General Tips

Examine your attitudes: are ESL students deficient English speakers or writers? Is their presence a problem? Do they have experience with negotiating different linguistic and rhetorical contexts?

Think about your interactions with ESL students as opportunities to learn about different kinds of language expertise.

Be clear about your own expertise as an academic writer and about your ability to consult with more novice writers in the university.

Educate yourself about students' language abilities.

Collect students' information, and ask them to go beyond "the usual" (major, where from, etc.). For example, what kinds of writing have they done in English and in their first languages up to now? How much of it has been academic? How much time have they spent in English-language contexts?

Understand that "ESL" does not necessarily mean "basic writer." ESL students (especially internationals) often have a lot of writing experience in their native languages.

Realize that learning "academic" discourses is not just a matter of learning another way to write: there may be real costs associated with writing this way. (For example, for some Korean students, stating a thesis "up front" may be intellectually insulting.)

Ask students about particular choices they make (thesis statements and placement, uses of examples, general vs. specific statements, paragraph length, introductions and conclusions, hedging, apologizing).

Try not to default to "folk" wisdom or "lore" about what students from certain countries or cultures do (ex.: "she's Chinese, so she probably writes really digressively").

Think about the writing assignment as more than just an end product.

Build in earlier writing process-related work for each assignment. Remember the difference between talking about drafting and actually doing it.

Use peer review as an aid for invention and early drafts rather than just for late revision/editing.

Consider using portfolio-based assessments to track overall progress.

Stress the availability of the Writing Center.

Make sure students have contact information and hours.

Invite a tutor to class.

Get familiar with the ESL-specific tutors' schedules.

Be direct about what students should work on with their tutors.

Be explicit about writing conventions you expect students to follow: don't assume all students have been exposed to the same preferences in "academic" writing.

Enlist students in exploring the conventions most appropriate for their rhetorical contexts. Have them bring in examples.

Plan your responses to grammar/mechanical concerns. You might consider not marking grammar in an early draft at all.

Be clear about the role of grammar/mechanics in your grading criteria.

Prioritize. (For instance, focus on the problems that would most inhibit comprehension for you/the students' readers.)

Ask students to log problems they and you commonly notice.

Keep communication open and direct, especially when you or your students don't understand what is being said or written in class, in conferences, in responses to writing, over email, etc.

Stop the student when you don't understand.

Ask follow-up questions or ask for restatement.

Use "comprehension checks" in and out of class. That is, don't just ask if everyone understands: ask specific students to repeat directions you've given them.

Realize that students' comfort levels and abilities with writing and speaking may differ: ask them to email you if you don't understand their verbalized questions (or vice-versa).

Remember that spoken accents are systematic: try to listen for patterns while speaking to students. (For instance, some students may not distinguish between [l] and [r]. Or they may stress different syllables of familiar words.)

Ask students to use pictures or diagrams to help explain (and use them, yourself).