Responding to the Writing of English Language Learners

Jamie BondarProgram Manager - Writing & English

Language Support Services, CLASSenior Lecturer, English

Elizabeth RobinsonAssistant Professor

Director, Education Studies & TESOL Certificate Programs

To build a campus where international students are viewed as integral parts of the educational experience, rather than as guests or burdens, the faculty and administration must work together to develop policies and opportunities for support for everyone involved (Haan, Gallagher & Varandani, 2017).

• ELs (English Learners) - 2015 ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act)

Students who speak a language other than English and are acquiring English in schools

• EBs (Emergent Bilinguals) (García, 2009)

Students who are developing the capacity to operate in more than one language

Who are ELLs (English Language Learners) ?

• 1,353 international students• From 102 countries (‘17-’18 Fact Book)• Many of our domestic students are also emerging

bilinguals.

All Faculty are Language Instructors

• Language is a central tool in teaching and learning (Halliday, 1993)

• All disciplines have their own language and conventions.

• All students can benefit from support in acquiring the vocabulary, argumentation styles, and writing conventions of their disciplines.

• Subject matter and argumentative positionality

• Use of personal experience and ideas

• Textual borrowing

Cultural Beliefs on Writing

• Examples: centrifugal, linear with tangential breaks, horizontal, indirect, etc.

• Recognizing alternative rhetorics:– allows students to draw on a wider variety of

tools and resources– enriches our language, culture, and academic

practice (Land & Whitley, 2006)

Alternative Rhetorics

• “Tacit internalization of patterns and principles” (Clark, 1999)

• This happens “through extensive exposure to and practical experience with the use of language in actual, natural contexts and situations” (Falk, 1979).

• “Students do not learn through examining the rules . . . such conscious activity is merely learning about language, not learning language” (Clark, 1999)

Language Acquisition

• Fluency vs. correctness• Fluency increases in low-stakes situations• Example: reflective journaling• Samway’s (2006) literature review found that “[reflective

journaling] is known to improve writing fluency, stimulate cognitive growth, reinforce learning, and foster problem-solving skills.”*

*Thanks to Ballotti Research Scholar Evelyn Hamilton for bringing to our attention this research on the benefits of journaling for EBs.

Language Acquisition

Linguistic Exercise #1Arrange the following words in their conventional order:

Frenchthe

younggirlsfour

Linguistic Exercise #1

The French four young girls?

Linguistic Exercise #2

Linguistic Exercise #2

Original Text: Brandwein, 1975Exercise: Huckin & Olsen, 1983 as cited in Hartwell, 1985

• Language is constantly evolving.• “Standard” typically means that which is preferred by the

dominant group.• Dominant English is imperfect and needs evolution.

– lexical gaps– the word “love”

• Dominant English is often used to protect privilege(consciously or unconsciously).

• Rhetorical situation.

Standard English?

• Sentence-level correction has not been shown to contribute to long-term student learning.

• It has been shown to increase adherence to convention from one draft to the next.

• NCTE (2016) Professional knowledge for the teaching of writing: “Too much emphasis on correctness can actually inhibit development.”

The “Grammar Correction” Debate

• Focus exclusively on global concerns in early drafts.

• Correcting every “error” merely asserts the linguistically dominant position of the corrector.

• 2-3 sentence-level issues per semester per student.

“Grammar Correction” Suggestions

Please read and respond to the student writing sample in accordance with the attached course goals and learning outcomes as if you were this student’s writing instructor.

The assignment asked students to recall in detail a place that is important to their emotional development.

Sample Student Writing

• Provide opportunities for students to receive feedback from various readers at multiple stages of their writing process.

• Explicitly explain genre features.• Focus exclusively on global concerns in early drafts.• Read the entire text before responding.• Allow yourself to be “lost for a while” and eventually

recognize a “wider variety of rhetorical modes” (Land & Whitley, 2006).

Best Practices

• Respect the presence of “written accent.”• Link feedback to course goals and learning objectives.• Respond with an aim to reduce student anxiety regarding

linguistic capabilities.• Use descriptive versus evaluative language.• Provide focused, limited, and targeted feedback.• Give balanced and actionable feedback.

Best Practices (cont.)

Access & Opportunity