TUTORING ACROSS BORDERS: WHEN AN ESOL STUDENT BECOMES A WRITING TUTOR Ying-bei Wang Bowling Green State University April 11, 2015

W RITING A CROSS B ORDERS

Robert Kaplan, “Cultural Thought Patterns in Inter-Cultural Education”(1966) Logic is a cultural phenomenon — “An English expository paragraph usually begins with a topic statement, and then, by a series of subdivisions of that topic statement, each supported by examples and illustrations, proceeds to develop that central ideas and relate that ideals to all other ideas in the whole essay”

A RGUMENT “Say your main point right at the beginning ” “Straight to the point” READER-CENTERED

E XAMPLES... Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal (1729) I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust. I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males…

C RITICAL W RITING Be Critical Students’ cultural upbringing and religious background

A SK QUESTIONS, D RIVE THEM T O THINK Discipline Methodology How, why, what/what kind, who, where “What’s the site of your study?” “What’s the relationship between ……” “To what degree does this …” “What’s the impact of … on…” “What’s the theoretical/conceptual framework of…” “What’s the similarities/differences between…” “What makes this significant?” “What’s at stake?”

Q UESTIONS I TRY TO AVOID “What’s this about?” “What do you mean?” (I ask “what does this mean?”) “So what?”

W E ARE ON THE SAME BOAT. A Peer, A Fellow-Student, A Fellow-Writer Be patient, be extra-nice Be more directive Adapt to their culture

L ET ’ S DO SOME DISCUSSIONS ! How would you introduce the basic English rhetorical skills to ESOL students? What kind of strategies or examples would you use? How would you motivate the ESOL students? Any thoughts? Ideas to share?

THANK YOU!