Working with ESL Students
Issues and Solutions
Common Characteristics of an ESL
Session
Research shows tutoring sessions with ESL
tend to:
◦ Be more directive than non-directive
◦ Focus more on sentence level or lower order
concerns
◦ Have a greater emphasis on editing
To Direct, or Not to Direct?

Use your judgment, but keep the following in
mind:
◦ Every student is an individual with a different
knowledge base.
◦ ESL Students often know the rules and
terminology for English grammar better than
native speakers.
◦ You must never do the work for the student. This
includes correcting homework.
◦ Try the non-directive approach first, but be willing
to shift to a more directive approach when
necessary.
The Burning Question:
THERE ARE SO MANY
ERRORS! WHERE DO I
START? I WANT TO FIX
EVERYTHING.
Be Realistic
Adult ESL students will never achieve
complete fluency.
 If you correct all their errors, you
become a proofreader instead of a tutor.
 You do not want to overwhelm the
student.
 Focus on higher order concerns first.
 Negotiate a strategy for addressing lower
order concerns.

Global Versus Local Errors

Global Errors = Affects the reader’s
comprehension of a text
◦ Word choice
◦ Relative clauses
◦ Word order

Local Errors = Usually do not affect the
reader’s comprehension of the text
◦ Articles
◦ Prepositions
◦ Pronoun agreement
Two Options to Negotiate

One: Have the student agree you will only
focus on global errors in your review of
the paper.

Two: Have the student agree you will only
review the first paragraph or page for
grammar errors, looking for patterns of
error, and leave the rest for him or her to
fix.
The Interaction Hypothesis



ESL students can learn English through
conversation with native speakers.
If the message in the text is unclear, the
tutor and tutee can discuss the intended
meaning and negotiate how to revise the
text.
This ensures the tutor fully understands the
intended meaning and also gives the student
the opportunity to revise his or her own
text while developing language proficiency.
Reading the Paper….


Leave the choice to read the paper out loud
to the student.
There are Pros and Cons to both:
◦ Con: Sometimes pronunciation issues may prove
a distraction.
◦ Pro: Students will hear and correct their own
errors.

Negotiate the strategy with the student.
◦ “Would you like to read the paper out loud, or
would you rather have me read the paper out
loud?”
Discussing Errors

One interactive way to discuss grammar
errors is to:
◦ Point to the error in the sentence
◦ Ask the student what he or she thinks might be
missing or wrong
◦ Ask leading questions
◦ Give students time to process the question
before asking another leading question
◦ (Note: The more specific you can be with your
grammar terminology and rules, the more
effective this strategy)
Example
Tutor: Hmm. Do you think something is
unclear here?
Student:Yes.
Tutor: What?
Student: I don’t know.
Tutor: Is there a punctuation mark missing?
Student: Should I have a comma there?
Tutor:Yes. Can you explain why?
Student: It’s a run-on sentence.
To Summarize
It is OK to use more directive and
informative strategies with ESL students.
 Make sure to negotiate the different
strategies you will use with each student.
 Focus on higher order issues first.
 At the sentence level, focus on global
issues that interfere with comprehension.
 Make the session interactive
