http://www.dartmouth.edu/~compose/tutor/problems/esl.html
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Common ESL Errors: The Top Ten List
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From the Home Office in Sanborn comes the following top ten list of common ESL errors. Some of these errors you will find in the writing of native speakers of English, but some (such as articles and preposition problems) are particular to writers for whom English is a second (or third, or fourth) language.
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Number One: Articles
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Articles are perhaps the most persistent problems for non-native speakers of English, especially for Asian or Russian writers, whose languages don't use articles. Occasionally, European speakers will exhibit some difficulty with articles as well: in many languages, every noun requires an article, and it is unclear to some speakers when articles should be omitted. A Native English speaker (even a young one) will never have trouble with articles: we know at some very deep level when to use or to omit "the," "a," or "an."
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The basic rules for articles are not hard to explain: countable nouns require articles; uncountable nouns generally do not. Reference to a concrete noun generally requires a definite article; reference to an abstract noun usually requires an indefinite article. What complicates the matter is that article use depends often on context, both grammatical and in terms of a sentence's meaning. For example, "Society disapproves of smoking," is one context, while "The society of non-smokers lobbies hard to take away smokers' rights," is another. What makes this problem even more difficult to explain is that some article use is idiomatic, or requires a lot of grammatical analysis in order to be understood. For example, why say "I have a cold," but then say "I have pneumonia"? Why not say "I have a pneumonia?" And why do we invite someone out to dinner, not out to the dinner, or a dinner? (Though we will always invite them out for a meal, not simply meal.)
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You will do a lot of intellectual sweating attempting to help writers with articles, and you will be tempted to pass off most of what is hard to explain as idiomatic. Resist this temptation! Perhaps the usage is idiomatic, but an attempt to explain and to understand the finer points of grammar can be useful for your tutees -- and for you as well.
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Number Two: Prepositions
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This is a second area of error that is made almost exclusively by ESL writers. While some New Yorkers will wait on line (instead of in line, like the rest of us), for international writers the problem of prepositions is much more serious. Beginning writers will have trouble understanding why it is that sitting by the table is different from sitting at the table; more advanced writers will have trouble wrestling with the difference between being concerned with something, as opposed to being concerned by something.
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Typically those prepositions used to express abstract thoughts will be particularly meddlesome: an ESL writer may be able to visualize the difference between being on the water and in the water, but less able to see the difference between dwelling in and dwelling on a particular idea and emotion. Unfortunately, most preposition usage is simply that: a matter of usage. The best you can do is to explain differences to the writer, and to hope that she will take your explanation with her into her next paper or her next conversation with a native speaker.
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Number Three: Infinitives
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Another category of error common to ESL writers is incorrect use of infinitives. You will find that ESL writers will pattern their English sentences after sentences in their native languages, where often many rules (including the rules for infinitives) differ from the rules we use in English. Therefore, you will have writers composing sentences like, "I wouldn't mind to have a BMW." There are categories of verbs that call for the infinitive, and other categories that do not. If you are unsure about these categories, look them up with your students in any of the handbooks sitting on the Composition Center shelves. In explaining the rule to the writer, you might learn something yourself!
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Number Four: Using the Wrong Parts of Speech
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ESL writers will sometimes confuse parts of speech, using an adjective where they want to use a noun, or a verb where they want to use a gerund, or an adverb where they want to use an adjective. This is common when one is learning a foreign language (those of you learning German, French, Italian, etc. surely make the same kinds of mistakes). Be patient: usually pointing to the word in question is enough to make the writer hit himself in the head, utter some word that you don't understand, and provide the proper word for himself.
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Number Five: Agreement
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Subjects and verbs must agree, tenses must agree, and so on. While this category of error is not exclusive to ESL writers, agreement errors are especially likely to plague ESL papers.
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Number Six: Verb Tense and Forms
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ESL writers will have problems with choosing the proper tenses; they will also be confused (as are our native speakers) by irregular verbs, such as lie and lay.
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Number Seven: Active and Passive Voices
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Most writers understand that they ought to avoid the passive voice. But ESL writers often hide behind the passive voice as a way of not taking responsibility for ideas and sentences that they aren't sure about.
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Number Eight: Sentence Structure/Sentence Boundaries
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ESL writers (even more so than native speakers) often have trouble learning the boundaries of the English sentence and so are prone to fragments, run-ons, and convoluted prose. Going back to the basics will help these writers: explain to them the simple sentence, the means of coordination and subordination, and, perhaps most importantly, the limits of the English sentence. Often the idea that is expressed beautifully in Spanish, German, or Russian will break the back of the English sentence. Encourage the writers to be kind to their sentences. Help them to judge what an English sentence will bear.
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Number Nine: Punctuation
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Everyone has this problem, but ESL writers are plagued by it. Often, a writer will punctuate a sentence according to the rules of his language: a Russian will always place a comma before the word "that," for example, simply because it's done that way where he comes from. If you notice persistent punctuation errors, talk with the writer about her native language. You may find the root of the problem there, and solving it will be that much easier.
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Number Ten: The Touchy Matter of Style, or "We Just Don't Say It That Way Here"
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For advanced ESL writers, the most persistent problem is one of style. It is difficult to catch a language's music and subtle rhythms. Again, avoid the temptation of simply saying, "We don't say it like that!" Engage the writer in a discussion about language (when time allows). You may, in this discussion, teach her something about the beauty and delicacy of your own language (and, incidentally, you may learn something about the beauty and delicacy of hers).
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Your Role as an ESL Tutor: Some Advice
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Finally, we'd like to offer a few guidelines to follow when tutoring the ESL writer:
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Don't dominate the session. This advice may sound tediously repetitive by now, but it is easily forgotten in an ESL tutoring session. ESL writers often struggle with spoken English and are sometimes shy about asking you to repeat things or raising their own concerns. Moreover, many ESL writers are acculturated to defer to the teacher and her authority. Remember: the silent but cheerful nodding of an ESL writer may mask a terrible frustration with the writing process. The writer struggling to convey simple ideas in English is often highly qualified in her own culture, and an eloquent writer in her own language -- making the struggle with English all the more acute. I once had an ESL tutee who could not write a perfect English sentence, yet was a teacher of literature and an author of two textbooks in Chinese. The sense of inadequacy that comes with moving from a culture in which you are fully literate to another where you are not can result in a profound disjunction between the inner and outer selves. Be sensitive to the frustration this can cause.
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Don't "fix" it. If you ever feel the urge to "fix" a phrase or smooth a transition -- and you will! -- it will very likely happen with an international writer. You have only twenty minutes of tutoring time left, every sentence in the paper needs to be restructured, and you are frustrated at trying to explain the fundamental rules of the language that you have always used intuitively. (Why exactly DO we use articles? What IS a rhetorical question, and what are its advantages/disadvantages? Why DO we bother with thesis sentences?) "Fixing" problems may make you a happy tutor and the writer a happy tutee, but it will not help the writer in the long run. You will only encourage her to depend on you, and doom yourself to proofreading her papers for life. Help the writer understand why grammar rule is the way it is, or why we bother organizing our written thoughts into paragraphs. It is admittedly difficult, often impossible, to explain the ins and outs of our language's structure and our written conventions. If you can't find an explanation, admit it, and share in the writer's frustration over the complexity of our language. Laughing always helps.
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Don't fake it. I once overheard a tutor tell an ESL writer that, to determine where a comma should go, one must read an essay out loud and to place a comma wherever he stopped to take a breath. The writer, who was Chinese, objected: "I do not breathe as you do," he told his tutor. "Well... then...." the tutor said, flustered, uncertain as to what to do next. Well, well. The moral of the story is never pretend that you know what you don't know. If you don't know something, say so. Engage another tutor in the debate, or go to the grammar books on the shelf and ask the tutee to help you find the answer. Your authority will not be undermined; in fact you will have more actively drawn the tutee into the learning process.
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Don't try to be Super Tutor. You are a writing tutor -- you are not responsible for the writer's English-speaking life in general. Do your job to the best of your ability. Remember that learning a new language -- playing with it, feeling confident in it -- is a slow process. It may be a while before you see results. Don't let that discourage you. You are more valuable than you realize.
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Do prioritize. The overriding issue you are likely to face with ESL writers is where to start. How to reconcile the big picture with the nitty-gritty? Should you focus on the single paper at hand, or start with the basics of American writing in general? Should you spend most of your time on argument, or should you focus on grammar, which is bogging the paper down anyway? You can't do it all, and no matter how wonderful a tutor you are, many things will be left unsaid. Give yourself time to decide what is most important, and what is better left for another day. And don't forget to ask the tutee what his priorities are! He may have very definite ideas about what he wants to accomplish in the tutoring session.
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Do make the session a two-way process. As with all tutoring sessions, there is a direct correlation between the amount of time that an ESLwriter talks and the ability of that writer to internalize the issues at hand. By engaging the writer, challenging him, asking questions, and refusing to let nods of the head suffice as response, you will be minimizing the likelihood of treading the same ground in future sessions.
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Do use the resources we have. We have several resources for ESL writers, including the ESL page on our Student Resources Web site and a grammar book, which they can download from Public, and which has special ESL advice. We also have drills and handbooks in the Center that will be helpful when working with ESL writers. Also, we have tutors working every term who had lots of experience tutoring ESL students. If you have questions or concerns, or would like to refer a tutee to an ESL tutor, please feel free to do so.
