http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej03/a1.html

: "Meeting In The Writing Center: The Field Of ESL

Lynne Ronesi
University of Rhode Island


Abstract
More and more ESL students are seeking writing help at U.S. college and university writing centers. This trend emphasizes the complementary role of the writing center and ESL writing instruction in improving ESL writing skills. Writing center and ESL writing pedagogy share the process and collaborative approaches, which emphasize the writing process using revision and reader feedback. Often difficult to implement in a classroom setting, these approaches can be used successfully with ESL students in the writing center. However, many writing center instructors, unfamiliar with the needs of ESL students, are often ill-equipped to work successfully with this special population. This has caused writing center faculties to turn to the ESL profession for help in establishing suitable strategies. The growing need for ESL expertise in the writing center has created a variety of capacities to which ESL instructors can contribute.
ESL students are flooding the writing centers of colleges and universities nation-wide. The students' path between their ESL instruction and the writing center offers tangible evidence of the two fields' inevitable alliance. Indeed, the writing center and ESL composition share much in writing theory, goals, and approaches. ESL professionals need to understand how ESL writing instruction and the writing center can play a complementary role in [-1-] helping the growing n"