The CATESOL Journal

This article describes a research project conducted at San Francisco State University on “Generation 1.5” learners and their teachers. In addition to providing a detailed description of who these learners are, this article warns of the pervasive likelihood of these students falling somewhere between the traditional institutional tracks of “native speaker” Composition and ESL, neither of which appropriately meets their educational needs. The article describes efforts at SFSU to mitigate this dangerous trend by bringing together faculty from Composition and ESL to explore some of the tendencies, preconceptions, and assumptions that inform the ways ESL and Composition program faculty respond to the writing of Generation 1.5 students. The article concludes by identifying a number of successful instructional principles and practices for working with this population of students, and considers the effects on teacher training and institutional policy should such practices be implemented.