The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

Reading Out Loud: An Effective Strategy to Engage ESL Writers
81
Julia Bursell
Spring 2004
How is writing like swimming? Give up? Answer: The psycholinguist Eric Lenneberg (1967) once
noted, in a discussion of “species specific” human behavior that human beings universally learn to walk
and to talk, but that swimming and writing are culturally specific, learned behaviors. We learn to swim if
there is a body of water available and usually only if someone teaches us. We learn to write if we are
members of a literate society, and usually only if someone teaches us (Brown 334).
I often felt that a similar statement could be made about tutoring: We learn to tutor if we are
members of a community that values interaction, and usually only if we are able to learn from one
another. I started this semester with many questions. Although I still have questions on what the best
approaches to tutoring may be, this semester has been a success largely because writers I worked with
shared their time and their ideas about writing. Each of them taught me something about what encourages
good writing, even if sometimes we both learned the hard way. In particular, working with ESL writers
taught me that while native and non-native English speakers have much in common when approaching
writing, non-native speakers face unique challenges. I would like to describe some of those challenges,
and an approach that we arrived at to make our sessions more effective.
Throughout the first few weeks of active tutoring, I tried hard to remember the guidelines for
promoting good writing. Experiences in the Writing Center, discussions in the classroom, and readings
from the texts emphasized active involvement. In Understanding ESL Writers, Leki asserts that
“Feedback on the writing of both natives and non-natives is generally more effective if it is given when
the students have the opportunity to incorporate the comments into their writing rather than if it appears
on a dead, final text” (127). The advice was logical; the tough part was applying it to the best effect.
To begin with, discussions of whether or not to incorporate comments, or interaction of any kind
seemed strained. Writers I met with were congenial, but many, especially those for whom English was not
their primary language, seemed hesitant to say much. I was the only one interested in active conversation.
Remembering good advice, particularly sections from The Tutoring Book on “Learning to Listen and to
Question,” I tried to wait out our “loud” silent pauses. I could see we were both struggling. These were
their words, why weren’t they eager to share their thoughts on writing? Realizing this was unproductive, I
searched for ways to engage the writers. As our sessions progressed, the students (and I) relaxed a bit, and
they began to respond with more than “OK,” or “I guess so.” From our conversations, I began to
understand that their stoic behavior was really deference, or respect, shown to the “authority figures”
(tutors) at the Writing Center.
Early in the semester, the reading material emphasized the importance of establishing a peer
relationship, and collaboration during tutoring. I found that for some ESL students, this only adds to their
tension and sense of awkwardness. Coming from family backgrounds or traditions in which teachers’
opinions should be accepted as spoken, raising questions or even offering a firm opinion might be seen as
impolite. Contributing to an “authority image” is the fact that I am two to three decades older than most of
the students. Although that was unlikely to change, I was determined to be more approachable and
establish a collaborative atmosphere during our sessions.
Asking writers to read out loud proved to be a big step toward achieving this. It began as an
experiment, asking a couple of writers to read their essays out loud to me. My goal was to test several
ideas: