Is It Advisable For ESL Students To Hire Only ESL Writers?

Assuming there are obvious stylistic differences in the writing of native and non-native English speakers, is it not in the best interest of international students to rely exclusively on ESL writers? Since I started academic writing, I have done work for several clients from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Nigeria, and the like. I have often had cause to 'tone down' my writing and language usage based on my assessment of specific students' fluency.

Bear in mind that, in addition to primary concerns such as plagiarism and the quality of the overall work, most ESL students have to worry about avoiding suspicion by their lecturers that a paper might have been ghostwritten. Since students ordinarily undertake loads of coursework and exams throughout their programme, a lecturer might detect inconsistencies in their writing/work - with potentially dire consequences for the student. Is it not advisable, then, for ESL students to seek help from competent ESL writers who are better able to adapt their writing to the particular student's specification or standard? Any thoughts?

One can "dumb down." One cannot "smart up."

There's your answer.

I've done quite a few papers for ESL and international clients, primarily though an essay service. In many instances, however, I have declined to apply for or accept orders from ESL clients specifically for the issues you raise. I have often found it quite challenging to "tone down" my writing to make it appear as if it was written by an ESL writer, and to meet an appropriate page count when trying to limit my vocabulary.In order to write quickly, efficiently and effectively I have to work with a certain degree of automaticity, and pretending to be an ESL writer simply slows me down too much.

"Exclusively" relying on anything is a bad idea.

Exactly. The higher the level of your natural writing style and the better your command of vocabulary the more it slows you down to write more simply at the ESL level.


This is also true, meaning a versatile ENL-writer can always write at a lower level if required, but an ESL-writer whose writing is characteristically and recognizably ESL cannot produce ENL-sounding original work at any price.

I agree.

I am an advocate of the the idea that ESL students will greatly benefit in terms of writing services if they hire ESL writers. This provides them with an easy "cover" with their professors in terms of their writing abilities and also, ensures that they will be able to get during the semester with someone else writing their paper for them. It will be a bane on the ENL writers to have to dumb down their writing for the benefit of an ESL client. ESL students will also be able to avoid requesting for revisions that are based on "English speaking" style problems. I have had to reject order requests and assignments from ESL students who request that an ESL writer be assigned to their paper of that ESL style writing be used in the paper. It is extremely difficult for ENL writers to sound like an ESL student. Mostly because ENL writers develop, process, and produce papers for clients at a higher level than that of an an ESL student.

Honestly, I would say it is actually a very difficult task to dumb down something. I'm speaking as an ESL writer. It takes longer than writing in my usual writing style and I have to constantly think about the choice of words and phrases. I also think there are levels to ESL writing. In my experience, the clients who require me to dumb down their writing are often from China.

I think it is because the Chinese clients I have worked with have only had a year or two writing, reading, and speaking in English. ESL speakers and writers who have had more time with the language usually do not ask for papers to be dumbed down. However, I still think that if they hired an ENL writer, the chances of being found out by their lecturers or instructors increase. Some institutions also allow students to proofread their work and consult when it comes to grammar and require them to submit work that is grammar free (even if they are ESL). Other institutions will not even check for grammar (again for ESL students, depending o the material). In some cases, the instructor/lecturer will not take out marks for some grammar errors but will advise the student to correct them in the future. I have worked with students where at least one of those cases was applicable. I would say it is not always possible to dumb down your writing.

About writing at a higher level, I would say that one cannot a paper at a higher level on the first try. For example, if a student asked me to write using vocabulary more sophisticated than what I'm used to and wanted the paper within 12 hours, then it would be better for me to decline. However, over time, the level of writing can improve greatly. I don't think I write the same way I did two years ago. I am sure there has been some improvement. Again, I don't think I will write the same way in two years --my writing will be by far better. I am not in any way suggesting that the improvement is automatic. It takes a lot of dedication, reading, practice.

It always takes me longer to write anything different from my natural voice; but if you tell me to keep it as simple as possible, I write shorter, less complex sentences. I can also purposely add some imperfections for ESL clients if desired. I'd say the more important issue is never to mix your writing with that of any professional writer for any professor who's already familiar with your writing. As long as all your submissions are consistent for the whole course, it shouldn't be a problem.

When an ESL student comes in to my company for a free consultation regarding their writing style for an American or UK based university, I always tell them the same thing. Start with an ESL writer to create the aura of being a bright, but language challenged student. Working with an ESL writer helps the student establish that he is not that good a writer, but that the student has the capacity to improve over time and within several writing projects. This is to help them develop a smooth grading system with the professor as well, who doesn't realize that the student is having the paper written by someone else. As the semester progresses, I ask the student if he would already be comfortable using a more fluent writer, one of intermediate English vocabulary level to establish that the student has improved both his writing style and vocabulary. Since I do this towards the third part of the semester, the student is usually more appreciative of the suggestion and agrees to the improved writer skills format. They are tickled pink when they see their grades improve and the professor commends the improvement in their "written" English presentation, even though their oral English is still in need for more improvement. So no, I don't think it is advisable for ESL students to hire and stick to only ESL writers. It isn't going to serve their grades much good in the long run.

This is an interesting topic. I do agree that it's easier to dumb down than to smart up. I think there are two ways to observe and view this topic. ESL learners can learn a lot from acquiring services from ENL writers because the latter can provide them with output that can learn from (assuming that they go through the material once they get hold of it). However, ENL writers will struggle if they are specifically told to simplify their language because it is difficult to learn writing in a different tone. ESL writers, however, will not struggle as much as ENL ones. This is considering how ESL writers already know how this works. This is not unless an ESL writer is advanced enough to not be able to dumb downhis language a little bit.

I feel as though this is also dependent on other factors. The type of service being availed can affect these statements, of course.

I'm sorry, but you really have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Anybody capable of writing at a high level can easily simplify his language to write at a much lower level. It's neither difficult nor anything close to a "struggle" and it doesn't require "learning" anything; it just takes us longer to write in a different tone than in one's natural tone and it can be tedious. More importantly, when a higher-level writer chooses to write at a simpler level, any mistakes are intentional and very minor, whereas the mistakes of an ESL writer who doesn't write that well in English are foundational mistakes that substantially compromise the value of the entire work.

The student has the freedom to choose an ESL or ENL writer to complete his papers. It all depends upon what his target grade it, what his budget for the completion of the paper is, and how well or not well he is doing in that particular class. Some students are more comfortable hiring an ESL writer because they fear that if the essay comes across as too efficient, then the teacher of professor will realize he did not write the paper. The students do not know or understand that the writers, whether ESL or ENL, are capable of writing in any style that they dictate. It can be perfect, it can be idiotic, it can be just down the middle. It all depends upon their instructions. The writers will do as told. Hence, the requirement for an ESL student to hire an ESL writer is negated.

A good, highly-experienced ENL writer can always write at a lower level than his natural level on request and can introduce some minor mistakes of grammar and idiomatic expression to mimic the types of mistakes that ESL writers and students often make. Very few ESL writers can write in grammatically and idiomatically-correct English. If they could, there would be no reason for ENL students to prefer ENL writers. I can identify ESL writing very easily in almost every sentence written by ESL writers, even in work that isn't bad in other respects, and so can all ENL professors.