Hello everybody!
We have been talking about the writing process and how it is in English, but going beyond that this article addresses how the writing process is for ESL students or students learning other languages. Being a foreign language learner and an enthusiastic polyglot this article caught my attention. I aspire to be able to write eloquently in other languages and not sound the way I would if I was writing a speech in that language. I hope you all enjoy~
The Writing Process for Second Language Learners/Foreign Language Learners
I found your article very interesting, because I am a Spanish minor, but still have trouble writing directly in Spanish. I am passively fluent, meaning that I can read and understand Spanish well enough, but I have a terrible time speaking, writing, and generally forming my own original thoughts in Spanish. However, both of my Spanish professors this year are taking a recommended approach from the article, in that every essay we turn in is simply the first draft, to be sent back with notes and turned in again with corrections. Especially in my Spanish Composition class, interaction with other students and the professor during the writing process is highly encouraged for each draft of the assignment. Although we are still graded on the final "products," there is much more back-and-forth conversation about the written work, so we improve and learn faster.
ReplyDeleteFor me personally I have to think of what I want to say in English then write it down in Spanish. I can understand and read the language, but when it comes to speaking I have to stop and think what I want to say. Writing I find it a little easier, because I can take my time and edit what I say in Spanish if it doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this. I am a writing tutor for CAPS here at UNM and we got a lot of second language students, so this was a very interesting read. I am actually going to send it to my supervisor because we have weakly training and we read articles like this one all the time, so we might use this in an upcoming training!
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