Week 6: Cultural Writing

This week's readings were focused on writing in the ESL classroom. Writing assignments are an important part of the classroom- students use writing to develop grammar skills, thought-formation in English, and creative expression. Teachers use it at a tool for assessments and to gain a better understanding of their students. I also think that just the process of writing and reading is crucial in the language learning process. It can seem overwhelming for students to formulate and write their thoughts in another language and we must be aware of that. The different ideas on how to teach appropriate writing skills listed in these articles are a great resource. Some of the information given was very disheartening but important for us to know.

I feel like writing has a lot to do with the variation in cultural pedagogy and it creates barriers.  For example, we as American students were taught how to form argumentative essays in one form while Japanese students were taught a different form. I as an American teacher might grade low an essay that could be considered a strong essay in another school culture. It is important for us as TESOL educators to recognize this variation and use teachers as a resource when it comes to assigning and assessing writing assessments.

Another aspect we must be aware of is the type of writing assignments we give to students. Assignments must be culturally representative and allow for students of different technical writing backgrounds to express themselves fully without fear of rejection of ideas or word usage.

Personally, I find writing and creative expression through writing in ANY language to be difficult. I have trouble with grammar and get caught up in the grammar rules that my thoughts and ideas get lost. What I find to be helpful is peer editing and knowing that with practice my writing will get better.