Blog 1.

1. Consider your experiences as a student writer and as a teacher of writing, if applicable. Whether you are an experienced or inexperienced teacher, what skills and competencies do you most want your students to develop? Why?

I most want my students to development the ability to understand the English sentence structure norms. Despite the variations in the English language within the inner circle and outer circle of English speaking countries, the concept of sentence structures which include a subject, a verb and a direct object remains particularly consistent and important in written communication, as the reader and the writer are separated by distances of time.


A frequent error in writing English sentences that I have noticed among English language L2s, is the tendency for the English language L2 writer to omit the direct object. Additionally, I want the students to recognize the function of each word, or group of words in a sentence. For example, some students may recognize a noun, and the function of a noun, e.g. a place, a thing, or a person.  Yet they may be unfamiliar with the function of a noun phrase – a group of words that function as a noun, or a gerund - a verb that behaves like a noun. Many of these errors may be rooted, not only in the rhetorical differences in language organization systems between different cultures, but also in the omission, during the initial phases of learning the English language, of a solid grounding in the basics of English language sentence structure in order to build communicative competence. If I were able to help a student recognize when a sentence is grammatically correct and why the sentence is grammatically correct, I would feel that I am helping my students to become more autonomous in making progress towards improving their written English, with less reliance on a teacher’s corrections.

2. Where do you think writing comes from, and why have writing skills become so essential in modern societies? 

Writing developed as a method of representing in a visible way the “units of language” which would consistently lead the persons interpreting the visible symbols to the same conclusion or interpretation. Overtime the initial symbols morphed from representations of nature, such as a fish, or a camel to markings that conveyed meaning and information when positioned in relation to the preceding and succeeding markings (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2014, p. 5). Because these markings emerged independently in different parts of the world, we ended up with differences in markings, symbols, and related elements of meaning (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2014, p. 8).

The textbook introduces the concept of the ‘rebus principle’ which established an alignment between human sound and symbol. This developed the constancy of interpretation, which could support commercial meanings, transactions and expectations (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2014, p. 9). Additionally, this led to the development of various forms of an alphabet, recognized in different countries as writing (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2014, p. 10).

Reference

Ferris, Dana R.; Hedgcock, John. 2014. Teaching L2 Composition: Purpose, Process, and Practice.  Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.

#3. What sorts of knowledge about writing, writing processes, and writing pedagogy would you like to develop? Why?

As a teacher of writing in English, I like to help guide students towards feeling as capable in composing informative discourse in English as they are able to do, using their first language (L1). This is because I find intense personal fulfillment and enrichment in helping others achieve their goals in life.

Writing in a student’s first language is naturally easier for advanced level ESL students than in their second language(L2). Their approach to thought generation, organization and composition may be a learned skill in their L1 which does not translate easily to the L2. If students read widely in their native language, and if that reading informed their thinking, colored their experiences and stimulated their creative ideas, limitations in reading in the L2 will retard their exposure to diverse discourses about relevant topics, and thus will limit their ability to achieve the same facility of thought production through to writing composition.

One pathway to building that teaching skill will be for me to develop the ability to assess what the predominant and historical patterns in writing is for each student’s L1, which are hindering or likely to help the L2 writing. That ability would help the teacher to surgically target causative influences on L2 writing and design the best intervention to prescribe the adjustment needed. Another path could be to identify a reliable framework for constructing and composing writing which could be referenced when producing various genres of writing, as well as assessing the work produced for communicative adequacy and social appropriateness.

No matter which path I select, the most important skill is for me to assist the student in decoding writing tasks and constructing a widely applicable writing strategy as they face “increasingly difficult academic [and business] literacy demands” (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2014, page 30). This is especially important as the exposure to English in a student’s previous life occurs within different domains, and therefore their interpretation of tasks presented to them will be filtered based on their mental construct and understanding of English up to this point. I think of adult students whom I have helped to prepare for the IELTS and TOEFL exams, especially those who were taught English in primary and secondary schools in their home countries. It appears that some students were led to believe that their command of the English language was quite accurate and acceptable. Yet, their ability to structure complex 0sentences as needed for their academic and business journeys are severely challenged.  Without laying blame, it quickly becomes clear that the foundational underpinnings of their English sentence construction are often porous and unstable.

Students who come from affluent circumstances may actually resent the realization that foundational remediation is required before forward progress can be achieved. It is understandable that such realization may be tinged with frustration when one considers the investment of time in learning English that previously was made. However, as Ferris and Hedgcock (2014) emphasize, classes of primary or secondary education in their country of birth may have been unfairly influenced by large class sizes, impractical textbooks, or teachers who were themselves non-native English language speakers, and were unable to detect and correct specific inadequate constructs or ungrammatical sentence productions (p. 32).

Reference

Ferris, Dana R., Hedgcock, John. 2014. Teaching L2 Composition: Purpose, Process, and Practice. Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.  

4. What do you think accounts for the diversity of writing systems? How do you think people best learn to use a writing system? 

Given the variation in geographic locations where different symbols were developed, referred to in section #2, we have evidence of different writing systems. I think writing systems are learned best by the L2 student, through investing time learning at formal, educational institutions and developing skills through practice, away from the learning institutions. A student must invest in personal observation and discovery of writing, imitation of writing and questioning what has been written. This will be more difficult for the adult student, as compared to the child of about 5 or 6 years. However, when the adult student recognizes that the greater challenges can be matched with greater focus and effort, over many years, a mastery of the L2 writing can emerge. (Ferris and Hedgcock 2014, p. 16). The ongoing challenge for the adult L2 learner is to absorb not just the theoretical constructs of writing, but also the social contexts for each style and occurrence, to fully comprehend meaning. For the L2 learner whose L1 language skills are limited, the mental demands of learning and adjusting may be quite daunting. 

Reference

Ferris, Dana R., Hedgcock, John. 2014.Teaching L2 Composition: Purpose, Process, and Practice. Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.  

5. In what ways is writing in an additional language (that is, a language other than one’s maternal language or languages) similar to— and different from— writing in one’s mother tongue? Why? How might being literate in one language help (or hinder) developing literacy in another language?


Writing in an additional language calls for a different system of logically organizing units of language. For example, some languages as expressed within specific social contexts, forces the writer to identify the main point of the discourse at the beginning of the writing. In other languages, or in the writer’s mother tongue, this may not be the case.  Students who have developed the skill of noticing language constructs in their first language, may find it easier to use this skill in their second language. The skill of literacy related to noticing, analyzing and understanding the construction of language is often developed  during secondary school learning activities within the student’s native country. A student who has limited secondary school education in his native country and is an adult, may find the effort to develop an ability to notice, and build awareness of text structure and organization, extremely demanding.