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English as a Second Language
Work Sample & Commentary:  Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea
The task
Following a textbook study of American explorers, this ESL student was asked to write a report. The student’s report “Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea” included imaginative letters, journal entries, and dialogues as well as factual information about the expedition. This work sample is an imaginary letter from one of Lewis and Clark’s companions to his wife about their adventures on the journey of exploration.

This sample of student work is one piece of a longer project. The student used the format of a letter as a device for presenting facts and details about one part of the expedition across the country. The student obtained information for the report from the textbooks used in class.

Circumstances of performance
This sample of student work was produced under the following conditions:
alone in a group
in class as homework
with teacher feedback with peer feedback
timed opportunity for revision

What the work shows
c Reading: The student reads and comprehends informational materials to develop understanding and expertise and produces written or oral work that:
• restates or summarizes information;
• relates new information to prior knowledge and experience;
• extends ideas;
• makes connections to related topics or information.
The student organized and restated information from a variety of sources in a manner appropriate for an informational piece of writing.

This work sample illustrates an advanced level ESL performance for the following part of the standards:
c Reading: Read and comprehend informational materials.
The ideas gathered through reading and research are recounted in a format that incorporates the ideas in a new context. The letter format is a suitable organizing structure for the work, the purpose of which is to describe how Sacajawea helps the explorers. The opening comment, “I like to be home but it is great to be here,” develops reader interest by suggesting that the writer is about to relate some details of the trip up to that point.
The letter provides a connection between the historical facts of the journey and the experience of being a member of the expedition. The statement, “Mr. Lewis and Mr. Clark were excellent leaders,” implies that the writer is one of the companions of the two main explorers. The student engaged the reader by creating the persona of an explorer writing a letter to his wife.
The framing device of the narrator as a member of the expedition is maintained throughout the piece. The anecdotes about Charbonneau and Sacajawea are told from the point of view of an observer. The first person narration picks up again at the conclusion, providing a sense of closure to the piece.
The student included relevant facts and details about the expedition in the letter by describing how the two guides helped the explorers: “Because of them every Indians we meet on the way make peace with us.”

This ESL student demonstrated a basic command of the rules of the English language within the context of second language acquisition at the advanced proficiency level. The errors are typical of those made by second language learners and show that the student is well on the way to mastering the conventions of written English. The errors in this piece largely reflect the student’s developing understanding of verb tense.
The student used some non-native English structures, such as “I like to be home.” The teacher can plan to review the verb form “I would like…” in a variety of contexts. Nevertheless, the student conveyed the tone of a husband addressing his wife.

In “every Indians,” “every” is a singular indefinite determiner that requires the use of a singular noun. This construction is often confusing for ESL students, since the noun would be plural in the construction “The Indians we met.” In this sentence, the student referred to more than one Indian, but mistakenly used the plural form with “every.” The teacher should continue to provide opportunities to use adjectives that function as either singular or plural determiners, such as each, most, many, and some.
In the sentence “the boat we were riding on had been hitted by a strong gust of wind,” the student used the wrong tense and overgeneralized the use of the -ed ending to form the past participle used in the passive voice, e.g., it should be “was hit” not “had been hitted.” The teacher can use a variety of techniques to review sequence of tenses and the passive voice in context.
The inconsistent use of the simple past tense indicates that the student has not as yet internalized its use on par with a native speaker of English. The student remembered to use the -ed ending in “panicked” and “risked,” but not in “remain.”
“I got to wake up” instead of “I have got to wake up” reflects the colloquial spoken language of English speakers.