For the third research blog I read
"Culture for Writing for ELLs in the CCSS" written by Diane Staehr
Fenner and published on www.dsfconsulting.net. This article was written in
regards to common core state standards when it comes to writing and the ability
to understand other cultures. Which the author explains is an important part of
college and career preparations. Ms.
Staehr explains that " writings are influenced by their home culture and
carry this " cultural suitcase" with them to school." These
cultural differences carry over to the classroom and affect students ability to
learn to write. She explains that teachers can spot these differences in word choice, grammatical
sentence structure and organizational patterns. But once its spotted how is it
correctly and why would you want to take away that students ability to write in
their native language. If we strip away our students individuality in writing
we are taking away their way of creative thinking just to have them conform to
our way of writing.
The author also explains that some of
the early research studies regarding cultural differences in writing first took
place in the 1960's and were lead by Robert Kaplan. His study was based on
thought patterns and he wanted to understand similarities and differences between writers
from different countries or culture backgrounds. One of the languages currently
being studied is Arabic. Arabic is the 7th most popular speaking language in
America. The study showed Arab writers normally write to argue the presentation.
According to Staehr, Arab writers
present the argument, paraphrase them and repeat them.
The author does a good job explaining
the results from the study but I would have liked to have seen more results
from different languages. I do agree that in order to be more career ready we
have to understand different cultures and they way they write and think.
Fenner, Diane Staehr." Culture for Writing for ELLS in the
CCS" . DSFconsulting.com.Web. 2013 June
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