How Does Writing Help In Ideation

Writing has been widely used as a tool for communicating ideas, but less is known about how writing can improve the ideation process itself. “Writing is thought to be a vehicle for improving student learning.” (Hand and Prain, 2002). Historically, writing is thought to contribute to the development of critical thinking skills. Applebee (1984) suggested that “writing improves thinking because it requires an individual to make his or her ideas explicit and to evaluate and choose among tools necessary for effective discourse.” Resnick 

(1987) stressed that writing should provide an opportunity to think through arguments and that, if used in such a way, could serve as a “cultivator and an enabler of higher order thinking.”

“Writing used as a means to restructure knowledge improves higher-order thinking. In this context, writing may provide opportunity for students to think through arguments and use higher-order thinking skills to respond to complex problems”. (Marzano, 1991)

Writing has also been used as a strategy to improve conceptual thinking. Initial work focused on how the recursive and reflective nature of the writing process contributes to student thinking (Applebee, 1984; Langer and Applebee, 1985, 1987; Ackerman, 1993). Subsequent work has focused on how writing 

within disciplines helps students to learn content and how to think. Specifically, writing within disciplines is thought to require deeper analytical thinking (Langer and Applebee, 1987), which is closely aligned with critical 

thinking. Thus, we can see miscellaneous analyses of expertson how writing helps in thinking.

Particularly, in the present scenario, note taking can be mentioned as one of the writing methods which help the learners to think in English. There are three main reasons why taking notes is an excellent way to help think in English: 

•Focus 

When learners attentively take notes in English, they prevent their mind from thinking anything else in any other language, and they are as focused as possible on the task of thinking in English.

•Memory 

Note taking is an easy way to help recall the important things long after the lesson. Their 

memory retains what they write, and weave many more ideas related to the topic in the 

same language. Thus, it stimulates more and more thinking in English.

•Organization 

As they persist in note-taking, their mental skills improve. They start thinking a lot better way because this note-taking activity helps them to methodically organize their ideas. The way they organize notes as they take them will help them shape their creative thinking.

Writing, hence, improves ideation. Studies have shown that the thoughtful nature of the writing process contributes to the learning and thinking skills of the learners. Writing in certain disciplines promotes ideation, which is coordinated with critical thinking. Though note-taking is not strictly compulsory but taking notes while learning ‘ideation in English’ can really help a learner to think in a quicker and easier way.

References

•Hand B., Prain V. (2002) Teachers Implementing Writing-To-Learn Strategies in Junior Secondary Science: ACase Study. Sci. 

Educ.86 (6):737–755.

•Marzano, R. J. Fostering Thinking Across the Curriculum Through Knowledge Restructuring. 991; 34(7):518–525.