Aicha Haller

Professor Gunter
EN 12
8 March, 2018

Mellix and Villanueva

Both Victor Villanueva and Barbara Mellix emphasized the difficulties of writing in a

second language in both of their works. From Outside, In by Barbara Mellix focuses on language

as power and how speaking Black English rather than Standard/Proper English created a barrier

between her and the other students. Mellix was forced to code-switch in order to succeed in her

work and writing, yet she still felt distant from the proper language. Villanueva’s excerpt from

Bootstraps: From an Academic of Color discusses similar issues as he allows the reader gain

insight of the process that a non-native English speaker goes through in order to produce a

university level paper.

As stated above, a main theme that Mellix develops in her writing is the outsideness and

isolation of writing in a non-native language. This type of writing requires much more time,

thought, and effort to develop. This means that a non-native English speaking student who is

writing at a university not only needs to learn the actual course material, but also how to

communicate in a new language as well as conform to the norms of writing across multiple

genres in that language. Mellix describes this idea as an almost ‘double-life’ of such a student.

Writing in such situations leaves the writer vulnerable and uncomfortable.

In order to succeed, Mellix draws from the ability to code switch well. She expresses that

being able to imagine herself as part of the culture and its language enabled her to find her voice

in her writing and reach her goals. From this point of view, much of the success of a student in
the classroom comes from his or her own commitment to learn and be able to code-switch

effectively.

Villanueva raises a good point about the issues within the grading system of non-native

English speaking students. He recalls the numerous times when though his paper was graded

with many question marks and cross outs, he would receive decent grades such as a B. However,

he referred to his grade as a “charitable B”. In other words, he believes that despite his hard work

and effort put forth into developing his paper, he only received the grade he did because he is a

“minority”. This is especially interesting for teachers to consider when grading the paper of a

student like Villanueva. Should these students be held to separate standards than native speakers?

Villanueva seems insulted by this idea and continuously tried to show that he didn’t need

academic charity. As opposed to Mellix’s argument, Villanueva’s excerpt is geared towards the

teachers, raising awareness of the difficulty of non-native English speaking students and guiding

them with specific feedback rather than awarding them with a passable grade despite their

ultimately failed efforts.