Working with ESL Writing in the Writing Center
1. Min-Zhan Lu’s framework of describing three stances that readers can take when responding to ESL writing:
a. Assimilationist: The goal is to help the ESL writer write linear, thesis-statement and topic-sentence driven, error-free, and idiomatic English as soon as possible; encouraging writer to assimilate into the dominant culture; differences=deficiencies
b. Accommodationist: May try to teach the NES norm; goal is to help the writer learn new discourse patterns without completely losing the old so that the writer can maintain both L1 and L2 linguistic and cultural identities; differences=differences, but explain that some may see those differences as deficiencies
c. Separatist: The goal is to support the writer in maintaining separate linguistic and cultural identities; advocate for NES to read ESL texts generously; overlooks and preserves difference
i. Which stance do we choose when working with ESL writing (very likely, not the first)? Is it a combination of them? Does the assignment make a difference when taking one of the stances?
ii. Without any training, many tutors will likely inadvertently become an assimilationist. How can we avoid someone using this stance in a Writing Center?
iii. What if you know that one professor clearly takes an assimilationist stance to grading writing assignments? Do you go against your viewpoint to ensure that the student gets a better grade? How do you deal with this?
2. When working with ESL students, what should the goal be? To help them become better writers? To help them do better on one particular assignment? Something else entirely? A combination of the two…?
3. Tony Silva: “When does different become incorrect or inappropriate? And what is good enough?” (Matsuda 43)
i. How do you know when something is not “cultural,” but just plain wrong?
ii. If something different is culturally-based for the student, when, if ever, does it become wrong?
iii. How do you know when an ESL writer’s work is really “good enough”? Do you base it on their current skill level? On the grade they want to get in the class? Or what else?
4. Thonus’s Five General Principles for Working with Generation 1. 5 students:
a. Teach the Metalanguage (specialized language to talk about writing) and Sociopragmatic Conventions (understanding the roles and responsibilities the tutor and tutee must assume) of Writing
b. Affirm the Student’s Cultural and Linguistic Heritage
c. Balance Grammar Correction with Rhetorical Concerns
d. Offer Explicit Direction
e. Avoid Appealing to (NS) Intuition
i. Which of Lu’s three stances mentioned in the first question does b. Affirm the Student’s Cultural and Linguistic Heritage relate to? Does that mean to take a separatist or accommodationist stance? Or both?
ii. Could these five principles also be used for ESL users in general—or even for “native speakers”? What changes could be made for those?
5. You get to implement a workshop and create specific guidelines for the tutors at the Writing Center in order to better work with ESL students.
i. What would this workshop or the guidelines look like?
ii. What concepts would you be sure to include so that tutors are aware of them?
iii. How would these be different when working with either a generation 1.5 student or an international student? Would they?
6. And just some things I was curious about…
i. How are tutors normally told to handle helping students with their writing?
ii. How long are the sessions with students normally?
iii. What kind of training is usually involved to become a tutor? Is anything ESL-specific?
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