designing writing assessments for non-native speaking students · designing writing assignments for...

Designing Writing Assignments for

Non-native English Speaking Students

Dr. Estela Ene

Frank Smith

English for Academic Purposes Program

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Goal of workshop is to provide instructors with: Hands on strategies for designing prompts that don’t unintentionally exclude NNSs Best pedagogical practices that don’t burden instructors The focus is from the perspective of current thinking in Linguistics/ESL, but we invite feedback from multiple disciplines/fields What the workshop is NOT focusing on today: the vast topic of evaluation!

Defining “non-native speakers of English” Visa students (“traditional” international students)

Domestic students by paperwork

Children of immigrants (“Generation 1.5”) Generation 1.5 students may “pass” as native speakers when using non-

academic, informal language

Recent immigrants who are naturalized

What they have in common:

Language issues originating in their native tongue

Limited or no prior exposure to academic writing

But remember! One’s first language is

one’s foundation for

one’s additional

language(s).

Similarities between native and non-native English speakers

1. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE IS NO ONE’S FIRST LANGUAGE.

2. LEARNING HOW TO WRITE WELL

TAKES A LONG TIME and A LOT OF PRACTICE.

3. LEARNING HOW TO WRITE WELL

REQUIRES EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION FOR MOST.

Activity 1: Inquiry into your classroom

Jot down where your non-native English speaking (NNS) students are typically from.

In what ways do your non-native English speaking students struggle with writing assignments, and how do you think their struggles differ from those of native English speakers? ___________________________________________

Share with the group (5 min).

IUPUI demographics & impact on classroom Saudi

Arabia 41%

China 29%

India 4%

South Korea 3%

Nigeria 3%

Thailand 2%

Indonesia 2%

Qatar 1%

Iraq 1%

Iran 1%

Russia 1% Other

12%

EAP Graduate and Undergraduate Students’ Countries of Origin in Fall 2012

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Some of what we’ve heard from the audience about ease & difficulty in teaching NNSs is culturally-based.

Why culture matters

High Power Distance cultures (Hofstede) Students tend to be respectful of the instructor Students more reluctant to ask for clarification

Oral tradition vs. written tradition

Students may not be proficient writers in either their native or additional language(s)

Students may value written communication less Students may prefer to have instructions repeated orally

(regardless of aural proficiency) *Composition courses are a staple of the US education system.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Nations who have high power distance expect and accept strong hierarchical order. Both China and KSA score high on this scale

Culturally-influenced discourse patterns

Kaplan, Robert. Cultural Thought Patterns in Intercultural Education. In McKay, Sandra [Ed.] Composing in a Second Language (1984)

“Different” ≠ “Bad”

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Do you see these patterns in your students’ writing? Changes since this piece: globalization and the spread of English as an international language – most now understand that a main idea/thesis has to control the text, but execution may still be different. PATTERNS MOST RELEVANT TO OUR CONTEXT are the English, Semitic, and Oriental patterns. What are some consequences of these patterns? Negative: structure can be completely different and in complete need of reshaping. Positive: Some structures are transferrable. ��KEY POINT: Different ≠ “Bad”; this difference, however, is more challenging for your NNSs than you might think

Why culture matters

Rhetorical differences due to culture

Recognizing that “to be truly ‘fluent,’ our [non-native speakers] would have to be able to produce essays in English that were not only grammatically and syntactically, but also rhetorically indistinguishable from those written by their NS peers. But…even writers who are isolated for years from their first language (L1) culture produce texts in their L2 which carry noticeable L1 features … and we can neither legislate nor educate away culturally determined rhetorical differences in writing (Land & Whitley, 324).

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Organization, even after instruction, is very difficult (but not impossible) to influence. Our responsibility is to support students by Designing prompts that are accessible Evaluating their writing in ways that are congruent with our understanding of what NNSs are consciously and unconsciously experiencing in the writing process.

What is “good” student writing? What is truly important in student papers?

IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning

Core communication and quantitative skills

Critical thinking

Integration and application of knowledge

Intellectual depth, breadth, and adaptiveness

Understanding culture and society

Values and ethics

Presenter

Presentation Notes

These principles, which are the “…essential ingredients of the undergraduate educational experience at IUPUI [that]…form a conceptual framework for all students' general education [and] necessarily permeate the curriculum in the major field of study” do emphasize communication; however, they emphasize a wealth of other foci, too. Even if the organization is different, the critical thinking/intellectual breadth may still be present. There are “higher-order concerns” (content and organization) and “lower-order concerns” (grammar and punctuation). As long as the latter do not impede communication, the latter should be de-prioritized in the evaluation process. Remember, bad ideas in pretty words and good punctuation are still bad ideas.

Why prompts matter Remember: The assignment should be challenging, but the assignment sheet shouldn’t.

Anticipating how the non-native speakers are going to interact with the assignment and designing assignments sheets with this population will result in

better product from the students

better learning outcomes

less time spent by the instructor clarifying what the assignment is really about

less anxiety & frustration for both the instructor and the student

greater opportunity to engage students intellectually

Why prompts matter

“Academic Writing is a form of testing”

(Reid & Kroll, p.261)

However, professors know what they want out of an assignment, but students likely do not.

“ Faculty have a right to expect competent writing. But they cannot expect competent writing … [that is] an accurate reflection of content knowledge or of higher-order thinking when the written assignments lack essential information or provide too much, are unclear or contradictory, are vague or picayune.” (Alice Brand, 1992, p.157)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Criteria for evaluation may be overt, covert, even unconscious, but instructor always expects students to fulfill those criteria. Even when students are given a degree of freedom.

Aspects of prompts that can be difficult for non-native speakers

Idiomatic language

Cultural references/context

Vague language choice

Instructor unpreparedness to explain something orally in multiple ways be consistent with terminology in assignment sheets, but be ready to change it up in spoken contexts

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Often in creating prompts, instructors write instructions conversationally in order to really “connect” with students, and this naturally includes idiomatic language, which can act as a major barrier to NNS understanding. Same with cultural references/context – in striving for authentic context, prompts sometimes reflect cultural bias or are rooted in a specific cultural, not universal, context. In trying to be concise, prompts often include multiple “reduced” language forms which may impede NNS understanding. Be consistent with terminology in assignment sheets, but be ready to change it up in spoken contexts.

What’s not working here?

For your second paper, read 3 of the 7 articles related to patient

medication compliance and successful interventions and then conduct a

comparative analysis of the methodologies in terms of their efficacy. Dig

into the heart of the matter and shine a spotlight on what best makes

patients not turn a blind eye to their own needs and health, and how we

can ensure patients do the right thing.

-- Idiomatic language -- Cultural references/context

-- Vague language -- Instructor unpreparedness to explain something orally in multiple ways

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Instructor: For your second paper, read 3 of the 7 articles related to patient medication compliance and successful interventions and then conduct a comparative analysis of the methodologies in terms of their efficacy. Dig into the heart of the matter and shine a spotlight on what best makes patients not turn a blind eye to their own needs and health, and how we can ensure patients do the right thing. Student: I don’t really understand what you want us to do in the paper. Instructor: Ok, there are 7 potential articles, and I want you to read 3 of them. Then, I want you to comparatively analyze their methodologies with a focus on efficacy. Really dig into it. Spotlight how we can help patients do the right thing and comply with their regimens. Student: Uh… Instructor: The methodologies. <gets louder> Comparative analyze the efficacy of the methodologies! Show me how it works! Dig deep!

Ultimately, effective prompt design is a best practices issue

What will be clear for your non-native English speaking students will also work for your native English speaking students.

Consider this thought:

“…because [university student bodies] are becoming increasingly ethnically diverse, it is imperative that teacher-designers focus on precision in the language of writing assignments. For [Non-native English Speaking] students, the problem is more severe; they need more clarity of language, more background information, and more specified teacher expectations.” (Reid & Kroll)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Best practices = universal design Rather than seeing NNSs as a limitation, think of them as a guide for creating materials that are likely to be clearer and more accessible to all students.

All students benefit from:

Written instructions for all writing tasks

An oral review of the written instructions (phrased differently in multiple iterations)

A clear definition of the assignment and its purpose

Step-by-step guidelines about how the assignment is to be structured and formatted

A model assignment

Practical considerations: consistency in terminology Why?

One difference in linguistic facility between native and non-native English speakers is the breadth of synonymous language.

Choose one term for each assignment type/task, and use that term consistently

Ex: Choose either “paper” or “summary” or “essay” or “document” within a single assignment, but don’t alternate between them within a single assignment.

Ex: Choose either “Exploring inconsistencies between” or “contrast” or “compare” within a single assignment, but don’t alternate between them within a single assignment.

Practical considerations: White space, bullet points, underlining, etc. are our friends

Breaking text into manageable chunks makes it easier for students to absorb the information.

Students are less likely to miss key information, steps in a process, etc.

Returning to the assignment sheet to review key aspects of the assignment sheet is less burdensome

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Simply putting all of the information on the assignment sheet in one or two large paragraphs acts as a barrier both to comprehension and accessibility. Furthermore, students (hopefully) don’t read an assignment sheet only once. Rather, they return to it multiple times in the process of writing, and breaking text into manageable chunks and bulleted/numbered lists helps students re-connect with essential aspects of the assignment.

Visual example

These short papers are designed to give you an opportunity to demonstrate higher level cognitive skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Please choose only one of the following two assignments. You may work by yourself or in a group of two. See the syllabus for assignment due dates.

Assignment #1: Models of Individual Behavior We have discussed the assumptions about individual behavior that underlie the competitive economic model as well as several deviations from these assumptions that are often referred to as “behavioral economics.” You can review these in the lecture slides as well as I&C chapters 3 and 7. Given these models, please either create a short story, screen play, short film (synthesis), or analyze a piece of fiction (movie, TV episode, book) (analysis) that illustrates a model of behavior and how the individual with the chosen behavior makes a particular health-related decision.

(NOT READER FRIENDLY)

These short papers are designed to give you an opportunity to demonstrate higher level cognitive skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Please choose only one of the following two assignments. You may work by yourself or in a group of two. See the syllabus for assignment due dates.

Assignment #1: Models of Individual Behavior

We have discussed the assumptions about individual behavior that underlie the competitive economic model as well as several deviations from these assumptions that are often referred to as “behavioral economics.” You can review these in the lecture slides as well as I&C chapters 3 and 7. Given these models, please either

Create a short story, screen play, short film (synthesis)

OR

Analyze a piece of fiction (movie, TV episode, book) (analysis)

Whichever you choose should illustrate a model of behavior and how the individual with the chosen behavior makes a particular health-related decision.

Conceptual considerations

Assignments should be

“contextualized” & “authentic”

based on accessible content

developed with clearly established evaluation criteria

Reid & Kroll (2006): Best Practices in Writing Assignment Design

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Context/authenticity: the writing assignment should both be closely linked to classroom work/topics and, when possible, connected to a real world context. When in their life/profession will this kind of writing/critical thinking assignment be valuable? For ESL students, “real world context” may be different and harder to envision/express. Accessibility: linking background knowledge (material already covered in class or a previous class) with new knowledge – one way this is pursued at IUPUI is through Themed Learning Communities. For ESL students, background knowledge may be different. According to Kroll & Reid, previously established evaluation criteria is the least well-developed in prompt design, but it is integral to students understand what is most meaningful in the assignments. For NNSs, this can reduce stress on placing greater emphasis on grammar than on clarity & complexity of ideas.

Recognizing what works: Successful prompts

Example 1: Freshman composition class, ½-way through the semester.

Example 2: 200-level Biology class, mid-term exam

Example 3: 300-level Intro to Linguistics course, near the end of the semester

How do the prompts succeed on the following levels?

Context/authenticity

Accessible/consistent language & content

Clear evaluation criteria

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Ok, so we’d like your group to take 10-12 minutes to read each prompt and discuss how successful you think it’d be in context, specifically thinking of your NNS-students.

Applying what works Example 1: 100-level music class, 2nd week of class

Example 2: 300-level business class, 2/3rds of the way through the semester

Example 3: 200-level education course, 1st week of class

How do the prompts falter on the following levels?

Context/authenticity

Accessible/consistent language & content

Engaging

Clear evaluation criteria

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Ok, so we’d like your group to take 10-15 minutes to read each prompt. Think of your NNS-students: what aspects of this assignment would they struggle with?

Take home messages

Academic language is no one’s first language.

Designing and evaluating tasks for non-native English speaking students is an issue of best pedagogical practices.

A well designed assignment paves the way to better student writing and less time spent doing “damage control” later.

Resources

English for Academic Purposes Program

University Writing Center

Bepko Learning Center

Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication

Office of International Affairs

References Brand, Alice G. “Drafting Essay Assignments: What the Disciplines Can Learn

from Direct Writing Assessment.” Issues In Writing. 4 (1992): 156-174. Print.

Hofstede, Geert. National Cultural Dimensions. 2013. The Hofstede Center, 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.

Kaplan, Robert. “Cultural Thought Patterns in Intercultural Education.” Language Learning. 16 (1966):1-20. Print.

Land, Robert E. & Catherine Whitley. “Evaluating Second-Language Essays in Regular Composition Classes: Toward a Pluralistic U.S. Rhetoric.” Second-Language Writing in the Composition Classroom: A Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Paul Matusda, et al. Boston: Beford/Martin’s, 2006. 324-332. Print.

Reid, Joy and Barbara Kroll. “Designing and Assessing Effective Classroom Writing Assignments.” Second-Language Writing in the Composition Classroom: A Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Paul Matusda, et al. Boston: Beford/Martin’s, 2006. 260-281. Print.

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