How can we improve English writing skill in educational institutions?

English is an international language and it is widely used in many countries of the world today as a means of international communication. There are other important languages in the world but none of them can be compared with English in terms of its role, scope, and popularity. English is used by millions of people in all the continents in the world either as a first language or as a second or a foreign or an additional language. It has become one of our principal assets in getting global exposure. Because of its importance and popularity, we cannot but learn English language skills. It is good that our education system puts emphasis on the learning of English language.
In order to learn English well, we have to develop four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). Among these skills of English, writing is important but more challenging as it is sometimes difficult even to the native speakers of English. Writing is a vital life skill and a learner has to try continuously for a longer period of time to acquire it. It is a good means of communication with people who are far from the writer in terms of both time and space. It is an effective way of reaching people you have never seen, nor will ever. It is a symbol of culture and sophistication; one's writing skill manifests their taste and depth of education. Practising writing develops language accuracy and one can fare well in the examinations. It helps students to be prepared for other exams beyond the educational institutions. Writing practices consolidate language learning and help communicate with the wider world. So, we have to learn this skill with great importance to be a skilled writer in English.    
Traditional writing-teaching approach is followed by teachers in schools and colleges in Bangladesh. In most cases, grammar learning is given emphasis and students memorise the textbook contents without understanding. My school and college experiences are not happy ones as they were similar to those mentioned. I was not taught how to write an essay on any topic. As a result I was not able to write English properly and consistently in my own words; while writing something, I always tried to reproduce those sentences which I already memorized. Bangladeshi learners face a great deal of problems on their way to learning English. We know that a classroom is only the place where most learners have the environment to practice English. But in the classroom or in schools, they get hardly any opportunity to practice writing skill. On the other hand, the teachers are not interested to teach the students properly; frankly speaking, they do not have so much time to spend for students. They think that, students learn English for passing the exams or getting a good grade. They also think that it is a difficult job to teach a language skill well; a learner needs to go through some processes. However, teachers teach the students only the textbook-related topics and some sentence structures. But only the textbooks and memorizing some sentence structures without understanding are not enough to learn the writing skill. Teaching approaches in Govt Teachers' Training College, Dhaka are quite different; teachers are ready to help students but the question is, how much are we motivated to work hard?
Here, I would like to mention two ways of teaching and learning the writing skill, the Process Approach and the Productive Approach. Between these two, the Process approach is the best in learning the writing skill. In this approach, students have to write something (articles, essays etc), teachers have to identify the mistakes, irrelevance etc and they have to make comments on them. Then the students have to re-write the essay/article/write-up for getting it checked again by the teacher. Teachers will again check it and make comments. It may happen again and again until the write-up is a matured one. In some cases, one to one consultation (teacher-student sitting) is important to minimize the understanding gap between the teachers and the students. We can also get our articles checked by our able classmates or senior students.
Higher skill in writing comes from determination and regular practices. No one is born an excellent writer. Learning to be a skilled writer in English, it takes a long time and a lot of practices. Anyone can be a good writer if they are determined enough. Besides, we can follow some important points to develop our writing skill such as keeping a diary (1/2 pages everyday), picking a topic and writing, practising writing in English every day, writing more than one draft, writing and then editing, adding, changing own writing again and again, keeping all of our writing in one place, having a friend to edit writing, getting write-ups edited or commented by someone expert in this field, using online resources to correct grammar, joining a workshop or taking a night class, thinking outside the box and so on. Moreover, social media like facebook, twitter, yahoo, messenger etc. can contribute a lot to develop writing skill. By sending emails, text messages and entering chat rooms, we can also develop our writing skill.
Although we need good English teachers to help students to develop writing, motivating students to learn it is much more required. Unless the learners are interested, even the most expert teachers can do anything good to the students. However, as the process approach is effective to teach writing, I would request all the English teachers of the country to follow this approach for the overall development of the English writing skill in the country.

The writer is a first year Bachelor of Education honours student at Govt Teachers' Training College, Dhaka. He can be reached at email: touhidebrahim69@gmail.com