Editing ESL Writing
Editing ESL Writing
People learn English for a variety of reasons, such as for pleasure, business, and academic purposes. All of these factors are part and parcel of a larger dynamic: the dominance of the English language in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world. The fact remains that if a non-native speaker of English hopes to compete in today's global economy, he or she must learn English as a second language (ESL). This is the accepted reality, and as such, the number of ESL speakers has been (and will continue to be) on the rise.
English is the most written and spoken language in the world. As a testament to its dominance, it is estimated that there are over 700 million people who are ESL (or ELL: English-Language Learners) speakers. A few facts concerning English will help substantiate this further.
More than 50% of the world's scientific and technical journals are in English.
English is the medium for 80% of the information stored in computers.
English is the language of the navigation and aviation industries.
CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, and CBC—the world's most influential broadcasting companies— disseminate information in English.
English is the most common language among the 163 UN member states.
People who consider English their native language make up less than 10% of the world's population; yet, they possess 30% of its wealth.
The English language is at the center of education, business, politics, and religion. It should come as no surprise that so many people wish (and need) to learn it.
Most native English speakers with a little formal grammar training could pick up two documents and quickly be able to tell you which was written by a native speaker and which was written by an ESL speaker. If asked how they know, they'd probably just say, "This one doesn't sound right."
It's true that non-native English doesn't "sound right" and that sentences and sometimes whole paragraphs might fall under the heading "awkward." But as a professional editor, you can't just rely on vague notions and gut feelings. Your job is to pinpoint precisely why it sounds awkward, and then fix it, or at the very least be able to show the author exactly what part of the sentence needs clarification.
Fortunately for you, ESL speakers have specific, repeated patterns of errors. People tend to have difficulty with the aspects of English that are different from their native language. Many ESL speakers, regardless of their first language, struggle with definite and indefinite articles. Arabic speakers often have trouble with agreement issues. In Japanese, what would be prepositions for English speakers are post positions because of their placement in phrases. Learning the "English way" of doing things can be difficult because it's so unlike the structure of their native language.
ESL learners, like all the rest of us, fall back on the familiar when they are faced with new, uncertain scenarios. Depending on their level of expertise, they will surely come across a situation that requires an English rule that they have not yet learned, or learned incorrectly. As their first line of defense, they will revert back to features found in their native languages regarding prepositions, plurality, article usage, and the like. Let's look at some of the broad categories of errors very briefly.
For many an ESL learner, article usage is problematic. Some are not aware that the is the definite article for the English language. They may produce sentences like these:
He is a one who studies biochemistry.
Learners may not be aware that nouns beginning with vowels require an, not a.
She is a unusual professor.
You may also find that articles are missing entirely.
For experiment, we used glass vial to house solution.
This is where editor frustration may set in. Why? How many experiments were conducted? One? Several? Did the author use a glass vial (among others), the (only) glass vial, or did he or she neglect to place an actual number before and pluralize "glass vial"? Did he or she intend to say two vials? Three? Five? And was it just any old solution, or was it a specific solution with which they were working?
We have used a scientific example here because we tend to see this quite often in medical and scientific documents containing experiments. In this type of case, unless prior context helps you out, you absolutely must ask for clarification. Do not assume that you are able to deduce what the author has intended; there are just too many possibilities.
Improper pluralization, which leads to awkward sounding prose, proves to be another major stumbling block for ESL learners.
He is my best friends.
She can't afford to buy any more book.
They won all the award at the ceremony.
How many more slice of pizza can you eat?
Prepositions are an issue with ESL learners. Sometimes, this can spell disaster in terms of clouding the intended meaning.
I have some things in my mind.
Can you point me at the right direction?
Was that Olivia Newton-John inside Grease?
If she wants to do well in this course, she has to climb under many obstacles.
Yesterday, I went back at my house after class.
The last example is worth a second look. Not only is the prepositional phrase "at my house" incorrect in this context, the editor (or listener) might wonder whether the author (or speaker) is trying out a recently adopted English idiom (for example, "He went at his opponent with ferocity"). Is the author/speaker telling us he or she attacked his or her house? Probably not, but this meaning can technically be assigned. It's best to correct errors like this and then bring them to the attention of ESL learners so that they are aware of these rules when they write in the future.
ESL learners, especially those enrolled in academic institutions, know and understand the necessity of building their vocabularies. They want to be able to make their assignments, articles, and dissertations first, to sound as if they are written by native-English speakers, and second, to sound as if they are written by academics for an academic audience. Often, clients will request that you edit their work to make it sound more sophisticated—suitable for and acceptable to their intended reader base.
We love to see ESL learners take initiative. However, just as in documents written by native speakers, sometimes it is obvious when a writer has used a dictionary or thesaurus; the tone either just doesn't mesh with the rest of the document, or the meaning of the inserted word is incorrect altogether. Either way, the attempt, well-intentioned though it may be, looks and sounds awkward.
The results were not good. The test group had the same magnitude of infection as the control.
Smith (2009) pointed out that the findings were much more enormous than previously thought.
These word choices are technically not grammatically incorrect, but they are syntactically incorrect. Always remember the goal of sound editing: to maintain the writer's voice while making the language sound sophisticated (given the academic context) yet natural.
The results were not significant. The test group had the same rate of infection as the control.
Smith (2009) pointed out that the findings were much greater than previously thought.
The problems we've listed here are the basic reasons why ESL writing doesn't "sound right," but there are a whole host of other issues that come into play. Ultimately, the process of learning any language is extremely difficult and requires the speaker to completely forfeit previous notions about language and communication. It's a long, hard road that leads to fluency. In the next series of lessons, we'll identify for you a whole host of grammar problems that ESL writers face, and we'll set you on the path to effectively editing ESL writing.
Last Updated: 09/29/2022