ELL ((English Language Learner)) students are often treated as though they are inferior or unintelligent based on the fluency of their English. In reality, this is something all ELL people as a whole face, students or not. I see it daily- people talking to ELL students as if they were a toddler, judging their grammar as a definitive sign of their intellect, snickering at their imperfections in speaking English, etc.
This is something I see happening from all angles, including from professors and other authority figures. In the past, I’ve even been guilty of such a mindset. Though even now, among all of the social justice matters circling out lives, this still seems to be an issue that is hardly brought to attention.
I work at a Writing and Communication Center at the University of Washington. My role is a peer consultant, meaning I tutor and assist students of any year or major with all forms of reading and writing. My point being, I work with countless ELL students throughout my shifts.
When I work with ELL students, the appointments are almost always focused on grammar, as they are embarrassed that they don’t yet understand the impossibly absurd rules of English grammar.
More than that, though, I see a disturbing trend. They bring in their work and seem ashamed, apologizing to me for how bad their work is before I even look at it.
However, when we sit down to look at their work, it is far from awful. The content and ideas I see expressed are some of the most profound that I’ve been brought from my clients. I see exceptional analysis and brilliant ideas in the content of the paper, yet many of them still think their work is terrible. They’ve been conditioned to think so, as there are far too many people who look only at the grammar and composition of their writing.
This frustrated me to no end; it’s a compounding series of micro-aggressions that discourage ELL students from claiming their education. I can only imagine the difficulty these students face from academia and rampant stereotypes/misconceptions.
Their talent is constantly undermined; this is rather ironic to me, given that the population of ELL students I see at the writing center are the most diligent and motivated clients, far and away. Even though language barriers can make some assignments take much longer, they take the initiative to use the writing center and spend the energy it takes to thrive.
I suppose the point of my long-winded rant is this: It’s about damn time that we retaliate against the system that perpetuates this view. I may not be an ELL student, but as someone who is learning a second language, I especially want to be an ally to the community, starting with speaking out on the problem.
