Decolonizing second language writing: Possibilities and challenges

Abstract

As the field of second language writing expands its scope, scholars as well as its flagship journal, the Journal of Second Language Writing (JSLW), are expected to embrace the diversity of inquiry topics, languages of inquiry, author identities, and geographical locations where research takes place and the authors are situated. While the diversity reflected in JSLW and the field in general has certainly grown during the last 30 years, L2 writing in English and normative writing practices in U.S. higher education settings predominate the research foci. Further diversifying the inquiry scope entails questions of power, which can be addressed through decolonial and Southern perspectives. These perspectives scrutinize the hegemony of White Eurocentric norms in issues of language and academic knowledge, and discern ideological meanings produced according to the locus of enunciation. Decolonizing second language writing, especially transforming linguistic norms and research methodologies, is challenging due to the entrenched normativity that creates pragmatic needs for learners and scholars. This is why translanguaging, an approach consistent with decolonial thinking, appears to stand at odds with second language writing. In negotiating between practical needs and decolonization, the field should strive to create new conceptual, methodological, and discursive spaces for Southern and Indigenous voices.