This article, by Muriel Harris, addresses some of the ESL issues we've been talking about at the Writing Center. Some of us have long known that often, the tutors and ESL students may not have the same goals in mind. This isn't because ESL students are lazy (with a very few exceptions)--it's just that we may not have made the "rules" explicit.
The whole idea of collaborative learning, or learning through talking, is completely foreign to many of our ESL students. And when student writers expect us to become teachers, it's perilously easy to slide into that role. However, part of their educational experience here needs to be the way we learn, not just what we learn.
I've been thinking about something Diane Baumgartner said: Tutors don't need to have all the answers. We don't all have to be experts in linguistics and grammar. This is a good thing, since most of us are not. I agree with Diane that, once we accept that we don't have to be the authority, we can relax a little and enjoy the time we spend with our ESL students.
Finally, I was touched by some of the advice for tutors from the ESL students Harris surveyed: "Please try to understand problems faced by international students," "Be more patient," Try to enjoy getting to know different persons from different cultures," "Do not think of them as foreigners." Like us, ESL students just want to be accepted, respected, and liked. Like us, they don't want to be laughed at. On that very human level, we can all connect.
What do you think of this article? I know non-ESL tutors may feel uncomfortable working with ESL students. Can you explain why, or what we need to do to allay your fears? Could you be putting too much pressure on yourself?
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This article was so helpful to me, and it ties in so well to the discussion we had at the professional development meeting a few weeks ago. I know I have been guilty of immediately jumping into asking questions in an ESL tutoring session. While asking questions is a valuable approach so that writers feel responsible for their own writing, I have realized that with ESL students my approach should probably change a bit. Instead of starting out asking a series of questions I want to start by asking if they have any immediate questions or concerns. Obviously as we read through the student's paper It is important for me to still ask questions to encourage them to think for themselves and take ownership, but I will definitely be more conscious of different cultural expectations during this process. This was definitely a worthwhile and informative article.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started working with ESL students, I hated it. I felt nervous. I felt like I was not giving them the help they needed. Being nervous immediately started the session off terribly, because when I am nervous, I talk fast. Obviously, this does not help an ESL student. However, as I worked with more ESL students, I became much more comfortable. Now, I actually really enjoy working with them. I admire the dedication and commitment in ESL students. I always make sure to let them know how much I admire what they are doing. I have been studying Spanish for almost five years now, and I could never do what these students do.
ReplyDeleteThis article really helped me gain perspective on working with ESL students. I usually do not try to have a casual conversation with them at the beginning, because I assumed it would make them more uncomfortable. I will definitely start doing that. I think the most important thing to take away from the article is that ESL students deserve our patience and understanding just as much, if not more, and someone who is a native English speaker.
Like Krista and Cassie, the prospect of working with ESL students makes me nervous. It is good to know that tutors in writing centers across the country also have fears when working with ESL students. It was interesting to read that ESL students see us mostly as grammar- and mistake-correcting machines. Our training and their expectations often clash. I am not surprised that they expect us to focus on lower order concerns like mechanics, because that is what I always thought tutors in the writing center did. Once I received training, I realized that was not the biggest focus of our job. I also thought it was interesting that ESL students are not used to the freedom in education that we take for granted. I can’t imagine not asking questions or correcting a teacher when they make a mistake. I also appreciated that the author mentioned how ESL students welcome informal engagement with the tutor prior to a tutoring session. I always thought ESL students were all business, but they are college students, too. They are just as interested in socializing and getting to know their tutor as native speakers are. I think that the most important part of tutoring students from other nations is realizing the similarities, rather than the differences, between them and us. I cannot even imagine learning to write and going to school in another country. I am an excellent student here in the United States, but I would feel like a preschooler in China. I really admire their dedication and patience as they learn the American style of writing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the article on how to deal with ESL students; especially the concept of having patience. This can be learned even outside of the Center. I was recently having lunch with a firend at a Chinese restaurant. My friend wanted water with a slice of lemon. After 3 tries (and much frustration) she was unable to get the waitress to understand. I re-stated the request in a different way and she understood. It is also important to understand culture and educational expectations in other countries; especially ones that the students are from. A little patience and some intuitiveness does wonders in gaining common ground. It also makes for a successful tutoring session
ReplyDeleteDuring my first semester at the Writing Center I was always extremely nervous about working with ESL students because I did not know where to begin when looking at a student’s paper. I knew I needed to focus on the higher order concerns, but grammar issues were hard to avoid. Also, I felt bad about having to ask the students to repeat themselves several times if I could not understand what they were saying. Having worked more often with ESL students since then, however, as well as having talked with other tutors, I now feel more comfortable. I have a better sense of how to approach the paper, and I have realized that the ESL students are generally fine with repeating themselves because they have to ask the same favor of me.
ReplyDeleteThe article’s information about the different perspectives ESL students and tutors have made me even more aware of how big an impact culture has on the tutoring sessions. I was struck by the comments of the author as well as those of the other tutors in regards to “just chatting” for a bit with ESL students, instead of diving right into the paper. I generally do not strike up a conversation right away, although sometimes one will develop as we work through the paper and that always seems to make the session more productive and enjoyable. In the future I will try to keep this in mind when working with ESL students
When I started working with ESL students, I felt that I wouldn't make it pass the language barrier. But what I found was that as with any other challenge, you have to ask questions, become inquisitive about their culture. Once you do that, there is this automatic understanding between you and your peer tutee and you wonder why you ever worried to begin with.
ReplyDeleteBecoming more sensitive to their culture, where they come from will help us to bridge the gap of the unknown not-so-familiar territory.
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ReplyDeleteThis article elucidates why working with international students is often awkward for peer tutors unaccustomed to these student's cultural expectations about tutors versus teachers. Students from other countries sometimes have expectations and assumptions about tutoring that aren't accurate. They're accustomed to not speaking up in class, to saving their questions, concerns, and discussion for tutors. But that's simply not how it's done in U.S. schools – at least not at Madonna University, where class size is seldom over 15 people, and class participation is often part of the grade.
ReplyDeleteThe author's comments about international students feeling they have "few opportunities to do asking" are inconsistent with comments I've heard from teachers that it's so hard to get students from certain cultures to speak up, despite how much that teacher may encourage them to do so. Students do have opportunities, they just don't acknowledge or recognize them, because of how they were conditioned to act in classroom settings in their home countries.
So, the question is, who corrects these students' misconceptions? A brief intro by the tutor at the start of a session doesn't seem enough. If an instructor encourages these students to go to writing tutors, should s/he explain what to expect from tutors and what tutors expect? Or, should the writing center have some kind of start-of-semester open house or orientation specifically aimed at international students?
In the meantime, I like the author's suggestion about starting questions with directives such as "please explain" rather than "why" or "how," to make it clear we're not simply introducing questions we're going to answer ourselves.
Lastly, this article makes some good points about correcting tutors' assumptions about international students' expectations. For example, given some students' discomfort with informality in academic settings, I thought ESL students would be disconcerted if I opened their session with personal off-topic talk. I thought they'd just want to keep social interactions to another setting entirely. But, perhaps trying to be a little more personal with them will help in changing their perceptions about what kind of interaction a tutoring session should entail.