Weal, E. (2013). Writing in English: Step by step. Palo Alto, CA: Tenaya Press. 182 pages, paperback.

It can be challenging for writing instructors to find texts to use with their lower level ESL students, particularly texts that systematically take students through a variety of writing exercises and build skills from the sentence level to the paragraph level. I can recall searching for materials and writing prompts and resorting to creating my own materials and modifying exercises from a variety of other textbooks to use with students in a language school in Chinatown, Manhattan, who had a very limited knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary. I would have benefited from a text like Writing in English: Step by Step, and, more important, my students would have perhaps built a better foundation for their writing skills with such a systematic approach.

Writing in English: Step by Step is divided into 12 thematic chapters, ranging from “All About Me” (Chapter 1) to “Writing About a Picture” (Chapter 5), to “The Vacation of my Dreams” (Chapter 12). Each chapter includes an opening reading section, followed by several lessons focusing on specific grammatical, mechanical, and structural skills, and then an editing challenge. Students then have a series of writing activities, which build skills for a culminating larger writing assignment, and then an editing checklist at the end of the chapter. Activities for each chapter include partner work titled “Talk about it,” “Think about it,” and “Write about it,” followed by a final individual activity titled “Practice.” In this way, the skill work can be interactive and students have a chance to engage with one another in the topic before writing about it.

Weal states at the start of the book that she wrote it geared toward students whose writing looks like this: “It was a busy day at the store. She was a talk on the phone. She not want buy candy for child” (p. vii). Accordingly, the book begins with the basics, defining letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs in Chapter 1, and moves through mechanics and grammar points such as capital and small letters (Chapter 2); identifying subjects and verbs and singular and plural (Chapter 3); adverbs of frequency and time expressions and negative sentences (Chapter 4); present continuous verbs, punctuation, and run-on sentences (Chapter 5); subject pronouns, topic sentences, and connectors like “and” and “or” (Chapter 6); adjectives, using details, and connectors like “and” and “but” (Chapter 7); more adjectives and adding sentence variety to paragraphs (Chapter 8); simple present, present continuous, action versus nonaction verbs, comparatives, and using “because” (Chapter 9); simple past, regular and irregular verbs, negative past tense (Chapter 10); special events, using “ago” and “last,” using “before,” “after,” and “when” (Chapter 11); and the future tense (Chapter 12). This systematic set of grammar and sentence structure items will help students go from writing a few words to writing paragraphs over the course. There are also appendixes including spelling rules and a list of irregular past tense verbs.

Although the book would not be helpful for students beyond a beginner’s level of English, the exercises included under the thematic units are a wonderful aide to teachers who are struggling to help lower level students practice reading, writing, and the use of typical phrases. Often, authentic texts and many textbooks are not at a basic enough level for such students, and this book is geared toward grammar practice and sentence structure work for students with a limited knowledge of English. A bonus for teachers is that there is no separate teacher’s guide needed, as the author has given instructions on the use of the text and suggested additional activities in the introduction.

Overall, Writing in English: Step by Step is well organized and includes a variety of lessons and activities to help beginning level students improve their grammar, vocabulary, and sentence writing skills. This book is useful for teachers who need a text that will be at the right level for students with lower levels of English proficiency and limited prior exposure to writing in English.

Rebekah Johnson, EdD, is an assistant professor at LaGuardia Community College, in the City University of New York, where she teaches academic ESL writing and courses in linguistics and bilingual education. She received her doctoral degree in applied linguistics from Columbia University Teachers College. Her research interests include second language writing, literacy, teacher education, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics.