Supporting English Language Learners’ Academic Writing Development Through a Systematized Assistance Model

Abstract

Despite recent efforts to improve college-level students’ academic writing, the ways this skill develops continues to be vastly unexplored. Students do not meet the current literacy demands posed by higher education. These demands become more strenuous when students have to write in English, a language they do not master. The current study reports on the implementation of a systematized assistance model for writing in English as a Foreign Language in a Colombian public university’s bilingual teacher education program. Weekly tutoring sessions were provided to 16 students from an academic writing course in one semester. Common error patterns in their writing samples were identified and categorized with an analytical rubric and students’ reactions to the systematized assistance model were collected through a questionnaire. Results revealed that students benefited significantly from tutor support and professor’s feedback especially in terms of metalinguistic awareness, knowledge of the Process Approach to writing and accuracy in language convention use.