Using Classroom Journals to Improve ESL Writing Skills Research Paper

Using Classroom Journals to Improve ESL Writing Skills - Research Paper Example The emergence of ESL programs as a school requirement, as Giridharan & Robson (n.d.) stated, has been influenced by the lack of competence of most foreign students in academic writing, which usually affects their academic performance. This is especially true for tertiary education in which students are expected to â€Å"advance their own ideas within a framework of domain or discipline knowledge and engage the reader in academic discourse† (Giridharan & Robson, n.d., p. 1). Therefore, ESL has been created to help U.S. students attain educational proficiency standards. Celic (2009), furthermore, stressed that the key to establishing effective teaching skills lies in combining proper teaching tools with strategic and results-driven teaching styles. Through ESL programs, therefore, students are not only able to enhance their academic performance, they also gain confidence to better understand, relate, and interact in their specific social environments (Smith, Vellenga et. al., 2006). Thus, it is the feeling of authentic belongingness that ESL hopes to give to its students for them to get fully immersed in the country’s culture, values, and society. The difficulty in teaching ESL writing, as most researchers today claim, lies not on the stark differences among the students’ learning abilities but on the choice of the proper approach through which writing must be taught. In this regard, ESL practitioners have recognized the two primary schools of thought for teaching ESL writing. The first one teaches writing through a systemized and process-driven approach. Proponents of this school of thought believe that by exposing the students to specific writing steps (from researching of the topic to revising the written material in accordance to grammar and syntax), they are able to develop a proper and more  disciplined manner of writing.

Kingston-Galloway Neighborhood and Its Peculiarities Assignment

Kingston-Galloway Neighborhood and Its Peculiarities - Assignment Example It must be underlined that â€Å"the population of Kingston-Galloway is 28,042 people† [Hayes D., 2008] in their diversity of nationalities.  On the one hand, Scarborough is one of the most beautiful, green and livable territories in Toronto. Consequently, Kingston-Galloway neighbourhood as its part can be recognized as a good place to give birth and raise children. On the other hand due to the settlement of the black, Hindus, Tamils, and the crime situation it is not attractive to stay there (although the white live in the district too). So the result is that such surroundings are not able to be a priority to encourage people to do their best in rising of a population. As for the statistic data given readers by workers of the University of Toronto, Deborah Coven and Vanessa Parlette (they both were active in community projects in Kingston-Galloway for five years), Kingston-Galloway â€Å"had a population of 31,715 in 1971, and 40,846 in 2006† [Cowen D., Paulette V., June 2011] in comparison. Furthermore, we can analyze the percentage of population growth up during these years which is small - 7 % in 1971 and 11% in 2006 respectively. Probably a certain effect has a bad level of life in this district. The figures speak for themselves - Kingston-Galloway has â€Å"†¦the highest concentration of subsidized housing in all of Ontario, 42% of all families with children are lone-parent families – much greater than the Toronto average† [Shark S., 2009]. All these facts depict not so optimistic financial situation in the neighbourhood. When people have good living conditions and confidence in the future they can afford themselves to have children. As we see there is no positive picture in this aspect in Kingston-Galloway. Moreover, the statistics say that household income has dropped 35% from 1971 till 2006 years. Still, there is some successful tendency in the development of social life norms in Kingston-Galloway. The main achievement is the organization of the Storefront, an interaction group which consists of service providers and people of the district.  Ã‚