Welcome to the blog for the course INGL 6040, The Practice of Teaching Composition. Here you will spend one hour a week reading and writing with me and your classmates. You will post all of your reading responses here and you will be able to read and comment on others’ reponses. We will discuss some of the readings that we do not have time to discuss in class. In addition, we can discuss issues that come up in your teaching throughout the week.
Hi, this is a comment.
To delete a comment, just log in, and view the posts’ comments, there you will have the option to edit or delete them.
Hi, Prof Mazak:
I’m looking forward to read your findings about the use of English outside the classroom. I hope you will post them here pretty soon. As an INformation Systems professor I teach in “spanglish”, it is difficult to translate all computer topics in spanish. Also, all the tests are in English because the textbook is in English too. I never had complaints about this. In the only class that students show a little bit of resistance to English is in the capstone course (like a seminar course). They have to make the final presentation in English! To my surprise, they really do an excellent job. I wish more professors do the same so they have more opportunities to talk in English.
The article by Matsuda was an interesting reading in regards of all the concerns that were and are still a problem in the teaching of writing to students from an L2 setting. There is no doubt that all of the affiliations with improving the education value of the students in the L2 setting will come to improve with the continuing studies in favor of that setting. The only problem is that these programs cannot continue to go on in their research due to the factor of federal helps for both the students and the researchers in the field, but none the less in the contrast to the educational system in Puerto Rico there is a decrease in these helps throughout the public school system where stuendents that come to the university level courses have a minor or non-existing comprehension of the basic foundations for English Writing courses. In view of this problem the current university English Departments have a mission to improve these student’s techniques/craft in writing courses.
The Matsuda article is a nice overview of the history of ESL parting from where and how it started up to what he sees in the future for the ESL world. I found interesting that the evolution of ESL was in a way forced because immigration could not be stopped. With an increase in students writing whose L1 was not English the field had to find a way to deal with this issue. In terms of the issue of whether this should be an interdisciplinary field, I have to say that I think it should be. ESL should be seen as one field with its correspondent branches; the writing should not be seen aside. Everything should be integrated in order to better understand what is happening with ESL students and the best ways to teach them. On that same thought of interdisciplinary research, there are other factors that we need to evaluate and understand in the case of Puerto Rico. For instance, some things to keep present are the political, cultural and social aspects of the English language on the island, as well as the perception that our students have towards learning it. Teaching writing through literature has been successful for me, but it cannot be done without knowing one’s students because that literature has to be appropriate for them.
Gerardo,
I agree with the fact that college level English Departments such as ours have a big mission. I teach two sections of 3103, and the differences in the proficiency levels and writing skills of my students are amazing. While some can write a substantial essay and follow a proper writing process, other cannot even write a paragraph. It is worrying to think that we have to prepare these students with skills that they will use as professional. The best part of it all is that we only get one or two semesters to do what their English teachers apparently were not able to do in 12 years. Sometimes that thought can be quite overwhelming because as you said the English Department has this mission, but we are the ones having the contact with the students, so in a sense it is actually our role.