Canadian Caucus at Next Year?

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

Tosh Tachino

2006-03-27 02:35:41 UTC

Until two years ago, many of us from the CASLL list were able to get
together at C's through Canadian Caucus and the subsequent dinner
(thanks to Roger). I personally miss the caucus and our small
get-together, and other Canadians I spoke to at the conference share
my sentiment.

I am willing to do the organizing work for Canadian Caucus at C's
next year, but I would like to get some ideas of what people might
have available for the next year's C's so that I can write a proposal
by the deadline (which is coming up -- yikes!).

Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
E-mail: ***@iastate.edu
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/

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Rick Coe

2006-03-27 06:24:46 UTC

Permalink

Great, Tosh, thank you.

I expect I will attend 4Cs in New York next year. I could talk
about the new ambitious writing-intensive first-year literature course I
will be teach (and probably accessing formally) in the fall. This an
instance of the new SFU curriculum, finally officially implemented, that
requires one lower division and one upper division subject area course for
graduation (but no required writing course). That sounds like the sort of
stuff presented at Canadian caucus meetings in the past. A title might be,
"Writing Courses, Writing-Intensive Courses, Both or Neither" Or "Teaching
Writing Without Hardly Teaching Writing." Or . . . well, the next one
would be downright silly.

If that's not the sort of topic you have in mind, I could talk
about criteria for deciding which genres to teach. Or about eco-rhetoric,
about which I hope to know considerably more by then. Or about
constitutive rhetoric (does everyone know Charland's QJS article,
"Constitutive Rhetoric: The Case of the Peuple Quebecois"?)

Cheers,
Rick

Post by Tosh Tachino
Until two years ago, many of us from the CASLL list were able to get
together at C's through Canadian Caucus and the subsequent dinner (thanks
to Roger). I personally miss the caucus and our small get-together, and
other Canadians I spoke to at the conference share my sentiment.
I am willing to do the organizing work for Canadian Caucus at C's next
year, but I would like to get some ideas of what people might have
available for the next year's C's so that I can write a proposal by the
deadline (which is coming up -- yikes!).
Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/
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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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Betsy Sargent

2006-03-27 08:41:10 UTC

Permalink

Tosh, What about a Canadian SIG next year that focuses on WAC/WID
initiatives and programs in Canada? I know I'd be especially
interested to get a glimpse of whatever is going on out there (what's
already in place, what's in the works, etc). --and this would fit
with what Rick is proposing. I'd be happy to share the work that the
U of A Task Force on Writing has been up to this year and next
--though most of what we're doing is posted online at
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/wtf/
and I'm sure other places have gotten way further than we have so
far--like Simon Fraser, of course, and PEI and Regina, for starters
(we've been trying to get as much info as we can about what's
currently going on in Canada, to inform our own deliberations, but I
know we haven't had the time to study or uncover everything). Why
not put out a call for anyone who's been involved with WAC/WID
programs (in place or in development) and see who responds? I know
that I'd sure find such a session useful. Just make sure it doesn't
get set up at the same time as the ongoing WAC SIG!
Thanks for volunteering to do this! Betsy

Post by Tosh Tachino
Until two years ago, many of us from the CASLL list were able to get
together at C's through Canadian Caucus and the subsequent dinner
(thanks to Roger). I personally miss the caucus and our small
get-together, and other Canadians I spoke to at the conference share
my sentiment.
I am willing to do the organizing work for Canadian Caucus at C's
next year, but I would like to get some ideas of what people might
have available for the next year's C's so that I can write a
proposal by the deadline (which is coming up -- yikes!).
Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Martin Holock

2006-03-27 13:30:46 UTC

Permalink

Tosh, Betsy and everyone else,

I'm not sure if you all have heard, but there has been a lot of work done
over the last few months on the new Canadian Writing Centre Association.
Perhaps this would be a good place to suss out the current trends in Canada.

As it stands now, we only exist as a list but we will be getting together in
Toronto in June at the STLHE/SAPES conference for a roundtable to discuss
future endeavours.

Anyone interested in joining the bilingual list is more than welcome to sign
up here: http://www.sass.uottawa.ca/en/awhc/centre/

For more info contact me at ***@uottawa.ca.

Hope to hear from you!

Martin Holock
Assistant aux communications / Communications Assistant
Service d'appui au succès scolaire (SASS)
Student Academic Support Service (SASS)
Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
110, rue Université / 110 University
613.562.5800 poste/xt.3394
Téléc/Fax 562.5229
-----Original Message-----
From: CASLL/Inkshed [mailto:***@LISTSERV.UNB.CA] On Behalf Of Betsy
Sargent
Sent: March 27, 2006 3:39 AM
To: ***@LISTSERV.UNB.CA
Subject: Re: Canadian Caucus at Next Year?

Tosh, What about a Canadian SIG next year that focuses on WAC/WID
initiatives and programs in Canada? I know I'd be especially
interested to get a glimpse of whatever is going on out there (what's
already in place, what's in the works, etc). --and this would fit
with what Rick is proposing. I'd be happy to share the work that the
U of A Task Force on Writing has been up to this year and next
--though most of what we're doing is posted online at
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/wtf/
and I'm sure other places have gotten way further than we have so
far--like Simon Fraser, of course, and PEI and Regina, for starters
(we've been trying to get as much info as we can about what's
currently going on in Canada, to inform our own deliberations, but I
know we haven't had the time to study or uncover everything). Why
not put out a call for anyone who's been involved with WAC/WID
programs (in place or in development) and see who responds? I know
that I'd sure find such a session useful. Just make sure it doesn't
get set up at the same time as the ongoing WAC SIG!
Thanks for volunteering to do this! Betsy

Post by Tosh Tachino
Until two years ago, many of us from the CASLL list were able to get
together at C's through Canadian Caucus and the subsequent dinner
(thanks to Roger). I personally miss the caucus and our small
get-together, and other Canadians I spoke to at the conference share
my sentiment.
I am willing to do the organizing work for Canadian Caucus at C's
next year, but I would like to get some ideas of what people might
have available for the next year's C's so that I can write a
proposal by the deadline (which is coming up -- yikes!).
Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/
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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at ***@stu.ca

For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at ***@stu.ca

For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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Theresa Hyland

2006-03-27 14:38:41 UTC

Permalink

This is a great idea, Tosh! I too plan to go to the 4C's in New York.
I am working on an idea combining "Service Learning" with my ESL Writing
Course. This would fit, I think, with any of the broad topics suggested
by Rick, Betsy or Martin. Theresa Hyland.

Post by Tosh Tachino
Until two years ago, many of us from the CASLL list were able to get
together at C's through Canadian Caucus and the subsequent dinner
(thanks to Roger). I personally miss the caucus and our small
get-together, and other Canadians I spoke to at the conference share
my sentiment.
I am willing to do the organizing work for Canadian Caucus at C's next
year, but I would like to get some ideas of what people might have
available for the next year's C's so that I can write a proposal by
the deadline (which is coming up -- yikes!).
Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Janice Freeman

2006-03-27 16:56:43 UTC

Permalink

Tosh,

I've been digging around in my old files from when I did this a couple
of times, and can send on some samples if you'd like.

As I recall, we used to request *both* a caucus session and a regular
session, which we dubbed "The Canadian Roundtable". We found over the
years that it is much easier to get on the program as a caucus than in a
regular session. And if you plan it well and get everyone's abstracts
early, the caucus takes on the flavour of a round table. (And people's
names appear in the program.)

It seems that the last time I did this was for the Atlanta conference,
which I didn't attend. Does anyone remember if we met as a caucus there?
(Because if we didn't, don't follow my model!)

Here are the salient points of the proposal:

DESCRIPTION OF SESSION (one sentence):

The Canadian Caucus meets annually at the CCCC to exchange news, ideas,
job information, and to plan the theme for the following year's
roundtable session.

Part C: Brief Descriptions

7. Briefly describe the purpose of the proposed session (or for
Individual Proposals, summarize the abstract). For Workshop, SIG, or
Caucus, please specify, in addition, meeting day and space needs.

Canadians, a small constituency at a large conference, meet at the
annual caucus to exchange news, ideas, job information, and to plan the
theme for the following year's roundtable session. This session is
important to us because it allows Canadians from all over the country to
maintain connections with people they may otherwise rarely see. The
session is also an important opportunity for Canadian composition
specialists to network and exchange ideas with our American colleagues.

We require a session on either Thursday or Friday evening in a room
large enough for approximately 30 participants.

***
Some of the people on the proposal form were Henry Hubert, Aviva
Freedman, Julia Carey, and Christine Adam. Perhaps some of them can
remember whether they presented at the caucus....

Janice

Janice Freeman
Instructor, Centre for Academic Writing
University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Ave.
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA
R3B 2E9
204-786-9173
Until two years ago, many of us from the CASLL list were able to get
together at C's through Canadian Caucus and the subsequent dinner
(thanks to Roger). I personally miss the caucus and our small
get-together, and other Canadians I spoke to at the conference share
my sentiment.

I am willing to do the organizing work for Canadian Caucus at C's
next year, but I would like to get some ideas of what people might
have available for the next year's C's so that I can write a proposal
by the deadline (which is coming up -- yikes!).

Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
E-mail: ***@iastate.edu
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at ***@stu.ca

For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at ***@stu.ca

For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Teslenko, Tatiana

2006-03-27 18:25:13 UTC

Permalink

Hi Tosh,

I'll be glad to talk about the WID courses at UBC Engineering,
especially the new programs to support our Meta-Skills Initiative and
the UBC ASSIST program, so please count me in.

Tatiana Teslenko
Director, Technical Communication Centre
Faculty of Applied Science
The University of British Columbia

-----Original Message-----
From: CASLL/Inkshed [mailto:***@LISTSERV.UNB.CA] On Behalf Of Tosh
Tachino
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 6:27 PM
To: ***@LISTSERV.UNB.CA
Subject: Canadian Caucus at Next Year?

Until two years ago, many of us from the CASLL list were able to get
together at C's through Canadian Caucus and the subsequent dinner
(thanks to Roger). I personally miss the caucus and our small
get-together, and other Canadians I spoke to at the conference share my
sentiment.

I am willing to do the organizing work for Canadian Caucus at C's next
year, but I would like to get some ideas of what people might have
available for the next year's C's so that I can write a proposal by the
deadline (which is coming up -- yikes!).

Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
E-mail: ***@iastate.edu
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at ***@stu.ca

For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at ***@stu.ca

For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Tosh Tachino

2006-03-28 02:53:46 UTC

Permalink

Great responses so far!

It looks like WAC/WID in Canada seems to be the emerging theme.

I have compiled what has been posted so far:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/canadian_caucus.html

I'll wait for more responses until the end of the week before I'll
try to write a coherent proposal.

Tosh Tachino, M.A., B.A. Honors
Ph.D. Student, Iowa State University
Rhetoric and Professional Communication
E-mail: ***@iastate.edu
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tosh/

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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at ***@stu.ca

For the list archives and information about the organization,
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Julie-Ann Stodolny

2006-04-12 11:49:38 UTC

Permalink

Hi all,

Saint Mary's is currently looking into resurrecting an "ESL 100" course,
which seems like it will focus on how to write an academic essay in
English (with particular emphasis on plagiarism). I don't have a TESL
background, so I'm just wondering if any of you have any educated
thoughts on whether this would be useful or not.

As a bit of background, Saint Mary's does have a TESL centre, but it is
geared towards students who will register in the university the
following year (i.e. a prep school), not for students already attending
the school. As well, all SMU students have to take one half-year English
literature course (no composition is taught in it).

Any thoughts that you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you!

Sincerely,
Julie-Ann

--------------------------------------------
Julie-Ann Stodolny
Director, The Writing Centre
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3
(902) 491-6201
julie-***@smu.ca

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***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
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r***@UTORONTO.CA

2006-04-12 12:45:59 UTC

Permalink

Julie-Ann:

The most knowledgeable person on this in the writing programs at University of
Toronto is probably Katherine Tiede, who doesn't, I think, subscribe to this
list. I'd be happy to put you in touch with her.

Katherine has done tremendous work in developing the idea of "content-based"
writing as the means to teach ESL. That would stand against the ESL 100 sort
of course because such courses will by nature have a difficult time
finding "content". There's a huge amount of theory about language learning
that supports Katherine's approach. Ultimately, Katherine's work in
Engineering has led to the elimination of the sheltered first year writing
course and integration of all students into the same curriculum.

Katherine has also done some interesting work on plagiarism as a ventriloquist
learning process. A US scholar -- Rose Howard?? -- has published similar work.

Rob Irish

Post by Julie-Ann Stodolny
Hi all,
Saint Mary's is currently looking into resurrecting an "ESL 100" course,
which seems like it will focus on how to write an academic essay in
English (with particular emphasis on plagiarism). I don't have a TESL
background, so I'm just wondering if any of you have any educated
thoughts on whether this would be useful or not.
As a bit of background, Saint Mary's does have a TESL centre, but it is
geared towards students who will register in the university the
following year (i.e. a prep school), not for students already attending
the school. As well, all SMU students have to take one half-year English
literature course (no composition is taught in it).
Any thoughts that you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you!
Sincerely,
Julie-Ann
--------------------------------------------
Julie-Ann Stodolny
Director, The Writing Centre
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3
(902) 491-6201
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For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
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Mary O'Malley

2006-04-12 13:42:45 UTC

Permalink

I would like to recommend a small booklet published by Trent
University Academic skills Centre called Plagiarism. Although it
deals with that topic in a very clear and helpful manner, it is
especailly geared for ESL students and teaches them a lot about
writing an academic paper in a very concise way.It is one of the
best publications i have seen for ESl students, and it is short and
cheap.

Mary O'Malley

Hi all,
Saint Mary's is currently looking into resurrecting an "ESL 100" course,
which seems like it will focus on how to write an academic essay in
English (with particular emphasis on plagiarism). I don't have a TESL
background, so I'm just wondering if any of you have any educated
thoughts on whether this would be useful or not.
As a bit of background, Saint Mary's does have a TESL centre, but it is
geared towards students who will register in the university the
following year (i.e. a prep school), not for students already attending
the school. As well, all SMU students have to take one half-year English
literature course (no composition is taught in it).
Any thoughts that you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you!
Sincerely,
Julie-Ann
--------------------------------------------
Julie-Ann Stodolny
Director, The Writing Centre
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3
(902) 491-6201
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mary O'Malley
Coordinator, Student Learning Services
Counselling & Development, H-440
Concordia University
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West
Montreal, Quebec
H3G 1M8
Tel: 514-848-2424 local 3561
Fax: 514-848-4534
http://learning.concordia.ca

Margaret Procter

2006-04-12 13:54:17 UTC

Permalink

Hi, Julie-Ann --

If you have the resources to offer specialized instruction to non-native
speakers, you might as well use them! One course won't do everything,
but I agree with Leslie and Rob that a content course would be your best
starting point. Elaine Khoo (***@utsc.utoronto.ca) at our U of T
Scarborough campus could tell you more about the credit courses taught
there -- labelled Linguistics rather than ESL, and also avoiding the
number 100 and the adjective "remedial." They're described at
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/courses/calendar/Languages_and_Linguistics.html#Languages_.
Elaine also offers a summer institute and ongoing support during the
year: see http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/%7Etlsweb/ELD/ELDgoals.htm. And
there's a strong WID initiative at that campus, with outreach to the
whole range of faculty.

Margaret

--
Margaret Procter, Ph.D.
University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support
15 King's College Circle, Toronto ON M5S 3H7
416 978-8109; FAX 416 971-2027

***@chass.utoronto.ca
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing

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***@UNB.CA or, if you experience difficulties,
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For the list archives and information about the organization,
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Gloria Michalchuk

2006-04-12 14:51:24 UTC

Permalink

Two more points- 1. ESL/EAL students (as native-speakers) tend to
plagiarise if they are unaware of the concept that we "own our ideas if
they are in print" and they are backed into a wall and expected to
produce native-speaker like English. In addition, if they do not have
English language support throughout their education or if content is
less important than mechanics, incidence of copying or circulating
essays tends to increase.

A great book related to academic literacy is Diane Belcher and Alan
Hirvela (Eds.), Linking Literacies: Perspective on L2 REading-WRiting
Connections which has a whole section on "the challenge of textual
ownership" (along with other extremely useful articles)

2. Finally, can we all cut our wrists (okay, okay, make a pact) that
the word "Remedial" will be banished from our vocabulary? In actuality,
we in North America are perceived as remedial because we tend to speak
only one language (or for many in the West, about 5 phrases in French,
despite years of Elementary and Junior high French classes!) These
students are not remedial at all- they tend to be incredibly brave in
that they are learning and attempting to study in a second or third or
fourth language. This is my mantra as I mark ESL essays...How about ESL
support or simply English language support?

Theresa Hyland

2006-04-12 15:55:21 UTC

Permalink

Hi Julie-Ann. I have been teaching two academic reading and writing
courses to international students in their first year at Huron for the
past several years. I would be happy to send you a sample outline of
the courses I teach. I do ta preliminary course that focuses on getting
students to take risks with their writing and on developing critical
reading skills, and a more advanced course that helps them learn how to
write the annotated bibliography, the critical review and the research
paper. Theresa.

wendy strachan

2006-04-14 04:16:15 UTC

Permalink

As part of the new curriculum plan, SFU is intending to offer multiple
sections of a Foundations in Academic Literacy course for students who would
qualify for entry if their language abilities were a bit better. The
original guesstimate was that there would be about 500 students a year who
would need this support and it was anticipated that many if not most would
be ESL. I'm not sure what the situation will be now that we are apparently
"outsourcing" preparation for English to the Australian company IBT. They
will be dealing exclusively with ESL international students, so there is
still a sizable ESL population who may have had some high school in Canada
but still not be functioning at what is thought to be an acceptable level in
English to move directly into the lower division W-courses.
It's a plan. It's new for SFU. Our only other significant support is the
English Bridge Program which takes about 70 students a year, I think, for a
ten week immersion in English, spoken and written. All of those students are
ESL, though from many different cultural backgrounds. Succeeding in the
program is a prerequisite for admission. It has been going for a while and
is cost-recovery so it's not a matter of the university taking
responsibility for supporting their ESL students. The new FAL is doing that
- if it comes to pass in the Fall 2006, coincident with the new
requirements.
Sorry to miss Inkshed again this year! Have a great time, everyone.
Wendy

-----Original Message-----
From: CASLL/Inkshed [mailto:***@LISTSERV.UNB.CA] On Behalf Of Theresa
Hyland
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 8:52 AM
To: ***@LISTSERV.UNB.CA
Subject: Re: ESL Remedial Courses

Hi Julie-Ann. I have been teaching two academic reading and writing
courses to international students in their first year at Huron for the
past several years. I would be happy to send you a sample outline of
the courses I teach. I do ta preliminary course that focuses on getting
students to take risks with their writing and on developing critical
reading skills, and a more advanced course that helps them learn how to
write the annotated bibliography, the critical review and the research
paper. Theresa.

l***@YORKU.CA

2006-04-12 13:06:56 UTC

Permalink

York University's two largest Faculties have a content based 6 credit (Atkinson,
9 credit Arts) Humanities course for ESL students. Presumably the students at
St. Mary's have been admitted to the university, and so have a certain level of
competence. The course allows them to fill their Humanities General Education
requirement while continuing to develop their English.
In both Faculties, the course is on Canadian culture. Let me know if you want to
see a sample syllabus from Atkinson.

Leslie Sanders

Post by r***@UTORONTO.CA
The most knowledgeable person on this in the writing programs at University
of
Toronto is probably Katherine Tiede, who doesn't, I think, subscribe to this
list. I'd be happy to put you in touch with her.
Katherine has done tremendous work in developing the idea of "content-based"
writing as the means to teach ESL. That would stand against the ESL 100 sort
of course because such courses will by nature have a difficult time
finding "content". There's a huge amount of theory about language learning
that supports Katherine's approach. Ultimately, Katherine's work in
Engineering has led to the elimination of the sheltered first year writing
course and integration of all students into the same curriculum.
Katherine has also done some interesting work on plagiarism as a
ventriloquist
learning process. A US scholar -- Rose Howard?? -- has published similar
work.
Rob Irish

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Gloria Michalchuk

2006-04-12 14:31:38 UTC

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Faculty of Extension, English Language Program at the U of A has had
credited English for Academic Purposes courses for quite awhile. We
have mainly Bridging students (conditional acceptance through open
studies that entitles these students to taking 2 additional credited
courses)who predominantly need listening, reading and writing skill
improvment since they have not,at the time of registration,
successfully passed an English proficiency test.

I just completed drafting a report on ESL/EAL academic literacy needs
based on several previous committee reports, EAP instructor input and
research from our English Language Program at Extension and second
language writing research for the Writing Task Force, a committee
co-chaired by Betsy Sargent. Betsy has added tons of valuable info and
dovetailed the report to suit the WTF's purpose (to create a writing
centre). I'm not sure if the report is available on-line yet, but it
should be soon.

In the meantime, the Journal of Second Language Writing has a whole
issue (Volume 13, Issue 3) dedicated to Writing Centre support. I found
the reading valuable in that it is both accessible and tunes one into
the major issues/items to be addressed. The journal is available
on-line.

Our Faculty of Extension website lists general info about ESL 140, 145
& ESL 550 (tailored to grad students who need additional support). The
latter is based on a referal system and is not that successful since
those referred demonstrate skills markedly lower than their TOEFL
score, tend to be mature students who are already certified in their
own countries and/or tend to feel resentment at having been sent to
upgrade. At most we only get 1 or 2 of these students per term. They
take ESL 145 & then have supplemental tutoring every week.

I think reading our report would be best. However, I do feel a very
strong need to say, everytime I read anything about how to help ESL/EAL
students, a need to say that my best advice (and I hope I don't offend
anyone but it needs to be said) is to hire an ESL specialist to set up
a program, course, etc. since second language acquisition is an
independent field of study. glo

Post by Margaret Procter
Hi, Julie-Ann --
If you have the resources to offer specialized instruction to
non-native speakers, you might as well use them! One course won't do
everything, but I agree with Leslie and Rob that a content course
would be your best starting point. Elaine Khoo
you more about the credit courses taught there -- labelled
Linguistics rather than ESL, and also avoiding the number 100 and the
adjective "remedial." They're described at
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/courses/calendar/Languages_and_Linguistics.html#Languages_. Elaine also offers a summer institute and ongoing support during the year: see http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/%7Etlsweb/ELD/ELDgoals.htm. And there's a strong WID initiative at that campus, with outreach to the whole range of
faculty.
Margaret

Post by Julie-Ann Stodolny
Hi all,
Saint Mary's is currently looking into resurrecting an "ESL 100" course,
which seems like it will focus on how to write an academic essay in
English (with particular emphasis on plagiarism). I don't have a TESL
background, so I'm just wondering if any of you have any educated
thoughts on whether this would be useful or not. As a bit of
background, Saint Mary's does have a TESL centre, but it is
geared towards students who will register in the university the
following year (i.e. a prep school), not for students already attending
the school. As well, all SMU students have to take one half-year English
literature course (no composition is taught in it).
Any thoughts that you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you!
Sincerely,
Julie-Ann
--------------------------------------------
Julie-Ann Stodolny
Director, The Writing Centre
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3
(902) 491-6201
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--
Margaret Procter, Ph.D.
University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support
15 King's College Circle, Toronto ON M5S 3H7
416 978-8109; FAX 416 971-2027
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing
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Mary O'Malley

2006-04-12 14:59:01 UTC

Permalink

Here's a correction to the title I mentioned in my previous email.
The booklet is actually called "Avoiding Plagiarism: a Guide for ESL
Students," by Tania Pattison. I think Trent also puts out a booklet
called just "Plagiarism," but it is not the version I intended to
recommend. Sorry for the confusion. I am not a detail person!
Mary

Post by Mary O'Malley

Mary O'Malley

Hi all,
Saint Mary's is currently looking into resurrecting an "ESL 100" course,
which seems like it will focus on how to write an academic essay in
English (with particular emphasis on plagiarism). I don't have a TESL
background, so I'm just wondering if any of you have any educated
thoughts on whether this would be useful or not.
As a bit of background, Saint Mary's does have a TESL centre, but it is
geared towards students who will register in the university the
following year (i.e. a prep school), not for students already attending
the school. As well, all SMU students have to take one half-year English
literature course (no composition is taught in it).
Any thoughts that you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you!
Sincerely,
Julie-Ann
--------------------------------------------
Julie-Ann Stodolny
Director, The Writing Centre
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3
(902) 491-6201
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Post by Mary O'Malley
Mary O'Malley
Coordinator, Student Learning Services
Counselling & Development, H-440
Concordia University
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West
Montreal, Quebec
H3G 1M8
Tel: 514-848-2424 local 3561
Fax: 514-848-4534
http://learning.concordia.ca

Sandy Dorley

2006-04-12 15:18:16 UTC

Permalink

Some of you should dig out Russ Hunt's work on plagiarism. His questioning approach opened my eyes and gave me a lot to think about. I also just came back from CCCC where another session on plagiarism questioned the academic perspective (it is something bad, needing to be rooted out and the writer punished). They used a lot of digital text from the internet and showed how the "sharing" of material is common and accepted.

As an academic, I have always been strict on plagiarism. However, I also see that my students do it mainly for two reasons: they didn't leave enough time to write the report; they don't know how to use sources well--how to integrate them properly into a text. Both of those problems can, and should, be better addressed in the classroom. An as has been said here--plagiarism is particularly tough for ESL students, many of whom have been taught that copying is a form of respect and scholarship.

Professor Sandy Dorley
School of Liberal Studies
Conestoga College, Kitchener, ON
519-748-5220 x3819
Two more points- 1. ESL/EAL students (as native-speakers) tend to
plagiarise if they are unaware of the concept that we "own our ideas if
they are in print" and they are backed into a wall and expected to
produce native-speaker like English. In addition, if they do not have
English language support throughout their education or if content is
less important than mechanics, incidence of copying or circulating
essays tends to increase.

A great book related to academic literacy is Diane Belcher and Alan
Hirvela (Eds.), Linking Literacies: Perspective on L2 REading-WRiting
Connections which has a whole section on "the challenge of textual
ownership" (along with other extremely useful articles)

2. Finally, can we all cut our wrists (okay, okay, make a pact) that
the word "Remedial" will be banished from our vocabulary? In actuality,
we in North America are perceived as remedial because we tend to speak
only one language (or for many in the West, about 5 phrases in French,
despite years of Elementary and Junior high French classes!) These
students are not remedial at all- they tend to be incredibly brave in
that they are learning and attempting to study in a second or third or
fourth language. This is my mantra as I mark ESL essays...How about ESL
support or simply English language support?

Russ Hunt

2006-04-12 16:59:50 UTC

Permalink

Thanks for mentioning it, Sandy.

Post by Sandy Dorley
Some of you should dig out Russ Hunt's work on plagiarism.
His questioning approach opened my eyes and gave me a lot to
think about. I also just came back from CCCC where another
session on plagiarism questioned the academic perspective (it
is something bad, needing to be rooted out and the writer
punished). They used a lot of digital text from the internet
and showed how the "sharing" of material is common and
accepted.

You don't have to dig my stuff out: slightly different versions
are on my Web site and the Inkshed Newsletter.

http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/4reasons.htm

http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/nletta03/hunt.htm

I wish I'd been to the Cs, for a number of reasons, of which
missing that session is one. Sandy, do you have a reference so
I could check out the folks who did the session?

Post by Sandy Dorley
they didn't leave enough time to write the report; they don't
know how to use sources well--how to integrate them properly
into a text. Both of those problems can, and should, be
better addressed in the classroom. An as has been said
here--plagiarism is particularly tough for ESL students, many
of whom have been taught that copying is a form of respect and
scholarship.

As you might guess, though, I'd go further: in a fundamental
sense 90% of my students are AESL (that is, Academic English as
a Second Language) and posing plagiarism as a problem -- a
deadly pitfall to be avoided -- for them is about as useful as
posing the avoiding of grammatical malfeasance as the main thing
for beginning writers to be concerned about.

This is, or ought to be, about learning to use language
effectively in context (a hint: context is everything. Come to
Gimli next month and we'll talk).

-- Russ
St. Thomas University
http://www.StThomasU.ca/~hunt/

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Margaret Procter

2006-04-13 02:23:56 UTC

Permalink

Dear All:

I wish I could come to Gimli and talk about this issue... and many
others... but I can't be there this year. We all need a better idea than
"plagiarism" to frame the connection of reading and writing, and CASLL
is just the group to work on it.

I missed the Cs altogether too, but got to an excellent conference at
University of Michigan last September. It was called Originality,
Imitation, and Plagiarism--a nice list of concepts in itself. The
program is still online at
http://141.211.177.75/swc/conference/program/. The lineup of speakers
was amazing. Their insights on Originality and Imitation looked at those
ideas in terms of history, economics, law, culture, literature, language
development, etc. etc. In that perspective, plagiarism thus seemed like
a small-minded concern, though also more understandable as behaviour.
Michigan will publish a book based on the conference talks, and I'm
already looking forward to it. The thoroughly descriptive bibliography
provided for participants ahead of time is also a treasure
(http://141.211.177.75/swc/conference/bibliography/).

Margaret
University of Toronto

Post by Russ Hunt
Thanks for mentioning it, Sandy.

You don't have to dig my stuff out: slightly different versions
are on my Web site and the Inkshed Newsletter.
http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/4reasons.htm
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/nletta03/hunt.htm
I wish I'd been to the Cs, for a number of reasons, of which
missing that session is one. Sandy, do you have a reference so
I could check out the folks who did the session?

As you might guess, though, I'd go further: in a fundamental
sense 90% of my students are AESL (that is, Academic English as
a Second Language) and posing plagiarism as a problem -- a
deadly pitfall to be avoided -- for them is about as useful as
posing the avoiding of grammatical malfeasance as the main thing
for beginning writers to be concerned about.
This is, or ought to be, about learning to use language
effectively in context (a hint: context is everything. Come to
Gimli next month and we'll talk).
-- Russ
St. Thomas University
http://www.StThomasU.ca/~hunt/
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