When told you’re going to teach ESL composition (again) you may
inwardly groan. Not again! Not another semester of hauling home
30 drafts of papers filled with mangled verb tense and dropped
articles. Not again - teaching the same model essays of
comparison and contrast and cause and effect (which in no way
resemble the kind of writing done anywhere outside a composition
class. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a pure compare-contrast
essay in an authentic setting.) Teaching composition, however,
is a reality for most ESL teachers—with budget cuts, writing is
seen as the most important skill that ESL students need in order
to pass exams such as proficiency tests now often required for
graduation or admission to graduate school. Often it seems, in
fact, that we are teaching a kind of academic writing tailored
very specifically to these tests. Hardly the curriculum that
leads to inspired teaching or learning. There are, however, ways
that the teacher can develop the curriculum and methods to go
beyond teaching t