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Back to Writing for Academic Purposes with a Twist


I haven't been blogging over the past month because I started a new teaching job at a community college. This job is a refreshing change for me because I haven't been focusing on improving student writing in my career for a while. In my previous position, I was leading the curriculum committee at an intensive English program in an effort to update its curriculum. We thoroughly analyzed the reading curriculum and were nearly done analyzing the listening and speaking curriculum before the department made drastic personnel cuts, which included me. If none of these cuts were made, the committee would be focusing on the writing curriculum right now. Instead, I am teaching two rhetoric and composition courses to first-year community college students. None of them are international students or English language learners, so that's a big change.

Is my ELT training relevant to first-year college students?

The quick answer is somewhat because the ESL and EFL students I have worked with the most in terms of teaching writing were higher level students, just an 8-week term or semester before matriculating into university. They had to produce high-quality academic essays longer than the standard 5-paragraph essay to matriculate. All of these essays required students to demonstrate basic research skills and advanced critical thinking skills, the same outcomes that I find in one of the classes I am teaching now. (The second class supports the first one with students who need more help with grammar, mechanics, and summarizing.) So as far as the learning outcomes are concerned, my training is relevant to teaching them.

Although the outcomes and assessments are similar to advanced ESL writing courses. The day-to-day activities and lessons are quite different, and I'm still adjusting to this. After diagnostics, I realized that the grammar issues are mostly about run-on sentences and fragments. Many of my students write like they speak and are not sure when one sentence ends and another begins. This is a similar issue with many of my Saudi students as well. However, unlike my Saudi students, there are no major grammar issues after that.  Each of my current students may have issues with one or two grammar areas, but they don't require me a class activity or a quiz because they immediately fix them after they are pointed out. This means I cannot fall back on those types of activities as a way to help improve my students' writing.

Another issue I face is that some of the stronger writers have a "fossilized" approach to essay writing. It appears that a few of them have had the 5-paragraph essay format drilled into them so well in high school that they have problems when the class requires longer essays and essays that are not argumentative. I may have had this issue with one or two ESL students, but it was rare. Here it seems to be the case for more students, especially the better writers. Now that we're halfway through the semester, most of them have figured it out, but a few stick to it because I believe they've learned to write very efficiently that way. Any other way takes more time and is, therefore, an inconvenience.

I need more professional development

The last time I was excited about developing my knowledge of teaching academic writing was way back in 2005 when I was a teacher trainer in Korea. Although I taught academic writing in 2007 through 2009, the goal of that course was for students to demonstrate mastery of the 5-paragraph essay. Another instructor taught the final academic writing course, which helped them learn beyond that rigid product. Afterwards, I started my PhD studies and deepened my knowledge and understanding of assessing writing but not necessarily teaching writing. 

I'm at a crossroads at this point in my career too. Although I'm excited to update my knowledge on teaching academic writing, I also have three research projects in progress and I have two other part-time jobs. Besides low pay, this is the biggest problem of an adjunct teacher: I want to learn more about teaching writing but I have other professional obligations. Are my priorities in the wrong order? If I look at the financial rewards, no. If I look at the personal rewards in my classroom, yes. 

I will update my understanding of teaching academic writing when I get the time. I have been telling myself this for six weeks now.

A rewarding experience

I genuinely enjoy teaching my students, and I know at least a few appreciate my teaching style. I have taught American students before, but this class is kinder and I have a stronger personal connection to them than others because of our similar backgrounds. When I taught undergraduate students at the University of Iowa, I had a much more difficult time connecting with them than my ESL and EFL students. This is not the case with my current students.

Not even halfway through the semester yet, and I feel like I've made a positive impact on some students already. My background in curriculum development helped me make the outcomes clear to them. My background in instructional technology has really helped them with their reading and writing. This is the first time I've used Grammarly in the course and as a suggestion for the final papers. It has helped the students understand and correct their grammar mistakes, although they still have trouble with run-on sentences. A few of my students struggle with typing, so I demonstrated how to write with voice typing on Google docs (with Google Chrome). One of my students was so happy about this, he wrote his first paper with voice typing. I also demonstrated how to use the accessibility features on Microsoft, Google Chrome, and iOS to have the on-screen text read aloud by the device. Most of my class had iPhones, so I permitted a little class time for them to experiment with Siri reading to them. One of my students now uses this feature to read in class (with his earphones on) to help him keep up with his classmates. 

I don't know how much of an impact I made yet since the class has only written one major paper so far, but the next one is due next week. But the class has already made an impact on me, and I know I've made a few students' academic lives better. Hopefully, I can help even more before the end of the semester.





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