Essay: “Response to Writing,” Richard Beach and Tom Friedrich

“A particular challenge to teachers in culturally diverse classrooms is the assessment of writing produced by students from diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds.  These students often receive unclear messages from teachers, because teachers are often unaware of, or unwilling to acknowledge, the influences of culture on the teaching and learning of writing.  Because of their lack of knowledge about the cultural practices that diverse students bring into the classroom, some teachers are unable to explain explicitly how the classroom rules of participation differ from the students’ rules of participation or the culture of power in which students are expected to participate in society and in many classrooms.  This situation often contributes to a students’ failure in classrooms that require them to demonstrate their knowledge through writing.  Improving this situation depends a great deal on improving cross-cultural communication and understanding and on changing the attitudes of many teachers who hold negative attitudes toward the use of non-mainstream forms of cultural expression.  It also depends on our ability to provide teachers with information that can help them to develop instructional strategies and assessment approaches that support the writing development of all their students.” p 302

“Many culturally diverse students receive skills-based instruction in schools.  However, their understanding of academic writing is quite different from the literacy practices present in their home communities.  Sperling highlights the fact that culture influences students’ and teachers’ conscious and unconscious interactions and expectations in the classroom, and recommends clear and open dialogue between students and teachers to support the development of students’ writing.” p 300

“Ball (1995) provided a detailed text analysis of the expository writing patterns of four academically successful African American high school students.  Using text analysis, Ball revealed that students had the ability to manipulate AAVE, mainstream, and academic English skillfully during their oral discussions and written assignments.  The also demonstrated the ability to intersperse culturally influenced literacy patterns into their expository writing in ways that enriched their classwork.” p 300