Writing Across Borders

The film we watched in Wednesday's class was very interesting, but in my sessions with ESL students I can't recall seeing the different structures that many of the international students described. This is probably because the students have already made a shift in their minds to write in the traditional style of an American academic essay. Obviously there are organizational and content issues just like any other writing center client's paper, but I can seem to remember any student whose paper closely resembled a completely different format. Rather, I think their content or style problems almost always came from the obvious fact that they are writing in their second language.

The other think I really liked about the video was the way that its advice was also geared towards professors rather than just writing center consultants. I especially liked Ms. Healey's belief that ESL students should be held to the same standards of meaning as NES students, but not necessarily to the same standards of grammar and mechanics.

Tony Silva's view seemed slightly different when he suggested that professors should ask themselves, "What is good enough?" and to use that benchmark for all students, and I don't know how much I agree with him there. When his idea is used in the ESL vs. NES student writing context, it seems like it would be much easier for NES students to go beyond what is simply "enough," therefore they are more likely to receive higher grades on their assignments.

However, both of these main speakers pointed out that empathy and the ability to think from different perspectives is absolutely necessary to successfully teach ESL students, and I agree that this mindset is crucial for instructors even with NES students, who may come from areas where the school systems did not prepare them well enough for college writing, or those students who grew up speaking a very strong dialect of English. If students feel less pressured to create "perfect" papers that may be beyond their grasp because of grammar and mechanics, then they will come in to the writing center with more HOCs than LOCs, and writing consultants will be able to move beyond the often repetitive and frustrating practice of proofreading.