Writing+Between+Languages

Writing Between Languages by DanLing Fu  Fu, Danling. //Writing between Languages: How English Language Learners Make the Transition to Fluency, Grades 4-12//. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2009. Print. Important Quotes from this book “This book makes the claim, which many teachers may find startling, that we have made the development of strong writing skills much more difficult than it needs to be for ELL students in the students in their junior grades and beyond because we have ignored the power of students’ first language (L1) writing skills as a stepping stone to English.” (ix) “Legitimating students’ L1 as a cognitive tool within the classroom challenges the subordinate status of many minority groups and affirms students’ identities.” (xi)

//Writing Between Languages// by DanLing Fu is a book that stems out of Fu’s decade’s work in schools populated with English Language Learners in which she; observed in classrooms, examined writing samples of students, and listened to teachers and students in the school talk about their teaching and learning experiences. This book deals with the topic of writing development amongst English Language Learners. Writing is one of the biggest challenges that English Language Learners face yet it is often taught to them merely as language exercises. Fu surely agrees with this because she struggled with writing herself. She was an English major and teacher while in her native country but when she came to the United States for graduate school is when she faced the challenges of writing in English. In short, this book presents the ways that English Language Learners develop and the transitions they make. Fu and many other researchers put emphasis on the fact that teaching English Language Learners how to write shouldn’t just be based on teaching them grammar and vocabulary. There is also an emphasis put on how teachers should not discourage English Language learners from using their first language. Writers who are good writers in their first language can also be good writers in the second. According to Fu, “those who were good writers in their native language learned to write in English more rapidly and with less frustration, and many of them eventually enjoyed writing in English. But those who didn’t like to write in their native language experienced tremendous difficulty in learning to write in English, and tended to avoid writing as much as possible, especially in a second language” (15). I believe this book is essential to the classroom. As we all know immigrants are a growing population. Most of them do not speak English as a first language and as teachers we will be encountering them in our classrooms. Fu stresses this point in this book. She states that according to the U.S Census Bureau of 2003, “By 2030, immigrant children should account for 40 percent of the school-aged population” (Fu 3). She also states a shocking fact about how educational advancement in this country is closely tied with English proficiency and due to that students who are linguistically and culturally diverse are more likely to be low achievers leading them to eventually drop out from school. With such growing numbers, the future will not be good if we do not help these students develop not just their English but their writing in English. As Fu mentioned, writing is one of the biggest things that English Language Learners struggle with when developing their English Language skills. As teachers we shouldn’t just teach them about grammar and vocabulary. There needs to be more done to help English Language Learners become competent writers and thinkers. Fu also puts an emphasis on teachers allowing their English Language Learners to use their first language. As mentioned previously, those who are good writers in their native language will eventually become even better writers in their second language. Letting them use their first language also helps them stay close their culture while adapting to their new one. It also shows that we respect their culture.