Weekly Reflections

Between our readings this week, the film from class, and the speakers who came to Friday’s staff meeting, the subject of working with ESL students has been on my mind a lot lately. Often when ESL students come to the Writing Center, they want a second set of eyes to look over their writing to spot mechanical errors they have trouble identifying for themselves. When this happens, I have to explain that the Writing Center isn’t simply an editing service. I sometimes feel frustrated by what I perceive as a conflict between the Writing Center’s policy on editing and the very real needs and desires of the students we’re here to help. I know how difficult it can be to examine your own writing in an acquired language to look for grammar problems. I’m glad to know that the ESL Lab exists to provide this kind of assistance for students who need it.

Regarding Lauren’s take on Tony Silva’s statements, I don’t think judging students by what is “good enough” necessarily favors NES students. The definition of what constitutes “enough” would probably be much higher for an NES student that for an ESL student. This system of grading would probably be more lenient for ESL students, but I question whether it would actually help them improve. I think that professors should be understanding of the challenges ESL students face in composing in a foreign language. This might include allowing more time to write on exams, or making time to talk with them about writing assignments. It can even include being less strict about grammatical errors. However, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t point them out, so that students can learn from their mistakes. I realize that it can be disheartening to see a paper come back dripping with red ink, but if the errors are explained, students can apply those corrections to future assignments. It’s tough, but sometimes that kind of impetus is required to get students to improve. From my own experience in foreign language composition, sometimes it’s impossible to see these issues in your own writing. As long as the professor can see past those surface errors to the message beneath, I don’t think it’s inappropriate for them to comment on issues of grammar, as long as they are doing it to be helpful, not punitive.

Given the rising numbers of international students enrolling each year, I realize that professors don’t have the time to make line-by-line corrections to the papers of every ESL student, and I’m not expecting them to. I believe that instead of simply telling students that their papers have too many grammatical errors, and sending them to us, they should be clearer with students about what these errors are. Particularly in the WRA classes, where writing is the focus of the course, the professors should take the time to provide some guidance in this area.