{"id":56,"date":"2019-09-23T09:54:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nm.cms-devl.bu.edu\/tow-test\/?page_id=56"},"modified":"2025-04-04T12:19:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T16:19:56","slug":"multilingual-writers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/teaching-writing\/teaching-writing-at-bu\/multilingual-writers\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Multilingual Writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

We love teaching multilingual writers: their experience with different languages, cultures, and genres benefits themselves and the entire classroom. In the Writing Program, we see multilinguality as an asset.\u00a0Some multilingual students you may encounter in WR 120 and other upper-level classes may have taken our sequence of classes for multilingual writers (WR 111<\/a> and WR 112<\/a>), while others may place directly into WR 120. Some students may be noticeably stronger in oral or in written skills, as differently-balanced language skills is a natural part of language acquisition, and even students who speak or write prolifically, and fluently, may not be 100% accurate in their grammar. This variation is normal and expected, but should not keep you from enjoying your multilingual writers. If you are able to see beyond the dropped articles<\/a>, you\u2019ll discover that these are some of the smartest and most diligent students you\u2019ll have in class.<\/p>\n

Featured Resource: Spring 2023 Lightning Talk<\/a><\/em><\/h3>\n

\"Link<\/a><\/h3>\n

Scaffolding for Success<\/h3>
Fill in potential gaps in vocabulary and background knowledge for your particular course, as well as in useful student strategies. \u2028Consider breaking down the course-specific vocabulary in a way friendly to multilingual students. You might offer a \u201c10 Terms You Might Not Know\u201d handout near the beginning of the semester, which would be useful to all of your students who may be struggling with the background knowledge for your course content. Also consider introducing and modeling good reading strategies (pre-reading, predicting, skimming, scanning, annotating) during particular class activities near the beginning of the course; these strategies are of course useful to all of our students, especially as they begin to develop college-level study skills that work well for them. Help students develop, or remind them of, effective strategies for drafting, revising, editing, and getting work done early enough so they can look back on it or seek tutoring assistance.<\/p>\n

Hint: Review our page on teaching the “hidden curriculum”<\/a> of your course more explicitly, in order to make your class more inclusive of multilingual writers and indeed all learners.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Reading Comprehension<\/h3>
Discern between errors of comprehension versus errors of production when reading students’ work; in other words, are students making an error because they didn\u2019t understand the text or because they\u2019ve chosen the wrong verb? Reading is often the biggest challenge for multilingual students, both for content and context.<\/p>\n

Hint: Think creatively here! A trilingual Lebanese student in a WR 120 class that reads Camus–translated into English–might be more comfortable accessing the text in the original French, for example.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Grading and Assessment<\/h3>
Remember that language acquisition is often two steps forward and one step back; as students attempt new and challenging tasks, constructions they have previously mastered may slip. As writing teachers, we know that all writers (regardless of their language background) have a unique set of strengths and needs, and we are used to individuating our feedback accordingly; this process is no different when working with multilingual writers, though some instructors wrestle with<\/a> questions about assessment<\/a>. During conferences, you can let your multilingual writers know individually what they need to do to achieve higher grades on the next papers.<\/p>\n

Hint: Review our page on equity in writing assessment<\/a>. Moving away from traditional writing assessments, including elements of grading contracts, and opening up your acceptance of papers that fall outside what Asao B. Inoue calls the “dominant academic discourse”<\/a> are acts of racial and linguistic justice that we as instructors can do now, in our own classrooms, to help create a more inclusive and equitable environment. Finally, use these guidelines<\/a> to consider how to respond to language errors in multilingual students’ writing.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Class Participation<\/h3>
Often multilingual students are reluctant to speak up in a mixed class for a variety of reasons: it may not be their cultural tradition; they may be shy about language skills; or they may have difficulty following the discussion. Draw them out; they may be timid about volunteering, but happy to speak if called on. Try to give all students–multilingual and monolingual students alike–the necessary support so they feel more comfortable participating in class.<\/p>\n