Re: ESL Editing skills

[hawthorn@badlands.nodak.edu (Joan Hawthorne)]

>
>Hello all- 
>
>There has been a lot of great advice posted about editing skills in the
>last few days, but most of it seems to be for native speakers (ie "have
>them read aloud").  A good part of my students, though, are ESL students
>and often ask me for editing skills they can use. I'm not really trained
>in ESL issues, so does anybody have some advice on this topic?  
>
>SDW
>=========================================================================== 
> Sean D. Williams

A good question, Sean, and one we've debated in our Writing Center this
year.  Our numbers of ESL visitors are up, and tutors have mixed feelings
about how to work with them in the center.  Some worry about providing "too
much" help, while others follow the advice given in one of the many articles
on this topic that we've read together this year:  think of it as giving
them your language rather than giving them your words.  Part of what _I_ do
is provide more editing help to those students who seem (1) in need of the
extra help and (2) sufficiently eager so that they'll put up with a lot of
very hard work in order to get it.  ESL students usually fit both categories.

I usually end up going paragraph by paragraph with students.  I ask them to
listen for anything that sounds questionable to them, while I read aloud.
At the end of the paragraph, they have to pick out places where they think
there might be errors (they often self-correct small details simply by
listening to me read).  We talk first about whatever they identify; with ESL
students, unlike most others, I use grammatical terminology to describe
error patterns and correction rationales.  After the student identifies
problem spots, I'm likely to point out additional problem sentences myself.
I'll say something like, "Something sounds wrong in this sentence.  Do you
see anything that raises questions for you there?"  The student has to work
to identify the error, and if he/she has no idea, I might say something
like, "Think about the verbs," or "Look at this part of the sentence."
Again, I leave the student to struggle.  The point is that I do provide some
editorial direction, but I usually feel like a student who's willing to work
that hard on it is a student who's actually benefiting from the editing
time.  Depending on time, we might do several paragraphs or even an entire
(short) paper.  As we go on, these students tend to find the errors
themselves because they look for more examples of patterns we've identified.  

In other words, the paper gets at least partially edited (I don't point out
every single editorial detail, especially if the paper is error-ridden) but
I feel confident that the student also learns more about self-editing and
English grammar.  That's the balance that I've made peace with.  So how do
_you_ work with ESL writers on editing?

Joan Hawthorne
Univ. of North Dakota