Problems and solutions to students’ written work

Students like to practice writing. The desire to create is compelling. They can try putting what they know or what they have learned into practice to see if it works. Many respond to feedback, if not always in a way that is likely to be effective in improving their writing.

Correcting written work is laborious, time-consuming and not always an enjoyable task. The sheer number and variety of errors can leave one overwhelmed while the mental effort in constantly processing erroneous and unnatural strings of words can be exhausting.  Teachers often find it difficult to know how to give useful feedback. What proportion of the errors will they correct? What kind of errors will they focus on and what form will the feedback take? Should they practically re-write the text, simply indicate the presence of errors or focus on certain types of error only?
The length of time it takes teachers to correct written work and the incomplete or apparently arbitrary selection of areas they choose to correct can be frustrating and even discouraging to students
Many students write gibberish because they have no model. They never read. They work entirely with vocabulary and (imperfectly understood) grammar rules. In the worst cases, they simply try to write their own language using English words, ending up with text that is about as intelligible as Google Translate.

How can these factors be reconciled so that students can regularly submit written work, get prompt, useful, systemized feedback, and move along in a clear progression to further tasks and ultimate improvement?