On “The Legacy of First Year Composition” by Ilona Leki

Leki’s chapter focuses on ESL students attending first year composition classes. She starts by analyzing “the negative legacy that second language (L2) English writing students and practitioners have inherited and typically must live with” and which has become “as a (nearly) universally sanctioned institution in the U.S.” (Leki, p. 59). In her analysis of first year composition (FYC), she states that not only does L1 composition classes fail to meet the needs of students, FYC for L2 learners is even more “hegemonic” for them. “In some institutions L2 students are required to take first-year composition in classes with native English speaking (NES) students, sometimes under teachers with no real awareness of L2 writing issues” (Leki, p. 60). This is essentially motivated by “a kind of misplaced sense of democracy” (Leki, p. 65). In other words, “first-year composition has an impact on virtually all students, its hegemonic bid is [even] much more serious [for L2 learners] ” (Leki, p. 63). The case of Yang, which Leki reported on, showed how as a nursing student she had other needs apart from developing writing. Yang was a model of an autonomous L2 learner who tries to self-monitor her learning depending on her needs. Some of the support programs she tried did not work but at least she was aware of her needs or rather weaknesses. Thinking of our upcoming Academic Literacies Symposium, Yang’s case shows clearly that developing academic literacy is not just a matter of developing academic writing. Academic literacy is not just writing, it includes reading, and developing speaking ability before developing public speaking skills.

Leki demonstrates that the teaching pedagogies and practices of L1 composition tend often times to neglect the needs and specificities of L2 writers. One way to address this gap is to get teachers of L1 composition and second language writing work together collaboratively. L2 writers’ major concern in academic writing is to develop their accuracy. They are usually very much focused on error reduction. I would even add that L2 learners, because of teaching methods in ESL and EFL contexts, tend to focus more on developing accuracy at the expense of fluency. And taking composition classes during their freshman year reinforces such orientation even more while students may also need other skills such as speaking in some specific programs.

Most of today’s pedagogies claim to be learner-centered, so I think that the first precept of a learner-centered pedagogy is to be centered on the learners’ needs no matter whether they are first or second language learners.

Leki, I. (2006). The Legacy of First Year Composition. In P.K. Matsuda, C. Ortmeier-Hooper, & X. You, (Eds.). The politics of second language writing: In search of the promised land. Parlor Press. Pp. 59-74.