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Whether your students want to communicate to pen pals their age or adults, these resources will build their confidence and ability to write. When they get the hang of it, they can hone their grammar skills with our grammar resources.

While personal writing offers a bit of freedom for students to express themselves, functional writing is a much more formal process. The pieces students will be expected to write will be expected to serve a purpose.

There are different types of pieces that fall into the category of functional writing. Some of them are:

• Letters
• Reports
• Reviews
• Instructions
• Competition entries
• Proposals

When teaching your students functional writing, there are six requirements you should make them aware of:

1. Use appropriate language. Casual phrases or slang terms are not acceptable in functional writing.
2. Know your audience. Understand who you expect to read it and write with them mind.
3. Know your purpose. Why are they writing this piece? What are they hoping to convey to the audience. Keeping this in mind will keep them focused and prevent drifting.
4. Know the standards. Make sure the piece that you are writing conforms to accepted standards for that type of writing.
5. Adhere to the appropriate punctuation and grammatical rules. A functional piece must convey professionalism. Errors will quickly erode the confidence the reader has in the piece.
6. Stay relevant. The audience is reading this piece because you are trying to convey something to them. Staying on topic will help keep them invested in what you are trying to tell them.

Functional writing could be a step outside comfort zones of students who have recently become accustomed to the freedom personal writing allows them. Becoming comfortable using some of the resources provided above by Education.com may help them be able to write functionally in the future.