Reformulation
writinggrammaraccuracypracticeindividualhigh prep20-30 min
Teacher rewrites a student's text in natural English; student compares their version with the reformulation.
Procedure
- Student writes a short text (100-150 words).
- Teacher (or proficient speaker) rewrites it, preserving the student's meaning but using natural, correct English.
- Student receives both versions side by side.
- Student identifies and notes differences.
- Discuss: which changes are corrections? Which are style improvements?
Tips
- More powerful than error correction — students see what natural English looks like for THEIR ideas.
- AI tools can assist with reformulation at scale.
Related Activities
- Text Improvement
- Joint Construction
- Tell Me My Story
- Creative Copying
- Writing Peer Assessment
- Add and Pass - Make It Better
- Extensive Writing with Feedback
- Sentence Transformation Drill
- Hot Correction
- Error Detection
- Genre Transformation
- Band Descriptor Self-Assessment
- Paraphrase Passport
- Paraphrase Sprint
- Passive Transformation Drill
- Retranslation
- Reformulation Gallery