I’m sharing an experience I had last semester related to the chapter “Multilingual Writers and OWI” – Foundational Practices of Online Writing Instruction edited by Beth L. Hewett and Kevin Eric DePew.

This article talks about tailoring online writing instruction to best support multilingual and nonnative English speakers. We have an incredibly diverse population in our classrooms and most are multilingual. Several, English is not the first or even second language.

This was part of my summary:

. The authors of this article discuss creating a “linguistically-inclusive” in which the expectations of non-native English speakers must be shifted. The common assumption being ELL or ESL students must be foreign and not speak English at all or not fluently. It is challenging to create this kind of setting in an online learning environment, and teachers must consider the student’s needs. The level of proficiencies in using the classroom technology and the accept academic English may be extremely varied. Some of the suggestions for course design when teaching multilingual students online include flexibility in the expected technology used when possible or provide detail instruction in a multimodal format for the use of required technology. Additionally, teachers and tutors alike should be properly trained in what to expect and ways to assist these students. Familiarity with the cultural and linguistic differences can go a long way towards identifying the sources of a writing issue, particularly with grammar. Outside support and resources should be provided for these students and openly promoted in the class, as many students may see seeking out resources as embarrassing, difficult, or uncomfortable.

I had several conversations with students in my class who were from Pakistan, Indonesia, India, and also American students who lived in bilingual households. One thing I learned was they tend to think in their most comfortable mother tongue and translate word for word as they write, even if they are fluent English speakers. This results in grammar errors that are marked down by professors.

I learned that males and females in my classes think differently about translation and going back and forth between languages. Two young women from India wrote profusely and had the most structural errors. After speaking with a childhood friend who had been adopted from India and went back and married an Indian woman, I learned about the enormous cultural pressure on these ladies to be academically successful. When arranged marriages are still a thing and women are still viewed mostly as property of their male led household, it is a feat to convince a family to send their daughters away to school. They have a lot to prove.

One strategy for my nonnative speakers that I tried successfully was to have them write shorter sentences. Although we talk a lot about varying sentence types, shorter sentences eliminated many of the grammatical errors. I focused on reviewing the subject verb requirement. The writing significantly improved and still maintained a professional tone. This built up their confidence to begin connecting two shorter sentences with a conjunction.

I also provided a rewrite of one of their own paragraphs corrected with comments to use as a sample for revising their work. I feel over time, this will help them understand the basic structure of written English grammar they are not taught earlier. I also advise trying to read the assignment with “their voice” in your mind. Once you are “listening” to them, many previously convoluted ideas are understandable and a discussion can follow about how to fix it.