Running head: BENEFITS OF WRITING LONGER FORMS OF ENGLISH

Benefits of Writing Longer Forms of English forYoung Non-Native English Speakers

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BENEFITS OF WRITING LONGER FORMS OF ENGLISH

2Abstract
Longer forms of writing in English have a negative image for junior and high school students,
especially those who are non-native. It is because they have to use academic language, andwriting longer pieces requires a lot of effort. They also have to spend a huge amount of timeon such assignments. From these points, they do not like to write longer forms of writing in
English even though they have to work on those often. However, this experience hassignificant merits which will be beneficial in the future; for example, in college and theworkplace. This essay explains why young non-native English speakers should work on
longer pieces of writing in English. It points out three merits that they are able to achievefrom working on these - improved English comprehension levels, critical thinking skills, andthe ability to complete tasks - and shows how valuable writing longer pieces in English is forthem.

BENEFITS OF WRITING LONGER FORMS OF ENGLISH

3Benefits of Writing Longer Forms of English for Non-native Young English Speakers
It is common to work on writing in junior and high school as a key part of learning.
Students have to do writing assignments in class or for homework for during their school
lives. It seems that this situation makes writing a normal thing for students. However, many
students hesitate to write in reality, especially longer forms of writing. Longer forms ofwriting refer to assignments such as term papers and essays. Students have negative feelings
about these because of two reasons: writing a lot requires deep consideration, consumes large
amounts of time, and thinking about a topic that that does not relate to them directly (Haley,n.d.). As can be seen, longer forms of writing require hard work. But there are some students
who have to work even harder to write these. They are the students who are required to writein English because English is a compulsory subject even though they are non-native. It ismuch more difficult to complete these tasks using unfamiliar language. However, people canimprove their second language by writing in that language for a short amount of time every
day, like by using diaries (Thomas, 2012). Why do students have to write longer pieces then?
This study shows that students do not need to write lengthy essays with a lot of pressures. Inaddition, people rarely write a lot these days. Most people just send short messages ineveryday life. To resolve this, this essay explains three merits for writing a long piece.
Today’s young non-native English speakers should work on longer forms of writing in
English to improve English comprehension levels, critical thinking skills, and to support theirability to complete tasks.
English Comprehension Levels
The first merit is to improve English comprehension skills. Writing a longer piecerequires many hours of work. This means that students have to face English for a long time,
which improves their level in writing, speaking, and reading.

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Learning vocabulary through writing is better than just reading because it uses theout-put technique (Browne, 2003). Students can put new vocabulary to use while writing,which they learned a short time ago, so it is easy to consolidate. It is the same with grammarand expressions too. Students practice those by using them in their writing and thenincorporate them into their own style (Able, n.d.). For speaking, writing provides familiarity
with English. Non-native English speakers tend to hesitate in speaking English (Katayama,2010). This is because of their negative feeling to it. They do not think that they can speak
English well, so they avoid talking. To break through this, Tokai University Hokkaido
Campus introduced the English Writing Course and made students write ten essays during
one term (Katayama, 2010). The teacher increased the length of the essays little by little to
make students engage with English longer. As a result, students learned useful expressions
and vocabulary and became more familiar with English. This led them to develop a positive
attitude toward English, and they began to speak it more often. Writing improves reading too
as students use various English sentence patterns while working on it (Graham & Hebert,2010). Sometimes, there are complicated sentences which are created by putting smaller unitsof writing together. Students become used to these complex sentences and go on to have abetter understanding of written structures. This makes it easier for students to readpublications, for instance, the articles and journals. It also leads to improved reading fluency.
Writing is the foundation of English and longer forms of writing can improve language skills
step by step.
English is no longer viewed as a foreign language today, especially in business,commerce, and technology (Postans, n.d.). He also stated “English also has a special status inover 75 countries with a total population of two billion speakers” (Postans, n.d., para 1). Thisshows that it is no longer special to speak English now. Furthermore, people will success ifthey have great English skills. From this, longer forms of writing are an effective way to gain

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comprehensive English skills efficiently. Improvement of English comprehension levels is a
merit of longer forms of writing.
Critical Thinking Skills
The second merit is to improve critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is a highly
cognitive skill which is important for people in many places such as universities orworkplaces (Southampton Solent University, n.d.). The Critical Thinking Community (n.d.)define it as “ that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which thethinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, andreconstructing it” (para 2). People who have gained this skill can see things open-mindedly
from different angles (Critical thinking community, n.d.). From this, critical thinking is very
important, and writing can develop this.
A university in the Pacific Northwest researched this by dividing biology students
into two groups in one academic year (Kurtz & Quiadamo, 2007). The writing groupinvolved 152 students who worked whose weekly laboratory meetings included writing tasks.
The non-writing group included 158 students and their meetings were based on questions.
The writing group wrote essays that had five paragraphs with supporting thesis statements forthree consecutive quarters. This means that they worked on longer forms of writing everyweek. Both groups took the California Critical Thinking Skills Test in order to measure thechanges. At the beginning of the course, they took the pretest. The posttest was carried out
nine weeks after that. As a result, the writing class’s national percentile rank in pretest was
45.17 and improved to 52.54 in the posttest. On the other hand, the nonwriting group’s rank
was 42.06 but declined to 39.97. This shows that longer forms of writing affect criticalthinking.
In addition, it is necessary for young English speakers to play an active role globallyin order to attain critical thinking skills. Japanese universities also know that and are trying toBENEFITS OF WRITING LONGER FORMS OF ENGLISH

6teach critical thinking, but in reality, they focus on memorizing many facts (Emoni, 2008).
The classes’ centers are the teachers and students just have to absorb information (Sheffner &Jean, 2005). This present situation will make students’ perspective narrow and weaken theircritical thinking. Japanese universities have to do something to address this and help students
to be globalized. It is hard to change the entire curriculum, but it is easy to make students
write more. Their thinking surely improves then and it is good for their future. From this,writing longer forms of writing develops critical thinking and is a merit for young Englishspeakers.
Ability to Complete Tasks
The third merit is to improve students’ ability to complete tasks. Longer forms ofwriting as assignments require the students to consider many things, for instance, the timethey have left before handing it in. It is challenging to worry about these things and write at
the same time, but it improves time management skills. While writing, organized students
think about the time available before the due date. Then they create a schedule to finish theassignment smoothly and begin their writing based on it. Other students who don’t do thisstill have the essay ready before the deadline by considering the time they have left.
Managing time effectively is necessary, especially when writing longer pieces in English
because many difficulties exist when working in a second language. If something happens
contrary to the writer’s expectations, they need to readjust the schedule accordingly. From
this process, students get better at keeping their time in charge. People who have effective
strategies to plan time can keep everything under control (University of Sussex, n.d.). Timemanagement is an important skill for people’s future lives.
Students also have to consider the word limit while writing. This means that theycannot write anything and everything. They need to select the strongest and most salient
points and disregard other information. They are also required to construct clear andBENEFITS OF WRITING LONGER FORMS OF ENGLISH

7persuasive paragraphs within the word limit. In addition, longer forms of writing improve theability to sustain focus on those strong points all the time (Grove, n.d.). This can also
improve the skill to explain those points carefully and in detail. From this, students candevelop the skills to complete work concisely.
To summarize, longer forms of writing in English can assist in developing many
useful skills. By using these skills, people are able to do their best work in a restrictedenvironment. This is very useful because this kind of situation exists in various places, forexample, workplaces and schools. In workplaces, people have to make persuasive documents
and power points in a short time in order to succeed in their dealings. If they fail to meet thedeadline are unable to make the presentation on time that influences others as well. For
instance, both inside and the outside of the working relationships would collapse whichwould take long time to fix. Clients also have to put their work hold which have deadlines aswell (Meilan, 2013). In school, students have to write long important pieces like graduationtheses. If they write them without focusing on key points, they cannot argue or assess theirthemes and get bad grades (Wright, 2011). Based on the points above, writing longer formsof writing improves students’ ability to complete tasks and is a merit for young English
speakers
Conclusion
Overall, longer forms of writing in English have many merits for young non-native
English speakers. They might not understand the importance and tend to focus on the effort
that they have to put in while writing. But this big task provides them with valuable language
and builds character. Writing longer forms of writing in English is an effective way toimprove entire English level. English is a global language all over the world and a key way tocommunicate with people in many countries. It is becoming a normal thing to have afunctional knowledge of English these days. But on the other hand, this situation means that

BENEFITS OF WRITING LONGER FORMS OF ENGLISH
people cannot do anything if they are unfamiliar with English. They are going to havedifficulty in workplaces or on trips. It is hard to overcome it in the short term. To have astandard or higher level of English is necessary both today and in the future. In addition,companies want people who can contribute to making profits and work well. Therefore,people who have critical thinking skills and the ability to complete tasks are welcomed. Ifthey have critical thinking skills, they can see things from many perspectives and have thepotential to break new ground or find fatal errors. This will provide benefits to companies.
Moreover, people with the ability to complete tasks can finish work efficiently, so they cancomplete several tasks to a high standard when compared with others. To summarize, thiswriting experience enables people to gain English knowledge and become valuable staffs inthe long term. Writing a long piece is preparation for students’ good futures and it is aworthwhile thing to do. It should be done in school. For improved English comprehension
levels, critical thinking skills, and an ability to complete tasks, young non-native English
speakers must be required to write long pieces in English.

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9References
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