How Correct Must Your ESL Students' Writing Be?
Some Faculty Opinions

by Scott Weaver, MFA TA / Tutor

As a TA who teaches intro comp and literature, I struggle with the question of how correct the writing of my non-native students needs to be.  I was interested in hearing responses from faculty across the university to this and other  related questions, including: How much attention do you give to the quality of the students’ prose as compared to the quality of the ideas the writer is trying to express? Do written errors carry the same weight for you if the writer is an ESL student or do you grade all writers on the same scale?  Do you think it is fair to grade all students – non-native speakers and native speakers – on the same scale?  To hear what faculty have to say, the Writing Center sent these ESL-related questions to teachers in several departments.  We were happy to hear that the faculty we queried generally agree that errors do “count,” especially if they interfere with meaning; however, most say they are willing to spend time finding and pointing out patterns of errors in order to help students improve. Here’s what they had to say:

Do you grade the writing of native and non-native students differently? 

Tom C. Owens, Music and WAC committee member:
“I do mark problems in writing for ESL students, especially in drafts. I am less inclined to grade them down for grammar mistakes, etc., as long as their comprehension of the material they are writing about is strong.  I will lower the grade of a student who does not fix errors that seem to indicate misunderstood material or poor thinking about the content.”

Beth Schneider, SOM and WAC committee member:
“In SOM 301, we do not grade ESL work on a different scale.  All of our assignments are designed so that 20% of the assignment is graded on grammar and mechanics and the other portion on format and content.  Our reasoning is based on how the real world would examine a person’s writing.  We stress that you are judged on your writing and not just the content or your knowledge level.  Success in business is impacted by your ability to communicate your knowledge in a clear written format.” 

Michael Lyons, Information Technology:
“I don’t penalize students for poor writing, unless I can’t understand the point they are trying to make.  I don’t discriminate based on a student’s background  (or name, or appearance).  I do my best to grade all students fairly.  I expect students to be able to write at a professional level by the time they graduate.  If they don’t write well when they enter GMU, they need to get help to improve their abilities.” 

Andrew Wingfield, New Century College and WAC committee consultant:
“Each of the writers in my courses starts at a different place, and I want each of them to make progress. Grades are one form of incentive. After I meet with an ESL writer and we agree on the elements that need the most attention, I’m going to look most carefully for signs of progress with those elements. If other parts of the writing have some errors, I’m not likely to penalize those very harshly.  I try to identify an ESL student’s main pattern(s) of errors, sit down with the student, and talk about how to improve this facet or these two most problematic facets of the writing.”

Susan Durham, College of Nursing and Health Science and WAC committee member:
“If the paper has typos and run-on sentences and awkward flow problems or does not meet the criteria for the assignment, then I take off as I would for any other student. If writing is sloppy and unrefined, then I do take off.  If the words used don’t make sense ,then I take off.  But if they make sense but are not exactly the way a westerner would write them and I do understand, then I do not take off.  But minor errors that do not affect the meaning and that have a definite pattern related to their native tongue, I will excuse.”

How important is it to you to have non-native speakers write correct American English?  Are there certain kinds of errors you won’t tolerate in the writing of non-native students?

Tom C. Owens, Music:
“I am more likely to be lenient with non-native students in clarity of writing.  I’m willing to work a bit harder to see the points they are trying to make.”

Keith Davies, Chemistry:
“In CHEM 446 (with a class size of ~24), the exam format requires written answers, and, at some point before the first exam, I usually mention, often in response to pre-exam questions, that I am expecting answers to be concisely written in complete sentences and with correct English. However, when it comes to grading chemistry short-answer questions, I usually accept, without penalty, much less. I suppose, at that point, I am happy to see that the ‘chemistry’ I am looking for is there, and it is difficult enough assigning partial points to ‘half-correct’ chemistry answers without having to formally assign points for English or penalize students for lack of it.”  

Khondkar Islam, Information Technology:
“I feel all my students including non-native speakers should write correct American English. Incorrect writing by native and non-native students would lead to point loss in their assignments. They need to be at par with their peers. If they face difficulty, they need to seek assistance at the writing center.” 

Suzanne Scott, NCC:
“As the students have gotten better and better at writing on the sentence level, I find that I have become much more concerned with structure and content and seeing the contributions that many of the non-native students make, even when the grammar isn’t perfect.”

Joni Finegold, NCC:
“Generally speaking, I grade equally on content, but allow some flexibility for errors that are results of “lost in translation” – i.e., use of article or plural, odd sentence construction, etc.  Errors that could easily be corrected, such as misspelled and incorrect compound words (or lack of) are penalized equally.”

Do you correct mistakes in written English on students’ papers? If so, what kinds of mistakes do you tend to correct?

Tom C. Owens, Music:
“I will try to point out errors that they are making consistently and to focus on types of errors in the paper as a whole.  I will also do more extensive editing and suggestions on a short passage--one or two paragraphs--as a model.  I encourage them to go to the writing center and to turn in multiple drafts.” 

Beth Schneider, SOM
“SOM 301 faculty also provide feedback on grammar and mechanics.  We usually only point out the errors in the first two paragraphs and, if the student’s writing is really poor, we attach an additional sheet that denotes exactly the problems they have.  They are then referred to the writing center.” 

Davies, Chemistry:
Having had this topic brought to my attention, I think I will in future include a sentence in the syllabus, stating that I am expecting short answers to be concisely written in complete sentences, and with correct English.  It certainly upsets me sometimes when I think that those with very bad ‘writing skills’ are often seniors who are about to go out as GMU graduates [emphasis added].”