Discussion is a great way to help learners develop their ideas about a topic before they start doing any writing.

It gives an opportunity to think at length and to hear the thoughts of others.

The fluid nature of speech means learners can edit, refine, rehash, delete and alter their ideas at will, without leaving any traces behind.

This is beneficial because, when it comes to writing, learners can produce work that has already gone through a drafting process.

It is up to you whether you signal to learners that they will be doing some writing following a discussion.

On the one hand, this can cause them to think about how their discussion will ultimately lead to the writing they’re going to do.

For example, it might lead them to take more detailed notes than would otherwise have been the case.

On the other hand, indicating that a writing task is to follow may have the effect of inhibiting learners.

Some may not wish to share their thoughts, preferring to keep them to themselves, while others may struggle to keep their attention on the task in hand.

Personally, I prefer to tell learners that writing will follow discussion but that both are of equal importance.

I also add that the better the discussion the more likely it is that the writing will come easily.

I then tend to not mention the writing again until after the discussion is completed.

This avoids turning learners’ attention away from the task in hand and stops the discussion being undermined by thoughts of what is to follow.

Using discussion to precede writing requires a little bit of careful planning.

First, it is important that you ensure the two tasks are closely connected and that their relationship is clear to learners.

If not, there is the risk that learners will get confused during the transition and will not be able to make use of the speaking, listening and thinking work they have done when they come to start writing.

Second, you should consider the relative difficulty levels of the two tasks and the amount of scaffolding they may require.

For many learners, speaking is easier than writing. As such, you may need to give more support during the written task.

Further, the different demands made by writing may mean that it is not possible to deal with the topic in the same way as was the case during the discussion.

You will need to decide whether the same approach can be used, or if it will need to be altered to fit the different medium.

Let’s now look at three examples of how you can use discussion to precede writing:

• Learners are given different arguments they need to defend, all connected to the same overarching question. As a result, most learners end up identifying with the argument for which they have been advocating. During the discussion, they also develop an understanding of the various other arguments, by listening to their peers. The written task plays to these strengths by asking learners to defend the position they spoke in favour of while also explaining why they disagree with the other arguments.

• There is a general discussion about a particular topic in which a number of different issues are explored. For the writing task, the teacher identifies these issues and places them on the board so the whole class can see them. The teacher explains that learners can choose which of the issues they would like to write about. They have the option of picking one and producing an in-depth piece of work or picking a few and covering each in less detail.

• The discussion is based on a big question. The debate revolves around this and learner contributions are always brought back to it. The aim is to try to answer the question. In the written task, learners take the question as their title and are presented with two options. They can either provide an overview of the various points that were put forward or they can write an extended piece arguing for their own point of view. Either way, they will be producing a piece of work that draws on the discussion, and which is focussed and structured.

In each of these examples we can see how the discussion and writing tasks are linked.

It’s not about tacking a discussion task onto a writing task.

Instead, it’s about planning a pair of complementary tasks that fit well and make sense to learners. By planning in this way, you can draw the maximum benefit from using discussion to precede writing.

On a final note, it is perfectly possible to have a further discussion after learners have finished their writing.

This could be about learners’ views and how these have been affected by the writing they have done, or it could centre on the quality of the writing itself.

If the latter option, this is an opportunity for discussion that involves reflection, peer-assessment or self-assessment.