ESL Tutoring & Writing Instruction

Main Ideas

100

Fill in the blank.

"Tutors _____ expect ESL writers to learn in the same ways or at the same rate as native writers."

CANNOT

200

Is the following philosophy the current or previous perception of what a tutor should do/be? 

"Writing center staff were allocated the demanding and ethically questionable task of "cleaning up" writers' editing skills, of eradicating minority dialects... and of 'dealing with' nonnative writers"

Previous- late 70s and early 80s

300

What are "errors" evidence of within the writing of second language learners?

They are "persistent evidence of normal second-language learning and processing". 

400

Fill in the blank.

______ and the writing are inseparable. 

The language

500

What are the main causes of frustrations felt by both ESL students and tutors?

unrealistic expectations, historical deemphasis on sentence pedagogies, understanding culture within language, ethical confusion, the misconception of errors, and impact of "sentence-level" problems

Realistic Language Learning

100

Fill in the blank.

Writing is _____ than speech.

denser

200

When trying to learn a language, it is found that "studying" equates to ______ and "grammar" equates to ______.

memorization

rules

300

How many hours would it take for a native English speaker to be proficient in a foreign language (as estimated by The Foreign Service Institute)? 

2,400 HOURS OF INTENSIVE TRAINING

400

Learning is ____ and occurs through processes neither entirely understood nor under the _____ of the tutor or the learner. 

SLOW

Control

500

What is expected from us, as tutors, as we work with second-language learners? 

a. full comprehension by end of the semester

b. mark every mistake made

c. produce better writers

C. Produce better writers, not better writing

Errors

100

Put the following words in their correct place: minor, substantial, second-language, native

"What may be a ______ problem to a ____ student can be a ______ problem to a ______ student"

"What may be a MINOR problem to a NATIVE student can be a SUBSTANTIAL problem to a SECOND-LANGUAGE student"

200

Fill in the blank.

Most of all, ______ is better than telling. 

showing

300

In regards to learning from errors, how can we create a growing environment for second-language learners?

Instead of emphasizing the errors made, put the emphasis on teaching the language

400

What are the four suggestions Cogie gave for accessing/ improving from errors? 

using a learner's dictionary, minimal marking, error logs, and self-editing checklists

500

As tutors, what are the main takeaways we want our tuttees to use to improve their writing (in regards to errors)? 

awareness of errors

ability and confidence to "self-edit"

Perception Shift

100

Fill in the blank. 

_____ was dethroned and ______ crowned.

Form 

Meaning

200

Fill in the blank. 

She was giving the student her "language" but not her _____.

Ideas

300

Why is the nondirective approach to tutoring an ESL student problematic?

They cannot answer questions they genuinely don't know the answer to

400

Is the internalization of what's being taught controlled or uncontrollable?

Both

500

What is our role as a "cultural informant"? 

Sharing information that ESL students wouldn't have known