"It's not my job to teach them how to write": Facilitating the Disciplinary Rhetorical Socialization of International ESL Graduate Assistants in the Sciences and Engineering

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the challenges faced by international ESL graduate assistants in the Sciences and Engineering in writing for their academic programs and professional positions (e.g., proposals, dissertations, journal articles, conference proceedings), as well as those faced by faculty in helping them with their writing, at the University of Idaho. This study's findings suggest that ESL graduate assistants are frustrated with the lack of effective guidance that they receive from their advisors/major professors on writing-related issues, which hinders their academic success as well as their working relationships. In addition, the lack of writing support directly correlates with not being adequately prepared to write in English about their research once they become researchers in either a university or industry setting in the United States (US) or abroad. Basic communication, writing for assistantships and advisor/major professor issues (including faculty lack of time and the tendency to "take over" and re-write student writing) were the most significant challenges identified by participants when results were analyzed separately for the two key stakeholder groups. The results of this study and similar findings nationally and internationally suggest that writing for academic/professional purposes at the graduate level is an exceedingly complex cognitive and social undertaking for ESL graduate students. The results also suggest that facilitating disciplinary rhetorical socialization is exceptionally complex and challenging for faculty. And while research has shown that cohesive discipline-specific, graduate-level writing programs that equally support graduate students and faculty result in optimized research performance and professional preparation, few exist in the US. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2009.