Struggling to read and write in a second language

Writing and reading. Reading and writing. Keeping a journal to capture the moments that surround you, incubating ideas (Bomer Bomer, 2001), and organizing ideas. All this seems fairly simple, that is unless you are an English Language Learner (ELL) or an English as a Second Language (ESL) student. Foreign languages are immensely difficult for most learners and thus, teachers and students must have an understanding of each other. Tools, strategies, compensations, and acknowledgements of strengths and weakness behoove the instructor and student. Chen (2000) cites Zamel (1976) and Jones (1986) in that . . . ?students writing in a second language proceed in similar fashion as native speakers? (p. 14). Chen (2000) continues to explain that ELL or ESL students all engage in the process of discovery, the process of determining meaning around self. Therefore:[C]ulturally relevant teachers understand that learning is facilitated when we capitalize on learners? prior knowledge. Rather than seeing students? culture as an impediment to learning, it becomes the vehicle through which they can acquire the official knowledge and skills of the school curriculum. However, in order to capitalize on students? cultures, teachers have to know the students? cultures (Ladson-Billings, 2001, p. 99-100).