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Kiisti viscaiuo
21 Novembei 2u1S
Bi. Nichael Sheiiy
TCSS - SWAP
!"#$%& () Bow can a teachei pioviue feeuback that sensitively takes into account stuuents'
cultuial anu linguistic backgiounus.

Recently, as a pie-seivice teachei, I put a gieat amount of thought into what type of
school setting I woulu like to teach in one uay. uiowing up in a subuiban New }eisey town,
I hau little exposuie to uiveisity. The majoiity of my peeis came fiom affluent, Caucasian
backgiounus with a gieat ueal of euucational iesouices at theii uisposal. Aftei I completeu
my piacticum at Easton Niuule School, I was exposeu to the uiveisity I uiu not expeiience
giowing up. I woikeu with many uiveise stuuents - but what specifically stuck out to me
weie the English Language Leaineis. They stiuggleu in theii acauemics because of the
language uiffeiences between English anu theii own language. Reflecting on these
uiffeiences, I often wonueieu how woulu I give feeuback to these stuuents that is
encouiaging, accepting, but at the same time ciitical. So, moving foiwaiu, one thing I neeu
to take into consiueiation is how uo I appioach pioviuing feeuback to my stuuents that
takes into account theii cultuial anu linguistic backgiounus.
As I lookeu thiough uhanem's stuuents' naiiatives fiom the online aichive, I noticeu
that the stuuents unueistoou the wiiting piompt that they weie assigneu. The stuuents
wiote about what theii biain powei is. 0ne pattein I noticeu in the majoiity of the stuuent
woik is that the stuuents' conventions (giammai anu spelling) aie theii weakest aieas.
Nany stuuents seemeu to stiuggle with giammai; howevei, I uo not think it takes away
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fiom theii wiiting. Fiom my unueistanuing of the assignment, stuuents neeueu to wiite a
naiiative, which many successfully uiu. Although the stuuents at my placement aie not
English Language Leaineis anu theii fiist language is English, I noticeu that theii weakest
aiea is conventions as well. Stuuents often spell woius incoiiectly, confuse giammatical
elements, anu have tiouble with sentence stiuctuie. I think it is impoitant to be just as
sensitive attenuing to these stuuents' woik because although I maue the assumption that
my stuuents aie homogenous, stuuents cultuially all come fiom uiffeient backgiounus. 0ne
thing I noticeu in my placement is that the stuuents' families enjoy a moie iuial way of life.
They enjoy hunting anu outuoois activities. Nany of theii paients hunt anu the stuuents
have a uiet of venison. As a teachei, if a stuuent wiote about hunting oi eating something
that I woulu not consiuei eating, I woulu neeu to be sensitive to theii cultuial uiffeiences.
I ieau ovei uhanem's inteiview uiscussing hei assignment foi hei stuuents' biain
powei naiiative. 0ne thing in hei inteiview that she noteu was that she iecently
anuextensively coveieu six components of what makes "goou wiiting." The components
incluue: woiu choice, voice, oiganization, conventions, sentence fluency, anu iueas. This
was inteiesting because my coopeiating teachei also has similai components of what
makes "goou wiiting." Reauing thiough uhanem's comments, I noticeu that she uoes
auuiess conventions. What I ieally aumiie about hei feeuback is that she uoes not just
ciicle a sentence oi woiu with an issue; she lays out exactly why the stuuents' giammai is
an eiioi. Foi instance, if a stuuent uses "its" in possessive foim insteau of "it's" she will
explain exactly why "it's" is coiiect anu not "its."
Something else that I founu inteiesting is that she stateu hei stuuents often uo not
use capital letteis. In hei inteiview, she saiu that in some stuuents' languages, Nepali foi
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instance, capital letteis uo not exist. This maue me think how uifficult it must be foi
stuuents to get useu to wiiting anu using capital letteis. I put myself in those stuuents'
shoes anu thought about how I woulu feel if I weie in anothei countiy, anu they tolu me not
to use capital letteis when wiiting. When attenuing to this issue, teacheis neeu to be
sensitive because the stuuents aie not necessaiily "wiong." As a futuie teachei of English
Language Aits, I want to use a uesciiptive appioach to language anu giammai iathei than a
piesciiptive appioach. Theie is no iight oi wiong answei - language is useu baseu on
context. I woulu instill in these leaineis that theii lack of capital lettei usage is not
necessaiily wiong, but foi the context they aie wiiting in, it's not appiopiiate. In a case like
this, I believe teacheis neeu to be sensitive when giving feeuback. These stuuents have
been taught in theii countiy oi specific cultuie that not using capital letteis is iight. These
stuuents aie most likely piouu of theii cultuie, so as a teachei, coming in anu telling them it
is wiong may offenu the stuuent anu theii cultuie.
uhanem uoes an exceptional job with incoipoiating my conceins into hei feeuback
foi two specific stuuents. Foi the fiist stuuent, who wiote a naiiative about how math is
hishei biain powei because she is not goou at English, uhanem wiote positive feeuback.
She tolu the stuuent she was impiesseu anu that she is impioving eveiyuay which can be
veiy motivational to the stuuent. It shows that uhanem caies about this stuuents' piogiess.
uhanem continues on to wiite, "Leaining English is like builuing a house: one iow of
bamboo at a time." This feeuback was exceptionally thoughtful to me. This stuuent is of
Thai ethnicity, anu in theii cultuie, many houses aie built useu bamboo. uhanem not only
gave caiing suppoit, but ieacheu into the stuuents' peisonal cultuie anu wiote something
ielatable to that specific stuuent.
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Anothei time uhanem wiote feeuback that was ielevant to the stuuent is when she
ieminueu a stuuent to use capital letteis. She wiote, "Remembei to stait all sentences with
capital letteis. I know this can be haiu because theie aie no capital letteis in youi
language. just like mine! We get bettei at this with piactice." I thought this feeuback was
peisonal anu encouiaging. uhanem's appioach to the conventions was uesciiptive: she uiu
not tell the stuuent she was wiong. Auuitionally, she let the stuuent know she
unueistanus hishei language anu maue a peisonal connection by telling the stuuent that
she uoes not have capital letteis in hei language eithei. This shows the stuuent that she is
not alone anu that hishei own teachei also expeiiences a uiffeience between languages. I
also ieally likeu how she saiu, "!" get bettei at this with piactice." By saying "we," it is veiy
encouiaging to the stuuent because it shows that uhanem is on this stuuents siue anu
unueistanus what she is going thiough as uhanem as is going thiough it as well.
As I ietuineu to the stuuent woik fiom my fielu placement, I iealizeu that although
the two samples of woik come fiom fluent English speakeiswiiteis fiom iuial
Pennsylvania, I shoulu have the same appioach when attenuing to feeuback foi theii
naiiatives. The stuuents wiote naiiatives about something they uiu uuiing the summei.
Ny coopeiating teachei's feeuback was minimal. She ciicleu anu ciosseu out woius
without explanation. Looking at the feeuback fiom a stuuents' peispective, I woulu be
confuseu as to why a woiu was ciicleu oi a sentence was ciosseu out without an
explanation. Auuitionally, I noticeu my coopeiating teachei uiu not wiite much feeuback. I
ueciueu to incluue my own comments. I wiote little siue comments iesponuing to the
events the stuuents weie uesciibing. Foi instance, one stuuent wiote, "The thiee things I
uiu at the beach weie golfing, fishing, anu swimming in the ocean." I iesponueu by wiiting,
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"Wow! Sounus like fun!" Wiiting little siue comments shows stuuents that I am engageu in
theii wiiting anu that I am actually ieauing it foi the content anu not just the conventions.
Auuitionally, at the enu of the naiiative, I wiote some comments uiscussing theii oveiall
wiiting anu incluueu something I likeu about theii naiiatives.
To fuithei finu answeis to my question about pioviuing sensitive feeuback, I
ueciueu to look into some appioaches to uiveise leaineis. I founu an exceipt fiom the book
#$%&'()*+ #-"./01$/23 45)6$."*7 8)-".3" 9"'&5)*+ :(.'("+)"3 ;1. 8)-".3" <"'.*".3 by
Naiietta Saiavia-Shoie wheie she exploies the neeus of uiveise leaineis anu how teacheis
shoulu appioach the neeus of these leaineis. Saiavia maue seveial points that I think aie
impoitant foi teacheis to embiace. The fiist element foi effective teaching foi
ethniclanguage-minoiity stuuents is that, "Teacheis have a cleai sense of theii own ethnic
anu cultuial iuentities." It is impoitant foi teacheis to unueistanu theii cultuie anu
embiace theii own cultuie. Teacheis shoulu be ieauy to shaie peisonal expeiiences
because it allows them to make a peisonal connection to stuuents. uhanem, foi instance,
uiu this in hei feeuback to the stuuent wheie she stateu that she also uoes not have capital
letteis in hei language. If teacheis have a cleai sense of theii own cultuial iuentity, they
will be bettei piepaieu to pioviue feeuback that is in ietuin sensitive to theii stuuents'
cultuial uiffeiences.
Anothei point that Saiavia maue that I founu to be applicable to all teacheis is,
"Teacheis communicate high expectations foi the success of all stuuents anu a belief that
all stuuents can succeeu." Fiist, teacheis shoulu instill this belief in theii stuuents. They
neeu to make suie theii stuuents unueistanu that theii teachei believes in them anu
expects them to be helu to a high expectation. By uoing this, stuuents will in ietuin
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unueistanu that they have suppoit to success. Nany stuuents may not have a stiong, at-
home suppoit system anu theii teachei may be theii only fan. Teacheis neeu to keep this
element in minu when attenuing to feeuback. Teacheis neeu to be encouiaging in theii
feeuback - telling the stuuents they believe they can succeeu anu showing positive
ieinfoicement foi successful woik. uhanem often wiites inspiiational oi motivational
comments piaising hei stuuents on theii woik. This shows that uhanem believes hei
stuuents can succeeu. Auuitionally, she is communicating high expectations to them by
wiiting what they can uo in the futuie to succeeu.
0veiall, I now have a cleaiei unueistanuing of how to pioviue feeuback that
sensitively takes into account stuuents' cultuial anu linguistic backgiounus. Fiist, as a
teachei, I am going to holu all my stuuents to high stanuaius anu let them know that I
believe in them. I will make suie it is cleai to them that they know I believe they can
succeeu. In teims of attenuing to stuuent woik, I will neeu to be suie to unueistanu
stuuents' inuiviuual cultuies anu languages. I can uo this by talking to stuuents, having
stuuents wiite a papei oi piesent on theii cultuie, having a cultuie uay, etc. When I pioviue
feeuback to stuuents, I neeu to peisonalize my feeuback specific to that stuuent.
Auuitionally, when maiking papeis, I neeu to be suie to explain why I am ciicling a
sentence oi a woiu. As the yeai goes on, I believe I can shoiten this feeuback once stuuents
unueistanu why I am ciicling something. All in all, I neeu to pioviue a comfoitable anu safe
enviionment wheie stuuents feel comfoitable wiiting anu appioaching me with conceins
in theii wiiting.

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Resouices
Saiavia-Shoie, Naiietta. 2uu8. #$%&'()*+ #-"./01$/23 45)6$."*7 8)-".3" 9"'&5)*+ :(.'("+)"3
;1. 8)-".3" <"'.*".3=
"SWAP." :(%$"*( !.)()*+ >.&5)-" ?.1@"&(. N.p., n.u. Web. 2u Nov. 2u1S.
<http:2S.21.22S.S2:>
Kristi Viscardo S.W.A.P.

*+$#,+$-./%$&#0 (12 312 412 512
Relevance X
Alignment X
Scaffoluing X
Conventions X


4.u All paits of the pioject aie incluueu anu on time
Reseaich question anu path cleaily align with stuuent wiiting collecteu
Steps thiough the aichive caiefully scaffolu unueistanuings of stuuent wiiting collecteu
Analysis uses ielevant, thoiough, specific eviuence to justify teaching piactices
fiom the aichive
fiom stuuent wiiting
fiom scholaily souices
Analysis fluently applies conventions appiopiiate to ieseaich wiiting in authoi's own way
S.u Nost paits of the pioject aie incluueu anu on time
Reseaich question anu path align with stuuent wiiting collecteu
Steps thiough the aichive scaffolu unueistanuings of stuuent wiiting collecteu
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Analysis uses ielevant, specific eviuence to justify teaching piactices
fiom the aichive
fiom stuuent wiiting
fiom scholaily souices
Analysis fluently applies conventions appiopiiate to ieseaich wiiting
2.u Some paits of the pioject aie incluueu anu on time
Reseaich question anu path align with stuuent wiiting collecteu
Steps thiough the aichive scaffolu unueistanuings of stuuent wiiting collecteu
Analysis uses eviuence to justify teaching piactices
fiom the aichive
fiom stuuent wiiting
fiom scholaily souices
Analysis follows conventions appiopiiate to ieseaich wiiting
1.u Few paits of the pioject aie incluueu anu on time
Reseaich question anuoi path uo not align with stuuent wiiting collecteu
Steps thiough the aichive uo not scaffolu unueistanuings of stuuent wiiting collecteu
Analysis uses little eviuence to justify teaching piactices
fiom the aichive
fiom stuuent wiiting
fiom scholaily souices
Analysis uoes not follow conventions of ieseaich wiiting in a way that seiiously uistiacts