Midterm Reflections

In our program, part of our midterm evaluation procedure includes having students complete a self-evaluation form, where they approximate how much their skills have improved during the first half of the semester and what their goals are for the second half. Part of this is to help us as instructors better meet their needs, but another important objective is to get the students thinking about what efforts they have put into their language development and what initiatives they can take on their own. For the sake of consistency and practicality, we have developed in-house forms for this purpose - one for each skill and level. It has a list of common class activities, which students can rank as being helpful or not helpful, and a list of skills that they can select as goals to work on.

This semester (and I think I've done this in the past on occasion as well), I assigned them a written response, allowing them to reflect in a more holistic way - and in writing (since this is a writing class!). I also gave them the evaluation form to fill out, but told them that it was just to serve as a springboard, to give them ideas on what they can say in the course. The writing prompt I gave them - for a total of 10 points - graded on completeness/thoughtfulness of their answers - simply stated the following:

Write a paragraph (200-300 words) answering this question: How has your writing improved in this course so far? What are your goals for the second half of the semester? Give specific details and examples.

I was quite pleased with the results. Here is an example (unedited) reflection that I felt was fairly representative of my students, and demonstrated some good introspection:

Now I think my writing improve a lot because I know some skills of writing; for example, I can support my point by writing some examples, which improves the depth of my essay. Meanwhile, I learn how to cite an article and how to summarize the article. As for grammar, I believe that there are less mistakes of my grammar than before. However, I think I can improve more. In the first half of semester, I just did extra grammar homework and revised my essay by myself. I did not go to the Writing Center or ask help for my American friends. For this reason, I set some goals for the second half of the semester. First, I will reduce my grammar mistakes by revising my essay every time and doing some grammar practice. Second, I should write more details of my support for the essay so that my article is richer. Then, I need to pay attention to the topic because topic is the most important thing when you write. If you deviate from the theme, your grade will be low. Finally, I should practice my conclusion, so I decide to go to the Writing Center and ask help for my American friends.

Overall, I felt that assigning this reflection (done during classtime, held in the computer lab), was much more productive and effective than the simple form. I hope to continue this type of midterm reflection.

Student Research Projects: Can I make it work?

I'm developing a new elective course for students who are in our ELP Pathways Program. This means that students are taking one or two ESL classes in our program concurrently with one or two mainstream university courses. Generally, these types of students are more advanced and need opportunities that challenge them.

The answer: Project-based learning. Specifically, a research project. Now, I feel like a lot of us tend to roll our eyes when the topic of research papers has come up in professional development meetings. It's just such a mammoth project, requiring a lot of hand-holding. High school students cringe at the thought of digging through "sources" at the library, feeling baffled at why they can't use Wikipedia for all of their material. Writing research papers largely invoke the feeling of unauthentic busywork that is simply not relevant.

But, then again, most of them want to go to graduate school. In my master's program, we had to write a thesis. Surely, there is some value in helping students to go through the process of inquiry, even if we do skip the official "paper" part of the research.

The Assignment
In groups of two or three, I had students take the following actions:

1. Select a topic within the general context of sociology/human behavior - altruism; collectivism vs. individualism; big data; cyber bullying
2. Synthesize background information from a video link I provided with an article they found online - Skill: Summarizing and synthesis
3. Formulate a research question - Skill: Embedded questions to state research purpose 
4. Produce a written research proposal, outlining their research plan - Skill: Writing a report, proposing action and defending decisions
5. Collect data through surveys and interviews - Skill: Grammar, listening/speaking
6. Analyzing data in order to reach conclusions - Skill: Critical thinking
7. Present results in a Power Point presentation - Skill: Appropriate grammar/writing to effectively convey research on slides; presentation skills
8. Critically evaluate other groups' project designs/conclusions - Skill: Critical thinking, speaking, grammar 

Results
As we worked over the course of six weeks, this project went turned out extremely well. It gave us the chance to work on and apply skills learned in other classes -- summarizing sources, embedding questions (The purpose of this research was to determine whether there was a difference in attitudes...), giving conclusions and reporting survey results, presentation skills with graphics ("As we can see in this graph,"), academic vocabulary (implies, suggests, concludes, etc), and group discussion skill.

What Students Said: Oral Reflection
At the end of the project, I had each student record a 4-5 minute reflection, answering these prompts:

1. What did you learn from this project, and how did it benefit you?
2. What did you contribute to your group's project?
3. What would you do differently if you were to do the project again?
4. How well did your group work together as a team? Discuss strengths and weaknesses.

I chose to have them do the reflection orally because it was one additional facet of language use - the monolog. I didn't grade it on pronunciation or grammar, because the object here was content. And I purposely did not give them a lot of time to prepare or script what to say. In this way, their reflection was more natural (as opposed to the report and presentation). Therefore, it made the assignment more authentic for the students.

Here is one excerpt, illustrating some things the student learned in general:

I learn a lot from this project. First, know the importance of cooperation. I had more ideas when I listened to my partner’s ideas. Second, I can ask Americans questions without bashfulness. And I improved my oral skills. Third, I learned that when I do a presentation, I need to face the audience instead of looking at the Power Point because it might make people think you didn’t prepare good for the presentation and it is not respectful.

A second excerpt shows the a more natural (and unscripted) summary of her project, as well as what she learned:

From this project, I’ve learned the internal and external reasons for deviant behavior, such as bad parenting, education, and social situations, and the teenage brain. Parents will influence their kids very well. However, from the project, I have noticed that the teenagers’ brains are active when they are young, so it is easy for them to do something wrong. I have learned how people think about youth deviant behavior. They think it’s annoying, but they can understand it.  Teenagers are still young. Everyone will do something wrong, so they can understand it. And I learned how to control youth deviant behavior, so they don’t do something wrong.

I have known the importance of teamwork. We finished this project together. I believe we could complete our project better with teamwork. Because when we have a problem, we can deal with that problem together, so it will be more easy for us to solve this problem than only one person.  In this project, I interviewed two young adults and sent out an online survey to twenty young people. We did the Power Point together and we did the questions together. If I am able to do this project again, I will interview more people because in this project, we only interviewed four people. Not only students, but teachers and professors. However, it was a little hard for us to interview older adults because all of my friends are students. In my opinion, our team worked well together because we could communicate with each other and share our own opinions.

Teaching Source Integration in Advanced Writing: Common Challenges

After teaching advanced writing in our program for many years, I've spent a great deal of time on using outside sources, particularly summary, direct quotation, and paraphrase. We all know the challenge it is to help students realize the importance of correctly citing sources in order to avoid plagiarism. Because they often lack the language skills to write about technical topics or anything outside of familiarity, students tend to turn to the Internet for information, ignorantly copying/pasting. Getting a handle on how to correctly punctuate, complete with the author's name, and some kind of transitional introduction (According to Jones, "Bla bla bla.") can be a huge learning curve for some. Then, we push them to apply the same skills, only with the added burden of paraphrasing something in their own words - all the while maintaining the original meaning and making a grammatically sound sentence.

So, most of my instruction is spent on the thing mentioned above. But I've started noticing something. My students had other challenges. I was happy if the quote looked good, or if the paraphrase indeed looked different from the original. Then, while grading, I started to see that often, their quotes and paraphrases lacked significant integration. They seemed plopped in there. Sometimes, students ended a paragraph with a quote, just dropping it off right there.

My interest was now sufficiently piqued, so I began a large-scale review of student samples to see how widespread the problem was. Here are my notes:

1. What is the learning objective, and how do we currently seek to achieve it?

SLO: Students will be able to correctly quote, paraphrase, and cite outside sources according to MLA style

To meet this objective, instructors have generally followed these steps:

1. Taught format and citation (e.g. how to punctuate a quote, how to introduce a quote using “According to…” or “Smith says,…”, how to cite page numbers, how to put a sentence in different words
2. Given students practice responding to a quote (e.g. a famous quote) to practice integrating it into the writing
3. Providing students with a reading passage relating to a particular argument essay topic, from which they can choose an appropriate quote to use as support for their idea
4. For further practice and implementation, requiring students to find quotes/information from Internet sources to support their argument and/or give specific detail to a process description

 2. Weaknesses Noted

Students of varying abilities in other areas of writing (grammar, organization, support, etc.) all seemed to struggle with integrating the sources appropriately and effectively into their writing.

A. DQ/P often are not integrated with the sentences before and/or after. Or, the student attempts to integrate the DQ/P, but there is still a wide gap in ideas (e.g. the DQ and surrounding sentences are on the same topic, but the DQ is quite a bit more specific, but the student fails to make a clear enough connection)
B. DQ/P are not clearly explained, leaving the reader to wonder what the original source truly meant and whether or not the student understood the meaning of the source
C. DQ/P does not fit stylistically/grammatically (e.g. using a quote that includes imperatives)

 3. Analysis of Writing Samples

Passages from student writing samples, including a direct quote and sentences both before and after the quote, were examined for the three areas of weaknesses explained above. Generally, one sample per student (who completed the assignment) in the class was included in the analysis to provide a holistic picture. Below are some samples to illustrate:

Students who start thinking searching universities to complete their studies have to start thinking to improve their personality. According to Taft in his article, “Students who travel overseas learn how to embrace diversity, rather than fear or oppress it.” So, students studying at university must also learn how to adapt with people. They must adapt to different nationalities and different religions. So, that will help them in their future job…

Weakness A: The student is attempting to connect the quote to her point about developing personalities. But the sentence immediately following simply gives a general paraphrase. Here, more could be said about the diversity students will face, rather than simply saying that “they must adapt.”

Many students want to be a graduate in order to get a good job, which does not mean that everyone wants to do their program abroad. Taft says, “One reason that students do not study abroad is that it is a luxury today – it is not accessible to everyone.” Studying abroad increases cost of living according to the country chosen. Today, many countries have good universities, yet those countries’ currencies also have greater value than many countries. Middle class students who want to study abroad in a good university cannot afford the amount.

Weakness A: The introduction of the quote is quite abrupt and unexpected. The student does attempt to discuss the relevance of the quote afterwards, but does so in a round-about way, taking several sentences to get to the point.

The first step, advertising, is truly important because it’s the first meeting point for both companies and applicants. Martin said, “Put more of the focus on what your company can do for potential employees, and you’ll attract candidates who better fit your needs.” To be specific, advertising needs to include a writing about the job description that precisely says about the information, such as salary, work time…

Weakness A, B, C: There is little connection between adverising the position and the quote (which is about writing job descriptions). The transition “To be specific” is used incorrectly, as it is actually leading to a more general topic; again not really connected to focus of the job description. The student may not have truly understood the quote and how Martin’s suggestion would actually look like.

Most employers need to write a job description to describe what kind of job they have and what kind of people they want. As Martin said, “Put more of the focus on what your company can do for potential employees, and you’ll attract candidates who better fit your needs.” According to Martin’s article, job descriptions are the companies’ faces to candidates. If the employers do not write the job descriptions carefully, they will miss the best employees who fit their jobs.

Weakness A and C: First, there should be more connection from the first sentence (general comment on job descriptions) and the DQ, which focuses on redirecting the focus of the job description. Second, the sentences after the DQ do not shed much light on the quote, simply repeating the main point. The DQ also is imperative, which needs some integration to make the grammar fit more smoothly. (To employers, Martin suggests, “….”)

 4. Discussion

From these samples, it seems that only 2 of 24 included effective integration of a direct quote. For more familiar topics, such as study abroad, students all seemed to understand their selected passage, but were not able to adequately connect it to their ideas. Often students should have made more of a transition from general to specific, or vice versa. For example, a student above wrote that study abroad is helpful, after which he/she quoted the article giving a very specific advantage. The student would have more successfully integrated the quote by adding an additional sentence or phrase suggesting the advantage that will be more fully explained in the quote.

With less familiar topics, such as the product life cycle and employment, some students experienced additional challenges in understanding the passage and also being able to integrate it grammatically and stylistically. For instance, in the hiring assignment, the focus is on the process more than advice, so students need to learn how to introduce an imperative or quote only part of the passage so that it will fit together better.

5. Recommendations

Instructional suggestions:

• Show students more examples of not only a correctly formatted quote or paraphrase, but a set of sentences in which they are effectively integrated; also show less effective examples (such as the ones in this document)
• Help students understand the purpose of using direct quotes or paraphrases/summarized information in various types of writing. For instance:

o   Statistics or anecdotes to provide evidence for an argument

o   Providing specific facts and details from a credible source or person to clearly illustrate how something works or well-known theories in the background section of a report or a process essay

•  More work with bottom-down, intensive reading. As ELP reading courses focus on many different types of reading skills, including main ideas, there still needs to be more sentence-level work. This can be done in the writing class as well. Students need to learn to examine a passage before putting it in their paragraph by asking questions, such as:

o   In other words, what is the author trying to say here? (this question should be asked even if the intention is a direct quote)

o   What does this tell us about ____?

o   Does this sentence have the same idea as my ideas in my essay?

o   Is this sentence more general or more specific compared to the point in my paragraph (or the sentence I want to add the quote after)?

o   So, what? What are the implications? Why is this important?

o   What are the consequences of this idea?

•           Give students direct quotes/paraphrases to practice integrating, rather than requiring them to spend too much time searching for sources on their own

STEM Resources - "Practical Engineering" Youtube Channel

I stumbled across this Youtube Channel called, "Practical Engineering," videos by Grady Hillhouse. They seem really applicable, engaging, and accessible. My next project is to develop some STEM-based vocabulary and writing activities using some of these videos for my classes. Stay tuned.

Process Writing Prompts

For my advanced writing class, it has been somewhat of a challenge to come up with appropriate process prompts. I like the idea of describing a process, as it is an authentic academic task, requires advanced objective language (formal tone, passives, focus on objects and procedures rather than people, adjective clauses, etc.). It is also more challenging for students than the typical ESL topics, such as "Should cell phones be used in the classroom?" and "Culture Shock." However, it is difficult to select processes that do not required extensive research or background knowledge. So far, I have come up with two lists:

a) "Ready-to-Write" Process Prompts - For these prompts, I supply a chart or outline of content for each step. Students need to organize the information, expand and describe, include examples, and produce a polished piece with a thesis statement, topic sentences, introduction, and conclusion. These prompts work well at any time, but also for in-class assessment.

• Modern Education: a) Elementary/Secondary Education; b) Post-secondary/University Education; and c) On-the-job training/Internships
• The Water Cycle: a) Precipitation; b) Surface Runoff; c) Evaporation and Transpiration; d) Condensation
• Recycling Plastics: a) Collection; b) Sorting and Cleaning; c) Melting and Re-processing
• How Products Get to Consumers: a) Manufacturing; b) Packaging/Transportation; c) Selling at Stores
• Air Transportation: Booking Flights; Check-in; Security Screening; Boarding 

b) "Need-Prep" Process Prompts  - These are prompts that require students to read articles or watch videos to glean information on the process in order to write their paragraph or essay. Usually, I supply them with quality resources. For these assignments, I focus on source integration (direct quotes and paraphrases), as plagiarism can be a temptation here.

• Uber 
• GPS
• Starting a New Business
• Water Cycle 
• Product Life Cycle 

c) "Hybrid" Process Prompts - I think sometimes it may be a good idea to have students research a process and take notes. But then, for to compensate for reading/listening ability or lack of background knowledge, I will also give them a chart of information to use.

• Product Life Cycle - I first had them watch a video (recorded business lecture), but then supplied them with the following notes to which they could compare their own with. This helped the students who were not as familiar with business topics.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEL-m4dnSlY “The Product Life Cycle” by Education Unlocked

STEP 1: Take notes

Step 2: Compare your notes with this information. Is there any information from the video you can add?

Body:

What are some examples to use for each stage?

Stages	Examples, support Think of specific products and companies
Introduction: ·       New product or invention ·       Lots of research, development, and testing ·       Not a lot of companies (maybe only one) ·       Few people know about it yet ·       Might be free samples to promote it ·       Product is expensive to buy ·       Low sales – few people buy it ·       Producer/seller doesn’t make much profit yet
Growth ·       Company finds cheaper ways to produce ·       Company makes a large profit ·       More companies start selling ·       Lots of advertising ·       Consumers getting excited ·       Becomes really popular
Maturity ·       Many companies produce/sell ·       Companies need to find ways to be different from competitors (colors, new features, prices, etc) ·       Prices decrease ·       Product is less exciting and new ·       Most people have this product
Decline ·       Consumers are not excited ·       Consumers already have the product ·       New products are more interesting (e.g. technology) ·       Companies sell less ·       Companies do not make a profit ·       Companies should find a new product

Step 3: Organize the information

With the information on the chart, number and organize the details. See this one as an example. You don’t need to use ALL the examples you can think of à only choose two or three products you think are good support for that paragraph.

Growth ·       Company finds cheaper ways to produce - 5 ·       Company makes a large profit – 6 ·       More companies start selling – 4 o   E.g. companies making fitness trackers à Fitbit (original), now others: Nike Fuelband, Digifit iCardio, Jawbone Up o   E.g. smart watches – Apple (original); now other companies: Samsung, etc. ·       Lots of advertising – 1 ·       Consumers getting excited - 2 ·       Becomes really popular – 3 o   E.g. fitness trackers, smart watches, virtual reality games, etc.

Fitbit – fitness tracker Smart watches Virtual reality games 3D printers Electric cars

Step 4: Plan your intro and concluding paragraphs

Introduction strategy (choose one or two):

__ Startling fact

__ Anecdote (briefly tell the story of a company and what happened to their product)

__ Give historical background

__ Give general background about new products

Conclusion strategy (choose one or two):

__ Give advice to new business owners

__ Make predictions about how this cycle may change in the future (with technology, as consumers change, etc.)

__ Give explanations as to why products follow this cycle? (what does this show us about human nature and consumer behavior?)

__ Talk about why knowing about this cycle is important for people and who should care about this

ESL Writing for STEM 4 - Lab Reports

Lab reports

One of the purposes in delving into STEM writing in the first place was that one of the engineering professors at our university expressed frustration at international students not being able to adequately write lab reports. As a starting point, I gave students a very basic format consisting of introduction, experimental procedure, and results. They did two brief activities using this format. The first activity involved watching a short Youtube video of a man doing an experiment to determine how much sugar is actually in a can of soda pop. The second activity was a set of lab notes I had written up, based on a fictitious experiment to test the effectiveness of three types of hand-sanitizers. The notes included the research question, materials, brief notes on the procedure, and the results, including photos of the bacteria growth in petri dishes. The students were then able to utilize the information from the notes and what they observed from the images to draw conclusions on the most effect product. Together, these two smaller writing assignments worked well to provide my English language learners a more authentic context to describe a process and discuss the results. This also provided the groundwork for them to conduct and write about their own hands-on lab.

Planning a lab for English language learners can be challenging to due restraints in facilities, equipment, and technical know-how. Because I needed something for them to do in the classroom, I fell back on an old standby: the absorbency of diapers. From experience, I knew that students always enjoyed the process of extracting the tiny granules from a diaper and watching them expand to absorb a large quantity of dyed water. But this time, I wanted to expand the activity to compare three brands of diapers. In pairs, I had the students take one diaper from each brand—Pampers, Huggies, and Target (generic)—and first record the qualitative data on each, including softness and elasticity, as well as measure the dimensions and cost per diaper. Then, they measured the absorbency by pouring dyed water into each and recording the amount at saturation. This provided an engaging hands-on activity on which to base their paper.

In a multi-draft formal report, students included an introduction on the purpose of this experiment. The second section was a description of each diaper, based on their notes, and the third section described in detail—and using the passive voice, where possible—the procedure used to measure the absorbency. Here is an example from one student:

Once the measurement and observation were taken, each edge of diaper were cut to extract its granules which is found on the padding of the diaper. After extracting the granules, they were poured into a plastic cup. Then, colored water, which is used to give better visibility in absorbency, was added until the material was saturated. Eventually, the capacity of the water that was observed was recorded.

This student was able to effectively utilize the passive voice in describing the process.

Finally, the conclusion of their report gave a recommendation of which brand was the best buy overall.

Benefits and Challenges

In the course of the semester, my students had learned how to effectively describe a process, work that process into a simple lab report, and then move into a more developed full-length paper. A major benefit included the fact that STEM topics naturally provide good opportunities to use the grammar structures learned in class—sentence combining, transitions, and the passive voice. These topics also seemed to be engaging, since they are academic in nature and students can see the benefit of these writing tasks. The real challenge, on the other hand, was coming up with prompts that are STEM-based but did not require extensive background knowledge or research. Another issue that arises is the problem with plagiarism. Given the technical nature of these topics, students are much more inclined to take explanations and definitions from the Internet without appropriately citation. Still, using STEM topics and tasks in writing has been worthwhile, even though in some ways it targets lower on Bloom’s (1954) taxonomy of critical thinking.

References

Bloom, B.S. (Ed.). Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., Krathwohl, D.R. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.

ESL Writing for STEM 3 - Process Writing

Process writing assignments

One of the rhetorical patterns in our textbook, but one which we had not previously used, is the process pattern. We had been focusing mainly on the summary/response and argument essays—again, which we thought would promote more critical thinking. However, I realized that the process essay might be more representative of some of the technical writing our students would be required to do in their STEM classes. For instance, writing lab reports would often require a section or two that describes what happened or how something works. In developing the process writing component, the main challenge was developing STEM-related prompts that did not require too much technical background information. Three of the most successful prompts were to describe a) the water cycle, b) the process of recycling plastics, and c) how a product gets to the consumer.

For the water cycle prompt, students were given a diagram which provided them with the most important vocabulary—precipitation, evaporation, runoff, water table, transpiration, and condensation (see Figure 1). From there, students were able to expand their ideas on each step, giving examples and detail. They also incorporated the transitions and signals that they had learned in earlier courses and reviewed here. Overall, the students did well with it and seemed to enjoy a fresh topic (ecology) to write about.

Figure 1. Sample prompt given.

Next, as an in-class writing assignment, students wrote a multi-paragraph essay describing how plastics are recycled. They based their essays on a three-step flow chart (see Figure 2), providing them with some key points. In this case, the aim was to assess their description skills, not their knowledge of recycling. But the students were able to use the understanding that they did have to build and develop the ideas in the prompt. Although the goal wasn’t to stimulate creative thinking, it was clear from their essays which students applied themselves to really build and develop their ideas and which students simply wrote about the basic points on the flowchart. The manufacturing prompt was of a similar nature and produced similar results in student writing.

Figure 2. Sample prompt given

ESL Writing for STEM 2 - Hands-on Short-Answer Writing

Hands-on science activities with short-answer writing

In many cases, I simply wish to give students basic writing practice using STEM-related prompts, rather than craft complete essays. I was drawn to activities from elementary school science class. Initially, I wondered if my students would find this somewhat insulting, as they were projects and topics that I remember from fourth grade. But in reality, they seemed to enjoy this. I wondered if in their country, education was not so hands-on and perhaps they did not engage in such activities.

One activity was to make homemade flashlights. After reading some articles and reviewing diagrams of electric circuits and their components, I distributed to each pair of students a AA battery, small light bulb, copper wire, paperclips, and some cardboard and tape for mounting. After they all spent some time putting it together, each group had quite a unique looking flashlight, some of which worked more successfully than others. Then, I had the students write a short paragraph explaining how their flashlight worked. Sample language would include such sentences as:

First, the electricity flowed from the battery terminal into the contact on the end of the light bulb. The filament inside the bulb illuminates and emits lights. The electricity flows out again and through the copper wire to the negative electrode on the battery. A switch on the wire can either break the circuit or let the electricity continue flowing.

Another activity involved growing bacteria cultures. I had our department order in two sets of petri dishes pre-filled with agar. In groups, the students decided which surfaces to swab for their cultures. Key vocabulary included bacteria, exposure, surface, replicate, incubate, and so on. I took the petri dishes home and left them for a couple of days inside my oven with the light on, which resulted in a nice warm environment for the bacteria to grow. Back in the classroom, they wrote answers to a series of short-answer questions, requiring the use of the target vocabulary.

ESL Writing for STEM 1 - Bloom's Taxonomy

This is a multi-series post on my ESL writing experiences this past semester.

Introduction

As educators, we wear many hats. Besides imparting knowledge and skills, it is natural for us to feel the duty to instill values and a sense of responsibility and initiative. In an intensive program, our main focus is to prepare our students for success in their mainstream classes. They need not only academic language skills, but also study skills and intercultural competence. They need to learn how to respect their peers, manage their time, and think critically. And being the noble teachers we are, we try to tackle it all. Just as a parent.

A topic that often resurfaces is critical thinking, and I believe Bloom’s Taxonomy (1954) has been the most influential work here. In many a staff meeting, I have heard the argument for more focus on critical thinking. It is true that many of our students come from educational backgrounds where little critical thinking is required of them beyond answering test questions and memorizing facts. Instructors have bemoaned the fact that students struggle to come up with “something new” and “creative” in their essays. We all nod our heads and get out Bloom’s triangle and talk about how to move them up from the basic foundation of recalling knowledge to the tip, which is synthesis and evaluation.

I do agree that helping ESL writers progress through these academic processing stages – knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation – would be ideal. In order to foster the type of critical thinking involved in some of these higher-level stages, many ESL and English composition instructors adopt standard rhetorical patterns. Some standard models are the argument and summary/response models. For the past five years, I have taught an advanced ESL writing class each semester and have worked to help my students develop their arguments and bring in outside sources as support; however, it is like banging my head against the wall to get them to give any new type of argument I haven’t heard before. When they do come up with something “creative,” it is difficult to comprehend due to the language limitations.

Because of the challenges in expressing new ideas, most teachers and students prefer to stick to the basic ESL topics: education, the environment, and technology, to name a few. We are all familiar with these topics. Our textbooks are built primarily around them. I suppose that many assume liberal arts topics are the right place to plant the seed of critical thinking in our students. But is there really anything new about environment, education, and technology? These are actually safe places for our students to pump out trite sentences like, “Studying abroad is beneficial because it helps students learn a new culture and language. For example, I had a friend who…”

As most of my students plan to matriculate into STEM-related undergraduate programs, I realize that in reality much of what they will be doing, language-wise, relates in fact to the lower-levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy - knowledge and comprehension. Isn’t that a better place to begin for language learners? They will need to learn critical thinking skills at some point, but perhaps it would be wiser if as language educators we focused on the main hat we wear.

Reference

Bloom, B.S. (Ed.). Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., Krathwohl, D.R. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.

Advanced Writing: Reflections from My Students

At the end of my summer writing course, I asked my students to write a short essay about how their English writing skills had improved. Here are a few excerpts from what they wrote:

• I have learned to summarize any kind of source, using only the main ideas. Then, I learned how to do good quotations and paraphrases to support my ideas in the body paragraphs. Finally, improved my argumentative writing by learning how to properly use opposing viewpoints and rebuttals with meaningful and relevant details.
• Another point that I want to mention is the correction that my teacher wrote in my drafts because those comments have helped me to recognize when I make mistakes like fragments or word choices.
• I used to struggle while doing an essay, but now, it is easy for me to face with it. Furthermore, I am capable of doing a lab report and an academic essay. It will be very important to me in my academic classes and in my whole life.
• For me writing class is very important because I have to write my dissertation, so it needs accurate and perfect grammar. Fortunately, this writing class has learned me a lot. Commonly, I had problem with making summary, thesis sentence, and topic sentence; fortunately, homework, short and long assignments, grammar practices have made clear and easy for me.
• Before joining this program, I had many grammatical errors and text organization problems in my writing. Moreover, I had no idea how to join my sentences using FANBOYS or other connectors, and how to have the variety of sentences in my essay. In addition, in my essay or writing I had been using “and” or “but” and the same kinds of structures over and over.
• When I started my ELP classes, I was not confident about my writing skills. However, this has changed because of four main reasons. First, I have learned how to write a strong introduction, or a summary to my essays. Second, I have learned how to use different clauses. Moreover, now I can use punctuation correctly, which makes my ideas more clear. In addition, I noticed that while I’m writing, the words come more easily in my mind, so I can write faster in comparison to the beginning of the semester.
• I learned much more by doing 8 weeks of ELP classes than in five years of English courses in Brazil.
• I have learned some grammar tools, such as noun clauses, adjective clauses, and passive voice, which helped me to write structured sentences. The grades of my essays, if compared with each other, not changed too much, but is possible to realize that my way to write had an expressive evolution.
• I have never been a good writer in Portuguese; however, I find myself using these skills when I am writing something important and big in Portuguese. There are similar structures between English and Portuguese, so what I have learned has helped both languages. To conclude, even though it was not too long, my time in ELP improved me more than I could expect.