Tag Archive
ESL EXPECTATIONS
Regardless of who should teach ESL students, the writing class has always been downgraded in class of importance compared to literacy. Many of the writing programs at the university are taught by new teachers or interns. There is also very little funding for writing programs, so when you add another layer to an already... »
Discussion Questions for Class 04/22
Below are the questions I plan to ask for tonight’s discussion for people who may not be in class. I’m not posting with the intention of starting a discussion thread, but so that people can look at it if they’d like and also so that I do not need to provide a hard-copy to... »
Matsuda
Of course ESL students have different cultural backgrounds, education, and language proficiency as Matsuda mentions in his essay. Ignoring these elements of students only increases the difficulty of teaching them English. I was surprised to read that in 1939 I.A. Richards proposed a plan to teach English through picture and word correspondence. The irony... »
Composition vs. Linguistics
“Well DUH!” This was my continued feeling as I read through Paul K. Matsuda’s article “Composition Studies and ESL Writing: A Disciplinary Division of Labor.” Of course specialized ESL courses are necessary for second-language speakers. As Matsuda gives the history of the development of ESL courses in various institutions, he mentions the growth... »
Answering the question, ‘Who do you think you are?’
“Who do you think you are?” In the incident that bell hooks relates, that question was meant to shame and humiliate, not prompt “existential self-reflection.” In the original context, the question enforces hurtful boundaries, but that only makes the questioners wrong, not the question. “Who do you think you are?” I see that as... »
Learning TESOL by Doing
In Spring 2009 I volunteered to teach a conversational ESL class without any formal training. My class consisted of 10 students from 7 different countries. All of them tested at the basic level, but their speaking abilities ranged from an Uzbekistan woman who could barely understand “How are you?” to a Chinese man who... »
Matsuda ESL Composition
The reading — Composition Studies and ESL Writing: A Disciplinary Division of Labor Paul Kei Matsuda In this Article Paul Kei Matsuda describes the what writing teachers encounter when embarking on composition studies for ESL writers. ESL has historically not been including within the framework of composition; this fact is also reflected in the work of... »
Commentary Week 9
Tina Bell English 5001 23 April 2009 Commentary Week 9 Paul Kei Matsuda published his article, “Composition Studies and ESL Writing: A Disciplinary Division of Labor,” in 1999, and the topic as to the best methods for teaching English as a Second Language is still greatly debated today. Matsuda says that “the presence of ESL students should be... »
Composition Studies and ESL Writing, a Commentary
I found this article interesting and valid for several reasons: first, it offers a detailed history of the two fields of ESL and compositional studies that offers much needed insight into the schism and division of these disciplines, and second, it directly addresses some of the concerns I have as a future teacher, problems... »