Helping L2 Writers Respond to Writing Assignments Across the Curriculum - Part 1

TESOL, March 31, 2012Jan FrodesenUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

1st Year writing courses & writing across the curriculum (WAC)

Expectation: FYW should prepare students for writing across the curriculum

Reality (Leki, 2007)Writing assignments across

the disciplines are extremely varied

FYW courses: Realities, cont.

Writing assignments in FYW (including ESL) differ widely from kinds of writing assigned across disciplines

Literacy transfer issues FYW courses cannot teach all

genres for WAC

FYW courses: Realities, cont.

What FYW instructors can do:Explore what students are asked

to write in general education courses

Help them develop ways to understand assignments and ask for appropriate help

Notes from a WAC tutorial workshop coordinator (UCSB) Writing assignments for lower div.

courses Analysis tasks requested equally complex

from 1st yr courses through upper-division Many prompts are detailed in a way that

is not very helpful (lots of points/little guidance)

Heavy emphasis placed on mechanics TAs often asked to “bridge the gap” b/w

students’ abilities and “overblown” prompts

Focus of this presentationWorkshop materials for

composition colleagues to help L2 writers respond to extended writing assignments beyond the ESL/writing classroom.

Workshop Background Created for ESL/Basic Writing

consortium, Santa Monica College, CA Writing assignments

Collected from a range of disciplines, two 4-yr. universities Primarily for general education courses Disciplines included art history, biology,

economics, English, history, religious studies, sociology

Workshop Structure Imagine you and colleagues have

identified 3 main goals concerned with preparing students for writing assignments across the curriculum.

You will be working in small groups to address these goals

Workshop Goals and Tasks

Goal 1: Help students understand what the purposes and expectations of specific writing assignments are.

Workshop goals and tasks

Task for Goal 1: Analyze a writing assignment. Your group will be given a writing prompt to “deconstruct” and discuss. You’ll have a set of questions to guide you.

Workshop Goals and Tasks

Goal 2: Help students consider and articulate questions they might ask instructors (TAs) to clarify objectives & explanations.

Workshop Goals and Tasks

Task for Goal 2: Make a list of possible questions that might arise for students regarding the prompt you have analyzed. Refer to guidelines.

Workshop Goals and Tasks

Goal 3: Consider classroom tasks you could design to help students develop rhetorical and language skills for responding successfully to writing across the curriculum.

Workshop Goals and Tasks

Task for Goal 3: IIn reference to the prompt you have examined, brainstorm a list of possible reading/writing or other activities for your writing class.

Workshop Wrap-up

At workshop end, each group will share with participants some of their analysis findings and ideas for helping student writers.

Sample Workshop Group Response to Assignment Course: Religious Studies 1 (UCSB) Book Paper Assignment Coelho’s The Alchemist, Hesse’s Siddhartha, Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, McCarthy’s The Road

Analyze a contemporary novel based on the concepts and themes introduced in the course.

 

Book paper assignment, cont.1) A short biography of the author and discussion of the book’s place in relation to his other works. Is it one among several he has written? Does it stand out from his other writings in some way? (1 page)2) Briefly what was the book about? Who were the main protagonists? (1/2 to 1 page)

Book paper assignment, cont.3) Does the book deal with specific religions or members of such religions? If so, what/who are they and how does it represent them? Positively? Negatively? Does it do so in terms of myth? Ritual? Salvation? Politics? Experience? If it does not mention specific religions, does it represent concepts, themes, or issues that can be called religious? Explain and provide examples. (2-3 pages)

Book paper assignment, cont.4) How does the book illustrate the theme of religious journey as developed in our class? (E.g., What landscapes does it take place in? What journey(s) do the main protagonists take? Do women also participate in the journey? If so, how significant are they? Do the protagonists encounter or invoke supramundane beings?  

Book paper assignment, cont.( 4 cont.) Do they have to overcome obstacles or travel to sacred places on their journeys? What transformations do the protagonists experience, and what causes these transformations to occur? How is the subject of death portrayed, and how is it related to the protagonist’s journey? (2-3 pages)

Book paper assignment, cont.5) Provide a conclusion that clearly and succinctly relates back to your original thesis statement. Include your critical assessment of the book, good and bad. (1/2-1 page)

Sample Workshop Group CommentsResponse to Task 1: Overall impression of the assignment

Dense, complex, the parts seem disjointed

Who is the intended audience? Professors and peers?

Unclear whether culminating assignment of an entire quarter’s work

Questions raised as to how realistic some of the page limitations are

Response to Task 1 cont.(1) A short biography of the author and discussion of the book’s place in relation to his other works.

Not directly related to the prompt

How would S’s know this info?Additional sources not listed.

Response to Task, 1 cont.(2) Briefly what was the book about? Who were the main protagonists?

Instructor requesting a summary here, but not explicitly directed.

Discuss meaning of protagonists?

Response to Task 1, Cont.(3) Does the book deal with specific religions or members of such religions? (Followed by numerous questions) Explain/provide examples.

This section related to course content, seems like a culminating end-of-semester assignment

Are page limits realistic?

Response to Task1, cont.4) How does the book illustrate the theme of religious journey as developed in our class? (followed by 8 questions)

Is this the best order for all of these different sections of the paper?

Response to Task 1, cont.5) Provide a conclusion that clearly and succinctly relates back to your original thesis statement. Include your critical assessment, good and bad. (1/2-1 page)

How do students come up with a thesis?

What is the focus of the “critical assessment”?

Task 2: Questions for Students to Raise

There are a number of required parts. How do I tie these together?Should each section have a separate sub-heading?

How should I deal with all the questions in planning my paper?

Can I focus on one theme, e.g. a religious journey?

Questions for Task 2 What constitutes a good thesis? May I rely on a biographical

summary from the internet for Part 1? May I use Wikipedia?

How do I cite? What will grading criteria be?

Task 3:Possible Classwork Activities

Model how to parse, interpret and question a complex writing prompt Analyze/summarize step by step

(Map parts 1-5 of this prompt to Intro-body-conclusion)

Work with students on how to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary

Possible Classwork Activities Resources for citation guidance Provide and explain a rubric by

which a paper could be assessed.

Summary: Benefits of Workshop Analysis and Discussion Witness the great variation in

assignment types that undergraduates encounter

Work with one assignment in detail + hear analysis/suggestions for others

Gain awareness of what creates problems for students in purpose, audience, structure, coherence, etc.

Summary: Benefits of Workshop Analysis and Discussion

Inform future prompt writing for one’s own classes

Reconsider writing course curricula: What types of writing assignments and strategies will best help students respond to writing assignments across the curriculum?

References Colorado State University WAC

Clearinghouse, Teaching Guide: Designing Writing Assignments. http://writing.colo.state.edu/guides/teaching/wassign. Retrieved April, 2011

Leki, I. (2007). Undergraduates in a second language: Challenges and complexities of academic literacy development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Acknowledgments Lia Khami-Stein, CSULA, co-presenter

and workshop creator Emily Lodmer, SMC and Linda Jensen,

UCLA for group response notes UCSB CLAS tutorial ESL coordinators Jeff

Harlig and Jeff Harlig for sample writing assignments and suggestions for prompt analysis