Some Blog Posts and Texts Used
ESOL TEACHERS AS WRITING TEACHERS
This was a common text amongst the analyses. Paavali Hannikainen blogged about this reading, which sparked the interest of the group on the subject. Yi used group interviews, collection of exit portfolios, assignments, and teaching materials of the two students to collect data. Yi discovered that writing in ESOL classes is focused on assessing the comprehension of materials and facts, rather than writing to discover the student or the form of writing that best suits the student. Yi also discusses the need for identity, which ties into the argument of bring culture into the classroom. According to Paavali, "Overall, there exists a huge gap between academic demands for writing assessments and actual writing instruction and practice in the classroom".
Blog: http://paavali-hannikainen.weebly.com/multilingualism-blog/esol-teachers-as-writing-teachers-abstract
Citation: Youngjoo Yi “ESOL Teachers as Writing Teachers”: Yi, Youngjoo. "ESOL Teachers as Writing Teachers: From the Voices of High School Pre-Service Teachers." L2 Writing in Secondary Classrooms. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 133-50. Emory University Library Data Base. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.
BLOG #1- Selwyn Hernandez
Hernandez's discusses what it is like being Latin American in an academic setting. Hernandez wants to draw on his Latin American culture when writing, but feels the need to include mainstream American culture. This obligatory feeling is something debated in a few of the analyses. Essentially, there is not reason for students of other cultures to feel the need to hide their background or write a certain style to fit a teacher's desired 'form'. This desire for diversity demonstrates why teachers should help students find a middle ground and allow themselves to show their cultures within the American classroom.
Blog: http://multilingualsully.weebly.com/-english-blog/blog-1
Hernandez's discusses what it is like being Latin American in an academic setting. Hernandez wants to draw on his Latin American culture when writing, but feels the need to include mainstream American culture. This obligatory feeling is something debated in a few of the analyses. Essentially, there is not reason for students of other cultures to feel the need to hide their background or write a certain style to fit a teacher's desired 'form'. This desire for diversity demonstrates why teachers should help students find a middle ground and allow themselves to show their cultures within the American classroom.
Blog: http://multilingualsully.weebly.com/-english-blog/blog-1
WILL OUR STORIES HELP TEACHERS UNDERSTAND- Terry Myers Zawacki and Anna Sophia Habib
Zawacki and Habib bring to light the injustices of professors' view on ESL students. They feel the writing of these students is below par and does not demonstrate the sufficient understanding of the material brought up in the classroom. The authors propose that the underlying assumptions of how conventions around language, style, and structure function in the discipline must be explained to international students. Some of the analyses argue that there needs to be some time of accommodation that allows for ESL students to demonstrate knowledge, not solely based on their writing capability.
Reading Citation: Zawacki, Terry M., and Anna S. Habib. “Will Our Stories Help Teachers Understand?”: Multilingual Students Talk about Identity, Voice, and Expectations across Academic Communities." Reinventing Identities in Second Language Writing. Ed. Michelle Cox, Jay Jordan, Christina Orthmeier-Hooper, and Gwen G. Schwartz. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2010. 54-71. Print.