The more I encounter ESL students, the more I admire them. Most Americans I know do not know enough of a foreign language to get around on vacation, let alone write a complex academic work. As I prepare to go abroad to West Africa in the fall, I envision myself in the shoes of the international students I encounter at Richmond, struggling to live and to learn in an environment that uses a language that is not native to me. It is the combination of both social and linguistic barriers that challenges both writing consultants and the students they intend to help. In Bouchra Moujtahid's essay, "Influence of cultural and linguistic backgrounds on the writing of Arabic and Japanese students of English," it becomes clear that writing consultants must take into consideration not only the linguistic limitations or strengths of an ESL student, but also their cultural context in order to best help them succeed.
The prospect of tutoring ESL students for a training writing consultant is a daunting one. While learning about the specific cultural influences that explain behavioral or linguistic patterns is helpful, it also indicates to me how complex these types of consultations can be, and how little I actually know. While I was familiar with the idea that Japanese students may be overly polite or less likely to verbalize problems they are having, some aspects of Arab culture were very surprising to me. For example, Moujtahid explains that Arab writing tends to make large, often unrealistic claims. While an English speaker may assume that they are boasting or making unsubstantiated claims, Moujtahid writes that "Arabs understand that such exaggerated statements are not intended to report on the state of reality, but rather to represent what the Arabs intend or hope to do, what they believe they are capable of doing" (3). Thus, the overstated or embellished sounding claim that an American consultant finds ridiculous may sound completely logical to an Arab student. Similarly, the repetition that Arab students use to indicate sincerity and emphasis, may seem overly redundant to an English speaker. Although these problems in the writing of an American student may indicate a lack of academic integrity or even laziness, in the essay of an Arabic speaker, they must be considered in their cultural context.
In contrast, Japanese students are much more restrained in their writing. According to Moujtahid, there is a "deep distrust of language in the Japanese culture, stemming, perhaps, from the Zen Buddhist conviction that language imposes its own organization upon reality and prevents us from seeing what truly is" (4). She goes on to say that "if an emotion is put into words...it is somehow trivialized, insincere" (4). Suddenly, a student's claim that seems ambiguous or unsupported is much more understandable. Before I began this course, I think I would not have realized this. In a rush, I would have just assumed that the student was unable or unwilling to create a logical argument. By understanding that in Japanese culture, intuition and "moments of truth" are valued more highly than the display of the argument's structure, I will better be able to spot problems and address them with sensitivity.
While I do think that Moujtahid exposes cultural aspects of ESL writing that are normally hidden to consultants, I felt that she was at times generalizing and even bordered on being stereotypical. Although I understand that these observations are meant to provide insight in a culture as a whole, the International Studies student in me fears that they will be considered by some readers as a universal rule for all Arab or Japanese students who enter the doors of the Writing Center. While I suppose this could be true of any article written about tutoring a specific sector of students, Moujtahid seemed unapologetic in her generalizations. Even the terms she used to refer to the students in questions made me wince. As she writes that "when trust is established, a Japanese will become quite relaxed and communicative" (5). I dislike the way she refers to "a Japanese" instead of a Japanese student or a Japanese speaker; to me, it sounds archaic and even offensive, as if the individual in question could be completely described by her ethnicity.
Despite these flaws, I believe that Moujtahid's findings are valuable to the peer consultant. They should be used not as a manual about ESL students, but instead as tools that can be used to help signal and solve problems in a consultation. When I find myself looking at a problem through the confines of an American viewpoint, I can remind myself of these cultural barriers. Although the act of tutoring an ESL student can see intimidating, the best way to truly become a better consultant for these students is not to read theories, but to practice.
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