The Doodle’s In Context
“Since I came to the U.S., I have felt so many differences and I
found new ways of thinking. But these happened only in my
mind. I had never written what I thought of differences before I
took this lab. I really feel that there are totally difference between
writing and thinking. In thinking, what I think disappears rapidly.”
I found this quote by an ESL student very interesting because I think it begs the question, how can we teach ESL students the “American way” of writing without losing original thought? How can we use the ESL student’s background to benefit their writing instead of inhibiting it?
Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds
Should all writing consultants be briefed of the normal “writing tendencies” of each ESL student they are tutoring before going into the session? Can we really generalize every culture like this article did for Japanese and Arabic students?
Creating a Common Ground
Instead of focusing so much on how ESL student are different from native speaking students, should we try to focus more so on our similarities?
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