GENERATION 1.5 MEETS COLLEGE COMPOSITION: ISSUES IN THETEACHING OF WRITING TO U.S.-EDUCATED LEARNERS OF ESL. LindaHarklau, Kay M. Losey, and Meryl Siegal (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1999. Pp. v +245. $45.00 cloth, $24.50 paper.

Abstract

For the last decade, college campuses across the United States have witnessed an influx of U.S.-educated nonnative speakers of English. Many of these students come to postsecondary institutions with almost nativelike communicative competence yet marginal literacy skills. This mismatch in proficiency has proved to be a daunting challenge to ESL and composition faculty. Furthermore, few researchers have examined the linguistic needs of this population, creating a gap in our knowledge of how best to intervene with these students. Generation 1.5 Meets College Composition: Issues in the Teaching of Writing to U.S.-Educated Learners of ESLis one of the first attempts to fill that void. This noteworthy volume brings together the current research on U.S.-educated learners of ESL, or Generation 1.5, a reference to U.S.-educated immigrant students who are caught somewhere between the cultural and linguistic experiences of the first and second generations.