As we've seen in various articles, notably Joy Reid's "'Eye' Learners and 'Ear' Learners," much of the schema our tutees bring to the reading/writing process depends on their prior educations. Both eye learners and ear learners have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it behooves the tutor to capitalize on the former and nurture the latter. First, however, it's essential to identify whom we're working with. As Mark Robege has said, we can't merely ask if the student is Generation 1.5. Rather, we need a simple set of questions to help identify the tutee's by experience and skill set.
At the risk of appearing hideously unoriginal, it seems we could do far worse than to utilize or adapt Reid's Sample Survery/Interview Questions to Identify ESL Student Writer's Language Background ("'Eye' Learners and 'Ear' Learners," pp. 8-9). Ideally, the "interview" would not come across as an interview at all, but rather a chat that covers some rapport building and some questions like those offered by Reid. This would follow naturally after I've spoken a bit about my myself and my goals.
Questions
1. Is English your second language?
2. What's your first language?
3. Did you come to SFSU directly from high school?
4. How many years of college have you had?
4. Did you graduate from a high school in the U.S.?
5. How did you choose SFSU?
6. What do you like about SFSU?
7. How fluent are you in you first language in speaking, listening, reading, writing?
8. How did you learn English?
9. Which areas of English do you like the most -- speaking, listening, reading, writing or grammar?
10. Which areas would you like most help with?
10. What things do you like to do for fun?
11. Who do you like to spend time with in your free time?
12. What do you imagine yourself doing after you graduate?
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