The Basic Writing Course and ESL Writers

The issue of the ESL students in Basic Writing courses brought up by Matsuda in his article interests me. First of all, it seems only natural that the field of basic writing focuses primarily on students who are native speakers of English. To me, it also seems natural that in today's Basic Writing course one will find many non-native English speakers. I think that the point Matsuda tries to make is that it shouldn't seem natural to find both students in the Basic Writing course; they are two different types of student, with different needs.

While the Basic Writing course focuses on the needs of native English speakers, this should not be a course inclusive to both types of students. Ideally, there would be two Basic Writing courses: one for the native English-speaking students and one for the non-native. As Matsuda points out, this is not always feasible in today's tightly budgeted system. The Basic Writing course for non-native English speakers would follow the TESOL model for composition.

In my opinion, allowing American, non-native English speakers a fair education would include the proper courses they need. Foreign students are invited to the States where ESL courses are tailor-made to suite their English language short-comings. If institutions can offer that kind of education to the foreign student, why can they not offer an additional Basic Writing course made for the non-native English speaking student who needs it?