First Year Composition of L2 Students

Mike rose (1985) in his language of exclusion points out that the problem with first year college composition or with composition classes in general is that there is a serious misconception among academics who often perceive writing as a set of quantified rules that can be dealt with by assigning students to certain remedial classes. To Rose, writing does not develop in isolation and to master it, students need to situate it in its natural environment and not in writing classes.

What we see happening to L2 writers as described by Leki is just another layer of this misconception. To bring some objectivity into the argument involves a number of urgent actions. First, there should be a shift in consensus among instructors or professors that each class whatever class it is, if it requires students to write, then each piece of writing students produce should be seen as a step toward the full or acceptable level of mastery of writing, not an end product. Second, instructors need to deconstruct their well-established view of what literacy or academic discourse means to them as professional educators. Third, the instructors need to realize that writing competence cannot be and will never be acquired by any temporary writing class. Forth, any implication for this perception shift should be dealt with accordingly.

If what I have said above applies to first year composition in general, resolving first year L2 composition problems requires even a higher level of reflection. The right question perhaps for composition instructors, teachers, and professors to answer is whether or not they are ready to lose partly or wholly what has been so precious for their department: their solitary and remedial composition classes.