HOW TO ESL Writing

8/7/2019 HOW TO ESL Writing

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Benefiting Most from a

Writing Tutorial

Writing Lab Orientation for ESL Writers


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What is a Tutorial?

30-minute One-to-One Session with a Tutor

Purpose

To help you become a better writer

What Happens?

You ask questions.

We try to answer them. We also ask question to help

you approach the writing task


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A Tutor Can Help You at Every

Stage of the Writing Process

Invention

Research

Drafting

Revising

Editing


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One Thing to Remember

A tutor does NOT correct/proofread your paperbecause

that does not help you become a better writer.

But the tutor can teach

you HOW to proofread.


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Dos & Donts

Plan ahead: come when you start writing orwith a first draft.

Before you come, set an agenda for the tutorial

Do NOT come at the lastminute because you

will have little time for revision!

Do NOT expect to work on too many issues inone tutorial.


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Setting an Agenda

What do you want to work on?

Why is agenda-setting important?

Tutorials are different from the instruction in theclassroom setting. Tutors

usually ask you what you want to

work on.

You know your own writing best. Be realistic about what can be

done in one tutorial and set priorities.


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HOC and LOC

What are HOC (Higher Order Concerns)?

What are LOC (Lower

Order Concerns)?


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HigherOrder Concerns

Focus/Thesis

Purpose

Audience/Readers

Organization

Development


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LowerOrder Concerns

Grammar sentence structure

punctuation

prepositions articles

verb tense

Word choice

Spelling


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The Need to Prioritize

If you want to work on both HOCs and LOCs witha writing tutor, we suggest you plan to work on

HOCs first because

We have li mited time in a tutorial.

Starting with LOCs may distract you from global

issues (HOCs) you may need to address.

After your work on HOCs, you may delete/add some

parts.


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Five-Topic

Agenda-Generator

Instructions for the assignment

Your familiarity with the writing task

Preferred textual patterns in AAE (American

Academic English)

Development

Lower Order Concerns


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Instructions for the Assignment

Do you have any questions about the

instructions?

Is there an assignment

sheet?

Do you have notes taken in class?


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YourFamiliarity with the Task

Have you worked on this kind of writing task

before?

Did you read samples written by others?

What questions do you have about the writingtask?


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YourFamiliarity with Preferred

Textual Patterns in AAE

(American Academic English)

Thesis statement (yourmain point)

Structure

Transitions

Direct, concise, and to the point

OWL Handout: Writing for an AmericanAcademic Audience


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Development

Have you supported yourmain points

with supporting details?

For Example:

It is im

portant for you to try to set the agenda forthe tutorial in advance because

1. We have only thirtyminutes;

2. The tutorial is more effective if we focus on one or two

concerns;3. Students usually learn best when they take the

initiative in the learning process.


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LowerOrder Concerns

Grammar What are the patterns of grammatical errors I tend

to make?

Word Choice

What are the words I am using but uncertain about?

Actually, there is a 24-7teacher to help you with

most of your lower order concerns.


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Your Best 24-7 Teacher

The right dictionary!

Tells you the part of speech of words

Gives you examples of word usage

Provides collocations

Provides usage notes


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Recommended Dictionaries for ESL

Writers

Longman Dictionary of American English

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

Longman Web Dictionary

www.longmanwebdict.com


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Dictionary Use Basics

Read the Full Guide for Users in hard copy!

Learn grammar

Parts of speech

Learn Usage

collocations

phrasal verbs

usage notes


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Questions to Ask Yourself

Regarding Grammar

What are my grammar questions? Can I find the answer in a good dictionary?

If you cannot:

What exactly is my grammar question? Can I write

it down?

Can I underline the parts I have questions about?

Then take your questions and your paper with theunderlined sections to the Writing Lab.


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We Have Covered

What a writing tutorial is

What a tutor can help you with your writingprocess

Dos and Donts

A Five-Topic agenda-generator

We hope you have learnedmore about writing

tutorials and benefitmost from them in the

future!


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The End

HOW TO ESL Writing

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