Generative Writing
writingaccuracyfluencypracticeindividuallow prep15-20 min
Students are given a bank of sentence stems and must complete each to produce their own paragraph or short response. The stems scaffold target grammar while leaving meaning fully open.
Procedure
- Choose a target structure or rhetorical move. Example: adverbial openers for essays.
- Give students 8–12 sentence stems, each ending at the structural hinge:
- Despite the obvious benefits, ….
- In recent years, ….
- One reason for this trend is ….
- A less discussed consequence is ….
- Students complete each stem with their own content. 2–3 minutes per stem.
- Pairs exchange and read. Partners highlight the strongest completion and suggest one revision.
- Students combine the best 4–6 stems into a coherent paragraph.
Sentence Stem Banks
| Target | Stem examples |
|---|---|
| Second conditional | If I were..., I would... / I wouldn't... unless... |
| Opinion essay | While many argue..., I believe... / A further point is... |
| Describing trends | Numbers rose sharply between... / After peaking at..., the figure... |
| Reported speech | She told me that... / He wondered whether... |
Why It Works
- Separation of concerns: scaffolds the grammar so learners can concentrate on ideas.
- Forced range: the stem bank guarantees structural variety a learner wouldn't self-select.
- Generative, not copy: each completion is the learner's own content.
Variations
- Mixed-stem paragraph: stems are on cards; students draw three and must use all of them.
- Counter-stem: one student writes a stem; partner completes it.
- Genre transfer: take stems from a model text; students complete with their own topic.
Tips
- Stems work because they are unfinishable without the target form — don't cut the stem too early.
- After completion, always move to free writing without stems. The goal is independent production.
- Reuse stem banks across the course: they become a personal style repertoire.