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Directed Self-Placement for Multilingual Writers: 5 Ways It Empowers Choices Melanie Gonzalez, Ph.D. & Julie Whitlow, Ph.D. | Salem State University, Salem, MA, USA TESOL 2017 International Convention, Seattle, WA, USA
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Directed Self Placement for Multilingual Writers

Apr 14, 2017

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Page 1: Directed Self Placement for Multilingual Writers

Directed Self-Placement for Multilingual Writers:5 Ways It Empowers Choices

Melanie Gonzalez, Ph.D. & Julie Whitlow, Ph.D. | Salem State University, Salem, MA, USA TESOL 2017 International Convention, Seattle, WA, USA

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Multilingual college writers

• Increase in number of multilingual writers enrolling in U.S. universities • ELs rising from high school• Generation 1.5 students (or resident ELs or early arriving immigrants)• International students

• Expected to write at a college level in a language that may not be their first (L1)• How do postsecondary institutions place these populations into the most appropriate first year

university writing classes?

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Placement into 1st-year composition

• Generally relies on a college entrance assessment, writing sample, etc. to determine:• readiness for post-secondary, college-level writing• if developmental or introductory courses are best• placement into the level of coursework best suited to students’ preparation and skills

(Crusan, 2010).

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How are these assessments used?

• Many standardized tests (ACT, SAT, TOEFL) are not designed as writing placement tests• Assessments can be costly• Money needed to develop the tests/prompts, train raters, and pay for scoring • For writing assessment (i.e., an essay), many administrators opt for cheaper, faster methods• Politics, differing definitions of writing, power, and control—are intertwined (Crusan, 2006, 2010;

Royer & Gilles, 2003)

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Power and assessment

• The person in power determines ways that writing will be assessed• If (due to time, money, philosophy) a person defines writing as mechanics, usage, grammar, and

spelling (MUGS—the subskills of writing), the assessment of choice will be primarily some multiple-choice instrument (Crusan, 2010)

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Power and assessment

• We choose the methods

• We score the essays

• We tell students what courses to take

• Students have more control over their educational options

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Royer and Gilles findings (1998; 2003)

• Chose ENG 098 simply felt that it was the course for them

• Felt they needed to “brush up” before tackling ENG 150

• Reasons centered on behavior and self-image—not test scores or grades

• Students saw themselves as poor readers and writers

• In the past, instructors had done the “seeing” for them

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Directed Self-Placement (DSP)

• A method of placing students into a first-year composition course

• Students self-evaluate their writing skills and make a decision about the best composition course to take

• Students have some guidance from the institution, but it is their decision

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Statements in favor of DSP• Blakesley (2002)‘‘ . . . being placed or classified, naturally breeds resistance among those who feel

its effects’’ (p. 9). • DSP is ‘‘an act of restoration . . . to the extent that it asks students to learn from the past to make

decisions about their future’’ (p. 29), and calls DSP ‘‘a superior method of placement to . . . standard writing placement’’ (p. 29).

• White (2008) ‘‘DSP proposes a radical solution to the persistent problems of over-testing, negative labeling, and student discomfort with required coursework’’ (p. 139) … recommends it as an answer to the “perennial problems associated with placement.”

• CCCC Committee on Second Language Writing (2009) advocates DSP as a viable and appropriate placement method for multilingual writers.

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Royer and Gilles proposed• Inform students about the different composition classes offered and the kinds of writing that will

be expected of them for each required course

• Emphasize importance of selecting the right course to match abilities

• Students answer questions about the kinds of readers and writers they are

• Students place themselves using the information given to them about the courses, the answers on their questionnaires, and their honest examination and evaluation of their writing abilities

• Students decide for themselves the most appropriate course and if they are ready and able to do the work of the course

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Evidence for multilingual adults

• More than a decade before Royer and Gilles’ work with L1 students, LeBlanc and Painchaud (1985) discussed using self-assessment for adult ESL learners.

• ‘‘When adults place themselves in a classroom learning situation, they have a very fair idea of why they are doing so, of what they expect from the course’’ (p. 675).

• They also present counterevidence that ‘‘good students tend to underestimate themselves while students who have arrived at a plateau tend to overestimate their ability’’ (p. 675)

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Additional findings supporting DSP• DSP for writing seats accountability squarely on the shoulders of those who purportedly know their

writing skills better than anyone else: the writers themselves

• Teachers seem pleased when placement responsibility lies with the students

• Greatly reduces the costs associated with placement

• Test security issues are eliminated

• Student decision-making about when and where to do the writing reduces anxiety

• Student involvement in decision making increases responsibility for learning—many students who have used DSP succeed because they placed themselves in a certain class and feel the need to prove something (Royer & Gilles, 1998; Gere, Aull, Green, & Porter, 2010)

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CCCC’s (2006) position statement on writing assessment

• Decision-makers should carefully weigh the educational costs and benefits of timed tests, portfolios, directed self placement, etc.

• Timed writing may suggest to students that writing always cramps one for time and that real writing is always a test.

• Machine-scored tests may focus students on error-correction rather than on effective communication.

• Students should have the right to weigh in on their assessment. • Self-placement without direction may become merely a right to fail, whereas directed self-

placement, either alone or in combination with other methods allows students to make choices that empower them.

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CCCC’s (2009) position statement for multilingual writers“Second language writers include international visa students, refugees, and permanent residents as well as naturalized and native-born citizens of the United States and Canada. Many of these students have grown up speaking languages other than English at home, in their communities, and in schools; others began to acquire English at a very young age and have used it alongside their native languages. To many, English may be a third, fourth or fifth language. Many second language writers are highly literate in their first languages, while others have never learned to write in their mother tongues. Some are even native speakers of languages without a written form. Some students may have difficulty adapting to or adopting North American discursive strategies because the nature and functions of discourse, audience, and rhetorical appeals often differ across cultural, national, linguistic, and educational contexts. At the same time, however, other students--especially graduate students--are already knowledgeable about the discourse and content of their respective disciplines, even if their status as "international" or "second language" may mask their abilities. Furthermore, most second language writers are still in the process of acquiring syntactic and lexical competence—a process that will take a lifetime.”

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But what about misplacement?

• Overestimation• Underestimation • However, when students are informed about the course expectations and the responsibilities

that accompany their course selection, the concerns of misplacement are greatly reduced

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Implementation of DSP

• DSP’s form depends on the institutional constraints, its writing program, students, and instructors.

• PowerPoint presentations, web sites, and brochures outlining the most important issues concerning DSP.

• Quite frequently, questionnaires are used to ask questions about past and present reading and writing practices, habits, and experiences (Crusan, 2010a, p. 144).

• An online system affords global accessibility, an important component for institutions admitting a large undergraduate nonnative-English-speaking population.

• These myriad versions of DSP are ‘‘site-based, locally-controlled, context-specific, and accessible’’ (Huot, 2002, p. 105) and thereby adhere to current writing assessment theory (CCCC Committee on Assessment, 2006; CCCC Committee on Second Language Writing, 2009).

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Adoption of DSP

Page 18: Directed Self Placement for Multilingual Writers

Adoption of DSP

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Adoption of DSP

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Case of Salem State University

• One of the largest state universities in Massachusetts

• Located 13 miles north of Boston• Enrolled 1,897 freshmen in Fall 2016• 36 % students of color• 2% international students • Commonwealth requires a writing sample

from all incoming first year college students

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DSP at Salem State University

Prior to DSP• Incoming first year students wrote an essay

based on a faculty determined prompt during orientation.

• Three faculty raters read each essay and placed students into one of the first year courses.

• Very time consuming and costly.• Students had no part in the decision.

First-Year Writing Course Offerings• ENL 105 Introduction to College Writing (3 cr.)• ENL 108 Academic Writing for Multilingual

Writers (3 cr.)• ENL 110 Foundations of Writing (3 cr.; W-1)• ENL 109 Foundations of Writing ESL (3 cr.; W-1)

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DSP at Salem State UniversityImplementation of DSP

• Provided information about DSP and instructions for completing it in First Year Advising packet

• Access to DSP materials: course information, questionnaire, and essay prompt through Canvas

• Complete before or during Freshmen Orientation

• During orientation, first year advisors and a DSP reader from the English department are available

• Called “Writing Self-Placement (WSP)” at SSU

First-Year Writing Course Information Provided• Syllabi and information about goals of each

course• Interviews with course instructors• Interviews with students• Sample assignments• Sample student writing earning various

grades• Exemption information

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Adoption of DSP

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Case of Salem State University

• Survey multilingual writers about their experience with DSP• 43 responses in three classes during the

first month of the Fall 2015 semester:• 1 section of ENL 105• 1 section of ENL 108• 2 sections of ENL 109• Close to 100% response rate

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Q1: Choose the description that best fits your opinion of your language abilities

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Q2: How long have you been living in the United States?

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Q3: How many years of your education before university was completed in the United States?

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Q5: If you did complete the WSP on Canvas, which first year writing course did you select?

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Q9: After you selected a course in the WSP, did you change your mind or change your first selection?

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Q11: Now that classes have started, do you feel that you are in the best first year writing course for you and your writing needs?

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Q13: Do you think that WSP (where students choose a writing course themselves instead of someone else choosing your course for you) is a good way for first year students to choose a writing course?

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Q15: Please explain your opinion about whether WSP is a good way for students to be placed in a first-year college writing course based on your experiences this semester.• “In my opinion, the WSP is a good way to give students more freedom to choice what is they

really want to study. And that is make students have more enthusiasm at there study life.”

• “It is a good way for students to be placed in courses themselves because, we as students, know how we write and learn and it is best for us to place ourselves.”

• I think the WSP is a good way for student to integrate classes that might be good for them. when you chose a class that you really want you have much more chance to success in.

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Q1: Instructor responses: Which first year writing course(s) are you teaching this semester?

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Q2: Do you have one or more students whom you would consider multilingual in your first year writing course?

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From instructor of 105 (not a designated multilingual section)

“I do feel the multilingual writers did well to self-place into ENL 105. They've made advances in building writing confidence, gained facility working with different strategies of the writing process, and (perhaps most of all) had the opportunity to explore the shaping influence of their multilingual backgrounds on their writing experiences. On another note, multilingual students in my classes have really enhanced the class as a community: single-language learners have been very receptive to hearing of multilingual writers' experiences. It's helped reveal much about writing, its possibilities and challenges.”

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Conclusions – 5 ways DSP empowers choices① Affords students agency, especially our ML writers

② Trusts students’ ability to self-evaluate; that what they have to say and how they evaluate themselves matters

③ Student-centered philosophy avoids resentment that might occur when students are told they need to take an “extra” writing course

④ Allows for more reflective and realistic writing production that more closely mirrors authentic writing

⑤ Reduces anxiety around the transition to college-level writing

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Challenges we still face

• Coordination amongst multiple offices – first-year advising, admissions, student recruitment• Identifying and ensuring access for our international students• Ensuring DSP materials linguistically accessible to a variety of language proficiencies• Address cultural differences and implications of DSP • Professional development for faculty not trained in second language writing instruction

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In summary

Due to these considerations, we advocate Directed Self-Placement as a means of determining the most appropriate placement for multilingual writers.

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References• Blakesley, D. (2002). Directed Self-Placement in the University. Writing Program Administration, Vol. 25, No. 3• Butler, Y. G., & Lee, J. (2010). The effects of self-assessment among young learners of English. Language Testing, 27(5), 5–31. • CCCC Committee on Assessment. (2006). Writing assessment: A position statement. Retrieved from

www.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/writingassessment• CCCC Committee on Second Language Writing. (2009, November). CCCC statement on second language writing and writers. Retrieved from:

www.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/secondlanguagewriting • Crusan, D. (2002). An assessment of ESL writing placement assessment. Assessing Writing: An International Journal, 8, 17–30. • Crusan, D. (2006). The politics of implementing online directed self-placement for second language writers. In P. K. Matsuda, C. Ortmeier-

Hooper, & X. You (Eds.), The politics of second language writing (pp. 205–221). West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press.• Crusan, D. (2010). The Promise of Directed Self-Placement for Second Language Writers, TESOL Quarterly 44.• Crusan, D. (2010a). Assessment in the second language writing classroom, Ann Arbor, MI:• University of Michigan Press.• Gere, A. R., Aull, L., Green, T., & Porter, A. (2010). Assessing the validity of directed self-placement at a large university. Assessing Writing,

15, 154–176. • LeBlanc, R., & Painchaud, G. (1985). Self-assessment as a second language placement instrument. TESOL Quarterly, 19(4), 673–687. • Royer, D. J., & Gilles, R. (1998). Directed self-placement: An attitude of orientation. College Composition and Communication, 50(1), 54–70. • Royer, D. J., & Gilles, R. (Eds.). (2003). Directed self-placement: Principles and practices. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.• White, E. M. (2008). Testing in and testing out. WPA: Writing Program Administration, 32(1), 129–142.