WORKING WITH
INTERNATIONAL,
MULTILINGUAL READERS
AND WRITERS
Zak Lancaster
Department of English
Wake Forest University
lancasci@wfu.edu
OUTLINE
 Identifying who we’re working with
 Identifying the linguistic complexities
 Teaching strategies
Please jot down some notes …
Who are the students you’re working with that
brought you to this workshop? What questions or
issues are you interested in exploring?
Increase in international students
• The number of Chinese students in the U.S. has risen
fivefold since 2000 (Redden, 2015).
• At WFU, since 2010-2014 the number has tripled: 90 to 277
 Among undergraduates it has risen eightfold: 22 to 185
• The number of international undergrads has tripled. 77 to
259
• Among undergraduates from non-English speaking
countries, the number has risen fivefold. 40 to 207
• Top countries: China, India, Korea
(Saudi Arabia, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Spain,
Peru, Australia, United Kingdom)
International Students at WFU (2010-2014)
Term
Total
Undergrad Grad & Prof Non-Degree
Fall 2010
274
77
181
16
Fall 2011
5.4% growth
289
100
172
17
Fall 2012
19.0% growth
344
139
198
7
Fall 2013
4.1% growth
358
170
183
5
Fall 2014
23.7% growth
443
259
180
4
International, English L2 Students (2010-2014)
China
S. Korea
Other
Total
Fall 2010
90
16
34
140
Fall 2011
116
18
28
162
Fall 2012
178
15
30
223
Fall 2013
197
14
33
244
Fall 2014
277
11
41
329
Term
Distinctions
1) Students who studied in the U.S. in middle and/or high school
 “Generation 1.5” students (Rumbaut & Ima, 1988)
2) Students who attended high school in their home countries.
2a) Multilingual students educated primarily in English.
 India, Kenya, Singapore, etc.
2b) Multilingual students who’ve studied English since
childhood.
 Korea, Japan, China, etc.
Possible traits of Generation 1.5 student writers
• Speech approximate to English L1 speakers.
• Written text sounds like informal spoken English.
• Vocabulary not highly varied.
• Rarely produce syntactically incoherent sentences,
but some faulty grammar structures.
Possible traits of EFL student writers
• Speak and write as English L2 speakers
• Organization of information problematic
• Influence of culturally-based rhetorical styles
• Control of academic register may be strong
• Grammar errors may be due to:
 mislearning or over-application of rules
 negative transfer from L1
 misunderstanding the assignment or texts
TEACHING
STRATEGIES
1. Acknowledge the
complexities
Layer 1: Academic discourse itself is peculiar
1) Frequent citation
Summer is warmer than winter.
Layer 1: Academic discourse itself is peculiar
1) Frequent citation
Summer is warmer than winter (Blink 1971; Bizzy 1978
[1976]; Bingo 1980; Buffy and Blooper 1982; Binkey et
al. 1986; Beastie 1992 [1989]).
Layer 1: Academic discourse itself is peculiar
1) Frequent citation
Summer is warmer than winter (Blink 1971; Bizzy 1978
[1976]; Bingo 1980; Buffy and Blooper 1982; Binkey et
al. 1986; Beastie 1992 [1989]).
2) High lexical density
In bridging river valleys, the early engineers built many
masonry viaducts of numerous arches.
3) Highly nominalized style
I handed in my essay late because my kids got sick.
 The reason for the late submission of my essay was the
illness of my children.
John ate a sweet potato for breakfast, and everyone got
mad.
 John’s eating of the sweet potato for breakfast upset the
morning mood.
He failed to apply common sense.
 His failure to apply common sense …. led to his ultimate
demise.
The government is indifferent to the present crisis.
 The government’s indifference to the present crisis …
has caused widespread unrest.
Nominalized and compact
Because England became unified under - Two clauses
the West Saxon kings, people began - Grammatically
congruent
recognizing the West Saxon dialect
as literary standard.
Nominalized and compact
Because England became unified under - Two clauses
the West Saxon kings, people began - Grammatically
congruent
recognizing the West Saxon dialect
as literary standard.
- One clause
The unification of England under the
- Condensed
West Saxon kings led to the
recognition of the West Saxon dialect - Incongruent
as a literary standard.
4) Unusual subjects and predicates
• Gay-identity politics claims that …
• Modern “dominant political discourse” often uses the
term …
• Rawls’s concept of justice as fairness provides a solution to
the social and economic injustice that Fanon and his race
suffer.
• Justice as fairness urges a society to take into account
these inequalities, …
• Exploitation enacts a structural relation between social
groups.
• Young’s rhetoric allows one to uncover the injustices seen
in Coeztee’s Disgrace and throughout contemporary
society.
5) The writer’s stance is embedded
• Young’s concept of the “five faces of oppression” offers a
perspective from which to view the various relationships in
the novel as ones that are typical of societies imbued with
systemic oppression. Young’s definition of oppression is also
useful in examining the different ways in which, and to what
degree, different groups suffer from oppression in the novel.
Nancy Fraser’s explication of the “redistribution-recognition
dilemma” adds a deeper dimension of understanding as to
why the problems of the previous system of apartheid
remain.
5) The writer’s stance is embedded
• Young’s concept of the “five faces of oppression” offers a
perspective from which to view the various relationships in
the novel as ones that are typical of societies imbued with
systemic oppression. Young’s definition of oppression is also
useful in examining the different ways in which, and to what
degree, different groups suffer from oppression in the novel.
Nancy Fraser’s explication of the “redistribution-recognition
dilemma” adds a deeper dimension of understanding as to
why the problems of the previous system of apartheid
remain.
Acknowledging the complexities
Layer 2: Specific disciplinary discourses
• Writing in economics, biochemistry, physics
Layer 3: Specific genres within disciplines
• Literary analysis essay in English
• Model-based argumentation in economics
• Research paper in Biology
• Conservation Biology v. Wildlife Biology
• Theatre review
“Good” writing is field specific
“Writing is highly situated and tied to a field’s
discourse and ways of knowing and therefore writing
in the disciplines (WID) is most effectively guided by
those with expertise in that discipline”
(Statement of WAC Principles and Practices)
* Handout
TEACHING
STRATEGIES
2. Establish a scale of
concerns
Differentiate between HOCs and LOCs:
Higher Order Concerns:
• Does the paper fulfill the assignment?
• Does the writer have a thesis that addresses the question?
• What is the quality of the argument itself?
• Is the paper well structured overall?
• Is the paper well structured at the micro-level?
Lower Order Concerns
• Are there syntax errors?
• Are there errors in grammar and sentence structure?
• Are there word choice and other stylistic problems?
• Are there so many errors that a reader’s attention is distracted
from the content?
Four myths about marking student writing:
1.
2.
3.
4.
I have to “fix” every error and comment on every
point, so they’ll learn the correct way to write.
Once I’ve marked and/or explained an error the
student should be able to get it right on the next
paper and/or for all the writing they do in my course
and other courses.
I shouldn’t have to correct these errors; after all, they
should have learned how to write in their composition
course.
If they read the specified pages in the writing
handbook, they’ll be able to find and fix their errors
themselves the next time.
What composition research tells us:
• Too many comments overwhelm students, especially if
comments are not prioritized and/or directed to learning
and writing goals.
• Comments focused on specific concerns in the paper
are more effective than generic comments like “good” or
“vague.”
• Students learn more by the practice of writing and
revising than by reading about how to write and revise.
• Students learn by correcting their own mistakes, once a
pattern of error has been pointed out, than by having all
of their mistakes corrected for them.
Identify patterns and priorities of errors
• Avoid the temptation to “correct” right away.
• Do not mark everything: choose in a principled
manner.
• Identify patterns of errors, if you can.
• Identify priorities of errors, global vs. local.
• Let’s Practice: See sample of student writing
Advice and strategies for working with English
second language writers:
• Give feedback on content and structure first.
• Think of minor errors as a kind of “foreign accent” in
writing. What errors are you willing to tolerate?
• If errors interfere with meaning by “disturbing” syntax,
correct the sentence and give an explanation if possible.
Consider “return on investment” when you grade:
Invest time up front:
 Explain assignment in class and leave time for questions
 Give criteria, rubrics, models, and model writing for students
Invest response time wisely:
 Focus comments on assignment goals
 Distinguish between formative and summative comments
 Prioritize comments--higher-order to lower-order
 Resist the urge to edit (but model correct phrasing for L2 writers)
Invest trust in students:
 Use self-evaluation and peer review
 Ask writer to be responsible for telling you what’s been improved
Develop shortcuts:
 All writing does not need to be graded the same way.