Advanced Writing I don’t know who saw the report on CNN about how ESL students in Portland, Oregon were having particularly good success learning English. Statistics showed they were doing better score wise on standardized tests than similar ESL students in many other places. What were they doing differently? How were their methods of learning translating into better writing according to state standards? Oregon’s studies showed that it wasn’t conversational English that got the best test results but grammar intensive studies on the parts of speech (nouns, interjections, articles, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs) and the different verb tenses. This course continues these educational trends into writing applications that will make the speaker of English as a second language a greater asset in the workplace, and/or a better writer in academic settings.