriptors published by the British Council. The band descriptors cover four categories: task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. Each category has the 9-point scale, ranging from one to nine. Each letter was given one score for each category, and the sum of the scores in the four categories was the rater’s score for the letter. The highest mark for a letter was 36. Two independent raters assessed students’ letters. The average value of two raters’ markings was used as the final score of the letter. The inter-rater reliability was calculated using a Person intra-class correlation (ICC). The ICC measure of 0.92 indicated a high degree of inter-rater reliability.

Table 1 shows means and standard deviations of the letter scores, the scores of each category, the ratings of intrinsic, extraneous, and overall cognitive load, and the instructional efficiency for the two instructional conditions. The reliability of the subjective cognitive load rating scale as measured by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.76.

Means and standard deviations for essay writing performance scores, individual category score, subjective ratings of cognitive load, and instructional efficiency for two instructional groups.

An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the two instructional groups’ letter scores, scores of each subcategory, the ratings of intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load, and overall cognitive load, as well as the indicators of instructional efficiency. Levene’s test was conducted ( p > 0.05) and the assumptions were satisfied. After controlling for the effect of pretest, it was found that the participants in the CL instructional condition demonstrated significantly better letter writing performance [ F (1, 61) = 27.40, p = 0.001, partialη 2 = 0.31] and significantly higher instructional efficiency [ F (1, 61) = 31.97, p = 0.001, partialη 2 = 0.34] than those in the IL instructional condition. In terms of category scores, the learners in the CL teaching condition significantly outperformed those learners in the IL teaching condition in all the four subscales: task achievement [ F (1, 61) = 15.72, p = 0.001, partialη 2 = 0.21], coherence and cohesion [ F (1, 61) = 30.64, p = 0.001, partialη 2 = 0.33], lexical resource [ F (1, 61) = 17.86, p = 0.001, partialη 2 = 0.23], as well as grammatical range and accuracy [ F (1, 61) = 41.76, p = 0.001, d = 0.41]. The participants in the IL instructional condition experienced significantly higher levels of intrinsic cognitive load [ F (1, 61) = 7.68, p = 0.007, partialη 2 = 0.11], significantly higher levels of extraneous cognitive load [ F (1, 61) = 5.83, p = 0.020, partialη 2 = 0.09], and significantly higher levels of overall cognitive load [ F (1, 61) = 12.02, p = 0.001, partialη 2 = 0.17] than the participants in the CL condition.

The covariate, which is pretest in the study, was significantly related to the letter writing performance, which means that the participants in the CL condition had significantly better performance than the students in the IL condition in terms of the overall scores [ F (1, 61) = 143.44, p = 0.001, r = 0.84] as well as the four subscales: task achievement [ F (1, 61) = 127.86, p = 0.001, r = 0.81], coherence and cohesion [ F (1, 61) = 128.09, p = 0.001, r = 0.82], lexical resource [ F (1, 61) = 125.52, p = 0.001, r = 0.82], and grammatical range and accuracy [ F (1,61) = 146.29, p = 0.001, r = 0.84]. In addition, cognitive load ratings and instructional efficiency were related to the covariate, pretest. The correlation to the covariate, pretests, was also observed in intrinsic cognitive load, overall cognitive load, and instructional efficiency. Students in the CL instructional condition had lower cognitive load ratings and higher instructional efficiency than the participants in the IL condition: intrinsic cognitive load [ F (1, 61) = 5.49, p = 0.02, r = 0.28], overall cognitive load [ F (1, 61) = 4.58, p = 0.036, r = 0.07], and instructional efficiency [ F (1, 61) = 62.88, p = 0.001, r = 0.51]. However, it should be noted that the covariate, pretest, was not significantly related to extraneous cognitive load [ F (1, 61) = 0.42, p > 0.05], which indicates that the differences in participants’ perception of extraneous cognitive load could be largely attributed to the dependent variable, instructional conditions.

The reported experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses generated by cognitive load theory that learners of English as a foreign language in a collaborative instructional condition would show better writing performance, lower levels of cognitive load, and higher instructional efficiency than learners in an individual learning condition. Even though relations to the covariate, pretest, were observed, the results of the study generally supported the hypotheses. As for the first hypothesis, this randomized experimental study found that the students in the collaborative learning condition demonstrated higher overall post-test letter writing scores and higher subcategory scores (task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, as well as grammatical range and accuracy) than the participants in the individual learning condition. The second research hypothesis was also supported as the participants in the collaborative learning condition indicated lower overall cognitive load ratings than the participants in the individual learning condition. It was also found that the collaborative learning condition generated higher instructional efficiency in terms of developing writing skills than the individual learning condition. Moderate and significant negative correlations were found between the ratings of intrinsic cognitive load and the letter-writing performance scores for both instructional conditions. The results demonstrated the collective working memory effect ( Kirschner et al., 2009 , 2018 ; Sweller et al., 2011 ) in the domain of learning writing skills by learners of English as a foreign language. As predicted by cognitive load theory, in the case of complex learning tasks such as writing in a foreign language, the benefits of collective working memory exceeded the possible disadvantages of dealing with transaction costs involved in coordinating individual working memories.

First, the study contributed to the research area of writing in a foreign language by conceptualizing the research and interpreting the findings from the perspective of cognitive load theory. In an attempt to account for the role of specific cognitive mechanisms in improving writing performance, it is possible to assume that the collaborative instructional approach had created an effective pool of knowledge about language and a pool of cognitive resources that beneficially influenced the quality of written products ( Storch, 2005 ; Strobl, 2014 ). The interactions in collaborative instructional conditions could trigger more learning-relevant cognitive mechanisms, for example, knowledge elaboration and internalization which are essential for meaningful and effective learning. These learning mechanisms could enable learners to organize information into ordered structures and integrate new information with prior knowledge structures ( Dillenbourg, 1999 ; Kalyuga, 2009 ). In the process of collaborative learning, theme-related knowledge structures would be retrieved from learners’ long-term memory and function collectively as distributed cognition including “internal minds, external representations, and interactions among individuals” ( Klein and Leacock, 2011 , p. 133). The distributed cognition could evolve through members’ contributions using stating claims, supporting or challenging others’ opinions, providing supporting details, and so on. The mental activities in sharing, understanding, and negotiating meaning involve expressive or introspective elaborations, resulting in conceptual changes in group members ( Dillenbourg, 1999 ). As more sources of information come to the group memory, learners would exercise more knowledge elaborations to establish links between new information and the existing knowledge structures, leading to better performance measures. The multiple learning phases in the collaborative conditions offered collaborators more opportunities to use the language-related episodes (LRE) and task-related episodes, which were supposed to benefit their writing.

Second, the findings are consistent with the collective working memory effect, in that learning English as a foreign language writing skills in the collaborative instructional condition is more effective and efficient than in the individual learning condition ( Kirschner et al., 2009 ; Retnowati et al., 2018 ). As learning tasks used for teaching English as a foreign language writing skills are high in element interactivity, and multiple factors (such as linguistic and situational knowledge, understanding of audience and purposes, etc.) affect the learning process, it can be assumed that the participants in each collaborative group would provide collective scaffolding, resulting in learning more sophisticated writing skills in terms of lexical accuracy, grammatical complexity, logic organization, and so on, in the learning phases and consequently in the better performance of these learners in the testing phase than the participants in the individual learning condition.

In addition, this study also indicates that adopting a process-genre approach in a collaborative condition could lead to significantly better writing performance than in an individual learning condition, which is particularly consistent with research studies on developing self-regulation of writing processes and generic knowledge through collaborations (e.g., Graham and Sandmel, 2011 ; Jones, 2014 ; Wette, 2017 ; Villarreal and Gil-Sarratea, 2019 ; Teng, 2020 ). According to the genre approach to teaching writing skills, effective instructional practices should “offer writers an explicit understanding of how texts in target genres are structured,” teach “the lexico-grammatical patterns which typically occur in its different stages,” and cultivate writers to command “an awareness of target genres and an explicit grammar of linguistic choices” ( Hyland, 2003b , p. 26). However, if all lexical, syntactical, structural, and logical contents were taught without appropriate sequencing and prioritizing, high levels of cognitive load could be generated. Therefore, segmenting a learning task into several phases can ameliorate the complexity of information as the number of interacting elements would be reduced. For example, in a controlled randomized experiment, Klein and Ehrhardt (2015) found that organizing instructional tasks into manageable parts helped learners generate more balanced claims and reduced high-achieving students’ cognitive load in writing persuasion texts as measured by the perceived difficulty of their learning.

Furthermore, the results of the reported study are also consistent with previous research in the field of collaborative learning of writing skills (e.g., Shehadeh, 2011 ; McDonough et al., 2018 ), in that the learners in the collaborative instructional condition had better qualities of prewriting/writing performance than the learners in the individual instructional condition. Still, this study contributed to the area of collaborative writing research in two novel ways. First, differently from most of the previous research which required all learners in a collaborative group to write a common single text, this study required every member in a collaborative condition to write a separate text, and the quality of individual texts was assessed to compare the effectiveness of individual and collaborative learning conditions on the same grounds. This method of measuring learning gains by assessing the quality of individual writing products is more valid and reliable according to Kirschner et al. (2009) , as it better fits the learning goals. Second, the use of subjective ratings of participants’ cognitive load in learning and the calculation of instructional efficiency provided additional evidence to support a cognitive load interpretation of the results as the case of the collective working memory effect.

The reported study still has some limitations that require further research. First, this study did not consider the foreign language proficiency of the participants as a variable in collaborative teaching of English as a foreign language writing skill. According to the expertise reversal effect in cognitive load theory, the effectiveness of specific instructional techniques and procedures depends on the levels of the learner’s prior knowledge in the domain ( Kalyuga et al., 2003 ; Kalyuga, 2007 ; Sweller et al., 2011 ). This effect has been demonstrated with all other instructional methods developed by cognitive load theory. It is likely that this effect also applies to the collective working memory effect. For example, Storch (2011) claimed that second language proficiency should be taken into consideration in implementing collaborative learning of writing skills. Therefore, future research studies may need to recruit learners at different proficiency (prior knowledge) levels to investigate possible interactions between levels of learner expertise in the area of English as a foreign language writing skills and the effectiveness of individual versus collaborative learning conditions. Second, this study examined the effectiveness of learning approaches (individual or collaborative) by primarily assessing the quality of learning products (i.e., essay). Future studies need to consider and measure other possible contributing factors and performance indicators, such as interactions in the writing processes, the quality of jointly drafted essays, and learners’ perceptions. In addition, as a way to manifest how collaborative learning affects the development of collective memory, future research should record and analyze learners’ interactions during the collaborative learning phases. Furthermore, more research should be done to investigate how learners develop their writing skills in other genres (such as argumentative, informative, and descriptive ones) in individual and collaborative instructional conditions.

In conclusion, the results of the reported experimental study supported the hypothesis generated by cognitive load theory. Learning English as a foreign language writing skills through a process-genre approach in the collaborative instructional condition was more effective and efficient than in the individual instructional condition. Subjective ratings of the cognitive load supported the interpretation of results within a cognitive load framework. The findings have implications for the innovations of teaching approaches, the developments of course materials, and curriculum designs in the field of teaching foreign language writing skills.

Data Availability Statement

Ethics statement.

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

DJ: conceptualization, methodology, resources, data curation, writing – original draft, and review and editing. SK: supervision and writing – review and editing. Both authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Subjective Rating of Cognitive Load

All of the following questions refer to the learning activity that you just finished. Please respond to each of the questions on the following scale (0 meaning not at all the case and 10 meaning completely the case).

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Discuss ways to improve the learning of foreign languages.

IELTS essay Discuss ways to improve the learning of foreign languages.

• Structure your answers in logical paragraphs
• ? One main idea per paragraph
• Include an introduction and conclusion
• Support main points with an explanation and then an example
• Use cohesive linking words accurately and appropriately
• Vary your linking phrases using synonyms
• Try to vary your vocabulary using accurate synonyms
• Use less common question specific words that accurately convey meaning
• Check your work for spelling and word formation mistakes
• Use a variety of complex and simple sentences
• Check your writing for errors
• Answer all parts of the question
• ? Present relevant ideas
• Fully explain these ideas
• Support ideas with relevant, specific examples
• ? Currently is not available
• Meet the criteria
• Doesn't meet the criteria
• 6.5 band Thanks to the internet, education is now revolutionized via the popularization of online libraries, online classes, or even virtual teachers or course instructors. Do you think the advantages of this trend outweigh the disadvantages? The evolution of new technologies and the Internet has made online schooling developing rapidly worldwide, as they provided online classes and lectures, e-books, or virtual educators. Although many people think that e-learning is more effective and accessible, I would believe that the drawbacks of o ...
• 6 band Some people think big sporting events are not worthwhile for the host country Sports are the most essential part of the country. Some argue that sport tournaments organised by the anchor country have disadvantage. I disagree that it is unprofitable and believe that it has lucrative ways to recover the money and time invested arranging such a huge event; where millions of peop ...
• Language comes first. It’s not that language grows out of consciousness, if you haven’t got language, you can’t be conscious. Alan Moore
• 5.5 band Some believe that pupils should be given less homework other say the opposite. Now a days, there is an ongoing debate between people about assignment. while it is possible to claim that students should be given less task few persons believe that people should be given more homework. this essay will further discuss more about less assisment and more fruitful as compared to more ...
• 6 band We have long imagined the possibility that life exists on other planets. Do you believe that there is life in the universe outside of Earth? What would be the implications of proving that alien life exists? There is no doubt that knowledge about other galaxies is a matter of concern. Some recurrent questions are related to the possibility of finding life outside the Earth and the consequences of these results. In this essay, I will discuss this topic and explain why I believe that aliens are real. To ...
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• 6 band Some people think that exercises is the key to health while Others feel Most of the folks do workout for their health, on other hand, Some of individuals having a sdiet, Notwithstanding to do workout, Both of them segments are really profitable for their, On the contrary, in case of they having a diet, to do multitudinous of physical working are substential. in conclusi ...
• 6 band Advantages nad disadvantages of puting parents in old age homes Old age care homes are trending nowadays as the aged members of the family are not being taken care of by the younger generation. This essay will suggest the various advantages and disadvantage of this fashion in the ensuing paragraphs. The most evident benefit of establishing these old age homes i ...
• Language is not a genetic gift, it is a social gift. Learning a new language is becoming a member of the club – the community of speakers of that language. Frank Smith

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IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.

Ielts essay # 217 - children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school, ielts writing task 2/ ielts essay:, some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school., do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages.

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• Advantages and Disadvantages Essay
• IELTS Writing Task 2
• Do advantages outweigh disadvantages

I want to study more vocabularies and improve my English language skill.

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Writing in a Foreign Language Part 1: 5 Ways to Get Solid Practice

This article is a follow-up to our 2019 post on writing in a foreign language.

Foreign language learners often undermine the importance of writing. The focus is mostly on learning how to communicate, but writing is just as important skill. It is true that writing can be a bigger challenge. However, it is nothing that you can’t conquer.

The trick with improving your writing in a foreign language is using useful techniques. You won’t be up for the challenge if you limit yourself to textbook exercises. There are more fun ways of practicing writing in a foreign language. To prove that point, we have prepared a list of a few suggestions. These interesting ways of practicing will help you strengthen your foreign language writing skill.

1. Get Interactive Online

The internet connects us to the whole world, and you should use that to your advantage. Find blogs or movie review forums in the target language and get to typing.

You can leave comments on blog posts or discuss your thoughts about a movie. Taking part in online discussions can be an endless resource for writing practice. Not to mention that you get to choose what you’ll write about.

Besides practicing writing, you can see how the natives write and possibly acquire some new tricks. You’ll be able to learn more native-like expressions that you won’t find in books or textbooks.

2. Write Book Overview or Review

This is a great exercise for more advanced learners. If you are at a stage where you read essays or books in a foreign language, put that to use.

After you read a book, write an overview or review about it. You can do the same for short stories, essays, or scenarios. Do this while the story is still fresh in your memory.

The reading will fill your mind with new vocabulary, and you’ll get to use it through writing. You’ll be surprised how it will be easier to memorize new words when you give them a purpose. In this case, to write a synopsis or a review.

3. Keep a Journal

Journaling is a great way to clear your thoughts and save your memories. Why not do all of that and boost your writing skill?

Start journaling in a foreign language. Since you’ll write about your life, the words and phrases won’t be complex. Even if you are at a beginner level, you’ll be able to do it. You’ll get to share your daily activities and thoughts and learn from your mistakes along the way.

Try to use your phone or laptop for journaling. Therefore, you can paste the content to an online grammar checker and see what your mistakes are. Or, if you want to be more serious about it, find an editing service and let them review some parts of your journal. Paper writing services are usually most affordable, so simply type “rewrite my paper,” and you’ll get some good results.

Just keep in mind that consistency is the key. Write every day if you can. A few sentences will do, as long as you write something down. In this way, you can get regular practice without the pressure of learning.

4. Find Yourself a Penpal

Who says that having a penpal is the thing of the past? You might not need to write letters, but you can still engage in correspondence with someone far away.

There are websites such as Conversation Exchange that have a penpal option. Decide on a language you want to practice, and you’ll get yourself a new foreign friend.

Through these conversations, you can do more than just practice writing. Learn about that country’s culture or start a conversation about your interests. For example, if you are in the marketing business, you can ask your penpal about how it all works there. This will help you learn words and phrases in your niche.

5. Use Apps in a Foreign Language

Besides language learning apps, there are lots of apps that can help you with your writing skills. Look for apps in a foreign language that demand writing.

Use a shopping list app, daily schedule app, weight loss app, motivation app, or any app that asks you to write updates. Those simple daily inputs can be your source of practice.

This may sound simple, but once you start, you’ll realize that you’ll be reaching for the dictionary every now and then. If you find it tough to remember some grammar rules or words, make flashcards to practice them some more.

The apps are useful because they can expand your knowledge on various topics. Install an app depending on the subject you want to write about. Just make sure that the app includes writing.

Final Thoughts

The best part of these ways of practicing writing is that they will cover it all. You get to learn how to write based on literature reading, you’ll learn internet slang, and you’ll also see the native’s writing style. This gives your writing practice a wider reach. Aside from being more fun than typical textbook writing assignments, these writing ideas are more versatile and engaging.

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