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.