Relationship building with students and instructors of ESL

Purpose – ESL students often do not utilize the librarian for help or attend library orientation and instruction sessions. Academic librarians and ESL composition instructors need to bridge the gap in order to help guide international students during their academic career. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – This paper will describe the benefits of relationship building between a librarian and two ESL instructors at the University of Toledo and the information literacy instruction sessions created for two ESL composition classrooms.Findings – The paper finds that librarians and ESL instructors can bridge the gap for ESL students. Understanding the needs of the international/ESL community can help librarians approach ESL instructors or the international/ESL community in a way that allows the ESL student to feel comfortable and to seek out the librarian's assistance as new needs arise.Practical implications – The collaboration at the University of Toledo indicates that closer...

[1]  H. Hu.  THE CHINESE CONCEPTS OF “FACE” , 1944 .

[2]  J. Cope,et al.  New Library Orientation for International Students. , 1985 .

[3]  G. Hofstede.  Cultural differences in teaching and learning , 1986 .

[4]  Opritsa D. Popa,et al.  Library Orientation and Instruction for International Students: The University of California-Davis Experience. , 1986 .

[5]  J. Reid.  The Learning Style Preferences of ESL Students. , 1987 .

[6]  Boyd Koehler,et al.  ESL Students and Bibliographic Instruction: Learning Yet Another Language. , 1988 .

[7]  Fan Shen,et al.  The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English Composition (Staffroom Interchange). , 1989 .

[8]  Joan Ormondroyd.  The International Student and Course-Integrated Instruction: The Librarian's Perspective. , 1989 .

[9]  Rajinder Garcha,et al.  Bibliographic Instruction for International Students in Academic Libraries , 1993 .

[10]  S. Benesch.  Critical Thinking: A Learning Process for Democracy , 1993 .

[11]  S. Chin.  Collaborative Library Research: A Learning Process for ESL Students. , 1994 .

[12]  Cultural Awareness and Bibliographic Instruction in Academic Libraries , 1994 .

[13]  V. Ramanathan,et al.  Cultures of Writing: An Ethnographic Comparison of L1 and L2 University Writing/Language Programs , 1995 .

[14]  C. Helms.  Reaching Out to the International Students Through Bibliographic Instruction , 1995 .

[15]  R. Dunn,et al.  Learning Styles of Asian-American Adolescents. , 1996 .

[16]  Dwight Atkinson.  A Critical Approach to Critical Thinking in TESOL , 1997 .

[17]  Marcia Pally,et al.  Critical thinking in ESL: An argument for sustained content , 1997 .

[18]  B. Brown.  Getting It Together: Tactics for Reducing Verbal Miscommunication between Native English-Speaking Instructors and Non-Native English-Speaking Students. , 1999 .

[19]  V. Ramanathan,et al.  Individualism, academic writing, and ESL writers , 1999 .

[20]  A. Murphy,et al.  PARLEZ-VOUS TECHNOLOGIE?: TEACHING INFORMATION SKILLS IN A SECOND LANGUAGE * , 2000 .

[21]  Clara C. Park,et al.  Learning Style Preferences of Southeast Asian Students , 2000 .

[22]  Miriam Conteh-Morgan.  Empowering ESL students: A new model for information literacy instruction , 2001 .

[23]  Miriam Conteh-Morgan,et al.  Connecting the dots: Limited English proficiency, second language learning theories, and information literacy instruction , 2002 .

[24]  Zhenhui Rao.  Bridging the Gap Between Teaching and Learning Styles in East Asian Contexts , 2002 .

[25]  John W. Bagnole,et al.  An Interactive Information Literacy Course for International Students: A Practical Blueprint for ESL Learners. , 2003 .

[26]  Joseph Kee-Kuok Wong,et al.  Are the Learning Styles of Asian International Students Culturally or Contextually Based , 2004 .

[27]  Pamela A. Jackson,et al.  Incoming international students and the library: a survey , 2005 .

[28]  Karen Evans.  INTERLINK at Indiana State University: Adventures in Libraiy Instruction for International Students , 2006 .

[29]  Nora Hegarty,et al.  Crossing a bridge , 2006 .

[30]  Dawn Amsberry.  Talking the Talk: Library Classroom Communication and International Students , 2008 .

[31]  Maud C. Mundava Mls,et al.  Meeting Them Where They Are: Marketing to International Student Populations in U.S. Academic Libraries , 2008 .

[32]  Anne T. Switzer.  Redefining Diversity: Creating an Inclusive Academic Library through Diversity Initiatives , 2008 .

[33]  C. Valiente,et al.  Are students using the 'wrong' style of learning? , 2008 .

[34]  Dawn Amsberry,et al.  Deconstructing Plagiarism: International Students and Textual Borrowing Practices , 2009 .

[35]  Shantel Agnew,et al.  The expanding library wall: Outreach to the University of Tennessee's multicultural/international student population , 2009 .

[36]  Dawn Amsberry.  Using effective listening skills with international patrons , 2009 .

[37]  E. Love,et al.  Forging inroads between libraries and academic, multicultural and student services , 2009 .

[38]  Charity K. Martin,et al.  Closing the Gap: Investigating the Search Skills of International and US Students: An Exploratory Study , 2009 .

[39]  Donna Miller,et al.  Library Usage Trends and Needs of International Students , 2010 .

[40]  Lorrie Knight,et al.  Rethinking the library for the international student community , 2010 .

[41]  Yu-Hui Chen,et al.  Helping International Students Succeed Academically through Research Process and Plagiarism Workshops , 2011, Coll. Res. Libr..

[42]  Kathleen M. Reaume.  Second Language Writing: An Exploratory Study of ESL Student’s Evaluation of Web Resources , 2011 .

[43]  Alexander Serenko,et al.  Learning outcomes of information literacy instruction at business schools , 2011, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..