JS News: The qualities of great writing

By Emily Begbie, Assistant Head of Junior School, Teaching and Learning

“It isn’t that hard to tell whether a piece of writing is good or bad… But things get more challenging if you have to explain why it's good. Even harder than that is analyzing the good things a writer is doing so you can learn to use his or her techniques in your own work. And teaching others how to use them is the hardest of all but that, of course, is exactly what we need to be able to do.” — Steve Peha

In Week 2’s edition of the Bulletin this term, we looked at the writing process, one of the keys to writing success for students of all ages. From Kindergarten onwards, knowledge of the writing process supports students to become confident, independent and increasingly skilled writers. The writing process provides a roadmap – a scaffold to help students move from an idea to a piece of writing they can share with others.

A vital complement to the writing process – the flip side of the writing coin, if you like – is an understanding of the qualities of great writing. In addition to knowing the writing process, students need to understand what goes into crafting a piece of writing, and they need a vocabulary to talk about it.

So, what are the characteristics of effective writing? What aspects of the writer’s craft do we identify and explicitly teach children? In the primary years, the qualities of great writing are often referred to as the ‘writer’s traits’, based on the pioneering literacy research of Ruth Culham[1]. The writer’s traits provide a common language for capturing the key characteristics of writing and form a meaningful framework for explicit instruction in the craft of writing.

Culham identifies six key traits of writing: ideas, organisation, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions. She also adds a ‘plus one’, which is presentation, the overall appearance of a written piece. The six writer’s traits are neatly described by literacy specialist Steve Peha[2]:

Ideas that are interesting and important.
Ideas are the heart of the piece — what the writer is writing about and the information he or she chooses to write about it.

Organisation that is logical and effective.
Organisation refers to the order of ideas and the way the writer moves from one idea to the next.

Voice that is individual and appropriate.
Voice is how the writing feels to someone when they read it. Voice is the expression of the writer's personality through words.

Word Choice that is specific and memorable.
Good writing uses just the right words to say just the right things.

Sentence Fluency that is smooth and expressive.
Fluent sentences are easy to understand and fun to read with expression.

Conventions that are correct and communicative.
Conventions are the ways we all agree to use punctuation, spelling, grammar, and other things that make writing consistent and easy to read.

In the Junior School, the writer’s traits are taught in an explicit and ongoing way from Kindergarten to Year 6. Writing is a complex task, and becoming a good writer takes time and practice. By focusing on the traits through explicit instruction and guided practice, our teachers support students to think deeply about their writing and – over time – to develop their craft.

[1] Culham is the recognised expert in the traits of writing field, and author of numerous professional resources including 6 + 1 Traits of Writing (2005), Using Mentor Texts to Teach Writing with the Traits (2010) and The Writing Thief (2016)

[2] Peha, S., Looking for Quality in Student Writing: Learning to see the things kids can do so we can teach them to do the things they can't, www.ttms.org, retrieved 11 June 2021