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ESL college writing in the mainstream classroom.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Some attention has been given to non-native writers' performance in the ESL classroom, but no studies to my knowledge have examined ESL student writers' achievement in the mainstream college classroom. With a survey of college writing instructors, this study investigates ESL students' success in writing courses designed for native speakers. The main findings indicate that linking courses on social issues with writing courses can benefit ESL students and that teachers should take advantage of their ESL students' ability to transfer writing skills between languages.

Introduction

Though there is a fair amount of research on college-level Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the studies that focus particularly on writing are few. To succeed academically at the college-level, it is important for English as a Second Language (ESL) students to become proficient in speaking, reading, listening, and writing. The latter is perhaps the most difficult to master, and not just for ESL students. In fact, many native speakers, who are fluent in speaking English, are not good writers. At least in some respects, learning formal written English can be equated to learning another language, as the appropriate language style is rather different than that used in conversation. The English written language can be especially difficult to learn without focused attention on its expectations and conventions. In particular, many ESL college students struggle with genre writing, as discourse communities in the academy have different expectations for writing in specific disciplines. Both researchers and instructors should then consider more carefully the role that writing instruction has in the ESL college classroom.

The current study focuses on advanced argumentative ESL college writing. A survey of writing instructors from the University of Southern California (USC) was conducted to determine how ESL college students function in the mainstream classroom alongside native speakers. This article attempts to address the following questions concerning writing research and teaching methodology: What advantages and disadvantages are there to linking college courses on social issues with writing courses? How important is it for instructors to consider ESL students' writing background when designing writing lessons? Should instructors challenge ESL students with complex writing tasks? How can ESL students succeed better in a writing course designed for native speakers?

Theoretical Framework

The conceptual framework is informed by theories that have influenced Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. Chomsky (1965) theorizes that one has a genetic predisposition to acquire language competence; he refers to this innate ability as universal grammar. Drawing from Chomsky's work, Cummins (1994) develops a related theory on the transferability of knowledge and skills learned from the first language (LI) to the second language (L2). According to Cummins (1994), language learners have a Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) in which "literacy-related aspects of a bilingual's proficiency in L1 and L2...

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