When I read the first three chapters from the text, I was a little taken aback by many of the things Zwiers brought up that I had not previously considered. As an individual who was born in Canada, grew up in an English-speaking household, and who has spent years immersed in an academic setting with the language that that entails, many of the issues presented, such as figurative expressions, have, as far as I can recall, always been a part of my life. After growing up hearing things like “on the same page” and knowing or quickly picking up on what they meant, reading about the problems and misunderstandings these sayings can create really opened my eyes. I found the first few chapters very helpful in outlining who diverse learners might be, the problems they could potentially face, and possible solutions to these problems, particularly relating to English the subject.
In the second chapter, in the section on clarity, Zwiers cautions that “[s]tudents can try and be overly academic at the expense of clarity,” (39) by writing overly long sentences and selecting too many words from a thesaurus in order to sound, in their minds, more academic. This really struck me as I, while in high school, had instances where I would do exactly what Zwiers described. For much of the opening chapters I was reading with someone in mind who did not speak English as his/her first language, and this section shook me out of that. While many of the points made in the text might, for example, relate to a diverse student learning English, it is important to keep an open mind when considering the issues discussed and the students they might involve, something I will strive to do as the course continues.