Acquisition of a second (or third, or fourth…) language is a life-long process, and there are no short cuts. Some multilingual students you may find in WR 120 and other upper-level classes may have taken our sequence of classes for multilingual writers (WR 111 and WR 112) but may still have noticeable language issues in their writing. Obviously, some students are more adept than others, and some may be noticeably stronger in oral or written skills, as the imbalance of language skills is a natural part of language acquisition. Moreover, even students who are fluent may not be strictly accurate in their grammar.

Keep in mind the following when working with multilingual writers, and above all, enjoy your multilingual writers! If you are able to see beyond the dropped articles, you’ll discover that these are some of the smartest and most diligent students you’ll have in class.