1. Make sure students understand the task

Before writing, students need to identify:

• What am I writing?
• Why am I writing it?
• Who is going to read it?
• What information must I include?
• What register should I use?

In Cambridge preparation, analysing the task carefully is essential. A grammatically excellent composition can still perform poorly if it does not answer the question appropriately.

2. Provide models before expecting production

Students need exposure to good examples of the type of text they are expected to produce.

Use model texts to identify:

• structure
• paragraph organisation
• useful expressions
• linking devices
• register
• grammatical structures
• relevant vocabulary

Do not simply give students a model to copy. Analyse why it works.

3. Plan before writing

Students often start writing immediately and decide what to say as they go.

Teach them to spend a few minutes planning:

Task → Ideas → Organisation → Language → Writing

For an essay, for example, students should decide the purpose of each paragraph before beginning to write.

Planning becomes increasingly important from B1 onwards.

4. Build the language before the task

Before asking students to produce a text, activate or teach some of the language they may need.

For example, before writing an opinion essay, revise:

• expressions for giving opinions
• connectors
• topic vocabulary
• useful grammatical structures

This provides scaffolding without writing the composition for them.

5. Teach paragraphs, not just sentences

As students progress, writing instruction must move beyond grammatical accuracy at sentence level.

Students need to understand how ideas are organised into paragraphs and how those paragraphs contribute to the whole text.

A paragraph should normally contain a clear central idea supported and developed by related information.

At higher levels, focus increasingly on cohesion, coherence and progression of ideas.

6. Develop range progressively

Students should be encouraged to move beyond the language they already use comfortably.

For example:

A2: I think…
B1: In my opinion…
B2: From my point of view…
C1: There is a strong argument to be made that…

However, more complex language is not automatically better. Vocabulary and grammar should be accurate, natural and appropriate to the task.

7. Use colour to analyse writing

Colour association can make abstract assessment criteria visible.

For example, students can highlight:

• discourse markers
• advanced vocabulary
• complex grammatical structures
• examples or supporting ideas

When students look at the completed text, they can quickly identify whether they are relying excessively on simple structures or repeating the same language.

Colour should be used as an analytical tool, not simply decoration.

8. Correct selectively and purposefully

Covering a composition in corrections can overwhelm students and often produces little learning.

Prioritise errors according to:

• the student’s level
• recurring mistakes
• language recently taught
• errors affecting communication
• the objectives of the writing task

Not every mistake needs the same amount of attention.

9. Make Students Participate in Correction: Using AI for Guided Self-Correction

Correction should be an active learning process. Whenever possible, students should identify, understand and correct their own mistakes rather than simply receiving a corrected version from the teacher.

AI tools such as ChatGPT can support this process when they are used for guided self-correction, not simply to rewrite the student’s work.

A practical classroom procedure is:

9.1. WRITE

Students write a complete composition or, when lesson time is limited, a shorter paragraph or section independently in class.

9.2. CHECK WITH AI

Students take a picture of their handwritten text and upload it to ChatGPT with a specific instruction:

“Correct the grammar, vocabulary, cohesion and coherence of this text. Keep my original ideas and level.”

9.3. COMPARE

Students compare their original version with the corrected version. They should not simply copy the AI-generated text.

They must identify what has changed and ask themselves:

“What did I write?”
“What has been changed?”
“Why was it changed?”

9.4. HIGHLIGHT

Students copy the corrected version and clearly identify their original errors and the corresponding corrections by underlining or highlighting both.

For example:

People is** → are** becoming more interested in protecting the environment.

This makes errors visible and encourages students to notice recurring patterns in their own writing.

9.5. SUBMIT

Students submit both their original writing and corrected version to the teacher. The teacher can then quickly check whether the corrections are appropriate and, more importantly, whether the student has correctly identified and understood their mistakes.

The objective is:

WRITE → RECEIVE FEEDBACK → COMPARE → NOTICE → CORRECT → LEARN

AI should act as a feedback tool, not as the writer. The student’s responsibility is to analyse the feedback and transform it into learning.

Important: AI corrections are not always accurate or appropriate to the student’s level. The teacher remains responsible for validating important corrections and helping students understand doubtful suggestions.

9.6. TEACHER ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK

The teacher should always assess the student’s original classroom version, written independently and without AI assistance. This is the text that provides reliable evidence of the student’s actual writing level.

The writing should be assessed using the official criteria corresponding to the student’s level, in the same way it would be evaluated under exam conditions. This allows both teacher and student to identify their current performance and monitor progress over time.

The AI-corrected version has a different purpose: learning rather than assessment.

The teacher should review the student’s correction process and recognise the work involved in identifying, comparing and understanding their own mistakes. Positive feedback should therefore acknowledge not only the quality of the original writing, but also the student’s ability to reflect on errors and learn from feedback.

In short:

ORIGINAL VERSION → ASSESS THE STUDENT’S LEVEL
SELF-CORRECTION → RECOGNISE THE LEARNING PROCESS

10. Give students the opportunity to improve their work

Feedback is considerably less useful if students simply look at the mark and never return to the text.

A useful writing cycle is:

Plan → Write → Feedback → Correct → Improve

Students should sometimes rewrite sentences, paragraphs or complete texts after receiving feedback.

The correction then becomes part of the learning process rather than simply an evaluation of the final product.

11. Connect writing with previous learning

Writing provides an excellent opportunity to recycle grammar and vocabulary from previous lessons.

When planning a writing activity, identify structures students already know and encourage them to use them.

Rather than simply saying:

“Use advanced grammar.”

give concrete objectives:

“Try to include a relative clause, one conditional and two expressions from the vocabulary we studied this week.”

This makes progression visible and encourages students to actively retrieve previously learned language.

12. Separate practice from assessment

Not every piece of writing needs to be marked as an exam.

Sometimes the objective should be experimentation, improvement or practising one particular feature.

Teachers should distinguish between:

Learning to write → Practising writing → Assessing writing

Especially during Cambridge preparation, students need all three.