Toward a new understanding of ESL students in the composition classroom.

摘要

The purpose of this Master's thesis was to investigate the ways in which Composition teachers in U.S. English departments should revisit their teaching practices for native English speakers and the speakers of English as a second language likewise. The recent need for this shift in teaching practices was stressed in the thesis. Particularly, I examined how Composition teachers should reconfigure their teaching practices to redefine the standards of written English. The study aimed to demonstrate that a changing definition of the standards of written English impacted all the classroom participants, particularly diverse learners in various ways. Specifically, how a modified understanding of the students' assessment practices affected diverse students was presented. Another aim was to demonstrate the importance of recognizing current pluralistic teaching environments in U.S. Composition classrooms. In order to accomplish this, the qualitative method was applied. The method relied heavily on a thorough survey of a recent Composition literature available today. Although a various range of literature was used, the study was mostly inspired by the most recent research by the two professors: Bruce Horner and Min-Zhan Lu. The main investigation of the thesis was viewed through the lens of translingual approach, which has been regarded as the most appropriate one in Composition classrooms today. The importance of recognizing this approach was that it acknowledged all the students' language and cultural resources studying in the U.S. English departments. The study revealed that the shifting definition of the standards can be attributed to the social factor of globalization occurring all across the globe. Because of globalization, English has become the many national and subnational varieties that Composition teachers must recognize. Therefore, the primary conclusion is that the standards of written English have changed throughout time. In order to improve the quality of education in the Composition classroom, teachers should modify their practices to accommodate various learners.