Alternative Brainstorming: New Approaches to Systematic Writing

Ryan Eller, US

Ryan Eller is the Masters of Instructional Science and Technology Program Coordinator at California State University Monterey Bay. His current research interests include: ESL student motivation, ESL and Instructional Design, and Second Language Acquisition. E-mail: reller@csumb.edu

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Introduction
Background
Examples of alternative brainstorming
Conclusions
References

Introduction

Brainstorming is an important step in writing process. For ESL and EFL students, writing itself has been shown to aid language acquisition, since it helps learners to acquire new vocabulary and continue practicing using new grammar rules. (Bello, 1997) Ibnian (2011), in a study on brainstorming and its uses in EFL writing effectiveness, found that those who employed brainstorming, or associated practices, scored better on their essays versus students who did not. In short, since brainstorming aids students to formulate their ideas before they begin their writing, and aids in the process of learning new material, brainstorming can be viewed as an effective teaching tool and an important learning aid.

Brainstorming can be done in a formulaic manner or in a more free-flowing approach. I argue that brainstorming can be approached in new and unique manners, even including new locations of even where the writing takes place.

Background

Steph Van Valin (2014) recommends approaching brainstorming in five ways, highlighted in bold below. I recommend addendums to these ideas to help delve deeper upon his approach to the brainstorming process.

1. Suspending judgment on ideas that one perceives to be incorrect. What one might view as incorrect at the beginning of the planning process could very likely become the focus, or a strong component, of his or her essay as the piece becomes more fully finished.
2. Be curious, not critical. By approaching new ideas in an open manner, ideas can be fully thought out in a more non-systematic approach. In short, earlier in the writing process, staying away from a structured approach allows for more ideas to flourish within the writer, and hopefully, onto paper.
3. Think it, say it, write it. As an idea comes to mind, it is recommended that the writer instantly put it on paper. This is akin to forming a database of ideas for the writer to refer back to as each part of the essay becomes clearer and fleshed out.
4. Quantity creates quality. Finding quality ideas to further one’s piece is easier as more ideas are on paper. By having more ideas on paper, it is arguable that the fear of creating quality ideas is eased, since each idea can be explored as needed.
5. Piggyback on ideas. Each idea can be the host for a new idea. In short, every idea can be a spark for another idea and can be delineated further and further as needed.

I recommend that students take new and varied approaches to the brainstorming process. These approaches include three ideas I term as “kinesthetic brainstorming”, “delayed brainstorming”, and “reverse brainstorming”. Any brainstorming approach will assist in writing, but these three alternative methods are meant to allow writers to take a new look on an old process.

Kinesthetic brainstorming can be an aid for both kinesthetic learners and even those who are simply stuck with writer’s block. Aiding kinesthetic learners with alternative approaches isn't necessarily a new idea in and of itself. Leopold (2012), recommends that teachers give students essay pieces on a cue card and then group up with other students to share their ideas, based on the information on their cue card. However, I argue that kinesthetic brainstorming can be as simple as walking outside and recording ideas on paper or an electronic device.

Delayed brainstorming is an idea focused on the approach of not expediting writing for the sake of rushing to finish it. I recommend taking a longer, looser approach, for longer essays and research pieces. By taking multiple breaks, and a longer overall time to write, more ideas can come to the writer as they continuously think back and revisit their own writing.

Reverse brainstorming is a somewhat more radical idea and approach to the writing process. For this approach, I recommend writing a response to an essay prompt, or assignment, in as close to one sitting as possible. By writing a response like this, one can go back and criticize their own writing and keep ideas that work and remove those that don’t.

Examples of alternative brainstorming

For each of the three brainstorming techniques, I will offer how I would see them being used best for certain writing pieces.

Kinesthetic brainstorming

I recommend that all writers employ kinesthetic brainstorming given time to do so. Naturally, certain writing tasks, such as in-class short responses, won’t always allow for this. However, if a writer has the time to do so, employing this creative writing process can be helpful in the following ways:

1. Firstly, it deconstructs writing as a formal process. By taking time to leave the computer, the paper, etcetera, it allows the writer to revisit that ideas come from within. In short, brainstorming on a computer in a library, or at the beach with a notepad, are both suitable practices with the same end goal in mind.
2. Secondly, it allows the author to destress constantly throughout the writing process. Since the writing process is taken in a less formal manner, the writer doesn’t have to feel rushed to begin the piece.
3. Thirdly, kinesthetic brainstorming can be done at any point in the writing process. If the author plans a piece in full and then begins the writing, but becomes disappointed or unfocused with the piece as he or she goes, the writer can once again leave their work station and take time to think in an alternative setting.

For a more concrete example, I used kinesthetic brainstorming in the construction of this piece. While walking to the ocean from my parent’s home, I thought about my own writing and how I approached it. As I was walking, I took out my phone and recorded how I brainstorm pieces on the phone’s notepad application. This process of walking, thinking, and writing, allowed me to take a more introspective approach to the brainstorming process. I didn’t worry about having a completely perfect idea, I didn’t stress about what I was going to write as I brainstormed, and was able to think out this particular piece over a multitude of outside, walk-and-think brainstorm sessions where I all I did was record ideas that helped me write pieces I was proud about.

While simple, this allowed me to plan this manuscript entirely without having to over think the piece, while completely exploring each idea I had about my own personal writing process.

Delayed brainstorming

I only recommend delayed brainstorming for those who have ample time before a piece is needed to be completed. Delayed brainstorming is useful in the following ways:

1. Firstly, it allows a writer to set a clear and definable timeline. By setting a timeframe for each piece of the brainstorm, it allows an author to fully explore each section by giving it the time it deserves.
2. Secondly, by taking a longer time to brainstorm, naturally more ideas can be explored since more ideas will come since the writing process won’t be started in as quick of a manner. In short, the longer one takes before he or she begins the writing process, the more potential ways of attacking the essay will present itself. However, this is a potential pitfall for those who have issues with task avoidance, since it delays the inevitable need to start the piece itself.
3. Delayed brainstorming can be easily carried over to the writing process itself. While I wouldn’t necessarily categorize it as delayed writing, one can take ample time while writing. By doing so, each part of the piece won’t feel rushed and the quality of the writing would likely be stronger, both in terms of content and grammatical efficiency.

A former teaching activity I used was a week-long brainstorming process with my ESL students. During each class, the student would research their topic, work on an outline for his or her essay, or plan the structure for the piece itself. Depending on the age and writing skills of the students, I generally used the following scaffolding items, which changed based on the preceding stated factors:

• A detailed plan of the structure and content of the essay.
  • The essay title
  • The thesis or central argument of the essay.
  • What was the introduction going to do? Was it going to introduce a central concept for readers who are new to the subject or would it solely outline the essay itself?
  • How long was the body going to be, to fully develop the ideas needed to answer the thesis or central argument?
  • How was the conclusion going to leave the reader with your essay in mind?
• Research Topic
  • What does the author need to know to answer his or her own thesis?
  • What is known about both sides of the argument?
  • What is known as fact within the field of study the essay is apart of?
• Outline
  • In the outlining phase, I have students begin to write ideas that they will share in the following pieces of the essay:
    • Introduction - mainly the thesis itself.
    • Body - listing ideas and arguments that the author feels comfortable exploring with authority at the current moment.
    • Conclusion - restating the central thesis or argument and the lasting impression you wish to leave the reader with.

By doing this over a week-long timeframe, my hope was that students wouldn’t feel rushed, but also for them to hopefully take the essay “home” with them. By that, I actually ask them not to write the essay itself while at home, but I do promote students to think and write down ideas no matter if they are in class or not.

Reverse brainstorm

The reverse brainstorm is a somewhat more novel idea. By writing a response and then revisiting the completed piece, a new brainstorming process can be started. I loosely name this as a “brain dump” where one writes a response to a shorter prompt and then does a more systematic brainstorm based on the free write completed previously.

While I haven’t used this approach often in my own or my students’ writing, I will outline below how I have used it. I mainly recommend this approach when writing a piece that is:

• Mostly opinion based writing, so that a student isn’t writing a response without having previously done research (if needed).
• In response to a specific prompt that will be evaluated based on a complete investigation by the author in regards to it.
• Shorter, since a long piece would be too time consuming to write, brainstorm, and rewrite for.

The last time I have used this brainstorm approach was when I was in graduate school. I had to write a piece that was only 250 words in total, but the topic was relatively new to me at that particular time. As such, I wrote everything I knew about the subject, but also what I thought might connect to the topic as well. After I wrote a complete response that was double the length of the requirement, I went back and cut ideas that I thought previously were correct or had merit (but later were found to be off base). Afterwards, I brainstormed a short new draft keeping the original conclusion, allowing me to forego needing to include that in the brainstorm process.

By doing this, I was able to complete a response to this particular prompt in a single sitting. Essentially, I view the reverse brainstorm as a combination of a free write, alongside a shorter and more refined brainstorm. Through a dynamic combination, the writing process can be explored in a new way that would essentially allow the author to go through a quicker brainstorm process, focused entirely on areas where the essay needs the most improvement.

Conclusions

Brainstorming, while rarely required by teachers, is an important process to improving one’s writing and allowing an author a scaffold upon which to build a stronger essay. Additionally, some students will show aversion to brainstorming because it can feel like brainstorming is adding to the writing process, versus making it easier.

As such, to help alleviate this concern, I recommend that teachers meet their students halfway when it comes to brainstorming. It is entirely possible to make the brainstorming process fun, engaging, and non-traditional.

The brainstorming approaches detailed above allow for students to take brainstorming on in new ways. If a student is a kinesthetic learner, or is having a hard time focusing at their desk, he or she could very likely benefit from taking a kinesthetic approach to their brainstorming process. If a student has a long time to write an essay, he or she could benefit from elongating the time it takes to complete the brainstorm itself. Lastly, if a response is going to be shorter in nature, taking the less traditional draft/free write and then brainstorm approach can shorten the time to complete the whole piece.

No matter how a student brainstorms, the benefits are worth guiding students to brainstorm for every piece that they write. One never knows when an idea will turn into a complete written piece, as such, brainstorming can be the difference between struggling through the writing process, instead of making the process simple and stress-less.

References

Bello, T. (1997). Improving ESL Learners' Writing Skills. ERIC Digest.

Ibnian, S. (2011). Brainstorming and essay writing in efl class. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1(3), 263-272.

Leopold, L. (2012). Prewriting tasks for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. TESL Canada Journal, 29(2), 96.

Valin, S. (2014). Brainstorming. Leadership Excellence, 31(2), 20.

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