Writing centers

This week readings deal with the role writing centers play (or should) in the development of writing skills on the part ELL’s, particularly, in the way one-to-one tutorials between instructors and learners should be conducted. In their article, Matsuda and Cox discuss three different approaches instructors could take when reading drafts: assimilationist, accommodationist, and

separatist. The authors describe how each of these three stances take place in tutorial sessions.  They warn readers about the causes and effects of adopting the assimilationist approach and advocate for the adoption of a different model, though they do mention the issues learners may encounter if they do not assimilate to the widespread practices of the target language culture, such as pressures from institutional parties with some kind of authorities upon learners. Ultimately, they propose a few strategies that can be adopted on the part of instructors in order to provide room for students’ agency, strategies that are based on the assumption that reading a text is more than reading the rules that ‘should’ govern it, but instead, reading the the writer and understanding the reasons why texts written by NNES’ differ from the ones of their native counterparts. Such approach, might lead to a better understanding on the part of the instructors and to more real opportunities for learning and the inclusion of divergent voices in academic discourse.

In Thonus article, she discusses five principles that maybe applied for generation 1.5 learners. She states that these learners constitute a unique type of population that should find responses that consider their peculiarities given the fact that they do differ from those who are commonly referred as ESL, but yet, are not considered fully NES’s since their writing skills are highly influenced by their heritage language. The author provides real evidence where these steps were successfully (sometimes not) implemented and elaborates on the pedagogical implications of adopting such strategies.