A Training for English Composition Teaching Assistants

 To help instructors identify multilingual students and consider the problems both instructors and students may face during the quarter.  To provide instructors with strategies and resources to respond to student needs.  To identify outside resources for both instructors and students to get additional information and outside help.

 Immigrant Students/generation 1.5 – completed some or all of their high school education in the US. ◦ May not have academic fluency in L1; some academic fluency in L2. ◦ Strengths: comfort in spoken English, variety of vocabulary. ◦ Weaknesses: grammar, understanding of tone, style, and register.  International Students - completed high school in a foreign country. ◦ Academically fluent in L1. ◦ Strengths: proficient in writing, strong background in grammar. ◦ Weaknesses: often uncomfortable with spoken English, American academic style, vocabulary may be limited.

 Consider the pre-seminar reading, “Strangers in Academia: The Experiences of Faculty and ESL Students across the Curriculum” by Vivian Zamel.  Have you encountered multilingual students in your classroom? What did you know about them?  What kind of challenges did they pose for you as an instructor?  In your interactions with these students ◦ What has worked? ◦ What hasn’t worked?

 Multilingual writers may have a “peculiar” writing style with a tone, style, organization, or discourse that may not meet instructor expectations (Canagarajah 2006, p 590).  It has been explained by a number of models:

 Canagarajah argues that the Negotiation Model is more accurate, as it allows us to focus more on the process of composing in multiple languages, the multiple competencies the writer obtains, and the changing contexts of communication between languages and cultures (2006, p 590).

“rather than treating writers as passive, conditioned by their language and culture, we would treat them as agentive, shuttling creatively between discourses to achieve their communicative objectives. As a precondition for conducting this inquiry, we have to stop treating any textual difference as an unconscious error. We must consider it as a strategic and creative choice by the author to attain his or her rhetorical objectives” (Canagarajah 2006, p 590-1).

 Classroom Strategies  Assignment Strategies  Feedback Strategies

 Background Survey: ◦ On the first day of class, it can be very useful to give students a short background survey so the students who might need additional linguistic support may be identified early-on.  Teaching methods: ◦ Because multilingual students’ linguistic competencies may be varied, their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills may not be balanced.  It is useful to give clear directions in both spoken & written forms (i.e. tell students & write on the board).

 Teaching methods (continued): ◦ Similarly, multilingual students may be shy to speak up in class.  Activities such as think-pair-share can be useful to give these students confidence to speak up in group discussions.  I also like to offer participation credit through both class discussions as well as online (GoPost) discussions.

 Although immigrant/gen 1.5 students have some experience with the American academic system, international students do not. Many of our assumed academic are not so obvious to these students. ◦ For example:  Some students struggle with page formatting (name, assignment, date, pages aligned to the left, with a 5- space paragraph indent) or even paragraph formatting.  Students may leave their main claim until the end of the paper, or  Use questions as their topic sentences.

 Therefore, it is important to set up academic standards early in the quarter,  Provide clear assignment prompts,  Provide clear grading rubrics/expectations,  And provide models of what a paper should look like.

 Considering all of the information we have discussed about multilingual students, please look at these assignment prompts.  How does the prompt provide clear information for multilingual students?  In what areas could the prompt be improved?  Be prepared to summarize your suggestions for the larger group.

 In groups of 4-6, look at the provided example(s) of student writing.  In your group, read through the paper and consider ◦ 1) what types of errors jump out to you ◦ 2) how you might respond.

 Use a clear rubric to guide your feedback towards large-scale concerns (analysis, claim, organization)  Utilize an Error Log to make your grammatical feedback more efficient (handout).

 Writing Centers (OWRC, CLUE)  Outside support courses  Online resources

 Up to 80/90% of writing center users are multilingual students.  Writing centers can be a valuable resource for students to receive one-on-one feedback.  Students will receive rhetorical instruction similar to what we provide: a focus on organization, argument, tone, style.  Proofreading is NOT provided—but in some cases, students can get grammatical feedback.

 OWRC is a good resource during the day, my students have had great success with CLUE’s evening sessions.  I have found it useful to offer “extra credit” to encourage students to visit the writing center. It is a great opportunity for shy students to improve their participation grade and for you, as the instructor, to get feedback on how the students are using the writing centers.

 Studio courses: offer reading and writing support for multilingual students. ◦ 2-credit (C/NC) workshops ◦ General Studies 391?; meets 2 days/week for 50 minutes.  OWRC Targeted Tutoring: offer group sessions for 4-5 multilingual students on a regular basis with a writing tutor. ◦ 1-credit (C/NC) session ◦ General Studies credit; meets 1 day/wk.  Academic English Program (AEP) courses: many immigrant and international students already pass through AEP classes (Engl 101-4).

 OWRC website: Writing Resources ◦ This page includes many handouts and writing resources for writing instructors. It also includes a handout for ESL students with information and links to online resources.  Ask Betty – Grammar for College Writers ◦ This useful website (based in the English department) allows students to submit questions, learn how to resolve common grammatical mistakes, and how to decipher instructor feedback.

 Purdue OWL: English as a Second Language ◦ Provides a number of resources for ESL teachers and tutors as well as grammar and writing exercises.  Dave’s ESL Café ◦ Provides grammar exercises and quizzes, vocabulary, and a student forum. It can be a good resource for students to use to continue learning once their errors are identified (i.e. thru the Error Log).

 Canagarajah, A. S. (2006). Toward a Writing Pedagogy of Shuttling between Languages: Learning from Multilingual Writers. College English, 68, 6,  Zamel, V. (1995). Strangers in Academia: The Experiences of Faculty and ESL Students across the Curriculum. College Composition and Communication, 46, 4,