Cultural Dissonance and Basic Writing Raul Ybarra University of Massachusetts, Boston

I have been studying the teaching of writing and effect it has on Latino students for over sixteen years now. This interest began while teaching writing courses at California State University, Fresno (CSUF) back in 1985. While teaching writing courses at California State University, Fresno (CSUF), more then any other group, I saw the frustrations, the anger, and the suspicions I continue to see today among Latino students: the defensive posturing, arms crossed, slouching in the chairs, little or no emotion in the faces of these students. In my many years of teaching writing and observing Latino student reactions, I have come to the conclusion that many Latino students react this way because they do not understand what is happening. Many of these students do not understand why they score low on placement exams and are placed in BW courses in the first place or why they struggle with Basic Writing. These students are also very fearful about failing BW, and they are both frustrated and suspicious about writing and English courses in and the instructors who teach these courses.

For example, here is an example of how one instructor interpreted one student's frustration. This was when I was a graduate student working in the writing lab. The student, Connie, was referred to me by her BW instructor. After working with Connie for a few sessions, I noticed that her major problem was with structure when writing an academic essay. She saw the academic structure as very repetitive and saw no need to follow this structure. After a few sessions working and making progress with Connie, I went to talk to the instructor to let her know about the progress she was making. The instructor (another graduate student) confided to me that she had trouble talking to Connie, for that matter, even approaching her. She then told me that she was concerned about Connie's attitude about the BW class and about her passing the class because of her attitude. I was bothered by this. I didn't notice any hostility in Connie, just frustration in not understanding why she needed to write in a structure she saw see as repetitive. I ended up working with Connie the rest of the semester, and she did pass the BW course. However, what continued to happen to Connie (and many Latino students like Connie) is that her struggle with writing did not stop even though she successfully completed the BW course. The tensions of being frightened, confused, and angry were still there through her regular composition course and beyond. The tensions were compounded because Connie never understood why she was having so much difficulty with writing.

In my six years at the University of Massachusetts, I have had to deal with many similar situations. For example here is what one student (Letty) told me about her feeling being placed in a BW classroom: I was disappointed, I'm like, like I feel like I am going backwards. I was used to moving forward and doing really well, and I knew that 160 (160 is the freshman composition course) was basically where everybody started off. So it's like, great. I'm not even starting off /with/ everybody else. I'm going to a level back. Although Letty did well in class and ended up with a 'B' grade, she, too, never understood why she was placed in BW nor why she struggled in BW.

What I argue that is occurring is a (dis)connection-orB-dissonanceB-between the cultural backgrounds and corresponding thought process of Latino students in the learning environment in the composition classroom (Ybarra, 2001, p. 38). I argue that the lack of understanding, the fear, and the suspicions all originate in the cultural and linguistic dissonance that arises between Latino students' discourse patterns used by most Latino students and academic patterns of writing (Ybarra, 2001, p. 48). Thus, I offer this concept of "cultural dissonance," a term that I took from the more frequently used notion of "cognitive dissonance," to highlight issues of cultural differences in ways of thinking between many minority groups and academia that contribute to the tensions encountered between Latino students and writing instructors.

Questions for Discussion:

• Why do a high number of Latino students get placed into Basic Writing, even when many have taken honors or college prep courses in high schools?
• Why do many Latino students struggle with academic writing, even after passing all their required writing courses?
• Why do we as teachers find it more comfortable to "write off" our students than to change how we teach and approach issues of cultural difference?
• How do we confront our own understandings and biases around issues of cultural dissonance?
  

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Teaching Basic Writing

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