{"id":62,"date":"2015-07-24T10:30:11","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T17:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/?p=62"},"modified":"2015-09-01T11:09:53","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T18:09:53","slug":"assessing-hispanic-student-writing-across-the-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/2015\/07\/24\/assessing-hispanic-student-writing-across-the-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing Hispanic Student Writing Across the Curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Corey Taylor (MA 2016, SWLF)\"Corey<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

2013 was the first year in which the percentage of graduating Hispanic students going to a four-year-degree institution surpassed the percentage of white students doing the same, according to Pew Research\u2019s Hispanic Trends Project. Approximately 7% of Oregon State University\u2019s current student population is Hispanic, making it one of the largest non-white ethnic groups at the University. This number is small compared to the dramatic shifts going on in Oregon\u2019s public schools. Currently Hispanic students face two large hurdles among many when it comes to the equitable assessment of their writing: an assessment culture that is increasingly focused on standardization, in addition to the reduction of the Hispanic writer to a simplistic\u201cL2\u201d linguistic identity that does not account for the ethnolinguistic diversity found in Hispanic communities.<\/p>\n

One of the largest issues facing minority students today across academia is the push for standardization\u2014a movement that can quickly change from the desire for equitable assessment for everyone, to assessing everyone the same way without accounting for ethnolinguistic and other differences. Throughout writing courses in all disciplines, standardization comes in the form of Rubrics and Grading Guides. Rubrics can often become barriers for minority students because of what scholar Valerie Balester calls \u201cAcculturationalist\u201d and \u201cAccommodationist\u201d rubric types.<\/p>\n

Acculturationalist rubrics are those that \u201caim for \u2018standard\u2019 English, posited as a stable and singular entity\u201d with the goal to \u201ceradicate \u2018substandard English\u201d (66). In the examples provided below, the Accultrationalist rubric sample is almost confrontational in its prose. Run-ons and comma splices must be absolutely <\/i>eradicated, and diction must be excellent<\/i>. For any writer not completely comfortable with their lignustic ability, this barrage is intimdating at best, and stifling at worst.<\/p>\n

Accommodationist rubrics, on the other hand,\u00a0 are those which still focus on the same standards as acculturationalist rubrics, but are written in a way as to seem non-confrontational, so that \u201cstudents must accommodate school language usually through code-switching\u201d (Balester 67). In the example, the Accomidationist rubric is written on implications. What exactly is a \u201csophisticated form of expression,\u201d or a \u201ccompositional risk?\u201d\u00a0 For basic readers, this type of rubric is simply hard to translate, and for a basic writer it is confusing.<\/p>\n

Balester suggests that writing instructors move to a third model of rubric that she calls \u201cmulticultural rubrics.\u201d She defines these rubrics as those that encourage \u201cwriterly agency that privileges meaning-making through rhetorically based choices\u201d (72). In other words, rubrics can use terms like \u201csophisticated forms of expression,\u201d or \u201ccompositional risks\u201d but the instructor should, either in front of the class or in the rubric\/assignment prompt itself, address the ways in which these terms are defined within the context of the assignment. The example below encourages \u201cediting\u201d and \u201csuperior control of grammar\u201d rather than \u201cmechanics\u201d and \u201celiminating errors,\u201d keeping the expectations relative but specific enough for effective assessment. For instructors of writing in the disciplines, these multicultural rubrics also present the opportunity to explain why certain genres, styles and conventions are privileged\/used in their discourse communities. This is not only helpful for minority writers, but novice writers in general.<\/p>\n

Another danger in assessing minority students is the tendency to focus solely on their linguistic identities rather than using a multifaceted ethnolinguistic perspective.\u00a0 This can be problematic for Hispanic students in particular because of how linguistically diverse Hispanic students are. There are over 20 different nations under the \u201cHispanic\u201d umbrella. Most Hispanic cultures speak Spanish. However, many also speak various creole dialects, as well regional and local Spanish dialects. These dialects are then brought to the United States, and often merge with English. The assumption that Hispanic basic writers must also be ESL learners is prevalent, and as Professor Betriz Mendez-Newman of Texas Pan American University states, \u201cimplies the student is relying predictably and consciously on competence in an established first language to achieve competence in a second language\u201d (23). Mendez Newman points out that most multilingual Hispanic writers have \u201cprimarily oral confidence\u201d in Spanish and have learned written English in school, describing them as \u201cminimally bilingual\u201d and often more proficient in written English than they are in written Spanish (24).<\/p>\n

Low-stakes writing tasks are an easy way for writing instructors to engage with students\u2019 writing before final assessments, providing the instructor with knowledge of the student\u2019s language proficiency, writing history and even some insight into common errors. The added bonus is that short assignments take less time to grade, and can often be done in class with minimal mark-up required.\u00a0 Writing About Writing activities \u2013 such journals where students can write about current or past writing experiences, surveys such as Oregon State\u2019s own Writer\u2019s Personal Profile<\/a><\/i>, or Process Memos–where students write about their drafting process on a paper before turning it in–also allow the instructor to better tailor their assessment and feedback on written work.<\/p>\n

Examples: <\/b><\/p>\n

Acculturationalist<\/i>: Mechanics: Sentence structure, grammar, and diction excellent; correct use of punctuation and citation style; minimal to no spelling errors; absolutely no run-on sentences or comma splices.<\/p>\n

Accommodationist<\/i>:<\/i> When the writer attempts to communicate complex ideas through sophisticated forms of expression, he\/she may make minor errors as a result of these compositional risks. These types of errors do not detract from the overall fluency of the composition.<\/p>\n

Multicultural:<\/i> An \u201cA\u201d paper displays evidence of careful editing with superior control of grammar and mechanics appropriate to the assignment.<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Balester, Valerie. \u201cHow Rubrics Fail: Toward a Multicultural Model.\u201d Race and Writing Assessment<\/i>. Ed. Asao B. Inoue and Mya Poe. New York: P. Lang, 2012. Print.<\/p>\n

Fry, Richard, and Paul Taylor. \u201cHispanic High School Graduates Pass Whites in Rate of College Enrollment.\u201d Pew Research Center\u2019s Hispanic Trends Project<\/i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.<\/p>\n

Kells, Michelle Hall. \u201cLinguistic Contact Zones in the College Writing Classroom: An Examination of Ethnolinguistic Identity and Language Attitudes.\u201d Written Communication<\/i> 19.1 (2002): 5\u201343. Print<\/p>\n

Mendez Newman, Beatrice. \u201cTeaching at a Hispanic Serving Institution.\u201d Teaching Writing with Latino\/a Students: Lessons Learnedat Hispanic- Serving Institutions<\/i>. Ed. Cristina Kirklighter, Diana C\u00e1rdenas, and Susan Wolff Murphy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Corey Taylor (MA 2016, SWLF) 2013 was the first year in which the percentage of graduating Hispanic students going to a four-year-degree institution surpassed the percentage of white students doing the same, according to Pew Research\u2019s Hispanic Trends Project. Approximately 7% of Oregon State University\u2019s current student population is Hispanic, making it one of… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":512,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1361568,215854],"tags":[745021,744297],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-multi-lingual-writers","category-spring-2015","tag-corey-taylor","tag-multi-lingual-writers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/512"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/wicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}