A presentation given at the 2011 Conference on College Composition and Communication.

1. The Complexity of Multilingual
Student Placement Preferences
Todd Ruecker
University of Texas at El Paso

2. The Context
• Situated on the U.S.-Mexico border
• About 80% Latino
• Majority of students multilingual, first
generation
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3. The Study
• Inspired by Costino & Hyon’s 2007 JSLW article
• Mixed methods study
• Surveyed 10 ESOL and 10 ENG FYC classes two
times, and conducted follow up interviews with 9
students.
• Quantitative analysis using Survey monkey
filtering & SPSS. Qualitative analysis by inductive
coding of responses and transcripts.
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4. Research questions
1. What are multilingual students’ attitudes towards various
labels commonly used to describe students like them?
Are these attitudes affected by students’ self-identification
with the labels or self-reported usage of English?
2. How do students view mainstream and L2 writing courses
differently and how do course titles affect student
perception of the courses?
3. If given the choice, would multilingual students placed
into ESL and mainstream classrooms choose the same
placements that the institution assigned them? Does
their placement satisfaction change between the
beginning and end of a semester?
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5. Theoretical framework
Identity as “multiple, a site of struggle,
and changing over time”
(Norton Peirce, 1995, p. 14).
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6. ESOL or English?
If given the freedom to choose, would you rather be in
your current writing course, ENG/ESOL 1311, or a 1311
course in the ESOL/ENG department?
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7. ESOL or English?
If given the freedom to choose, would you rather be in
your current writing course, ENG/ESOL 1311, or a 1311
course in the ESOL/ENG department?
Part life (101)
32 Mex./Intl (81)
Whole life (9) ESOL
ENG
68
19.8
22.2 ESOL
ESOL
ENG
ENG 80.2
77.8
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8. ESOL or English?
If given the freedom to choose, would you rather be in
your current writing course, ENG/ESOL 1311, or a 1311
course in the ESOL/ENG department?
Of 53 ESOL students I was able to track,
7 switched to an ESOL preference while 3
switched to an ENG preference by the end
of the semester.
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9. NES/NNES preferences
Would you prefer to be in a 1311 class with all
nonnative speakers of English or with a mixture of
native and nonnative speakers?
NNES/Mixed Preferences ESOL/ENG Preferences
20.8 27.1
All NNES
ESOL
NES & ENG
NNES 72.9
79.2
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10. ESOL qualitative responses
32 responses preferring 114 responses
ENG preferring mixed
• a desire to learn and • the chance to practice
speak more English (9) more English (32)
• expectations of the • they would learn faster
course being more (19)
challenging or faster (8) • possibilities for cultural
• desire to be with NESs exchange (17)
(4) • belief that their English
• belief that they knew and Spanish were good
enough English (4) enough for a mixed
course (11)
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11. ESOL qualitative responses
87 responses preferring 19 responses preferring
ESOL NNES only
• the course is better for • being on the same level
their needs and can help with the other students (8)
them better (21) • feeling more comfortable
• they have more to learn (5)
and are not ready (16) • having similar needs (2)
• it is easier because others • have more confidence (1)
speak their language (14)
• it is more comfortable (11)
• the teacher or teaching
style is better adapted to
learning needs (10)
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12. Pamela
• Completed high school in Mexico
• Placed in ESOL
• Initially wanted to be in English, later satisfied
with ESOL
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13. Pamela (cont.)
Beginning of semester: “Because the
student who are in the 1311 course in the
English department are native English
speaker, so if I want to talk with some of
them, I have to speak in English too.
Instead in the ESOL classes where almost
everyone speak Spanish, so I do not have
the necessity to use my English.”
End of semester: “That’s a really good question
because I think that in English, maybe I will be
with people that speak in English, so it will be
better to me because I will be forced, because for
example, in the ESL classes, my classmates
speak Spanish, so, we speak Spanish…[but] I
don’t know…I like the ESOL classes and I think
that there are more, like, um, como dedidcadas.”
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14. Amanda
• Came to UTEP from Mexico on athletic
scholarship, been learning English 3 years
• Placed in ENG 1311
• Initially wanted to be in ESOL, later satisfied with
ENG
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15. Amanda (cont.)
Beginning of semester: “Because I might be a little
behind in the learning comparing to the rest of my
class…” Chose comp for ESL and for L2 writers
“because in those the teachers may take more into
consideration that they need to explain to you more
in detail some stuff. Because probably some of the
things we’re doing right now other people did it in
high school. But since I started in Mexico, I didn’t.
So maybe they could pay more attention to us.”
End of semester: “Cause I didn’t think I could do it. I
thought it was too difficult and but now I think if the rest of
my classes are going to be in English, I should start now
with that, practicing English…I know it’s weird how I
contradict myself from the beginning to here but thought
this course I’ve learned that what, I just told you, that it’s
better if I practice it and maybe I wasn’t really sure about
myself, but now I am and I’ve learned a lot and that’s
good.” University of Texas at El Paso
© The

16. Joanne
• Moved to U.S. to study at UTEP, been learning
English since elementary school.
• Placed in ESOL
• Dissatisfied with ESOL placement from the
beginning, approached ESOL director.
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17. Joanne (cont.)
Beginning of semester
preference for ENG:
“Because the teachers do not
identify you as a student with
deficiencies of language and on
regular English classes you get
the chance to know more of
English language and the
culture.”
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18. Joanne (cont.)
J: No, I don’t think they placed me accurately. That’s why I’m saying that
uh, this student opinion, or, at least an interview with the student, to
get to know them that, they got a lot of troubles but they can fix them,
cause, I got placed in 1309 and I found I used that one, but they’re
also required to take 1406, which is grammar, and I didn’t learn
anything in that class, that’s why I’m like…
I: It’s too easy…
J: And it’s useless, and it’s just a waste of time.
I: did you take 1310?
J: No, I haven’t taken it yet.
I: And do you have to?
J: Yeah, unfortunately. I don’t wanna take it, because I know it’s a
reading class, and I took history, I also took philosophy, I took
sociology, so I’m like those are really hard classes for reading, so why
should I go to ESOL, youThe University of Texas at El Paso
©
know?

19. Implications
• Identities are shifting and dynamic, not static, and
thus so are preferences
• Problem when fluid preferences clash with rigid
placement systems
• Tests are insufficient to be the only consideration
in placing students
• Inadequacy of simple mainstream/ESL dichotomy
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20. Recommendations
1. Consider student opinion
• Student abilities and motivations are diverse
• DSP introduced by Royer and Gilles (1998),
recommended in CCCCs statement on L2
writers
• Potential of online surveys (Crusan, 2006)
• Necessary to inform students about options
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21. Recommendations
2. Increase flexibility
• Joanne revealed limits of a system that treats
a complex, dynamic identity as static.
• Student preferences/knowledge change
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22. Recommendations
3. Ensure credit for ESL courses
• Insult to injury if not receiving credit for ESL
class
• Students can spend 2 years without credit
• Adding to linguistic repertoire should be
considered college-level work
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23. Recommendations
4. Rethink course design
• Cross-cultural composition as alternative to
mainstream/ESL dichotomy (Silva, 1994;
Matsuda & Silva, 1999)
• Requires a teacher who is knowledgeable in
working with L1 and L2 writers and a
balanced mix of L1 & L2 English writers
• Alternative in linking courses: similar
assignments, having students from different
classes work together on assignments, meet
for peer review
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24. References
Costino, K. & Hyon, S. (2007). “A class for students like me”: Reconsidering
relationships among identity labels, residency status, and students’
preferences for mainstream or multilingual composition. Journal of Second
Language Writing, 16(2), 63-81.
Crusan, D. (2006). The politics of implementing online directed self-placement for
second-language writers. In P.K. Matsuda, C. Ortmeier-Hooper, & X. You
(Eds.) The politics of second language writing: In search of the promised land
(pp. 205-21). West Lafayette, IN: Parlor.
Matsuda, P.K. & Silva, T. (1999). Cross-cultural composition: Mediated
integration of U.S. and international students. Composition Studies, 27(1),
15-30.
Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning.
TESOL Quarterly, 29(1), 9-31.
Royer, D. J., & Gilles, R. (1998). Directed self-placement: An attitude of
orientation. College Composition and Communication, 50(1), 54-70.
Silva, T. (1994). An examination of writing program administrators’ options for the
placement of ESL students in first year writing classes. WPA: Writing Program
Administration, 18(1-2), 37-43.University of Texas at El Paso
© The

25. Thank you!
If you would like a copy of this presentation or
talk more about this study,
please email me at
tcruecker@miners.utep.edu
If you would like to learn more about my work,
please visit my website at
toddruecker.com
© The University of Texas at El Paso