Teachers Need to Learn What They May Have Acquired

Insight #3 from reading Dana Ferris's Treatment of Error in Second Language Student Writing:

One of my favorite moments in the Ferris book is when she says this:

Being a fairly competent user of the English language does not in and of itself prepare teachers to diagnose and respond to student error and to explain grammatical concepts in English (48).

Her words made me do a happy dance around my office and then made me realize that this sentence applies to me also. Just because I researched lots of grammar constructions in my IEP (Intensive English Program) teaching days doesn’t mean I don’t have work to do now. 

So, basically what Ferris is saying is that if teachers really want to help their multilingual students improve language-wise, they will have to hit the books to learn consciously some of the language knowledge that they acquired unconsciously (see my first blog post where I talk about the difference between acquisition and learning). 

It is Important for Writing Teachers and Tutors (and even Students) to Understand Some Key Principles of Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

Insight #2 from reading Dana Ferris's Treatment of Error in Second Language Student Writing:

During my doctoral program, I remember reading a book that was titled something along the lines of Academic Writing as a Second Language. I just spent a few minutes on Google (trying to get the exact title and author) and wasn’t able to track it down, so I might have the title wrong.  However, one of the main arguments of this text was that writing, particularly academic writing, was no one’s first language.  This idea is one that has stuck with me for quite some time and I use this concept when I talk with my students (in any level writing class), and I also use it in presentations to students about college writing.  As I often think, no one expects to become fluent in Spanish after a few weeks of Spanish 1 or even a few semesters.  Yet, someone students are expected to be fluent in academic writing after just a class or two.  I guess what I’m saying is the idea of language acquisition, especially second language acquisition, is a rich metaphor to use when thinking of literacy learning of any kind.

Linguistic Accuracy is Important but It’s Only One of Many Things Multilingual Writers Need to Learn

Insight #1 from reading Dana Ferris's Treatment of Error in Second Language Student Writing:

Dana Ferris argues:

While we should not neglect attention to student accuracy and clarity in writing, we also should not give it MORE attention than it deserves.  Accuracy concerns should at all times be carefully balanced with development of students’ ideas and rhetorical strategies as well as consideration of the (in) effectiveness of their own writing processes (47).

This isn’t news to me but it helps to have Dana Ferris, an L2 writing scholar, emphasize the balance that writing teachers need to strike with multilingual writers between helping their students improve their knowledge of English but also their ability to negotiate rhetorical aspects of writing—not to mention the actual writing process.