Writing skills: formal and informal writing

Writing skills: formal and informal writing

To enable students to break down the different features of formal and informal English by working through a step-by-step text transformation at their own pace.

Materials

One copy for each student of…

1. A lesson on Register (Answer key in the Teacher’s notes)
2. Step by step worksheet (Answer key in “Informal text”)
3. Text to work on (to be given after the lesson) “Informal text” 

Explanation

This material is particularly relevant for the formal requirements of Business English and discursive essay writing (some Exams). After the lesson students can extract a list of rules for both vocabulary and grammatical differences between formal and informal English, which they can take away with them and apply elsewhere. The teacher could encourage them to do this as homework and start the next lesson in groups, drawing up what is remembered onto (A3?) paper. A possible list could be as follows:

Formal features	Informal features
Vocabulary items
Latin based words Uncommon words	Anglo Saxon words (phrasal verbs) Common words
Punctuation
Full words	Abbreviations Contractions
Grammar
Passive constructions Noun phrases Complext sentences	Active constructions Verb phrases Simple sentences

Alternatively, after the lesson, give out a list like the one above and get students to find examples from the text for homework.

Teacher’s notes

Some discussion on “register” is needed at the start in order to place the lesson in real life and let students see the reason for going through such a picky process. Be aware that the students’ first languages might not have the extent of differences between formal and informal language that English does. Discuss written and oral situations where formal register might be appropriate e.g.. business, administration, public notices, academia, discursive essays (such as CPE, IELTS and other exams require). To bring the topic to life why not make a brief reference to the Norman Conquest, when Latin based French was introduced into English along with the aristocracy.