ABSTRACT
The studies that have been published about ESOL writers in college classes across the curriculum have, in general, been conducted by and presented through the perspective of composition researchers (see Spack, 1997; Sternglass, 1997; Zamel, 1995). By contrast, the study I present in this chapter, undertaken with Lucille McCarthy, offers an account of an ESOL writer in a discipline-based course from the professor’s perspective. This point of view is potentially important for ESOL and composition teachers, as well as writing lab directors and staff, because it puts them in a better position to offer assistance when instructors from other disciplines come to them for advice. In particular, it is important for ESOL specialists to keep in mind that most teachers across the curriculum know very little about ESOL pupils or the sorts of instructional supports that can benefit them. ESOL specialists should also be aware of the particular circumstances in which teachers from other disciplines encounter ESOL students because these circumstances are quite different from those in ESOL-specific courses. For example, in philosophy, I teach very few ESOL students; in fact, the pupil I describe in this study was the only one in a class of 25. This means that I
cannot borrow wholesale the pedagogies that work in remedial or first-year language classes. Rather, my challenge is to retain pedagogies that are appropriate for the majority of students while being sympathetic to the special needs of non-native English speakers.
