Professional Development - page 8

Simon Porter first trained as a lawyer before pursuing a CELTA. Lately, he’s been advocating for Plain Language in Legal Writing. What he’s learned about how to write has important implications for business English.

Porter recently led a workshop for ELTABB that laid out the elements of writing in Plain English. He also shared how to convince skeptical clients and students why clear writing is so important.

The Search for Strong Writing

Porter spent years proofreading to make legal writing more accessible and comprehensible. For him, it was easy to see when an idea wasn’t being communicated clearly. However, he wanted to figure out how to teach young lawyers how to write more clearly and concisely.

He quickly realized that available writing exercises are often at odds with the communication goals of business and law.

For instance, English exam books focus on passing the test by showing an ability to use a wide range of vocabulary and complex grammar. Business communication, on the other hand, requires only the grammatical structures needed to get the idea across and the vocabulary pertinent to the industry.

Similarly, exam writing may focus on fully informing the reader and even encourage longer discourse. By contrast, business writing prizes brevity and usually centers on a “call to action” for the reader.

When Porter turned to business and legal writing books, the results weren’t much better: they either referenced exams or used examples that didn’t correspond to real-life experience. Above all, the resources Porter found focused on the “what” of writing, but not the “how.”

So, how does one write clearly and concisely? Porter finally found his answer when he came across Plain English.

What is Plain English?

Called Plain English or the Plain Language approach, the basic rules explain how to best communicate your message.

First of all, the reader is the focus: the writer must start by making sure the reader can understand and make decisions based on what they’ve read. This may include formatting that favors headlines and smaller chunks of text instead of large blocks of dense reading.

Simplicity—not complexity—is a hallmark of good writing.

Other guidelines include favoring the active voice over the passive (“we sent the letter” vs “the letter was sent”) and favoring verbs over nouns (“discuss” vs “have a discussion”). Plain Language also encourages reducing unnecessary text, arguing that simplicity—not complexity—is a hallmark of good writing.

Porter acknowledged that it’s not always easy to convince clients that plain language is a better way to write. Thus, he shared some ways to educate clients who think “sophisticated” writing can’t be simple.

Why Plain Language Matters

If you’re an expert in your subject, but you can’t clearly communicate your ideas, then what good are they?

Porter would argue that plain language enables his clients to better share their expertise, and he’s done the research to back it up. In the workshop, Porter shared with us a study by Benson and Kessler that showed the plainer your English is, the more educated you’re perceived to be in your field, and the more persuasive you are.

He noted that evidence-based studies like these are the key to convincing skeptical businesses that this style of writing can be more effective than the “way they’ve always done things.” He also suggests identifying proven benefits to clients; for instance, fully informing customers creates better relations and can even save money when you don’t have to hire a telephone bank to help interpret your poorly written instructions or rules.

“Plain” writing focuses on the most effective way to reach the target.

Porter also points out that many large corporations, especially tech companies, are rewriting their in-house style guides according to plain language guidelines. In fact, governments like the US, UK, and EU are now prioritizing its use. In general, he emphasizes to potential clients how important writing is to business communication.

He also highlights that unclear writing is a problem across all industries for both native and non-native speakers. Rather than impressing clients, “sophisticated” writing often confuses readers while “plain” writing focuses on the most effective way to reach the target.

Shifting the Focus from Reader to Writer

Porter shared with us his own research survey. It critiques a Cambridge study that claimed reading and speaking are the two most important skills in business communication. He noticed that the study didn’t interview employees but rather their bosses, who tend to focus on problems that can be solved in-house.

However, Porter pointed out that it’s unfair to blame employees’ reading skills. When they receive incomprehensible emails, they may ignore what they can’t understand. Reading is really a two-way street between the reader and the writer. Perhaps it’s not reading skills that are at fault, but rather the sender’s writing skills.

70% of employees said that writing was the skill they used most. When asked which skill they’d like training to improve, 95% chose writing over reading.

Porter decided to run his own study and surveyed employees about which skills they thought would be most important before they entered the job market (speaking). He also asked them which skills are the most important now that they’re in the workplace (writing). In fact, almost 70% of employees said that writing was the skill they used most.

When asked which skill they’d like training to improve, 95% chose writing over reading.

How to Teach Plain Writing

After the workshop break, Porter led participants in analyzing some English textbook writing exercises. He helped us see how business writing books fall short when it comes to useful exercises that actually help students learn “how” to write.

He then showed us how to create short and simple practice assignments that address audience, context, formality, and format, rather than testing students on their proofreading, which can easily be left to Grammarly.

We also looked at how adding small, flexible writing exercises to every class can give students skills which more effectively transfer to a business environment. Writing multiple quick emails and instant messages a day is the norm for many employees.

Porter’s workshop was an eye-opener for many participants. It was also a confirmation for those of us who know how essential clear writing is in today’s workplace. He thoroughly impressed us with his research, examples, and robust defense of Plain English writing.

For more about Simon Porter’s work, you can find him on:

• Website – https://writtenlegalenglish.com
• YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/writtenlegalenglishpl
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/writtenlegalenglish/
• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonporter/
• Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/writtenlegalenglish

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With her art and design background, Sherri encouraged our own creativity by sharing the ways she uses images to guide learning and spark discussion among learners.

By this point in the coronavirus crisis, I am no longer intimidated by having to teach my courses online, but I’ve been wrestling with how to inject more spontaneity and liveliness into my computer-based lessons. Participating in Sherri Williams’ webinar on using visual communication in the language classroom couldn’t have been better timed.

The power of visual communication

For starters, Sherri emphasized the primacy of visual communication. As she explained, the visual sense is so powerful that it uses more neurons than the other four senses combined. This comes as no surprise, as it preceded language development in human beings. 

Visual communication is effective because it:

• eliminates problems of communicating across different languages
• illustrates complex concepts quickly and clearly
• facilitates memory and recollection
• promotes creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, and
• helps you stand out from the crowd (think logos)

Visual communication in the classroom

In the classroom, visual communication works well because it

• is appealing and engaging
• helps structure ideas and information
• reduces cognitive demand on the learner since structures and relationships are already shown
• improves recall and retention
• creates a visual record of learning
• limits note taking and encourages fluency (for example, Sherri’s Visual Springboarding worksheets provide only limited space for notes, encouraging learners to describe images and relationships in their own words)
• can be effective in groups of multi-level learners

Authentic content

Due to the fact that “normal” people are now publishing content on the web and social media, not only are we used to seeing imperfect content, but we actually prefer the authenticity of content that hasn’t been produced by professionals. This means anyone can harness the power of creating and using images in language learning!

We actually prefer the authenticity of content that hasn’t been produced by professionals.

Just making the letters of the alphabet already requires us to draw lines and curves. So if you can do that, you can draw simple images for use in your lessons.

Tools and methods to apply in the language classroom

Having established how powerful visual communication is, Sherri walked us through some tools and methods we could use to exploit the power of visual communication in the classroom. Google any of these to see some examples and get more ideas for how you might use them in your classes or have learners generate them.

1. Mind maps

Mind maps can be a useful way to brainstorm things like vocabulary individually or collaboratively. They’re also a good way to diagram relationships between things.

2. Fishbone cause and effect diagram

These diagrams are a way of displaying possible causes for an ultimate effect or for brainstorming problems and solutions.

3. Sketch journals

Sketch journals can be used for all the things we might use a traditional journal for—except in a sketch journal, our notes are made up of sketched images along with minimal text. Sherri let us see an excerpt from her own sketch journal, two pages where she drew pictures of things she felt grateful for.

At this point in the webinar, we broke into groups and practiced this technique by “drawing” our CVs, and in the process, learning some very interesting things about our fellow group members, and the diverse paths that brought us all to language teaching.

4. “DrawToast” visual brainstorming activity

Sherri next introduced us to the ideas of “business visualization” expert Tom Wujec, and his “DrawToast” method of having groups brainstorm the “nodes” and “links” between parts of processes. Wujec uses this method to help organizations address problems by collaboratively drawing them out. Participants draw the nodes (or individual parts of a process) using post-it notes or cards and work together to organize them into a synthesized process.

Wujec’s demonstrates this method (which he discusses in an interesting Ted Talk) by having groups draw out the answer to the question, “How do you make toast?” (For instructions on how to conduct an activity like this, see Wujec’s website at DrawToast.com.)

I teach engineering students and legal professionals, so I want to use the “DrawToast” method when teaching online to have students collaboratively describe a process or give instructions by using a virtual post-it note wall like Padlet. Someone else suggested that I could teach linking words and the functional language that connects ideas by focusing students on the links between nodes.

5. Flipchart drawing

Sherri said that many organizations are moving away from PowerPoint presentations, and instead asking presenters to use old-fashioned flip charts.

Presenting this way keeps the focus on the speaker’s interaction with the audience and makes the presentation more spontaneous. One of my engineering students did his final presentation this way last year, and it was remarkably effective. Sherri suggested checking out these additional tips.

6. Sketchnoting

Like sketch journaling, sketchnoting is a way of taking notes to summarize the main points of meetings or presentations using a combination of sketched images and text.

Sherri recommended this article of tips for sketchnoting.

7. Visual Springboarding

Visual Springboarding, Sherri’s own creation, is a way of using image-based worksheets to structure presentations or spark discussion. An illustrated worksheet provides ideas and structure but space for minimal notes. So while the speaker can use the notes they make, they need to come up with the language themselves. This is a great way to develop fluency. Some sample worksheets are available on Sherri’s website.

I am looking forward to having students share and explain personalized versions Sherri’s Visual Springboarding worksheets online. It will be a nice change from sharing blank whiteboards. The worksheets are eye-catching and engaging, and will encourage learners to be creative in the language they produce. And I’m sure I am not the only one who left the webinar feeling inspired to experiment with the rest of Sherri’s techniques—even those of us who think we can’t draw!