One of the five traits of writing that may seem daunting to young writers—and maybe even to parents and teachers—is “Language Use and Style.”  While it is fairly easy to help children identify language errors, such as misspellings, in their writing, helping them to improve their language style can be challenging.

Errors in word choice, usage, and conventions, after all, properly belong within the category of “Mechanics and Conventions” and involve a writer’s proficiency with mostly hard and fast rules of English.  Language style, as the name suggests, involves something less firm than a hard and fast rule; it is more artistic in nature and engages a writer’s ability to use language creatively and expressively to communicate a message, as well as something of the writer’s own personality, to the reader.

Hence, it is important that we help children make this distinction while engaged in the writing process: While revising an essay, a child should look at the words and sentences he or she has used and endeavor to make them more varied, clear, and illustrative; while editing an essay, a child should look at the words and sentences he or she has used and endeavor to make them correct.

TIP

Try the following technique to help your child understand the importance of language style.  With a little help, he or she can become a more proficient and interesting writer!

1. Review the Writer’s Models and Commentary for a writing topic of your choice.  The writer’s models are samples of actual student writing and the commentaries are explanations of why the sample received the score it did.  These writing samples can be found on the student workpage within the Writer’s Toolbox.
 
2. Review a sample essay that was scored three.  Read the introduction with your student and ask him or her to discuss the words and sentences—simple, vague, or repeated—that demonstrate a poor language style.

3. Next, review the introduction of a sample essay that was scored six.  Discuss the elements of language style—words and sentences—in this sample.  Notice how the higher-scoring sample is more sophisticated and uses language to convey the author’s voice, or personality, more clearly.

4. Have your student underline similar ideas in the two sample introductions.  Ask the student, “What does this word mean?  Who would use this word?  What is a synonym for this word?”  Discuss the differences in language style between the two paragraphs.  The fact that the two paragraphs address the same writing task will help these differences stand out.

5. To apply language style revisions to his or her own writing, ask the student to underline words in his or her own essay that might be too simple or vague.  Use Lexipedia™ (http://www.lexipedia.com/), a thesaurus, or the Word Bank on the student workpage to find alternatives.  Next, identify simple sentences that might be combined.  Finally, conduct a sound check: Have the student read the writing out loud.  Does the writing convey the student’s personality?  Does it sound like him or her?

By diligently revising his or her language use, your student will learn to appreciate the intricacies of the English language and make the most effective and interesting word choices while writing.  Somewhere along the way, he or she will find his or her unique voice!

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