Shy students tend to become shyer when speaking in a new language. Even outgoing students often become shy. Aside from fear of failure, they may be adjusting to a classroom structure that differs fundamentally from those of their native culture. Teachers must not assume a student doesn't know the answers if he doesn't speak up. Having students collaborate in small groups may alleviate shyness, and the teacher can still observe students in that context. Evaluating students' skills during one-on-one student/teacher conferences will also help teachers understand how much students have progressed. Simply requiring them to speak in class, and then grading them on it, might cause students to become nervous and make more errors.
Different cultures have different ideas about what makes a strong piece of writing. American writing has a very direct style, which English learners may have difficulty grasping. Likewise, students may not be used to critiquing others' ideas in their writing. Students might have strong insights, but have difficulty sharing them in a culturally acceptable way. English learners may not state their thesis upfront, or they may seem to digress from the main argument, because that's how people in their culture tend to write. Teachers must consider whether their students' ideas seem disjointed for cultural reasons. For instance, Asian students may have learned that illustrating obvious connections insults the reader. Teachers must help students overcome such cultural challenges by explaining the problem clearly. A teacher should provide examples of dealing with similar problems on a handout, and hold one-on-one conferences to address continuing issues.
English language teachers must understand that cultural conceptions of plagiarism differ, too. Students might spend more time writing about others' ideas than developing their own ideas in their papers, with documentation that would be considered lax by American standards. Teachers must clearly explain what constitutes plagiarism, and provide a handout on it, so students can avoid plagiarism and showcase their own ideas. This will help students to stay out of trouble in other classes, too, particularly in college; at the University of Minnesota, 85 percent of reported plagiarism cases are against English language learners.
Writing teachers typically prioritize their concerns, primarily giving feedback about the largest issues of the paper if it has major organizational or developmental issues. However, ESL students often expect more thorough feedback about both lower-order and higher-order concerns. They might question the competence of their teacher if she doesn't correct their grammar. However, comments about grammar can become overwhelming and distract from more important concerns. Thus, the teacher should clearly explain the hierarchy of concerns, and why she's focusing on higher-order concerns in a first draft. On a later draft, when the teacher marks a grammatical error and notes that it's a recurring issue, she should point out other examples. Writing higher-order concerns in one color ink, and lower-order concerns in another will illustrate the hierarchy.