ESL Writing: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

I would like to begin by telling you about the educational context that I work in because I think it tells you a lot about me and my thinking. I am a faculty member in the English Department at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in the USA. Purdue is a large full service state universtiy with more than 35,000 students, about 10 percent of whom are ESL students. At Purdue I direct the ESL writing program, teach writing courses for graduate and undergraduate international students, and teach graduate courses for MA and PhD students planning to become ESL teachers and scholars.