Reading & Responding to ‘Error’

in International Student Writing

Cultural Practices of Reading

Goal: To develop asset based pedagogies for responding to error in

international student writing.

Survey Says:

If you have not already done so, please complete the survey located here:https://broad.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5cZv6ezQw4axOWV

Understand and analyze how we perceive error and our attitudes toward it.

Fall 2013 Post Survey Says: Error is a sign of…

Fall 2013 Workshop Successes!

• Mini lessons now part of activities in classes

• You reported saving time in responding-- no more error hunts!

• Noticeable student achievement in fluency

• Better appreciation of the work students' efforts and skills

Logic of Error:

All Error Has Logic • Sign of cognitive overload (Waes et al)

• Sign of social knowledge (Hull and Rose)

• Sign of students’ growth and development (Shaughnessy)

• Always has patterns to it (Polio, Ferris, Bitchener)

What research finds about the logic of error

Logic of Error:

All Error Has Logic • Signals our own linguistic and cultural

expectations as readers • Cued by cultural and linguistic gaps • Understood when educate ourselves

about students’ language and culture

What research finds about the logic of error

Logic of Error:

All Error Has Logic

“Error marks the place where education begins” (Rose 1988, 189) for both teachers and students.

What research finds about the logic of error

Helping International Students

• Types of errors relate to types of language heritages

• 10 common errors emerge (across Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, & Turkish)

What research suggests are best practices

Helping International Students

Types of feedback that get results

1. direct corrective written and oral (in form of 30 min. mini lesson)

2. corrective oral 3. direct corrective written4. indirect corrective

What research suggests are best practices

Helping International Students

Mini Lessons Should • Respond to what is being communicated as

well as how • Uncover the knowledge and linguistic assets

the students are demonstrating• Target a specific problematic linguistic domain • Happen at all points of drafting• Reinforce cumulatively across assignments in

rubrics

What research suggests are best practices

Helping International Students

In my mini lesson, did I?

Help uncover the linguistic/cultural logics behind these errors?

Model gaps in my understanding with a sample student writing?

Offer sample sentences to correct? Ask students to apply corrections to their own

text? Circulating & give feedback on their corrections? Indicate how lesson will be integrated into peer

reviews and rubrics?

Targeted & Specific Sample Mini-Lesson Checklist

Adaptations & Reflections

• Discussion results

Helping International Students

Targeted & Specific Mini-Lesson Adaptation• Students need time in class to integrate with

verbal feedback given• Integrate only those patterns covered in mini-

lesson into the peer review and rubric • Grade these iteratively through the semester in

rubrics • Use 1-2-1CF only when a student needs

differentiation across language or ability background

Adapt These Mini Lessons