If you are a tutor or instructor who wants to improve your teaching of international and multilingual students, these six lessons are for you. You will learn how culture and home language influence writing, and you will consider how to make U.S. academic writing conventions more transparent for diverse learners. The materials were created for the Miller Writing Center’s peer consultants; you are encouraged to adapt them to your own context.

Materials designed by Layli Miron

Lesson 1 covers patterns in multilingual learners' educational experiences and asks you to reflect on your experiences with learning languages and/or with teaching multilingual students

• Lesson 1: Introduction to Multilingual Learners Word Document

• Lesson 1: Introduction to Multilingual Learners PDF 

Lesson 2 identifies the dominant language groups at the Miller Writing Center and invites you to learn about how the features of a student's home language can transfer to English

• Lesson 2: Multilingual Learners at the Writing Center Word Document

• Lesson 2: Multilingual Learners at the Writing Center PDF

Lesson 3 explores how culture influences approaches to learning and writing and asks you to uncover some cultural assumptions of U.S. higher education

• Lesson 3: Learning to Write in a New Culture Word Document

• Lesson 3: Learning to Write in a New Culture PDF

Lesson 4 considers how global educational systems and the U.S. academy can differently define "good writing," including concepts of audience, structure, and correctness

• Lesson 4: Differing Expectations for "Good Writing" Word Document

• Lesson 4: Differing Expectations for "Good Writing" PDF

Lesson 5 grapples with how to balance assimilation to U.S. academic writing conventions with respect for writers' diverse voices

• Lesson 5: Assimilation? Empowerment? Writing Conventions and Linguistic Diversity Word Document

• Lesson 5: Assimilation? Empowerment? Writing Conventions and Linguistic Diversity PDF

Lesson 6 encourages you to extend your learning about multilingual writers and present it to a broader audience

• Lesson 6: Researching & Developing Your Own Project Word Document

• Lesson 6: Researching & Developing Your Own Project PDF