In response to the rapidly growing number of international and multilingual students on U.S. college campuses, many colleges’ first year composition (FYC) courses have expanded to include classes designated for “ESL” or “International” students, with increasing scholarship on the best pedagogical practices for such classes. Despite increasing scholarship on the best pedagogical practices for such classes, the implications of placing students into them remains “the thorniest of issues” (Crusan, 2011), with mounting debate as to how to measure L2 students’ suitability for either “ESL” or “mainstream” writing classes, as well as the role students should play in labelling themselves “ESL” writers. Directed Self-Placement (DSP) is emerging as a more equitable and anti-racist alternative to test-based placement; however, there are concerns about its suitability for L2 writers specifically (Crusan, 2011; Ferris, 2017). This literature review therefore aims to address two questions: (1) what are the unique challenges of placing L2 writers in FYC courses? Specifically, what are the implications of the identity labelling inherent in placing L2 students in courses designated as “ESL” or for “International Students” with regard to student investment and learning outcomes? (2) Might DSP offer a viable alternative to traditional L2 placement testing that addresses such implications?
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.