Case Study Presentations - Tutoring Takeaways

In no particular order:

Sometimes, it is important to address affective as well as academic needs.  

Reinforce the purpose of the writing process and its recursive nature.  Let students own the process. 

Be willing to say that you don’t have all the answers.

Help students become metacognitively aware of why they are improving.

Some strategies just don’t work.  Use the process of elimination to determine which ones do. 

Getting to know a student can help the us understand how they interpret what they read. 

Catch on to a student’s “lack of buy in.”

Don’t be afraid to contact a tutee’s teacher early in the semester.

Don’t assume that you know or understand an instructor’s definition of good writing.  

A tutor can be quiet.  Don’t give in to the temptation to “fill the silence” with your own voice.  

Placement

Imagine that you're teaching at a very small two year college that has no ESL courses and only two levels of English:  1) Remedial/developmental pre-freshman English and 2) Freshman English.

◦ First think about placement:

▪ Which students would you put in the developmental class?  Why? 

▪ Which students would you put in the regular freshman writing class? Why?

◦ Next, think about the content of the two courses:  

▪ What reading/writing/rhetorical/grammar issues would you focus on in the developmental class? Why? 

▪ What reading/writing/rhetorical/grammar issues would you focus on in the in the Freshman Writing class? Why?

◦ Do a blog posting in which you discuss your decisions.

Students I would place in the developmental writing class:

Pot Legal

I’m unhappy without green tea

CGV is very interesting place

Spelling

Homelessness

Sample #1

Sample #3

Students G, H and I

Students E and F

Students C and D

Students A and B

Students I would place in the regular freshman writing class:

Cell Phone Usage While Driving

Stress In Students’ Lives

A Special Party 

On College Writing

Weird Friday

Sample #2

The Importance of Dance

Spanglish

“On so-called Spanglish,” by Ricardo Otheguy and Nancy Stern

Summary:

*The term “Spanglish” implies a blending of two languages - English and Spanish.  The language spoken by Spanish speakers in the U.S. is not a hybrid or a new language.  It is Spanish.

*The term is harmful; it closes the doors to personal and economic opportunities because of the way speakers are looked down upon by those who speak other varieties of Spanish or English.

*The author argues that this term should be disregarded and called either Spanish in the U.S. or popular Spanish in the U.S.  Spanish speakers in the U.S. sometimes do borrow features of English, yet this occurs in all bilingual cultures.

*Studies by Morreno-Fernandez (2007) and Vera (2007) found that a very small percentage of Spanish vocabulary in the U.S. is actually borrowed from English, and instances of code switching among populations labeled as Spanglish speakers were actually very low.   An analysis of morphological, syntactic and lexical features of “Spanglish” proves that the term cannot be justified.

*The term “Spanglish” carries on the contempt for Latin American Spanish speakers that started in the 1940s and 1950s.  Their language was demeaned for not being Castilian Spanish.  Stern and Otheguy argue that the term Spanglish disparages a community of speakers in the same way.

*The main theme in this article is that the term Spanglish is disparaging, misleading, inaccurate, and should not be used.

*Questions: What are the pedagogical implications for college composition teachers within this argument about the term Spanglish?

Generation 1.5, Eye Learners and Ear Learners

Questions and Reactions

I think that learning about the experiences, needs and characteristics, as well as historical contexts relevant to generation 1.5 can really shape the choices made by an English or Composition instructor.  I’m surprised that generally, so little seems to be known about  this type of student population; what struck me most when reading the articles was the idea that generation 1.5 students are often designated as ESL and placed into completely inappropriate English classes.   Several questions came to mind when reading:

- If  ESL courses are inappropriate for a student, and so are mainstream classes, where should the student be placed?

- If a generation 1.5 students are placed into an ESL class, how can the instructor best meet the needs of those students, and the ESL students at the same time?  I once taught a non-academic ESL class at a private language school that two high school-aged generation 1.5 students were placed into for visa-related reasons.  They took AP classes at a competitive high school all day then went straight to the language school until nine o’clock at night.  There were also international students and immigrants in the class.  I wonder now what I could and should have done differently to make the class more appropriate for everyone involved.  I think I taught it from a very ESL-type of perspective, could have implemented more effective approaches.

I look forward to learning more about this topic and how generation 1.5 students respond to different types of pedagogical practices. 

Language Rights

Students’ Right to Their Own Language

Conference on College Composition and Communication

Explanation of Adoption

• This statement, published by CCCC in 1974, explains how different student dialects should be handled by American colleges.  It argues that a dialect of nurture, or any dialect connected to a student’s identity, is just as valid in a classroom as “Standard American English.”  Furthermore, teachers should be trained to understand linguistic diversity in order to uphold it and support each student’s right to his or her own dialect.  

• This statement has been controversial, English teachers are often undereducated on the subjects of linguistics and sociolinguistics, and we all must reconsider our own attitudes toward the Standard variety of our language (according to the introduction of the article). We might find ourselves succeeding more if we move our focus away from linguistic uniformity and towards clear communication, regardless of dialect. 

• Due to the controversial nature of the statement, CCCC issued a background statement to answer some anticipated questions.  The questions 15 are:

What do we mean by dialect?

-“A dialect is the variety of language used by a group whose linguistic habit patterns both reflect and are determined by shared regional, social, or ultural perspectives…”

Why and how do dialects differ?

-Differences do not prevent mutual intelligibility although there are phonological, lexical, and syntactic variances.

How do we acquire our dialects?

-In spite of much SLA research and many theories, the answer to this question is largely unknown.

Why do some dialects have more prestige than others?

-Because of external designations related to power relationships and attitudes.

How can concepts from modern linguistics help clarify the question of dialect?

-We can understand that intelligence is not a factor in a child’s language acquisition…

Does dialect affect the ability to read?

A student’s grasp of a non Edited America English (EAE) dialect does not determine inability to decode text written in EAE.  We must broaden our reading materials and choose readings which complement students’ life experiences. 

Does dialect affect the ability to write?

To learn to write, certain conventions must be mastered. Speakers of various social backgrounds can grasp EAE (Hemingway, Faulkner, Edward Kennedy etc. serve as examples of this).  However, it is possible to express oneself clearly, communicate information and discover meaning in any dialect.  Content should be deemed more important than spelling, punctuation and usage.  EAE is important for some students, but aspects of language which are more important than dialect should be focused on. 

Does dialect limit the ability to think?

While surface features of languages vary, deep structure does not.  “The human brain is the human brain.”

What is the background for teaching one grammar?

Grammar rules stemmed the need of a rising middle class to separate itself from the lower class. Linguistic rules were created to separate the powerful and privileged from the poor.  These eighteenth century English practices were brought to the New World, where “linguistic snobbery” was encouraged.  

What do we do about handbooks?

Handbooks are restrictive, as they only focus on EAE.  Teachers should help students understand the restrictions and view handbooks as limited resources.

How can students be offered dialect options?

Options related to tone, style, syntax, diction etc. should be explored. Students should see how vividness, precision and accuracy can be achieved in any dialect. 

What do we do about standardized tests?

Tests should take into consideration a variety of dialects.  EAE-specific tests should be separate than other standardized tests, and only used if testing a student’s EAE-related knowledge is necessary.

What are the implications of this resolution for students’ work in courses other than English?

Attitudes toward dialect differences need to shift across the curriculum.  We can help students who find themselves in restrictive courses.  

How does dialect affect employability?

Spoken dialect does not often affect job performance.  Students can learn forms associated with EAE, and view EAE as an additional option on top of what they already know, in terms of dialect. 

What sort of knowledge about language do English teachers need?

Teachers should know something about:

1. The nature of language as an oral, symbolic system by which human beings interact and communicate

2. The history of English and how it continually changes in vocabulary, syntax and pronunciation

3. The nature of dialects

4. Language acquisition

5. Phonology

6. Morphology

7. Syntax

8. Grammar and usage - “Grammar is  a description of a the system by which a language conveys meaning beyond the sum of the meanings of individual words.”

9. Semantics

10. Lexicography

11. Experience

12. The role of change

Students’ Right to Their Own Language

A Counter-Argument

By Jeff Zorn

According to Zorn, CCCC’s “Student’s Right to Their Own Language” (SRTOL) marginalized students it aimed to help.  His critique offers six points regarding the   shortcomings of SRTOL:

It never beings to examine a “right” to one’s own language;

It offers no consistent view on the importance of dialect;

It wildly overrates its “sophisticated” knowledge in sociology and linguistics;

It both draws on and feeds into a reactionary politics of ethinc-cultural chauvinism;

It clumps people in homogenous, internally undifferentiated groups, missing individuals entires;

It tries to shame English teachers for professional work of which we should be proud.  

He emphasizes that Standard American English is not a myth and not a dialect, but rather a level of English used by the literate; he sees SRTOL as something that promotes miscommunication, semi-literacy and underachievement.  

CCCC’s Role in the Struggle for Language Rights

Spoken Language Interference Patterns (SLIPs)

Pot Legal

Phonology

Error SLIPs: Spelling and print code deviations

Nonerror SLIPs: Short words, pronoun frequency, contractions

Inverse SLIPs: Print code conventions (including spelling and punctuation), long words

Examples:

The spelling of marijuana as “mariguana”  Maybe the misspelling represents the way the student hears the word in relation to a phoneme-grapheme correspondence in his L1? 

Morphology

Error SLIPs: Inflectional deletions (subject-verb agreement, verb tense) inventions, inconsistencies

Nonerror SLIPs: Present tense, high frequency of first and second person pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, indefinite pronouns and IT

Inverse SLIPs: Past tense, third person pronouns, archaic or foreign abbreviations and morphemes

Examples:

“There are many issues that mariguana develop in a family.”  Maybe this student would leave out the /s/ when orally saying “develop” in this sentence.  

“...if mariguana were to be leagalize..”  This student, when speaking, might leave out the -ed sound/not state the full past participle in this sentence.  Maybe this is also a phonological error.  

- “Drug is well known around the world.”  Plurality and S/V agreement.  

Syntax

Error SLIPs: Sentence boundaries, awkward structures, double negatives

Nonerror: Independent clause coordination, sentence relatives, because as a subordinator, there constructions, do as a proverb, questions, analytic negations, that deletion

Inverse: Phrasal coordination, passives, nominalizations, synthetic negation, participial clauses, gerunds.  

Examples:

-”A person who lives daily in what we call high conditions can not, is not possible getting a Bachelors in life.”  

“The symptoms that families develop within are a thousand.”  

Semantics

Error: Colloquialisms, wordiness, low variety, wrong word

Nonerror: Discourse particles, amplifiers, hedges, emphatics, private verbs

Inverse: Downtoners, conjuncts, high type/token ratio, archaic or foreign words.  

Examples:

-”He got ecstasy as a try on; got hooked on it and now is an addict who dropped school.”  Maybe “try on” is a phrasal verb this student uses when speaking.  He might also say “dropped school” instead of “dropped out of.”  

Pragmatics

Error: Writer’s block, lack of unity, coherence and/or organization, vagueness, phatic function

Nonerror: Expectation of reader knowledge, omission of details, expressive function

Inverse: Organization, unity, coherence, explicitness, informative function

Examples:

-The lack of consistency, in terms of whom the student is addressing (Gray or someone else)...

Weird Friday

Phonology

“...I don’t know mom were ever you want...”

“I got up, got my blank it an fold it.”  

These spelling issues might stem from how the student hears the words.  

Morphology

- “When my mom was finish...”

The student might leave out the -ed or might not use past participles in his speech. 

Syntax

-....”and that’s what goanna talk am about...”

Semantics

- “We did hella things in one day...”

There is a lot of colloquial language in this essay. 

Pragmatics

Writer’s block doesn’t seem to be a huge problem but there are some coherence and organizational issues.  

End Notes

Weird Friday:

You told an entertaining story using your own unique writing style.  I enjoyed reading your paper and could really picture the scenes, which you described very well. 

To improve your paper, let’s look at when words should be formal in academic writing, and when they can be informal.  Look at the words I put a square around, and try to think of a more formal version of each word.  For example, if I say “I’m gonna talk about…” is there another way to say “gonna” that sounds more “academic?”  Here’s a chart you can use:

Informal Words                           Formal words that mean the same thing

I’m gonna                                      I’m going to

We did hella things…                     We did _______ things…

Also, look at your use of the word thing.  Look at where I circled thing in your paper, and try to find a more specific word that actually tells your reader what each thing is. 

You are off to a great start, and I’m looking forward to reading your revised draft! 

This writer seems comfortable putting words on paper, but needs a little help with more academic language.  I think the trick is to find a way to teach him some more formal vocabulary, with causing him to feel blocked by having to write more academically.  

 

Pot Legal:

I enjoyed reading your essay.  Your opinion is very clear, and you included some good examples.  To improve this paper:

1.       Create a reverse outline.  (An example of a reverse outline is attached, and we’ll work on doing this with your papers this week in class).  A reverse outline will help you organize your paper, and find out if you have a main idea in each paragraph.

2.        Put a circle around each punctuation mark (commas and periods).  Decide if you want to keep the punctuation mark the same, or change it to something else.  See my notes in the margins with hints. 

3.       …..

I’m a little stuck on this one; there are a lot of sentence-level, word order and organizational issues, but not a lot of obvious patterns.