Imitation: The Most Natural Way to Teach Good Writing

Instead of rules and formulas, the most effective, tried-and-true style of writing instruction begins with reading and imitation.

Copying great writing helps students absorb the rhythm and structure of language on a deeper level. DeanDrobot/Getty Images

“Writing is learned by imitation,” the great writing teacher William Zinsser wrote. “Students often feel guilty about modeling their writing on someone else’s writing. They think it’s unethical—which is commendable. Or they’re afraid they’ll lose their own identity. The point, however, is that we eventually move beyond our models; we take what we need and then we shed those skins and become who we are supposed to become.”

There’s a great deal of wisdom encapsulated in Zinsser’s words—for both students and teachers. In my experience as a teacher and writing tutor, the best writers are invariably the students who read widely and well. There’s a feel for the language, an intuitive grasp of both sense and structure that can’t be had any other way than by burrowing one’s nose in books. This sense develops organically in the mind of the student who reads regularly.

Conversely, this intuitive sense is almost impossible to replicate in the student who does not read much. No amount of drills, lectures, or templates can make up for this lack. Reading is like protein for the muscle-builder—necessary for growth. Without a rich diet of reading, the teacher (and student) will likely be fighting a losing battle.

Some degree of writing proficiency may be gained purely through lectures, but it will always be a bit clunky and formulaic. The writing muse is a strict one, and she generally only rewards those who have read the great masters of our language. Then, and only then, will the muse make that student’s pen sing.

Students learn most effectively when they spend time with great books and great minds. Yaroslav Shuraev/Pexels

A Universal Approach to Learning

This is really just common sense. We learn everything through imitation. The violinist watches the instructor hold the instrument and bow at the right angle, then tries it himself. The swimmer watches the teacher demonstrate the butterfly kick, then attempts it herself. Children listen to their parents’ speech and then make bumbling, babbling attempts to repeat it. Little by little, these imitations mirror the model more exactly.

So why do some educational approaches treat writing differently, as though it can only be learned through abstract theory or by following arbitrary sets of rules? To be sure, rules and theory help. They certainly have their place in the teaching of writing. But they cannot replace the conscious practice of imitating great writers any more than learning about horse anatomy will teach you how to ride well.

How can teachers implement the imitation model? Here are a few suggestions.

Read, Read, Read

In the first place, teachers must read a lot themselves, for all the reasons already stated. It’s a good idea to read with a pencil and mark particularly beautiful, persuasive, or otherwise effective passages of writing. Notes and underlinings can help the teacher analyze these passages. Most importantly, these passages encountered here and there in the normal course of reading can become the basis for classroom exercises or homework assignments.

Through imitation, students develop not only technical skills but also a sensitivity to style and tone. Cavan Images/Getty Images

Copywork and Dictation

For fine pieces of writing not much longer than a paragraph, teachers can read it aloud in the classroom and ask students to write it down. This dictation exercise forces students to really listen carefully to the sound of the language and then translate those beautiful words in a visceral way into their own body through the act of handwriting. The words become a part of the student, intertwined with the fibers of both brain and muscle.

A similar exercise could be done by having the student copy the passage simply by looking at it, although I think the auditory element involved in dictation can be helpful since great writing requires a sensitivity to sound. In either case, the student is imitating the words of the great writer exactly—as if a dancer could, for a moment, inhabit the body of her teacher and feel the correct movements of each arm and leg.

Fill-in-the-Blank

A second and probably more enjoyable exercise begins to introduce the students’ creativity into the process a little bit. For this exercise, teachers can again take a passage from a great book or essay as a starting point. But then the teacher removes certain words or phrases here and there to create a kind of fill-in-the-blank exercise, where the blanks are labeled with the part of speech that corresponded to the writer’s original wording.

Now, the students read the passage and rewrite it, but with their own words inserted into the blanks. In this way, they’re still following the structure, tone, sentence length, etc. of the model text, but they’re also beginning to play with word selections of their own.

Dictation brings sound and structure together, giving students the opportunity to internalize well-crafted sentences. Rido/Shutterstock

Style-Based Rewriting

Taking things a step further, a teacher could have students read a model passage and then ask them to rewrite the passage entirely in their own words while maintaining the style of the original author. This really challenges the students to think about what distinctive features make up the author’s style. Does he use long sentences or short? Is the language more formal or informal? Does he use metaphors, similes, alliteration, rhythm?

The teacher may need to provide some guidance on these points before setting students loose to compose their own imitation passages. The imitation passages might be written on the same or a similar topic as the model, but they could also be on a very different subject while maintaining the style of the original. It depends on what aspects of the original passage the teacher wants to emphasize.

Finding the Balance

In addition to filling students’ heads with an ensemble of great writers and their words, these types of exercises can often be more enjoyable and meaningful than the standard writing exercises often encountered in schools today.

An excellent little book called “The Writer’s Workshop: Imitating Your Way to Better Writing” by Gregory Roper uses a method of instruction very similar to this and includes useful exercises. Roper provides short passages from great writers, in different genres and modes, and then guides students through crafting their own imitation of that passage. I’ve used this book alongside the other techniques described above with good effect in my writing classrooms.

The art of imitation combined with lessons on the formal aspects of writing (paragraph and essay structure, grammar, citations, etc.) combine to create an excellent environment for developing literary prowess. In imitation, students get a feel for what works in writing. In lectures, they’re then taught why this or that technique works. I’ve found that this combination of practical, experiential, and theoretical learning creates a beautiful synthesis.