Teaching ESL Students to Read and Write Experimental-Research Papers

Abstract

Reading and writing experimental-research papers is important to academic and processional success in the sciences and social sciences, and is becoming increasingly important in the humanities. Few ESL teachers, however, feel comfortable teaching ESL students to read and write such papers. This paper presents both a discussion of experimental-research paper organization and a method for teaching reading and writing of experimental-research articles to ESL students. ESL teachers are advised to teach students to analyze the reading purpose first, and then to select a reading strategy to meet that purpose. Activities must be structured so that students move from teacher-supplied data to student-collected data.