Ian Blog Post #2

One line I highlighted in "Serving ESL Students" (from The Writing Center Resource Manual) is the observation that L2 writers have an easier time writing in "controlled" compositions. I wonder if there might be ways to use the templates encouraged by controlled compositions to ease L2 writers into a greater ownership of their own critical writing. Maybe by using a controlled composition as a "Trojan horse," for assignment content, you could find a middle ground to start talking with an L2 writer about how to formulate their argument. For instance, the L2 student I worked with today at the WC seemed unsure of how to formulate a thesis statement, or what a thesis statement even really was. I wonder if by initially framing the functions of a thesis statement within a controlled composition,  a tutor could more immediately express core function, if not the nuances, of a thesis.

So, for instance, the reading provides "If constructions" as one controlled composition. In addition to explaining in my own words what a thesis statement should do, I wonder if applying a controlled composition to the lesson would've provided a tactile, sensory way to learn. Perhaps, regarding this student's assignment (concerning the critical analysis of an essay on experiences of international students), instead of saying "What do you think the article is trying to argue?" I could've asked her to jot down a brief paragraph with the guiding prompt, "If you had to respond to this author's essay in a letter, what would you say?" That way, the student would outline (in this "letter") the points in the essay she agreed or disagreed with, and that would serve as an ample foundation from which we could put together an argumentative thesis.

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