In my 5+ years as a freelance editor on the IU campus, I've worked with hundreds of clients whose first languages have ranged from Arabic to Thai (and everything in between!). Depending on each client's educational background—and especially if the first language uses a writing system other than the Latin alphabet—I have found that most English-L2 academic editing clients' speaking skills in English tend to be much stronger than their writing skills, at least when they haven't worked with an editor regularly. Native speakers with dyslexia, dysgraphia, or other disorders of written expression may also be much more comfortable speaking than writing in English.
If you speak more easily and fluently than you write in English, this tip is for you! Even if you are not an especially auditory (ear-based) learner, this tip may still be helpful. This tip is as easy as downloading a free audio recording app onto your iPhone or other smartphone. (I have an Android device and use one simply called Audio Recorder.) Next time you want to write a paragraph or even a sentence in your next paper, just think through what you want to say and say it out loud into the audio recording app on your phone. Then replay the recording and type the words you just spoke! More often than not, you'll find a simpler and clearer way to say something when you are just speaking it into the recording device, because you're not attempting to impress your professors with your big vocabulary. Remember, though: well-constructed ideas, spoken or written clearly and simply, are going to be much more convincing to the reader (your professor) than a bunch of unnecessarily long and unclear sentences that you stuffed with big words to impress your reader. Those of you whose first language uses another writing system (not the Latin alphabet) may see the most immediate benefit from this speech-to-audio-recorder technique, since it takes more brainpower (specifically working memory) to hold your idea in your head as you translate that idea into a written alphabet with which you may not be entirely comfortable yet. If you record your speech first and type what you said later, your working memory doesn't have to hold that idea for several minutes as you pick out the letters and words. That way, your idea is less likely to be "lost in translation" as it's being transferred from your brain to the computer screen. Try speaking your ideas into the recorder app as you write your next paper and let me know how it worked for you!
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