a month in the life of a fyc instructor: balancing the needs of different student audiences 2009...

A Month in the Life of a FYC Instructor:

Balancing the Needs of Different Student Audiences

2009 Symposium on Second Language WritingSaturday, November 7, 2009, 10-11:30 a.m.

Teaching in global cities

“We believe that for many universities located in what urban sociologist Saskia Sassen (2005) refers to as ‘global cities,’ the direct linkage between needs analysis and curricular activities is no longer possible--if it ever was--because it is based on the myth of a homogeneous, isolated communities. It assumes that students in a given class share an identifiable set of characteristics--derived from either their past experiences learning languages, their future academic orientations, or labels placed upon them by society such as ‘non-native speaker’ …”

-Reynolds, et al., 2009, p. 187

Teaching at a “global” university

“A teacher may need to design instruction and assessment differently within the same class to better meet the differing needs of the various groups of students in the class.” -Ferris, 2009, p. 99

And, to stay sane, a teacher must make choices and teach strategies that can benefit all groups, perhaps in different ways.

Course description / requirements

Developmental + first-half of FYC

Placement based on an exam

NNS-designated section: Self selected, no ‘labeling,’ tracking

3 full-length texts: Theme encouraged

5 multi-draft essays: Text-based, thesis-driven essays emphasized with focus on analysis

Transferability of strategies to other contexts, levels

Strategy #1:Gathering student information

The more you know, the more informed your decisions can be for in-class activities and for one-on-one interactions.

Student Information Sheet

Literacy History Assignment

See Goen-Salter et al., 2009

Gathering student information:Student profile - Fall 09 section

Home Languages Mandarin Chinese (3), Japanese (1)*, Korean

(3), Spanish (5), Hmong (1), Vietnamese (1), Russian (1)

Time in U.S. < 1 year (1) 1-3 years (1) 4-6 years (3) 7-10 years (4) 10+ years (1) Born in US (4)


Previous education Urban and rural public schools in the US Elementary and middle schools outside the US and

high school in US. Private schools outside the US CA Academic Performance Index scores and

locations of various high schools suggest a range of SESs.

Literacy History Short, one-page papers in English, longer papers

in L1 (Irene) Read few to no books in high school (David) All A’s on essays in high school (Hao)


Parents’ literacy Literate in L1 and L2 Literate in L1 Not literate in L1 or L2

Whom should I to teach to?

Strategy #2:Choosing relatable readings

Intensive reading

Extensive reading

Capturing and sustaining attention

Choosing relatable readings:Theme and assignments

Theme Borders: Perspectives on Immigration &

Multiculturalism

First Assignment Framing texts provide “a way in.” Theme and content illustrate, validate range of

choices (Ferris, 2009, p 90-91)

Second Assignment High-interest topics Making longer-term immigrants ‘the experts’

Strategy #3:Providing “rules of thumb”

Samples for modeling strategies

Rules of Thumb (Roberge): The ‘how’ not just the ‘what’ of writing (Holten , 2009, 177).

Providing “rules of thumb”:Essay 1 development

Learning expectations David’s early draft Interesting but claim heavy, text light, and repetitive

- why?

Refining expectations Hao’s early draft Mechanical (diction, structure, tone) and repetitive -

why?

Unlearning expectations Irene’s early draft Interesting but inductive and incoherent - why?

Providing “rules of thumb”: First lines

Highlight first lines.

With your partner, read just the highlights. Does the paragraph start with summary or analysis? (Point, focus then

quick move to analysis, summary) Fadiman examines the clash over the medical regimen. The parents work hard

to care for Lia, even making sacrifices to do so. Fadiman also examines the clash over the medical regimen. To help the reader

sympathize with the Hmong, Fadiman crafts a picture of incredibly caring, sacrificing parents.

When analyzing the medical regimen, Fadiman slants positively toward the parents by depicting them as attentive and sacrificing.

Does each sentence introduce a clearly distinct new / different point? Can you see a build from one paragraph opening to the next?

Providing “rules of thumb”: First lines, claims, textual evidence

David: Highlight claims (many) and textual

evidence (little)

Hao: Highlight evidence: repetitive; looked for

build

Irene: Worked with a partner to find claims in her

paragraph: some paragraphs had none, some claims were buried late in the essay.

Strategy #4:Scaffolding through induction

Break abstract, complex processes down into manageable pieces.

Focus on patterns -- not rules or definitions -- first.

Scaffolding through induction:Addressing vocabulary concerns

Thesaurus errors David’s text - callow perspective Irene’s text - He acclimatized his context.

Register David’s text: disenfranchised, stressed out

Feedback “Awkward” (Hao) W/C (others)


Inductive approach -- patterns before metalanguage

1. Researchers are quite interested about the relationship between socio-economic class and educational success. (Longman)

2. It is important to recognition this relationship. (Longman, COCA)

3. For my interview project, I interrogated four students, two US-born immigrants and two born abroad. (Longman)

4. Results suggest that Hmong child-rearing practices can produce well-adjusted, highly happy children. (COCA)

5. Anti-immigration laws permeated panic among immigrants that they were no longer welcome here. (Longman)

Nation’s list: collocation, derivatives/word forms, connotation, grammatical environment.


Resources -- getting students to investigate words Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

http://www.ldoceonline.com/ Oxford, Cobuild, Cambridge Lexical Tutor http://www.lextutor.ca Corpus of Contemporary American English:

http://www.americancorpus.org (advanced students)

Handout

Feedback -- focused on specific type of issue collocation or register, not w.c. or awkward Link to handout (e-feedback)

Strategy #5:Building repertoires

In addition to focusing on errors, like word choice concerns, we also need to set aside time to help students build their repertoire of academic language.

Templates

Lists associated with specific rhetorical functions

Building repertoires :Academic language development

Essay included a discussion Davis’ arguments about how, as a backlash against increased immigration, economic and social divisions between Latinos and whites have been reinforced inside the US.

Intra-paragraph development issues (order of information) (David, Irene)

Sentences with so, but, because, therefore, however (clausal chains) (David)

In result of (Hao)

Eight uses of ‘caused’ in one page of text

Building repertoires:Academic language templates

Cohesion Embedding, not clausal chaining -

scaffolded


Embedding, not clausal chaining Cohesion


Embedding, not clausal chaining: Relationship verbs (reason/result)

Strategy #6:Using recasts

Assess a writer’s background knowledge.

Address the task using different styles of explanations - recasts

Using recasts: Individualizing self-editing strategies

In the essays written in response to The Spirit Catches You and Magical Urbanism, students have to move between writing about past events, factual information (past and present) and general claims and conclusions the author presents.

Students needed to identify patterns of error, in this case verb tense and form: issues with subject-verb agreement, tense shifting, and the use of past tense—specific events and results—vs. present tense—generalizations and opinions.

Using recasts: Individualizing self-editing strategies

Assumes a level of knowledge of verb tense system and use Remind the student about subject-verb agreement and verb shifting

between present and past tenses, helping the writer to identify each verb and to check for these two items.

Assumes the writer may not have a clear understanding of verb tense use but knows something about terminology Explain the differences between facts, results, opinions, and

generalizations, and their corresponding verb tenses, with some examples to remind student of the different tense names, before discussing a rule-of-thumb editing strategy (underline all the verbs).

Assumes little awareness of terminology or rules Choose not to use any terms at all, but instead work with the

student to identify verbs in sentences, underline them, and then ask questions about the verb: Am I talking about a specific event that happened in a US city? Am I writing about specific results from a survey? Add -ed. Am I presenting Davis’ opinion about reactions in US cities? If I am talking about an opinion, should I add an -s?

Recasting: ‘Individualizing’ within group settings

Feedback on papers

Handouts

Teacher-fronted lessons

Classroom discussions

Rubrics

Call for Action

Teacher trainers

Textbook and electronic resource publishers/developers

Researchers

References

CATESOL Journal (2002). Generation 1.5 special theme section (Goen et al., Eds.).

Corson, D. ( 1997). The learning and use of academic English words. Language Learning 47, 4. 671-718

Ferris, D.R. (2009). Teaching college writing to diverse student populations. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Folse, K.S. (2008). Myth: Teaching vocabulary is not the writing teacher's job. In Reid, J. (Ed.) (2008). Writing myths: Applying second language research to classroom teaching. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Goen-Salter, S., Porter, P., & vanDommelen, D. (2009). Working with Generation 1.5: Pedagogical principles and practices. In Roberge et al. (Eds.), pp. 235-259.

Graff, G. & Birkenstein, C. (2006). They say / I Say: The moves that matter in academic writing. New York: W.W. Norton.

Holten, C. (2002). Charting new territory: Creating an interdepartmental course for Generation 1.5 writers. CATESOL Journal, 14(1), 173-189.

Holten, C. (2009). Creating an inter-departmental course for Generation 1.5 ESL writers: Challenges faced and lessons learned. In Roberge et al. (Eds.), pp. 170-184.

North, S. (1982). Training tutors to talk about writing. College Composition and Communication, 33 (4), 434-441.

Reynolds, D., Bae, K-H, & Wilson, J.S. (2009). Individualizing pedagogy: Responding to diverse needs in freshman composition for non-native speakers. In Roberge et al. (Eds.), pp. 185-202.

Roberge, M., Siegal, M., & Harklau, L. (Eds). (2009). Generation 1.5 in college composition: Teaching college writing to U.S.-educated learners of ESL. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.

Schleppegrell M.J. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

a month in the life of a fyc instructor: balancing the needs of different student audiences 2009...

Documents

student profile

gathering student information

high school hao slide

sustaining attention

assignment high

us elementary

high school david

class activities