How To Teach An Academic Writing To ESL Students

How To Teach Academic Writing To ESL Students

Academic language is a meta-language that assists learners to acquire the 50,000 words that they are expected to have learnt by the end of high school. The words include everything from illustration and chart literacy to speaking grammar and genres within fields. Students who speak English as a second language might present challenges to their instructors. Luckily, you can always find a solution as there are a few strategies for working effectively with ESL students.

Below Are Some Of The Strategies:

1. Teach Key Words For Understanding Standardized Test Prompts

Teach terms that will help students understand prompts in order to ace standardized tests. Such terms include: analyze, persuade, compare, contrast, summarize, demonstrate, describe, explain, interpret and infer. 

Some of these key vocabulary words are interrelated. For instance, if a student can analyze they can interpret as well. Also, comparing and contrasting go hand in hand but are not always connected. In addition, the terms are cross-curricular which makes them extremely useful in all classes.

2. Let Students Write With A Transition Handout

Formal academic writing is a challenge to students of all ages. Give students a handout of transitions before writing. Describe how the handout will help the reader and model where transitions fit.

3. Dynamically Introduce Academic Vocabularies

Repeated encounters with a word in various authentic contexts can help students internalize the definition. Students benefit when teachers make their first encounters with vocabulary sticky. You can use the words in funny or personal stories.

4. Let Students Complete Scripts Of Academic Routines

Some discourse routines might seem obvious to adults but are difficult for young learners. However, you can provide some kind of support with speech examples such as:

• "My presentation’s topic is …….”
• "I will give a few basic definitions in the first paragraph. I will explain…… in the second paragraph.”
• 5 . Teach Students To Translate From Academic To Social Language And Back

Create a way to say something in an academic way or how to paraphrase academic texts into more conversational language. Give students a difficult expository passage and have teams reinterpret the text using everyday language.

6. Introduce Summary Frames

Summarizing is a simple and fail-safe approach to academic language activities. Most students read a section of text to themselves before verbally summarizing the passage to a partner. Alternatively, learners can complete sentence frames. Some examples include:

• If the main idea of the paragraph is problem/solution, use the frame: "……wanted…..but…..so……”
• If the main idea of the paragraph is cause/effect, use the frame:”………happens because……”
• 7 . Encourage Students To Read Diverse Texts

Reading and then thinking and talking about different genres is a strong sequence for learning academic language.

8. Be Supportive

Try to support the students by providing a word here and there to help them learn faster. However, do not try to do everything for them, encourage them not to go off expecting you to do most things for them.

9. Ask The Students Questions

Use simple language that students can understand easily. Use of stereotypical language is not acceptable. In most cases, ESL students find it difficult to understand loud, idiomatic speech. As a lecturer you should be patient with students for at times, it may take them some time to formulate a response. Understand that some students are not quick learners therefore need time to learn.

10. Allow Students To Record Lectures

As an instructor, do not limit the students from recording your lectures. Let them have the freedom of choice from listening as they take notes, alternatively they can give attention to the lectures with the idea in mind that they will take notes from the recording.