The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

• Would writers feel more comfortable discussing their ideas with me?
• Would ESL writers catch more of their own errors?
• Would it keep me from talking too much?
At first, the writers I asked to read out loud were hesitant, but they obliged me. The sessions were
actually very lively and resulted in an exchange of good ideas. Miele, from Laos, had been one of the
shyest students. She told me that she had been brought up to not look adults in the eye; it would be
disrespectful. She went on to say that reading made her “feel easy” and then talking about writing also
came more naturally. Maybe we were on to something. The writers did appear more anxious to talk about
their work; reading seemed to pull their thoughts into the present.
Once we had overcome this barrier, writers were eager to bring their drafts in and discuss strategies
on how to proceed. They spent a lot of time searching for words and concepts in writing assignments,
often frustrated that the finished document did not reflect what they really wanted to say. This is
apparently common among ESL writers. Some I’ve worked with still create an initial outline in their
primary language, as abstract thinking flows much more readily. “They may be missing the resonance of
words in English, but they can apparently use the resonances which words in their native languages have
for them as touchstones to spur their thinking along and to verify the exact meaning they intend” (Leki
80). All of this takes time. “To produce the number of words that they manage, L2 writers need
considerably more time than native speakers need” (82). As tutors, we can make a genuine contribution
by listening to their work, and encouraging their reading, oral, and comprehension skills. Leki cites a
1985 study by Raimes, in which she concludes “ESL students need more of everything: more time, more
contact with English, more opportunity to read and write” (82).
As to the question of whether ESL learners would catch more errors through reading their work out
loud, I have to say the results were mixed. Often students did consciously self-correct. Sometimes they
spoke the correct tense/suffix/noun-verb agreement in spite of a written error, without noticing the error.
Sometimes they neither spoke nor wrote anything resembling correct grammar usage. Research has been
conducted on the question of whether writers will self-correct if asked to read out loud. Leki indicates
studies have demonstrated its effectiveness with students for whom Standard English is a Second Dialect.
However, she states that “this strategy is much less available to ESL students, who often seem barely to
understand what they are reading out loud even though it is their own writing” (35).
Referring to the 1985 study by Raimes, Leki cautions that ESL students’ “language limitations may
make it more problematic to write a lot, to sustain the effort of writing, and to analyze the product in order
to make changes” (82). Leki concludes, “Even advanced ESL students are much more likely to use
bottom-up reading strategies, trying to guess the meaning of what they are reading from the graphemes on
the page, rather than top-down strategies, using meaning to anticipate the words on the page; as a result,
they are much less able to correct errors that appear there” (35). In spite of inconclusive results regarding
error correction, I did see progress and believe it energizes the writers. The practice also sets a positive
tone for a mutual exchange of ideas, “breaking the ice” by asking the student to speak first.
I found reading out loud to have additional benefits as well. I hear writers taking ownership of their
own words and notice that they remain engaged throughout the session. This is important. While
observing tutoring sessions around me, active give-and-take is the norm. Occasionally, however, I also
see students staring off into space, looking bored while their tutor silently reads through their essay. By
the time discussion begins, the silence is firmly in place and the tutor is only able to pull brief, noncommittal
remarks from the writer. I had experienced this also and, as mentioned before, in spite of
knowing better I often filled the void by talking more than I needed to. When students begin sessions by
reading to me, silence never sets in. The writers are already in the driver’s seat, controlling the flow of our
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