Re: bilingual consultations

[Mary Roblin <mroblin@purdue.edu>]

I happen to have been researching this subject recently; complete citations
available on request.  
	
	Friedlander, A. (1984) and Kobayashi and Rinnert (1992) suggest that
planning and preliminary consideration of a topic can be enhanced if ESL
writers use the language that topic-area knowledge was acquired in. Leki
(1992) holds that students may write better if they are writing in the same
language in which their memories are stored.   Cumming and So (1996)
investigated whether one-on-one instruction is affected by the language of
instruction.  Results indicated that use of students' first languages
allowed both tutors and learners "a precise, meaningful way of guiding text
revision that is not available when tutors do not know learners' mother
tongues." However, the language acquisition advantages gained from focused
talk and problem solving "in the medium of the second language" were lost;
a suggested accommodation is for tutors  and students to alternate between
first and second languages.  

At 02:10 PM 10/7/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Greetings-
>I have a question for you folks.  What has been your experience with tutors
>who speak the native language of the ESL student they are assisting?  Is it
>beneficial or harmful for them to carry on a bilingual writing consulation?
>I am currently eavesdropping (to the best of my linguistic ability) on an
>appointment that is being conducted half in Farsi and half in English, and I
>wonder whether the student is able to derive as much as she can from the
>consultation if she is not being pushed to use English.
>-Bridget 
>
>***********************************************************
>Bridget Robin Pool
>Writing Center Coordinator
>Northern Virginia Community College/Loudoun Campus
>703.450.2511
>
>