esl paper

Running head: NON-COMMITMENT AMONG ESL STUDENTS ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY 1

NON-COMMITMENT AMONG ESL STUDENTS ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY 9

Non-Commitment among ESL Students Argumentative Essay

Yuechun Yang

Shuyuan Liu

ESL15-SEC18

Apr.9

Introduction

In the United States, English is the common language recognized under the constitution that should be used for communication purposes. It is for this reason that government and learning institutions officially make use of the English language. One of the requirements when joining a university in the United States is the ability to communicate and understand English. However, different university managements are aware that there are potential students from foreign countries who do not use English as their official language. Some of these countries make use of languages like French, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, Mandarin, Greek, Turkish, Pashto, and Dari among many other languages. The fact that students from these countries do not have the ability to speak English does not disqualify them from studying in universities that use English as their official language.

To embrace English and non-English speakers, different universities in the US have designed and taught an ESL course where students get to learn English as their second language. However, there has been a problem in the sense that despite the golden opportunity being available for non-English speakers to study ESL and learn the English language that would them takes their studies without challenges in English speaking universities, some students demonstrate a high level of non-commitment. Different causes and solutions to this great problem have been identified. However, some solutions have a higher potential to address the problem over other solutions hence making such solutions more preferred.

In this essay, the main focus shall be to identify the various solutions to the non-commitment problem among ESL students. First, the essay shall provide supporting evidence of every solution identified followed by negative evidence of the solution. Lastly, the essay shall also provide a reason why the solution would work in addressing the problem. However, overall, the essay shall point out and explain the one most preferred solution. Rhetorical devices like Logos, Pathos, and Ethos would be used to prove that indeed the solution has all that is needed to address the problem. Notably, a counterargument on the preferred solution will be provided to highlight some of the ways that the solution violates the principles of Logos, Ethos, and Pathos.

Solutions

1. Multi-cultural ESL programs

In the present times, ESL programs have been based and designed using the United States culture which means all ESL students have to face and cope with a new environment and language at the same time. This is a reality that has been found to be extremely confusing leading to not only failing in ESL but also other subjects that students have to cover since English is the language used. All students have equal rights to study and with ESL embracing other cultures and based on multicultural basis would help the student to feel that at least there are some concepts they can relate with from their native backgrounds. For instance, if the program has some concepts used in different ESL students’ official languages and these concepts used to phrase the correct grammar would hence help the ESL students to adjust easily. The more reason is that they will find concepts that they can relate with and use past knowledge to translate what they know in their native languages to English.

However, ESL students are from diverse ethnicities which mean that there are a high number of dialect concepts that would be captured in a multicultural program. Applying this solution can be hectic because it can cause more confusion on students who do not understand concepts from a specific language hence making learning more complex. From this great negative evidence, the solution may not work effectively to solve the problem. The more reason is that the confusion can make ESL students lose connection with ESL hence increasing levels of non-commitment.

2. The ultimate ESL teaching manual

According to Jones (2016), having an ultimate teaching manual is an effective solution as it would provide ESL tutors with a specific procedure to follow when teaching ESL. The solution has been found to be effective since the manual will help in developing a procedure through which students will be introduced to be course and get deep into other complex ESL concepts that would help in creating a good understanding (Putintseva, 2006). Moreover, having a teaching manual would guide the instructors on things to teach in every lesson in a clear manner that would eliminate confusion. Lack of confusion is one thing that makes a lesson interesting and meaningful leading to increased motivation and commitment on the course.

A teaching manual might not be the overall solution to the problem. The more reason being ESL students have different levels of understanding and a manual would limit a tutor’s level of flexibility to handle every student as per his/her areas of weakness. This means all ESL students would be treated the same and those that will find challenges catching up would hence have no other way that the tutor can be of assistance to them (Putintseva, 2006). Learning is supposed to be interactive and fun and a manual eliminates all these as there are strict procedures that a manual lays down. Hence, the solution might not work because not all ESL students would have the potential and ability to cope and sustain the demands of the ultimate manual.

3. Learning the basic English tips

According to Strauss (2012); there are English basic tips that when understood by the learner makes English an easy subject to understand and use to communicate. For instance, it is said that a written context without a thesis statement loses all its meaning and value. This solution proposes the idea of ESL students being taught first on the basics that make English speaking and writing sensible and correct. Research has proven that ESL students that understand basic tips like correct use and pronunciation of vowels, and how to use adverbs, nouns, pronouns, and verbs goes a long way in perfecting their ESL learning. The more reason is that they are able to understand English statements hence making their learning interesting. This is also the same case when it comes to thesis writing because with ESL students understanding how to write a thesis statement, they can write any form of a written document.

English is way far much complicated and complex and basic tips only occupy a fraction of the ESL subject. ESL entails complex vocabularies that ESL students need to understand their meanings and how to properly make use of them to use proper grammar. Moreover, other subjects use complex which means English basic might not be of help and can only promote general socializing among students and not enabling an ESL student to learn English that he/she can use on professional levels. The solution hence may not work effectively because ESL is an extensive subject and basic tips should only be taught at immediate levels of learning. This means that by learning the tips, levels of ESL students’ commitment would not be promoted since they would face challenges pronouncing vocabularies as well as understanding their meaning. They would also be left out during serious conversations a feeling that would make them demotivated and less committed to succeeding in ESL.

4. Handling ESL students on the basis of dialect variations

This is the most preferred solution that has been proposed to address the non-commitment challenge among ESL students. The solution entails ESL students being sorted on the basis of originality and every group to have their specific classroom. According to Monerris Oliveras, (2015); students from different non-English speaking nations have a specific dialect that differs from one state to the other. This means that the way ESL course mixes students from different nationalities in one classroom possess a challenge in the sense that they have different dialects which means that they have different weak areas that need to be addressed. Instructors face the challenge to address the diverse weaknesses since it is time demanding and in a way making some ESL students to lose learning moral.

Sorting students on the basis of their national dialect would come as a great solution because students who belong to countries that use Arabic as their official language would be placed in one category, as well as other non-English official languages like Spanish and French among many others (Monerris Oliveras, 2015). The universities would have tutors to deal with students in the various categories which mean that weaknesses would be handled in a professional and precise manner that would make every student to be granted ample attention (Khatib, Rezaei, & Derakhshan, 2011). Moreover, by having students with specific weaknesses or from the same countries that use the same official language would help in creating study teams where students can learn from each other hence creating the desired commitment.

The solution is effective in all aspects. To start with, the solution is ethical because it takes into consideration all the ESL students where their challenges would be addressed in an environment that is friendly and in a manner that is humiliating to ESL students. It is a solution that will address the problem from the roots since a majority of ESL students tend to get bored for being mixed and hence they feel that their areas of weaknesses are not being addressed. The solution also triggers an emotional appeal because it creates a situation where one gets to understand the feeling that ESL students have when they feel like failures to the point of losing commitment. It is also a solution that exposes the high cultural connection that ESL students have to deal with in order to succeed in ESL. With the solutions, the ESL students would have to learn in a manner that does not distance them from their cultures but rather in a manner that makes them always to bear in mind that they are pursuing English as a second language. The solution is also logical because it is practical, applicable, and objectives achievable. It is a solution that demonstrates how the problem would be addressed permanently.

Looking at the solution keenly, one can detect the excess use of pathos. The latter is in the sense that the case is not as desperate as the solution makes it sound. The solution creates emotions as if ESL students do not have a program that they can use to succeed while at the same program has been applied to many ESL students before and they managed to succeed. The solution fails to strike a balance between the roles that ESL students need to play for instance creating a positive attitude and desire to succeed in the course and roles that instructors and university management has to play. The more reason is that the success of any program can only be realized if all parties involved play their roles effectively. For instance, even if the solution is implemented and the students fail to change their attitudes, the change to implement the solution would end up being futile.

Conclusion

Non-commitment among ESL students is a major challenge that affects student performance as well as overall performance of the institutions. The problem is caused by institutional and personal factors, for instance, inadequate program, poor attitude from students, and cultural influence among many other factors. However, the problem has a series of solutions with the most suitable being the establishment of different classes for ESL students on the bases of their dialects. This means that only students using a similar dialect would be in the same class and have a specific tutor that would help them learn ESL course with ease as their areas of weakness would be addressed. This is also the same thing that the present world needs where students should be taught about things that they do not know and not generalizing the lessons. The preferred solution is highly recommendable that university management should swift into action and implement as it would help the ESL students to change their attitude that would create commitment and desire to make positive progress in ESL.

References

Gallagher, E. (2008). Equal rights to the curriculum: Many languages, one message. Bristol : Multilingual Matters

Huang, Q., & Chen, L. (2019). Bilingual and ESL classrooms: teaching in multicultural contexts.

Khatib, M., Rezaei, S., & Derakhshan, A. (2011). Literature in EFL/ESL Classroom. English Language Teaching, 4(1), 201-208.

Monerris Oliveras, L. (2015). Spanish Dialectal Variation in the Foreign Language Classroom: Students' Attitudes, Instructors' Beliefs and Teaching Practices, and Treatment of Variation in Textbooks.

Putintseva, T. (2006). The importance of learning styles in ESL/EFL. The Internet TESL Journal, 12(3).

Strauss, P. (2012). ‘The English is not the same’: challenges in thesis writing for second language speakers of English. Teaching in Higher Education, 17(3), 283-293.