1. Empowering English Learners for Impromptu Essay Writing
Xiaoqi Wang
Douglas Margolis
WITESOL 2016 Conference
November 5, 2016
University of Wisconsin - River Falls

2. In-class essay VS. Formal paper
Meaning over form
Assessing understanding
Limited time
Limited resources
Limited revision
Form & Meaning
Assessing writing skill & understanding
Time & resources
Revision
Tech tool access

3. Fluency VS. Accuracy Focus on meaning Quantity Error tolerance
Go with flow
Drafting Stage
Focus on form
Quality
Error correction
Details oriented
Proofreading Stage

4. Research Questions What are the writing strengths of EL?
What are the writing weaknesses of EL?
What evidence of progress appears?

5. Participants Country Gender Total Male Female Korea 3 2 5 China 1
Japan
Others 6 8 14

6. Procedure
Pretest (N=14)
Midterm (N=14)
Final (N=14)

7. Findings: In-class Writing Errors

8. Findings—Progress

9. Findings—Progress

10. Findings—Progress

11. Findings—Progress

12. Fluency Building Activities
Journal Writing
Algorithm
Feedback

13. In-class Writing for Fluency
ESL, Advanced level
1. Given the level of anger and emotion in this year’s election, assess the likelihood of the good outcome.
2. To what degree does the mass media control your life?
3. Photograph

14. In-class Writing for Fluency
Topic: Autumn
3 minutes
End

15. In-class Writing for Fluency
Topic: Autumn
3 minutes
End

16. Acknowledgements
University of Wisconsin - River Falls Summer Scholars Program
University of Wisconsin – River Falls URSCA Office
Study Participants

17. Contact Information
Xiaoqi Wang
Douglas Margolis