Reading an ESL Writer's Text

Daily I see the struggles of ESL students at the CCNY writing center. While I've empathized with them on their journey to learn to think critically and analytically, as well as write effectively in English, I have never really considered how much they must do to write successfully.

"Reading an ESL Writer's Text" by Paul Matsuda and Michelle Cox, highlight many misconceptions that teachers have about ESL writers. The one that I agreed with the most is that we often think that they have knowledge "deficiencies". I find this belief amusing because these students excel in other subject areas so obviously lack of knowledge is not the issue.

ESL students have much to say, and many of them do using very expressive language. Teachers of English need to understand their students and recognize the impact that culture has on learning. Sometimes ESL students are intimidated by their poor grasp of English which leads to shyness not only when speaking but also writing. Having met with many ESL students I can assert that their problems lie more in translation and cultural misunderstanding. ESL students have to work doubly hard at understanding and writing in English because their native langauge keeps "interferring".

This said, I know how difficult it is for me to not try and correct every mistake that I see in a student's paper. Additionally, I have often been tempted inform students that their writing is "flawed". However, I have learned that I can understand my students papers even when there are errors. In times of difficulty, I simply ask students to explain their thoughts looking at what was written.

November 27, 2010 10:06 AM