Use of Modeling in an ESL Writing Class

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of modeling utilized in an ESL writing class on the writing development, including English proficiency, rhetoric, and composing strategies, of two Taiwanese undergraduate students attending a Midwest university in the U. S. The triangulation of qualitative research methods for this study included field from classroom observations; semi-structured interviews, four interviews with both student participants and two with the instructor; and text analyses of the drafts for the first two essays and the mid-term exam by both students for this writing class. The results of data analyses suggest that modeling very possibly can offer students essential linguistic, rhetorical, and cultural resources and enhance not only their L2 writing abilities but also L2 reading abilities at the same time. Compared to novice writers, the effect of such modeling instruction was more obvious to intermediate writers in expanding their repertoire of rhetorical knowledge, composing strategies than in than English proficiency.