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The semester-long writing goal shifts learners from paragraph writing toward essay development while addressing limits of form-focused, teacher-centered instruction. Scaffolded forums begin with whole-class issue brainstorming and proceed through reasoned posts and argumentative peer replies.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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problem does the article address in intermediate-level ESL writing instruction?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It highlights limitations of conventional approaches that overemphasize rigid essay organization, rely on the teacher as the only audience and evaluator, and often ignore digital-media writing practices relevant to the 21st century.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How are students involved in the online forum discussions during the course?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Students generate controversial issues, select one issue to write a forum post with reasons, and then reply to peers, specifically aiming to argue to strengthen the support for their claims.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What guidance does the instructor provide regarding spelling and grammar in forums?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Students are explicitly told not to worry about spelling or grammar in the online forums, because the forum is not intended as a place to practice 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Development of Opinions in College-Level ESL Writing  \nTo succeed academically, students must learn how to develop critical response to texts (both written texts and visual texts). Asynchronous forums provide an ideal setting for developing these response practices. This article illustrates how the author created scaffolded online forum discussions to support students in their academic literacy development. These discussions took place in a high-intermediate community college ESL class that included early-and late-arriving immigrant students, US-educated multilingual writers who have graduated from US high schools, and international students. The article concludes with a list of issues that teachers should consider when attempting to use online forum discussions in their specific contexts.  \nEnglish i really hard for me because i have difficulty in writing essays because sometimes i don’t know how to spell a word or say it if i am talking to someone. I took English class four years when i was in high school for i could learn how to say words, spell and how to write and essay. (…) Also if i need help iam going to look for it because i don’t want to have hard time in writing essays and also i don’t want people to be making fun of me when i don’t knowhow to say a word. (Bruna, Latina)  \nWhen I was 12 and went to the United States. It was really challenging but I got the hang of it. Learning English was really challenging because if you go out, you have to speak english and if im home I speak my own language and, sometimes I mix it. And when I was in Junior High I took ESL’s and on first it was hard to write in english and I think that I will get better on that. Im not sure but I think i took ESL like 3 years. (Simon, Filipino)  \nI remember some experiences I had when learned English. When i was in market and i didn’t know how to translate in English, and i asked other people how to translate to English, but they ignore me because i was Asian person. Then I decide it that i have to learn english very well and help other people that don’t know hoe to speak English. (Jooho)  \n112 • The CATESOL Journal 24.1 • 2012/2013  \nIntroduction  \nhe students in my intermediate-level community college ESL courses  \nTvarthey gUSreatlforyimnobreackgrthanou1n0dy:eadarus, ltriemmicentlgyrantarrisvwho hed immaveigrbeeantns, liiving innterna  \ntional students, and a growing number of US-educated multilingual students. This diverse group of students also varies greatly in terms of academic preparation; many are unfamiliar with academic conventions, others have had limited experiences with schools, and an increasing number of students have been in the American public education system for years, yet still lack the necessary skills, knowledge, and experiences to engage successfully in complex writing practices, as illustrated in the opening quotes of this article.  \nThe official goal for the semester-long high-intermediate writing course I teach (Writing Level 4) is to take students from paragraph writing to essay development, to familiarize students with writing in different rhetorical modes, and to acquaint students with the expectations of college-level academic writing. In this context, conventional approaches to intermediate-level academic ESL writing have been problematic in several ways:  \n1. They usually place an enormous focus on form and on a specific, and frequently too rigid, essay organization;  \n2. The teacher is often the sole audience, assessor, and evaluator of the form and organization of the students’ writing;  \n3. Instruction often ignores central ways of writing via digital media in the 21st century, such as emailing, blogging, sharing opinions in an online forum, and social networking, in spite of the fact that these ways of writing have become integral to not only our everyday lives, but also to success in academic settings (Thorne & Black, ","cbCaidbQF3Muregr","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidbQF3Muregr","pdf",569963,"English","# Introduction\n## Course goals and instructional challenges\n## Online forum discussion design and workflow\n## Participation norms and writing support","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the article address in intermediate-level ESL writing instruction?\",\"answer\":\"It highlights limitations of conventional approaches that overemphasize rigid essay organization, rely on the teacher as the only audience and evaluator, and often ignore digital-media writing practices relevant to the 21st century.\"},{\"question\":\"How are students involved in the online forum discussions during the course?\",\"answer\":\"Students generate controversial issues, select one issue to write a forum post with reasons, and then reply to peers, specifically aiming to argue to strengthen the support for their claims.\"},{\"question\":\"What guidance does the instructor provide regarding spelling and grammar in forums?\",\"answer\":\"Students are explicitly told not to worry about spelling or grammar in the online forums, because the forum is not intended as a place to practice grammar and they should feel comfortable and free to share initial opinions.\"}]","Online Forum Discussions and the Development of Opinions in College-Level ESL Writing | PDF",1792085954,25]