Student Writing in ESL Classes

ESL teachers should consider the value of student writing as potential "texts" from which ESL students can develop a greater connection to their own writing process.

I've encountered many students who firmly believed that writing, any writing, was of no significant or practical value to their future lives or careers. Most of the time, however, these students completed their writing assignments on time and fulfilled the requirements of my classes.

I would do my best to present opportunities for them to write - see ESL Reading and Writing - in ways that allowed me to make an argument for the usefulness of their work - both in process and in outcome, and while I often appealed to their sense of reason, many of these students still upheld their original position that writing in English was not so important for their future, at least not as important as speaking and listening in English.

One breakthrough for me came when I began to apply the practical theory I had learned in studying the methods used in native-speaker composition courses (i.e English 101). I was taught to make student writing the main "text" of the courses I had designed, and by doing so, student writing would not only become a vital part of the course, but a significant part of the lives of the students. Whatever the students write, their classmates read. Papers don't just get pressed into the teacher's grade book for some vague review and grading process.

Do you have any experiences using student writing in your ESL classes? Feel free to share your experiences and suggestions. Or you might want to respond to the following prompt: Do you think that having the opportunity to read their classmates' writing will have any effect on those students that believe that writing is not useful for them? I'd be glad to hear what you think. Email me if you like.