Leki, Kubota and Abels

I feel like I want to be on We Feel Fine.

Chapter 3
Ilona Leki. "The Legacy of First-Year Composition."
1. Why should L2 be housed in a separate department, given autonomy from Literature/Composition, and provided better support when L2 students account for such a small percentage of the total student population?

2. Discussing placement exams, Leki says most "are specifically writing exams. As such, they automatically disadvantage anyone who is still in the process of acquiring written academic English" (65). Don't all exams disadvantage anyone who is still in the process of acquiring what the exam is testing? What alternatives can you think of that would place students in appropriate courses as they enter the academy?

3. "Beyond whatever help L2 students can get in writing centers, because first-year composition ends in a year, so does academic support for L2 writing at many universities" (67). What ways can a university continue to support L2 writing instruction after the first-year? What will you do to affect those changes at your own institutions?

Chapter 4
Ryuko Kubota and Kimberly Abels. "Improving Institutional ESL/EAP Support for International Students: Seeking the Promised Land."
1. Though it may be a step in the right direction, how effective do you think adding one or two additional language classes for international students at UNC-CH will be? If the program to increase support is to succeed, shouldn't the university take a process approach to language acquisition instead of providing service courses?

2. The authors list several prevailing attitudes regarding international students/languages (84-85). What can ESL instructors do to change these attitudes considering they deal primarily with students who do not hold those attitudes?

3. The authors provide generalizations about the advantages and disadvantages of their three models. What other problems and benefits can you imagine from each of the three models? Can you think of a fourth model?

Quick point - "UNC-CH has no academic program in TESOL or applied linguistics and that the departments that could logically house this program - namely, education, English, and linguistics - all expressed disinterest in getting involved in developing a program" (86).
When asked if they wanted to include Applied Linguistics, the Linguistics department declined. You've got to be kidding me.