1. What did you notice about your writing process during this course? Did your writing process change? If so, how? The most significant part of my writing process I noticed was the constant feedback/direction. It helped me maintain my focus throughout the written material.
If your writing process changed, what course assignments/interactions supported that change? The Lunsford essay-we read the essays as a class and then wrote about it. Then we discussed our ideas and elaborated on our initial perspectives. The semester was like a 4 month brainstorming session.
2. What have you noticed about your finished essays? Writing styles vary depending on the audiences. The differences are much more acute now. Did the quality of your essays change as a result of this course? If so how? If your final products changed, what do you think led to those changes? Improvement! Constant collaboration.3. What did you notice about the way you coach writing students? I took better notice of my communication style when I’m dealing with students.
Did your approach to coaching change during the term? Yes
If so, how? I listen closely and ask a lot of questions. I tend to mentally switch roles with the student so I can communicate to them the way I’d like to receive communication.
Were any course assignments/interactions useful in facilitating this learning?
4. What have your experiences coaching writing students shown you about effective strategies for talking/communicating to others?
Listening is the key to communication…
Non-verbal cues are important-I never realized just how important they are until I reflected on my sessions.
Writing things down is very important...
5. How has your work coaching writing students changed the way you learn?
It hasn’t changed the way I learn, but it caused me to take notice of how I learn.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Writing center philosophy ...The beginning....
Writing center philosophy…the beginning
I’ve learned quite a bit in the past 4 months…so I want to recreate my writing center philosophy.
Main Principle: The writing center is a place where students come to learn to be better writers, learn better comprehension, learn to listen and learn to communicate.
Student Responsibilities: Students must report to writing center within 15 of their appointment time, careful not to disrupt any current activities.
Students are expected to write/revise their own work after receiving feedback from tutors.
Students are expected to make every effort of provide content of the given assignment and the perspective due date.
Director Responsibilities:
The director shall set forth rules governing the writing center
The writing center will provide tools to assist each student reaching their writing potential.
I’ve learned quite a bit in the past 4 months…so I want to recreate my writing center philosophy.
Main Principle: The writing center is a place where students come to learn to be better writers, learn better comprehension, learn to listen and learn to communicate.
Student Responsibilities: Students must report to writing center within 15 of their appointment time, careful not to disrupt any current activities.
Students are expected to write/revise their own work after receiving feedback from tutors.
Students are expected to make every effort of provide content of the given assignment and the perspective due date.
Director Responsibilities:
The director shall set forth rules governing the writing center
The writing center will provide tools to assist each student reaching their writing potential.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Draft # 2...A work in progress...
Almost there!!!...Still working on it...
Introduction
The requirements of ESL students in writing centers have not been completely outlined for student tutors. Through this essay I will attempt to highlight the specialized training that is necessary to connect with and assist students who are not proficient in the English language in successfully writing academic material. This essay focuses on the adult English language learner, as it translates to writing on various levels. Throughout this paper you will see evidence of the need for training specialization in writing centers only limited to the tutoring of ESL students.
Abstract…(Not yet written)
Implications of Writing Center responsibilities –
When tutors are working with students with different language backgrounds or who have a need for language instruction.
Literature Review
In compiling research for this paper, the following written material was used for research,
“Meeting English Language Needs in Teacher Education: a flexible support model for non-English speaking backgrounds.” By Ken Cruishank & Sandra Newell
Overview,
The learning process for students learning the English language is roughly similar to that of American students, however-the language acquisition process tends to make written English more of a challenge. The needs of English language learners are somewhat different than those native speaking students. The literature supports the concept that educators teaching those students are in need of different training standards. Students who are learning English are not “special needs’ students, but they require other types of education to make learning and comprehending English more effective.
“Help Non-Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures”
Peters and Davis
Overview,
This article is actually a concise list of what is required for non-native speakers to understand English lectures given for learning. This is not limited to tutors, but this assists in determining the methods necessary for successful student comprehension of spoken material.
“A Writing Center Without Walls: Community Gardens as a site for Teaching English Language Learning.” Roadacker and Siebler
Overview,
The primary focus of this journal is examining where second language learning are taught; however, it contains written content on teaching older English language learners the basic elements of spoken and written English for specific purposes, which can be applied to Writing Center tutoring. English language use in Writing Centers is highly specified content. The verbiage used is always concentrated on academic discipline subject content the student is writing about.
“The ESL Experience in the Writing Center”
Feuerbacher, Hagen, Kim, Sweets and Yeom
Overview
The focus of this article is assessing and fulfilling the required needs of students in the writing center and what that experience means for tutors. It explores everything from academic levels, cultural differences, student perceptions, language and non verbal behavior, and student comprehension levels.
As ESL students require flexibility and patience in writing centers, it is an excellent guide for expected situations as writing tutors or coaches.
An academic writing needs assessment of ESL clinical investigators
Wang and Bakken
This particular article indicates the needs of skilled ESL adult students and their writing deficiencies. In this case, the students are at more advanced levels of their education, yet they still lack English writing skills because they still not proficient in scholarly writing. As these students are skilled investigators, they are ill-prepared to adequately articulate their ideas properly in written form, nor do they feel the resources are available to them to correct their deficiencies.
Some of the assessed needs are grammatical correctness, word order and phrase usage, and American writing standards and practice. There has been limited investigation into whether pedagogical practice should be introduced into writing centers involving ESL student writers.
ESL guide for Writing Centers
Bruce and Rafoth
This is an explanation of a collaboration of essays surrounding ESL student tutoring in writing centers. What this piece does is outline the general methods which can be used when assisting students with different language backgrounds and some implication for cultural and communication differences. The big difference in this writing is the focus shifts slightly from highlighting different methods for tutoring ESL students to illustrating which methods transcend those boundaries-such as agenda and goal setting, and looking for patterns which indicate deficiencies or writing errors such as line by line correction.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. These students spoke Spanish, and form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
There was a single session that didn’t require additional time and instruction. While this student was not a native speaker, the proficiency level of that particular student was higher than that of other students. This student understood the assignment, the content and word order (grammatical terms) He simply experienced lack of organization in his written material. I noticed student had an accent, but he seemed to a very clear understanding of the English language. This tells me that the requirements of non-native speaking students greatly depends on English language proficiency. Most of the students were freshman and sophomores, but I think if the language skill is there…the focus need only be on the assignment and the writing.
Data Analysis
The research methods I used for collecting this data consists of self-observations as well as observations of tutoring sessions held by other students. In each observation, I focused on the native language of the student, the native language of the tutor, the tutoring styles of the tutors and the methods used by each. I looked for losses that could be reasonably related to language differences, and student responses to the tutor that are definitely related to language differences.
Case Study A-
Student and Tutor were not native language speakers. They both actually experience a loss in communication even though they both spoke Spanish. The student is this tutoring session required more of a Teacher - student relationship than a tutor/tutee relationship. As they were focused on an assignment, Peter had to dissect the written, material line by line in order to provide effective feedback fort the paper. The majority of the information disseminated by the tutor was given in Spanish. The student here experienced difficulties articulating ideas in English.
The session also seemed rushed, going by the rate at which both the tutor and the student moved through the written material. From that I gathered the student was attempting to include everything in this one particular session.
I noticed that Peter had to take the lead in the tutoring session. He provided direction for the tutee from the beginning of the session. The student had written material to be analyzed by the tutor, but was unsure of the proper word order and vocabulary. This required the tutor to feed the student sentences to correct the word usage which is a directive approach to tutoring.
Session overview- The session was effective because the tutor and the student shared the same native language. The tutor effectively used a specialized skill to communicate with the student to make the session more effective.
In Case Study B-
In this session, both the student and the tutor were native English speakers. I still focused on the language content and the overall effectiveness of the session because there were no language differences. The tutor in this session was trained and highly skilled at providing information to students in a student-teacher environment. The student had a mastery of the English language, so the session was focused on the content of the assignment. The student was able to respond to the tutor with exactly what she wanted to say in her assignment and where she was confused, and the session was purely collaborative. In contrast with students who do not have the same language differences, the methods and styles used here were more aligned with a team approach to tutoring than the teacher student model.
Case Study C-
In this session, both student and tutor spoke the native language. The focus here is still on the skill and the training used by the tutor to convey information to the student. Although the language difference is absent-I still wanted to study the training and methods used by the tutor. The obvious goals remained the same, assisting the student and increasing the effectiveness of the written material, listening to the ideas presented by the student and the content of the assignment.
In this session, there were no line by line corrections and paraphrasing written material to ensure the students understanding of the content. During this session, the tutor looked to ensure student comprenhension by having the student repeat everything in her own words, and the tutor looked for HOCs. The student was confident in saying she understood the asignment, but she just wanted support from the tutor.
As the session progressed, the focus shifted to another assignment fpr which the student required additional assistance. The student needed help in finding appropriate sources for a research project. In this, the student had a clear focus on concepts she wished to explore in the research, she did not require additional language instruction or props. The session ended in exactly one hour and the student was disappointed to learn the tutor would be retired as of the following week!
Case Study D –
In this session, although English was not the student’s native language, the student’s level of English proficiency did not impede his ability to understand and respond to the assignment or to the tutor. The student had a clear focus on the paper, and her major concerns were that she was unsure she was staying on topic and that her paper was fully developed. This particular student was confident in articulating his ideas, and he knew exactly what he wanted to say, he just needed support in organizing his thoughts and putting the words on paper.
I noticed in this session, the written material needed to be developed as opposed to the vocabulary of the student. The tutor asked questions of the student to draw information and to make the student really think about what she wanted to say.
Overall, the language proficiency of this particular student did not require additional training on the part of the tutor. (expand)
Case Study E
In this session, the student did not have proficient English language skills. When he came to the center, he understood the content of the assignment-but he did not understand the written material for the assignment. The assignment was to paraphrase a chapter of a book, but the student lacked the English vocabulary skills to fully comprehend the material.
I took notice of the tutor slowing down to fully read the material, and proving feedback on each page. The tutor spoke in slow deliberate sentences with smaller words so the student could understand everything that was stated in the written material.
Also in the session, the tutor used hand movements to assist in making points to assist the student in understanding what he conveyed to the student. I noticed the student was very comfortable with the tutor writing things down for him to read. The student actually seemed to respond positively to written words, more-so than spoken words. The student smiled and laughed when he read what the tutor wrote, and seemed to look frustrated, frightened and confused when the words were spoken-even when the words were spoken at a slower pace.
In the end, the session may not been as effective as the student would have liked-only because it was too short. The student arrived half hour after the session was to begin. The student seemed comfortable enough with the tutor to want additional sessions and additional time with the tutor.
I noticed the tutor took a directive approach and thoroughly explained everything to the student. (expand)
Discussion and Analysis
In analyzing the data from the above observations, several trends stand out from each session. Student tutors seem to begin the sessions displaying signs of nervousness, thereafter; they seem to get more comfortable, but in general they have a look of slight shock on their faces when they realize exactly what is happening. Certain non verbal cues are unknowingly displayed as the session progresses. For example: the student tutors sit and stare at the written material seemingly at a loss. Initially that may be the case as the tutors begin to move the session along.
According to Help Non Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures as tutors assist those students who have yet to master the English language, certain methods and techniques are necessary to make those sessions more effective. Trained professionals generally use directive techniques with students still learning the English language. Although student tutors are not teachers and lack those special training skills, they fulfill an integral role in helping students attain goals of comprehending and generating academic written material.
For instance, in A Writing Center without Walls, the material states they use content based words to correlate vocabulary with teaching English language in the Garden. This focused based training is based used to increase the understanding of certain words used in the learner’s world. In this respect, it is the exact same concept in providing writing assistance for a non native speaking adult student in a writing center. The material is content based and it must be absorbed for full comprehension. Just as material in the Garden is content based, writing center tutoring is done based on assignment content-and standard methods and practices may be used to benefit the adult student.
In each piece, in addition to various styles of learning and writing by students with a native language other than English, there is a need for additional training to accommodate the needs of these students. There is a demonstrated need for vast experience with the English language or specialized training in working with students who fall into this category.
Introduction
The requirements of ESL students in writing centers have not been completely outlined for student tutors. Through this essay I will attempt to highlight the specialized training that is necessary to connect with and assist students who are not proficient in the English language in successfully writing academic material. This essay focuses on the adult English language learner, as it translates to writing on various levels. Throughout this paper you will see evidence of the need for training specialization in writing centers only limited to the tutoring of ESL students.
Abstract…(Not yet written)
Implications of Writing Center responsibilities –
When tutors are working with students with different language backgrounds or who have a need for language instruction.
Literature Review
In compiling research for this paper, the following written material was used for research,
“Meeting English Language Needs in Teacher Education: a flexible support model for non-English speaking backgrounds.” By Ken Cruishank & Sandra Newell
Overview,
The learning process for students learning the English language is roughly similar to that of American students, however-the language acquisition process tends to make written English more of a challenge. The needs of English language learners are somewhat different than those native speaking students. The literature supports the concept that educators teaching those students are in need of different training standards. Students who are learning English are not “special needs’ students, but they require other types of education to make learning and comprehending English more effective.
“Help Non-Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures”
Peters and Davis
Overview,
This article is actually a concise list of what is required for non-native speakers to understand English lectures given for learning. This is not limited to tutors, but this assists in determining the methods necessary for successful student comprehension of spoken material.
“A Writing Center Without Walls: Community Gardens as a site for Teaching English Language Learning.” Roadacker and Siebler
Overview,
The primary focus of this journal is examining where second language learning are taught; however, it contains written content on teaching older English language learners the basic elements of spoken and written English for specific purposes, which can be applied to Writing Center tutoring. English language use in Writing Centers is highly specified content. The verbiage used is always concentrated on academic discipline subject content the student is writing about.
“The ESL Experience in the Writing Center”
Feuerbacher, Hagen, Kim, Sweets and Yeom
Overview
The focus of this article is assessing and fulfilling the required needs of students in the writing center and what that experience means for tutors. It explores everything from academic levels, cultural differences, student perceptions, language and non verbal behavior, and student comprehension levels.
As ESL students require flexibility and patience in writing centers, it is an excellent guide for expected situations as writing tutors or coaches.
An academic writing needs assessment of ESL clinical investigators
Wang and Bakken
This particular article indicates the needs of skilled ESL adult students and their writing deficiencies. In this case, the students are at more advanced levels of their education, yet they still lack English writing skills because they still not proficient in scholarly writing. As these students are skilled investigators, they are ill-prepared to adequately articulate their ideas properly in written form, nor do they feel the resources are available to them to correct their deficiencies.
Some of the assessed needs are grammatical correctness, word order and phrase usage, and American writing standards and practice. There has been limited investigation into whether pedagogical practice should be introduced into writing centers involving ESL student writers.
ESL guide for Writing Centers
Bruce and Rafoth
This is an explanation of a collaboration of essays surrounding ESL student tutoring in writing centers. What this piece does is outline the general methods which can be used when assisting students with different language backgrounds and some implication for cultural and communication differences. The big difference in this writing is the focus shifts slightly from highlighting different methods for tutoring ESL students to illustrating which methods transcend those boundaries-such as agenda and goal setting, and looking for patterns which indicate deficiencies or writing errors such as line by line correction.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. These students spoke Spanish, and form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
There was a single session that didn’t require additional time and instruction. While this student was not a native speaker, the proficiency level of that particular student was higher than that of other students. This student understood the assignment, the content and word order (grammatical terms) He simply experienced lack of organization in his written material. I noticed student had an accent, but he seemed to a very clear understanding of the English language. This tells me that the requirements of non-native speaking students greatly depends on English language proficiency. Most of the students were freshman and sophomores, but I think if the language skill is there…the focus need only be on the assignment and the writing.
Data Analysis
The research methods I used for collecting this data consists of self-observations as well as observations of tutoring sessions held by other students. In each observation, I focused on the native language of the student, the native language of the tutor, the tutoring styles of the tutors and the methods used by each. I looked for losses that could be reasonably related to language differences, and student responses to the tutor that are definitely related to language differences.
Case Study A-
Student and Tutor were not native language speakers. They both actually experience a loss in communication even though they both spoke Spanish. The student is this tutoring session required more of a Teacher - student relationship than a tutor/tutee relationship. As they were focused on an assignment, Peter had to dissect the written, material line by line in order to provide effective feedback fort the paper. The majority of the information disseminated by the tutor was given in Spanish. The student here experienced difficulties articulating ideas in English.
The session also seemed rushed, going by the rate at which both the tutor and the student moved through the written material. From that I gathered the student was attempting to include everything in this one particular session.
I noticed that Peter had to take the lead in the tutoring session. He provided direction for the tutee from the beginning of the session. The student had written material to be analyzed by the tutor, but was unsure of the proper word order and vocabulary. This required the tutor to feed the student sentences to correct the word usage which is a directive approach to tutoring.
Session overview- The session was effective because the tutor and the student shared the same native language. The tutor effectively used a specialized skill to communicate with the student to make the session more effective.
In Case Study B-
In this session, both the student and the tutor were native English speakers. I still focused on the language content and the overall effectiveness of the session because there were no language differences. The tutor in this session was trained and highly skilled at providing information to students in a student-teacher environment. The student had a mastery of the English language, so the session was focused on the content of the assignment. The student was able to respond to the tutor with exactly what she wanted to say in her assignment and where she was confused, and the session was purely collaborative. In contrast with students who do not have the same language differences, the methods and styles used here were more aligned with a team approach to tutoring than the teacher student model.
Case Study C-
In this session, both student and tutor spoke the native language. The focus here is still on the skill and the training used by the tutor to convey information to the student. Although the language difference is absent-I still wanted to study the training and methods used by the tutor. The obvious goals remained the same, assisting the student and increasing the effectiveness of the written material, listening to the ideas presented by the student and the content of the assignment.
In this session, there were no line by line corrections and paraphrasing written material to ensure the students understanding of the content. During this session, the tutor looked to ensure student comprenhension by having the student repeat everything in her own words, and the tutor looked for HOCs. The student was confident in saying she understood the asignment, but she just wanted support from the tutor.
As the session progressed, the focus shifted to another assignment fpr which the student required additional assistance. The student needed help in finding appropriate sources for a research project. In this, the student had a clear focus on concepts she wished to explore in the research, she did not require additional language instruction or props. The session ended in exactly one hour and the student was disappointed to learn the tutor would be retired as of the following week!
Case Study D –
In this session, although English was not the student’s native language, the student’s level of English proficiency did not impede his ability to understand and respond to the assignment or to the tutor. The student had a clear focus on the paper, and her major concerns were that she was unsure she was staying on topic and that her paper was fully developed. This particular student was confident in articulating his ideas, and he knew exactly what he wanted to say, he just needed support in organizing his thoughts and putting the words on paper.
I noticed in this session, the written material needed to be developed as opposed to the vocabulary of the student. The tutor asked questions of the student to draw information and to make the student really think about what she wanted to say.
Overall, the language proficiency of this particular student did not require additional training on the part of the tutor. (expand)
Case Study E
In this session, the student did not have proficient English language skills. When he came to the center, he understood the content of the assignment-but he did not understand the written material for the assignment. The assignment was to paraphrase a chapter of a book, but the student lacked the English vocabulary skills to fully comprehend the material.
I took notice of the tutor slowing down to fully read the material, and proving feedback on each page. The tutor spoke in slow deliberate sentences with smaller words so the student could understand everything that was stated in the written material.
Also in the session, the tutor used hand movements to assist in making points to assist the student in understanding what he conveyed to the student. I noticed the student was very comfortable with the tutor writing things down for him to read. The student actually seemed to respond positively to written words, more-so than spoken words. The student smiled and laughed when he read what the tutor wrote, and seemed to look frustrated, frightened and confused when the words were spoken-even when the words were spoken at a slower pace.
In the end, the session may not been as effective as the student would have liked-only because it was too short. The student arrived half hour after the session was to begin. The student seemed comfortable enough with the tutor to want additional sessions and additional time with the tutor.
I noticed the tutor took a directive approach and thoroughly explained everything to the student. (expand)
Discussion and Analysis
In analyzing the data from the above observations, several trends stand out from each session. Student tutors seem to begin the sessions displaying signs of nervousness, thereafter; they seem to get more comfortable, but in general they have a look of slight shock on their faces when they realize exactly what is happening. Certain non verbal cues are unknowingly displayed as the session progresses. For example: the student tutors sit and stare at the written material seemingly at a loss. Initially that may be the case as the tutors begin to move the session along.
According to Help Non Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures as tutors assist those students who have yet to master the English language, certain methods and techniques are necessary to make those sessions more effective. Trained professionals generally use directive techniques with students still learning the English language. Although student tutors are not teachers and lack those special training skills, they fulfill an integral role in helping students attain goals of comprehending and generating academic written material.
For instance, in A Writing Center without Walls, the material states they use content based words to correlate vocabulary with teaching English language in the Garden. This focused based training is based used to increase the understanding of certain words used in the learner’s world. In this respect, it is the exact same concept in providing writing assistance for a non native speaking adult student in a writing center. The material is content based and it must be absorbed for full comprehension. Just as material in the Garden is content based, writing center tutoring is done based on assignment content-and standard methods and practices may be used to benefit the adult student.
In each piece, in addition to various styles of learning and writing by students with a native language other than English, there is a need for additional training to accommodate the needs of these students. There is a demonstrated need for vast experience with the English language or specialized training in working with students who fall into this category.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Draft.....still developing!
Introduction
The requirements of ESL students in writing centers have not been completely outlined for student tutors. Through this essay I will attempt to highlight the specialized training that is necessary to connect with and assist students who are not proficient in the English language in successfully writing academic material.
Abstract…(Not yet written)
Implications of Writing Center responsibilities –
When tutors are working with students with different language backgrounds or who have a need for language instruction
Review of the literature….. (some)
In compiling research for this paper, the following written material was used for research,
“Meeting English Language Needs in Teacher Education: a flexible support model for non-English speaking backgrounds.” By Ken Cruishank & Sandra Newell
Overview,
The learning process for students learning the English language is roughly similar to that of American students, however-the language acquisition process tends to make written English more of a challenge. The needs of English language learners are somewhat different than those native speaking students. The literature supports the concept that educators teaching those students are in need of different training standards. Students who are learning English are not “special needs’ students, but they require other types of education to make learning and comprehending English more effective.
“Help Non-Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures”
Peters and Davis
Overview,
This article is actually a concise list of what is required for non-native speakers to understand English lectures given for learning. This is not limited to tutors, but this assists in determining the methods necessary for successful student comprehension of spoken material.
“A Writing Center Without Walls: Community Gardens as a site for Teaching English Language Learning.” Roadacker and Siebler
Overview,
The primary focus of this journal is examining where second language learning are taught; however, it contains written content on teaching older English language learners the basic elements of spoken and written English for specific purposes, which can be applied to Writing Center tutoring. English language use in Writing Centers is highly specified content. The verbiage used is always concentrated on academic discipline subject content the student is writing about.
“The ESL Experience in the Writing Center”
Feuerbacher, Hagen, Kim, Sweets and Yeom
Overview
The focus of this article is assessing and fulfilling the required needs of students in the writing center and what that experience means for tutors. It explores everything from academic levels, cultural differences, student perceptions, language and non verbal behavior, and student comprehension levels.
As ESL students require flexibility and patience in writing centers, it is an excellent guide for expected situations as writing tutors or coaches.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. These students spoke Spanish, and form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
There was a single session that didn’t require additional time and instruction. While this student was not a native speaker, the proficiency level of that particular student was higher than that of other students. This student understood the assignment, the content and word order (grammatical terms) He simply experienced lack of organization in his written material. I noticed student had an accent, but he seemed to a very clear understanding of the English language. This tells me that the requirements of non-native speaking students greatly depends on English language proficiency. Most of the students were freshman and sophomores, but I think if the language skill is there…the focus need only be on the assignment and the writing.
Data Analysis
The research methods I used for collecting this data consists of self-observations as well as observations of tutoring sessions held by other students. In each observation, I focused on the native language of the student, the native language of the tutor, the tutoring styles of the tutors and the methods used by each. I looked for losses that could be reasonably related to language differences, and student responses to the tutor that are definitely related to language differences.
Case Study A-
Student and tutor were not native language speakers. They both actually experience a loss in communication even though they both spoke Spanish. The student is this tutoring session required more of a Teacher - student relationship than a tutor/tutee relationship. As they were focused on an assignment, Peter had to dissect the written, material line by line in order to provide effective feedback fort the paper. The majority of the information disseminated by the tutor was given in Spanish. The student here experienced difficulties articulating ideas in English.
The session also seemed rushed, going by the rate at which both the tutor and the student moved through the written material. From that I gathered the student was attempting to include everything in this one particular session.
I noticed that Peter had to take the lead in the tutoring session. He provided direction for the tutee from the beginning of the session. The student had written material to be analyzed by the tutor, but was unsure of the proper word order and vocabulary. This required the tutor to feed the student sentences to correct the word usage which is a directive approach to tutoring.
Session overview- The session was effective because the tutor and the student shared the same native language. The tutor effectively used a specialized skill to communicate with the student to make the session more effective.
In Case Study B-
In this session, both the student and the tutor were native English speakers. I still focused on the language content and the overall effectiveness of the session because there were no language differences. The tutor in this session was trained and highly skilled at providing information to students in a student-teacher environment. The student had a mastery of the English language, so the session was focused on the content of the assignment. The student was able to respond to the tutor with exactly what she wanted to say in her assignment and where she was confused, and the session was purely collaborative. In contrast with students who do not have the same language differences, the methods and styles used here were more aligned with a team approach to tutoring than the teacher student model.
Case Study C-
In this session, both student and tutor spoke the native language. The focus here is still on the skill and the training used by the tutor to convey information to the student. Although the language difference is absent-I still wanted to study the training (develop more)
Case Study D –
In this session, although English was not the student’s native language, the student’s level of English proficiency did not impede his ability to understand and respond to the assignment or to the tutor. The student had a clear focus on the paper, and her major concerns were that she was unsure she was staying on topic and that her paper was fully developed. This particular student was confident in articulating his ideas, and he knew exactly what he wanted to say, he just needed support in organizing his thoughts and putting the words on paper.
I noticed in this session, the written material needed to be developed as opposed to the vocabulary of the student. The tutor asked questions of the student to draw information and to make the student really think about what she wanted to say.
Overall, the language proficiency of this particular student did not require additional training on the part of the tutor. (expand)
Case Study E
In this session, the student did not have proficient English language skills. When he came to the center, he understood the content of the assignment-but he did not understand the written material for the assignment. The assignment was to paraphrase a chapter of a book, but the student lacked the English vocabulary skills to fully comprehend the material.
I took notice of the tutor slowing down to fully read the material, and proving feedback on each page. The tutor spoke in slow deliberate sentences with smaller words so the student could understand everything that was stated in the written material.
Also in the session, the tutor used hand movements to assist in making points to assist the student in understanding what he conveyed to the student. I noticed the student was very comfortable with the tutor writing things down for him to read. The student actually seemed to respond positively to written words, more-so than spoken words. The student smiled and laughed when he read what the tutor wrote, and seemed to look frustrated, frightened and confused when the words were spoken-even when the words were spoken at a slower pace.
In the end, the session may not been as effective as the student would have liked-only because it was too short. The student arrived half hour after the session was to begin. The student seemed comfortable enough with the tutor to want additional sessions and additional time with the tutor.
I noticed the tutor took a directive approach and thoroughly explained everything to the student. (expand)
Discussion and Analysis
In analyzing the data from the above observations, several trends stand out from each session. Student tutors seem to begin the sessions displaying signs of nervousness, thereafter; they seem to get more comfortable, but in general they have a look of slight shock on their faces when they realize exactly what is happening. Certain non verbal cues are unknowingly displayed as the session progresses. For example: the student tutors sit and stare at the written material seemingly at a loss. Initially that may be the case as the tutors begin to move the session along.
According to Help Non Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures as tutors assist those students who have yet to master the English language, certain methods and techniques are necessary to make those sessions more effective. Trained professionals generally use directive techniques with students still learning the English language. Although student tutors are not teachers and lack those special training skills, they fulfill an integral role in helping students attain goals of comprehending and generating academic written material.
For instance, in A Writing Center without Walls, the material states they use content based words to correlate vocabulary with teaching English language in the Garden. This focused based training is based used to increase the understanding of certain words used in the learner’s world. In this respect, it is the exact same concept in providing writing assistance for a non native speaking adult student in a writing center. The material is content based and it must be absorbed for full comprehension. (more later)
The requirements of ESL students in writing centers have not been completely outlined for student tutors. Through this essay I will attempt to highlight the specialized training that is necessary to connect with and assist students who are not proficient in the English language in successfully writing academic material.
Abstract…(Not yet written)
Implications of Writing Center responsibilities –
When tutors are working with students with different language backgrounds or who have a need for language instruction
Review of the literature….. (some)
In compiling research for this paper, the following written material was used for research,
“Meeting English Language Needs in Teacher Education: a flexible support model for non-English speaking backgrounds.” By Ken Cruishank & Sandra Newell
Overview,
The learning process for students learning the English language is roughly similar to that of American students, however-the language acquisition process tends to make written English more of a challenge. The needs of English language learners are somewhat different than those native speaking students. The literature supports the concept that educators teaching those students are in need of different training standards. Students who are learning English are not “special needs’ students, but they require other types of education to make learning and comprehending English more effective.
“Help Non-Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures”
Peters and Davis
Overview,
This article is actually a concise list of what is required for non-native speakers to understand English lectures given for learning. This is not limited to tutors, but this assists in determining the methods necessary for successful student comprehension of spoken material.
“A Writing Center Without Walls: Community Gardens as a site for Teaching English Language Learning.” Roadacker and Siebler
Overview,
The primary focus of this journal is examining where second language learning are taught; however, it contains written content on teaching older English language learners the basic elements of spoken and written English for specific purposes, which can be applied to Writing Center tutoring. English language use in Writing Centers is highly specified content. The verbiage used is always concentrated on academic discipline subject content the student is writing about.
“The ESL Experience in the Writing Center”
Feuerbacher, Hagen, Kim, Sweets and Yeom
Overview
The focus of this article is assessing and fulfilling the required needs of students in the writing center and what that experience means for tutors. It explores everything from academic levels, cultural differences, student perceptions, language and non verbal behavior, and student comprehension levels.
As ESL students require flexibility and patience in writing centers, it is an excellent guide for expected situations as writing tutors or coaches.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. These students spoke Spanish, and form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
There was a single session that didn’t require additional time and instruction. While this student was not a native speaker, the proficiency level of that particular student was higher than that of other students. This student understood the assignment, the content and word order (grammatical terms) He simply experienced lack of organization in his written material. I noticed student had an accent, but he seemed to a very clear understanding of the English language. This tells me that the requirements of non-native speaking students greatly depends on English language proficiency. Most of the students were freshman and sophomores, but I think if the language skill is there…the focus need only be on the assignment and the writing.
Data Analysis
The research methods I used for collecting this data consists of self-observations as well as observations of tutoring sessions held by other students. In each observation, I focused on the native language of the student, the native language of the tutor, the tutoring styles of the tutors and the methods used by each. I looked for losses that could be reasonably related to language differences, and student responses to the tutor that are definitely related to language differences.
Case Study A-
Student and tutor were not native language speakers. They both actually experience a loss in communication even though they both spoke Spanish. The student is this tutoring session required more of a Teacher - student relationship than a tutor/tutee relationship. As they were focused on an assignment, Peter had to dissect the written, material line by line in order to provide effective feedback fort the paper. The majority of the information disseminated by the tutor was given in Spanish. The student here experienced difficulties articulating ideas in English.
The session also seemed rushed, going by the rate at which both the tutor and the student moved through the written material. From that I gathered the student was attempting to include everything in this one particular session.
I noticed that Peter had to take the lead in the tutoring session. He provided direction for the tutee from the beginning of the session. The student had written material to be analyzed by the tutor, but was unsure of the proper word order and vocabulary. This required the tutor to feed the student sentences to correct the word usage which is a directive approach to tutoring.
Session overview- The session was effective because the tutor and the student shared the same native language. The tutor effectively used a specialized skill to communicate with the student to make the session more effective.
In Case Study B-
In this session, both the student and the tutor were native English speakers. I still focused on the language content and the overall effectiveness of the session because there were no language differences. The tutor in this session was trained and highly skilled at providing information to students in a student-teacher environment. The student had a mastery of the English language, so the session was focused on the content of the assignment. The student was able to respond to the tutor with exactly what she wanted to say in her assignment and where she was confused, and the session was purely collaborative. In contrast with students who do not have the same language differences, the methods and styles used here were more aligned with a team approach to tutoring than the teacher student model.
Case Study C-
In this session, both student and tutor spoke the native language. The focus here is still on the skill and the training used by the tutor to convey information to the student. Although the language difference is absent-I still wanted to study the training (develop more)
Case Study D –
In this session, although English was not the student’s native language, the student’s level of English proficiency did not impede his ability to understand and respond to the assignment or to the tutor. The student had a clear focus on the paper, and her major concerns were that she was unsure she was staying on topic and that her paper was fully developed. This particular student was confident in articulating his ideas, and he knew exactly what he wanted to say, he just needed support in organizing his thoughts and putting the words on paper.
I noticed in this session, the written material needed to be developed as opposed to the vocabulary of the student. The tutor asked questions of the student to draw information and to make the student really think about what she wanted to say.
Overall, the language proficiency of this particular student did not require additional training on the part of the tutor. (expand)
Case Study E
In this session, the student did not have proficient English language skills. When he came to the center, he understood the content of the assignment-but he did not understand the written material for the assignment. The assignment was to paraphrase a chapter of a book, but the student lacked the English vocabulary skills to fully comprehend the material.
I took notice of the tutor slowing down to fully read the material, and proving feedback on each page. The tutor spoke in slow deliberate sentences with smaller words so the student could understand everything that was stated in the written material.
Also in the session, the tutor used hand movements to assist in making points to assist the student in understanding what he conveyed to the student. I noticed the student was very comfortable with the tutor writing things down for him to read. The student actually seemed to respond positively to written words, more-so than spoken words. The student smiled and laughed when he read what the tutor wrote, and seemed to look frustrated, frightened and confused when the words were spoken-even when the words were spoken at a slower pace.
In the end, the session may not been as effective as the student would have liked-only because it was too short. The student arrived half hour after the session was to begin. The student seemed comfortable enough with the tutor to want additional sessions and additional time with the tutor.
I noticed the tutor took a directive approach and thoroughly explained everything to the student. (expand)
Discussion and Analysis
In analyzing the data from the above observations, several trends stand out from each session. Student tutors seem to begin the sessions displaying signs of nervousness, thereafter; they seem to get more comfortable, but in general they have a look of slight shock on their faces when they realize exactly what is happening. Certain non verbal cues are unknowingly displayed as the session progresses. For example: the student tutors sit and stare at the written material seemingly at a loss. Initially that may be the case as the tutors begin to move the session along.
According to Help Non Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures as tutors assist those students who have yet to master the English language, certain methods and techniques are necessary to make those sessions more effective. Trained professionals generally use directive techniques with students still learning the English language. Although student tutors are not teachers and lack those special training skills, they fulfill an integral role in helping students attain goals of comprehending and generating academic written material.
For instance, in A Writing Center without Walls, the material states they use content based words to correlate vocabulary with teaching English language in the Garden. This focused based training is based used to increase the understanding of certain words used in the learner’s world. In this respect, it is the exact same concept in providing writing assistance for a non native speaking adult student in a writing center. The material is content based and it must be absorbed for full comprehension. (more later)
Sunday, December 6, 2009
More writing #20
Methods analysis
The research methods I used for collecting this data consists of self-observations as well as observations of tutoring sessions held by other students. In each observation, I focused on the native language of the student, the native language of the tutor, the tutoring styles of the tutors and the methods used by each. I looked for losses that could be reasonably related to language differences, and student responses to the tutor that are definitely related to language differences.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. These students spoke Spanish, and form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
The research methods I used for collecting this data consists of self-observations as well as observations of tutoring sessions held by other students. In each observation, I focused on the native language of the student, the native language of the tutor, the tutoring styles of the tutors and the methods used by each. I looked for losses that could be reasonably related to language differences, and student responses to the tutor that are definitely related to language differences.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. These students spoke Spanish, and form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Blog 19- Review and methods...a little snippet
Some review of the literature…..
In compiling research for this paper, the following written material was used for research,
“Meeting English Language Needs in Teacher Education: a flexible support model for non-English speaking backgrounds.” By Ken Cruishank & Sandra Newell
Overview,
The learning process for students learning the English language is roughly similar to that of American students, however-the language acquisition process tends to make written English more of a challenge. The needs of English language learners are somewhat different than those native speaking students. The literature supports the concept that educators teaching those students are in need of different training standards. Students who are learning English are not “special needs’ students, but they require other types of education to make learning and comprehending English more effective.
“Help Non-Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures”
Peters and Davis
Overview,
This article is actually a concise list of what is required for non-native speakers to understand English lectures given for learning. This is not limited to tutors, but this assists in determining the methods necessary for successful student comprehension of spoken material.
“A Writing Center Without Walls: Community Gardens as a site for Teaching English Language Learning.” Roadacker and Siebler
Overview,
The primary focus of this journal is examining where second language learning are taught; however, it contains written content on teaching older English language learners the basic elements of spoken and written English for specific purposes, which can be applied to Writing Center tutoring. English language use in Writing Centers is highly specified content. The verbiage used is always concentrated on academic discipline subject content the student is writing about.
“The ESL Experience in the Writing Center”
Feuerbacher, Hagen, Kim, Sweets and Yeom
Overview
The focus of this article is assessing and fulfilling the required needs of students in the writing center and what that experience means for tutors. It explores everything from academic levels, cultural differences, student perceptions, language and non verbal behavior, and student comprehension levels.
As ESL students require flexibility and patience in writing centers, it is an excellent guide for expected situations as writing tutors or coaches.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. Most of these students spoke Spanish and a form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I looked to see if the students understood assignment content, requirements and language. Of course this depends on academic levels, 2 out of 5 students fully understood the language and content of the assignment.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
There was a single session that did not require additional time and instruction. While this student was not a native speaker, the proficiency level of that particular student was higher than that of other students. This student understood the assignment, the content and word order. He simply lacked organization in his written material. I noticed student had an accent, but he seemed to a very clear understanding of the English language. This tells me that the requirements of non-native speaking students greatly depends on English language proficiency. Most of the students were freshman and sophomores, but I think if the language skill is there…the focus need only be on the assignment and the writing.
In compiling research for this paper, the following written material was used for research,
“Meeting English Language Needs in Teacher Education: a flexible support model for non-English speaking backgrounds.” By Ken Cruishank & Sandra Newell
Overview,
The learning process for students learning the English language is roughly similar to that of American students, however-the language acquisition process tends to make written English more of a challenge. The needs of English language learners are somewhat different than those native speaking students. The literature supports the concept that educators teaching those students are in need of different training standards. Students who are learning English are not “special needs’ students, but they require other types of education to make learning and comprehending English more effective.
“Help Non-Native English Speakers Understand Your Lectures”
Peters and Davis
Overview,
This article is actually a concise list of what is required for non-native speakers to understand English lectures given for learning. This is not limited to tutors, but this assists in determining the methods necessary for successful student comprehension of spoken material.
“A Writing Center Without Walls: Community Gardens as a site for Teaching English Language Learning.” Roadacker and Siebler
Overview,
The primary focus of this journal is examining where second language learning are taught; however, it contains written content on teaching older English language learners the basic elements of spoken and written English for specific purposes, which can be applied to Writing Center tutoring. English language use in Writing Centers is highly specified content. The verbiage used is always concentrated on academic discipline subject content the student is writing about.
“The ESL Experience in the Writing Center”
Feuerbacher, Hagen, Kim, Sweets and Yeom
Overview
The focus of this article is assessing and fulfilling the required needs of students in the writing center and what that experience means for tutors. It explores everything from academic levels, cultural differences, student perceptions, language and non verbal behavior, and student comprehension levels.
As ESL students require flexibility and patience in writing centers, it is an excellent guide for expected situations as writing tutors or coaches.
Methods
While collecting data for this research paper, I observed five students at various stages of secondary language acquisition. Most of these students spoke Spanish and a form of African *.
I wanted to analyze the shift in methods used by tutors when assisting nns students.
Then to take the study a step further, I wanted to analyze the tutoring sessions to ascertain each tutor’s effectiveness with students that lack adequate English language skills for academic writing.
As the tutors proceed to read line by line, there seems to come a point where the tutor experiences a form of “frustration” or a feeling being slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of going thoroughly dissecting each aspect of the student’s paper.
Students who were not strong English speakers required a lot of repetition throughout their sessions. They were not readily able to understand what was said in English by non-bilingual tutors.
I looked to see if the students understood assignment content, requirements and language. Of course this depends on academic levels, 2 out of 5 students fully understood the language and content of the assignment.
I took notice of students seemingly getting overwhelmed with the intense requirements of ESL students. Without realizing exactly what was going on, I noticed the tutors were required to explain things in detail a lot more than native speaking students-which of course made the word order correction process very lengthy. Each tutoring session I observed which involved a student who lacked English language proficiency went beyond the allotted one hour time limit.
There was a single session that did not require additional time and instruction. While this student was not a native speaker, the proficiency level of that particular student was higher than that of other students. This student understood the assignment, the content and word order. He simply lacked organization in his written material. I noticed student had an accent, but he seemed to a very clear understanding of the English language. This tells me that the requirements of non-native speaking students greatly depends on English language proficiency. Most of the students were freshman and sophomores, but I think if the language skill is there…the focus need only be on the assignment and the writing.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Blog 17 Research Plan
Topic: ESL students and writing centers
Main Research questions: Should tutors of students with language differences receive specialized training? ...or ...Is overall effectiveness of tutoring sessions decreased by language differences?...more specific to students learning ESL
Sub questions include:
What are the needs of WC students who are NNS?
What methods are used by tutors to increase effectiveness of sessions?
Do language differences affect the outcome of tutoring sessions?
How can session efficacy be measured?
Are tutors of ESL students more likely to switch between NL and NNL For greater understanding? If so, why?
Do writing tutors for students with language differences need specialized training; or is the overall effectiveness of sessions dependent on tutor ability?
Data collected-Observations
Sample size-5
5 sessions were observed where an NS tutored a non-native speaker. In my observations, I noticed there appears to be a different level of engagement by tutor and student. This is usually initiated by the tutor as they generally complete a line by line dissection of the paper-assessing and evaluating material while looking for accurate use of vocabulary and ensuring articulation of intended concepts.
During this process, I thought it was important to gauge the needs of second language students and weigh the implications against those of a writing center.
The chosen goal of each tutor is to create better writers; however, that target cannot be reached without measuring what those needs are, then see if those needs can be provided for.
Written data collected-
Thus far, all collected data indicates the needs of second language learners in Writing Centers differ from native speaking students by way of tutoring approaches and terminology.
Language used for tutoring and how that language is conveyed can make sessions more or less effective. For instance, when assisting NNS students in the writing center or in an academic setting, slower speech and emphasis is generally required for greater understanding of writing content. Also because values differ greatly, jokes and slang may not be used during the sessions as this can potentially confuse students.
Additional research data to be collected:
More information on specialized training for WC tutors assisting students with language differences
Should tutoring be a prerequisite for TESOL graduate or certification program students
More to follow.....
Main Research questions: Should tutors of students with language differences receive specialized training? ...or ...Is overall effectiveness of tutoring sessions decreased by language differences?...more specific to students learning ESL
Sub questions include:
What are the needs of WC students who are NNS?
What methods are used by tutors to increase effectiveness of sessions?
Do language differences affect the outcome of tutoring sessions?
How can session efficacy be measured?
Are tutors of ESL students more likely to switch between NL and NNL For greater understanding? If so, why?
Do writing tutors for students with language differences need specialized training; or is the overall effectiveness of sessions dependent on tutor ability?
Data collected-Observations
Sample size-5
5 sessions were observed where an NS tutored a non-native speaker. In my observations, I noticed there appears to be a different level of engagement by tutor and student. This is usually initiated by the tutor as they generally complete a line by line dissection of the paper-assessing and evaluating material while looking for accurate use of vocabulary and ensuring articulation of intended concepts.
During this process, I thought it was important to gauge the needs of second language students and weigh the implications against those of a writing center.
The chosen goal of each tutor is to create better writers; however, that target cannot be reached without measuring what those needs are, then see if those needs can be provided for.
Written data collected-
Thus far, all collected data indicates the needs of second language learners in Writing Centers differ from native speaking students by way of tutoring approaches and terminology.
Language used for tutoring and how that language is conveyed can make sessions more or less effective. For instance, when assisting NNS students in the writing center or in an academic setting, slower speech and emphasis is generally required for greater understanding of writing content. Also because values differ greatly, jokes and slang may not be used during the sessions as this can potentially confuse students.
Additional research data to be collected:
More information on specialized training for WC tutors assisting students with language differences
Should tutoring be a prerequisite for TESOL graduate or certification program students
More to follow.....
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