Hi Dan,

I would be very interested in ideas for this population too. I teach an
Intermediate-level ESL Grammar and Academic Writing class at a community
college, and invariably I get three or so Gen 1.5ers who "wow" the rest of
the class with their fluent spoken language (all 200 words - they'll admit
it!), and then lag behind many of them in their written English.  I've
found books by Dana Ferris helpful (Treatment of Error in Second Language
Writing) in addressing their written work, but I would love more support on
how to work with them.  What I like about Ferris is the focus on ideas and
making students aware of their most frequent errors so that they learn to
self-correct.  Students become aware of "their list" of errors and look out
for them. Meanwhile, the focus of feedback is on ideas and maintaining the
integrity of students' work. There is a lot more to the book, so I may not
be doing it justice.

I would love to share ideas with others.


Terre


Teresa Lintner
Senior Development Editor
Cambridge University Press
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New York, New York 10013-2473
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From:	Dan Roth <[log in to unmask]>
To:	[log in to unmask]
Date:	08/16/2010 04:56 PM
Subject:	recommendation sought
Sent by:	Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
            <[log in to unmask]>



Collective Wisdom:

I would like your recommendations on possible texts or materials for
my class. I teach Developmental (Expository) Writing at a California
community college. The vast majority of my students are "generation
1.5", speak English as a second language, or were under-prepared by
their high school.

Many of my students produce writing with very idiosyncratic issues
which many grammar texts don't address, such as speech-based,
under-punctuated prose, mixed constructions ("In the book convinces us
it is a good idea"), predication issues ("The victims are an example
of tolerance"). Other students have issues that more traditionally
show up in ESL guides, such as sentence-boundary issues, agreement,
unidiomatic constructions, preposition selection, etc.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a good text or other materials to
help my students become more self-sufficient at identifying and
correcting errors and anomalies in their writing? Specifically, I am
looking for something that doesn't present grammar in a
de-contextualized way (lots of drills) but that addresses it in the
context of meaning-making and writing-as-process. I know this is a lot
to ask, but I'd appreciate your insight. It would be helpful if you
could explain how your recommendation addresses my specific needs.

Thanks in advance,
Dan Roth
Contra Costa College

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