Reading Response #2

Araceli Rodriguez

Text
Ferris, Dana. Multilingual Students and College Writing. Student Reading Writing Handbook,
1st edition., 2009, pp.23-27.

Summary
In the article Multilingual Students and College Writing by Professor Dana Ferris
she discusses the challenges that multilingual students face when writing in English at a college
level.. Despite the challenges that she discusses she also offers advice for ML students on how
to better improve their literacy skills by either taking extra english courses, read more books,
expand their vocabulary and much more. Since ML students are use to different writing formats
since they know two languages, Ferris advices ML students to always seek support and or
resources to improve their writing and reading skills. Professors have high expectations on how
they want their assignments to be done and it is crucial for students to meet those expectations,
which is why exploring their writing capabilities and always trying to improve is key. Ferris
knows that the fact that ML students know two different languages is a strength because they are
able to share their knowledge with those who dont, however one must work extra harder to fit in
the American college writing.
Claim
The most important idea that a peer outside could benefit from this article is that if you are a
multilingual student there are many ways to further improve your writing skills, its just the
matter of looking for the available resources, searching for help and that is why you should never
feel ashamed of yourself if you make writing errors.
Knowing this my peers will find the extra support that they need and become excellent
college level writers.
Data
ML writers who struggle with written language errors need to understand that it
takes a long time to learn a second language and especially to write in a second language, and
that the english language itself is complicated ...So ML writers should not feel bad about
themselves even if they still make errors at the college level (25).
Connection
In Ferris article, I believe there are beneficial ideas that I can tell my multilingual peers
outside of the classroom to further improve their writing skills to get it at a college level. In my
opinion the most important idea provided in this article is that even if you feel lost with your
writing in college there are many available resources that one can look for to further improve as
a writer. Many students may feel ashamed of themselves for going into college with not the
proper college level writing skills, however that should never be the case because colleges want
you to succeed and they believed in your academic capabilities in the first place. ML writers
who struggle with written language errors need to understand that it takes a long time to learn a
second language and especially to write in a second language, and that the english language itself
is complicated ...So ML writers should not feel bad about themselves even if they still make
errors at the college level (25). This quote is stating that ML writers the majority will struggle
because although knowing two languages is fortunate, at the same time it can complicate your
english writing skills. All ML writers can be successful college level writers if they work hard
and take advantage of the resources that are available in the institute. Thinking positively about
the situation should never make my peers feel ashamed of their writing capabilities.

Vocabulary
1. Contrastive rhetoric; the study how a persons first language and culture influence his or
her writing writing in a second language; ML students have learned to read and
write in another language may be affected by contrastive or intercultural rhetoric.
2. Inadequate; lacking the quality or quantity required; Lack of English language writing that
leads to written errors; and inadequate knowledge of English vocabulary and
sentence structure that limits their ability to write effectively and clearly.
3. Subject verb agreement; refers to the fact that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree
in number, they must both be singular or both plural; In addition, they may make the
errors that NES also make, such as problems with spelling , with punctuation, with
subject verb agreement, or with inappropriate word choice language instead of formal
language.