The Effects Body Language, Verbal Responses, and Cultural Attitudes
of ESL Students have on Determining Authority in the tutoring
session?
The acquisition of language is a social process that includes comprehension, verbal ability and writing. The mastering of these areas relies greatly on the relationship established between the instructor and the learner. This is especially important when instructing ESL adult students. In order for tutors to enhance the quality of a Writing Center session with ESL students, the instructor should monitor their clients’ personal cues such as body language, verbal responses and cultural attitudes so as to design an individual strategy of coaching. Since experiences with education in Spanish countries differ from the American experiences of education, the body language, verbal responses, and cultural attitudes demonstrated during a coaching session may affect the establishment of authority and in turn the outcome of learning during the writing session. The purpose of the study is to examine if body language, verbal responses and/or cultural attitudes of ESL students toward writing have an impact on the establishment of authority. ESL students will be observed during a regular writing center session and the latter cues will be documented. These cues will be analyzed and the data will be evaluated to confirm their validity in determining authority during a writing session.
In 2006, 43% of the nations’ students enrolled in public school were children whose primary language was not English (Administration for Children, Youth and Families, 2007). By the year 2030, the estimated amount of these students will increase to more than 25% of the nation’s total student population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Considering the high number of English Language Learners (ELL) in public schools and the effects it has on college enrollment, ESL students will ultimately outnumber native English language speakers. Taking into account this information, the need to implement a more specialize method of coaching writing in college writing centers is essential. One way of accomplishing this is to observe what is actually happening during a tutoring session.
In a typical college writing center, the tutor’s goal is to support the learner with improving their writing process through the use of reader feedback, asking questions and a cooperative method of instructing. Elementary education sustains this foundation of learning and serves as a catalyst for higher college expectations. For this reason, coaches who instruct ESL students find it difficult to understand their role during a writing session. Many of these coaches are ill prepared to handle the cultural differences, unfamiliar grammatical errors, different rhetorical patterns and conventions in other languages (Harris & Silva, 1993).
Cultural experiences in the educational instruction of ESL students differ greatly than that of native English speakers. ESL students tend to be highly motivated and seek extra assistance in writing to improve their skills of their own free choice. ESL learners view the instructor as a figure of authority and their own role as one of listener (Barnett & Cohn, 2004) and attend the writing center to learn from the expert in the field. They take notes and seldom question the opinions of the coach. As a sign of respect, an ESL student may avoid looking directly into the eyes of the instructor and instead lower their glance. These cultural expressions demonstrated by the learner may come across to some American coaches as signifying a lack of interest or academic ability during the writing session. This is far from the truth. In order to improve the quality of a writing session, a tutor should observe and decide what kind of writer the learner is and how this effects the session as a whole. There are 3 characteristics of an ESL student, a United States ESL High School graduate, an International/ Visa college professional and International Graduate student.
The first characteristic group is an undergraduate ESL student whose home language is not English but has attended ESL classes in a US high school. These individuals have issues that involve grammar (Bruce & Rafoth 2009). These students may be proficient in speaking and listening in the target language of English but have not applied proper English grammar and vocabulary usage in their writing. Their writing skills demonstrate a merging of both Spanish and English writing aptitudes (Bruce & Rafoth 2009). These students have had some exposure to the American view of learning. They have experienced lessons in cooperative learning and readers’ feedback but still hide behind the lack of English proficiency.
Writing tutors can service these students through the use of the Rhetorical Approach which walks the learner through each step of the writing process ( Brisk & Harrington 2007) This type of scaffolding support, ensures that the process of writing is understood by the writer. Simply correcting the ESL student’s essay may seem an easier route to take but facilitating in organizing proper English grammar foundations and focusing on self correcting strategies will give the learner a wealth of power in their writing. The next subgroup is the International/Visa college student who has attended college in another country that is not the US.
International /Visa students are individuals that do not intend to stay in the United States and have chosen to complete their college degree here. These students have a good work ethic, are very proud of their home language and have the flexibility of operating their home language with the target language (Bruce & Rafoth 2009). These professionals are academically successful and have acquired the basic rules of writing in their home language. These students have less grammar concerns but demonstrate a difficulty in developing ideas and concepts in the English language. These students have cultivated an “ear” for grammar but still may lack the instinctive correctness that many native English writer have (Writing Matters #6 2010). These students are most likely to portray the learning behavior of traditional foreign learners. They may hesitate to ask questions and expect to be told exactly what their mistakes are. Assisting them in the writing process requires a different form of strategy than that of the first ESL student characteristic.
To aid these students, writing center tutors can concentrate on the content of the essay and move towards grammar correctness within the frame work of the writing. Their essays have academic merit and only require an understanding of different rhetorical patterns and conventions by the coach. This method of coaching will promote learning and independence in the ESL student’s writing style. The last groups of ESL students are professionals that have completed an undergraduate degree in their home country and are pursuing a graduate level of study.
International Graduate Students are less likely to attend Writing Centers. They seek the direct assistance of advisors, professors and academically equivalent peers. They are very concern with the structure and formatting of their essays. They write and rewrite in order to achieve a sense of perfection (Bruce & Rafoth 2009). When these students do come to a Writing Center, they basically know exactly what they need help in. These students are more adapt to ask a lot of questions. They seek the guidance of the experts, in this case the writing coach. These groups of ESL learners do not have time or the patience for reader feedback or cooperative conversation. The most effective way the Writing Center can service these students is by using their strengths and academic excellence in self correcting their essays. Establishing the learner’s academic ability is not the only means supporting their writing. Understanding the cultural differences through direct observation of body language, verbal responses of each client can improve the quality of the teaching during a writing session.
Writing Center Observation 1:
Summary:
Participants Nationality
Tutor: USA
Student: Hispanic (Ecuadorian)
ESL: Undergraduate/ attended High school in US
Results: Throughout the WC session the tutor held the authority. The student demonstrated though body language and verbal responses that the expert was the tutor. The tutor determined in a sense what needed to be worked on and when the student could work independently.
Writing Center Observation 2:
Summary:
Results:
Writing Center Observation 3:
Summary:
Results:
Writing Center Observation 4:
Summary:
Results:
Conclusion:
Best Practices for Tutoring ESL students
References
Barnett,C & Cohn,D (ED.) (2004). The World Comes To Tennessee, a Resource Book of Adult Education and ESOL Teachers of Advanced Leveled ESOL Students.University of Tennessee
Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive Rhetoric: Cross-cultural aspects of
second-language writing. Cambridge:University Press.
Connor, U. & Kaplan, R. (Eds). (1987) Writing Across Languages:
Analysis of L2 Text. Reading, Massachusetts:Addison Wesley Publishing Company.
Harris, M, & Silva, T. (1993). Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and
Options. College Composition and Communication, 44(4).
Panetta, C.G. (Ed.). (2001). Contrastive Rhetoric Revisited and
Redefined. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Thonus, T. (2004).What are the differences?: Tutor interactions with first- and second-language writers . Journal of Second Language Writing. Volume 13, Issue 3, September 2004, Pages 227-242
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