Teaching ESL Writing (Final Paper) - 2481 Words

Teaching ESL Writing At times the plethora of professional journals and the myriad subjects treated therein seems like little more than a dizzying exercise in redundancy and a forum for education professionals to justify their worth in a competitive job market; however, I would like to think that there is a hidden value for those of us whose brains seem to operate in what some might call a â€Å"spiral† rhetorical pattern, that as we work our way around and around certain issues related to composition instruction, we are moving gradually upward toward broader understanding and better practice. Some studies seem to do little more than show the need for more studies, their authors falling back on such standard phrases as,†¦show more content†¦(3) Having lately read a great deal of professional literature regarding the ups and downs of teaching college composition to ESL students, I’ve noticed that students with LDs are conspicuously absent – a fact that suggests one or more possible conclusions: Students with LDs just aren’t represented in college-level ESL courses; Students with LDs are there but they don’t have needs separate from those of non LD students that would require special consideration by college teachers; These students are there and have needs requiring special attention by their teachers, but the teachers themselves lack understanding of what those needs are and how to accommodate them. Which of these holds most true, in general, is what I’ve set out to discover, in hopes that I will find a hidden font of knowledge addressing the singular needs of ESL students with LDs and how teachers do, or can, meet those needs. The possibility that my first reason mentioned above might be true leads to a political can of worms I’d prefer to leave unopened; therefore, I’ll concentrate on the third choice – that LD students who are also learning English as a second or other language are merely going unrecognized due to the masking of LD symptoms behind communicative difficulties resulting from the hardships inherent in non-native language learning. In her 1993 article addressing the induction of first-year collegeShow MoreRelatedThe Problem Marchand And Furrer Essay1326 Words   |  6 Pagescourses. 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