Exploring the Writing Process of Multilingual Postsecondary Students

Abstract

With an increasingly multilingual population made up of domestic and international students at Canadian universities, there is a knowledge gap about the writing practices of multilingual students and the needs of multilingual academic writers. In order to address this knowledge gap, more research is required about the writing process of multilingual postsecondary students in Canada. The purpose of this study was to learn in detail about the writing process of multilingual postsecondary students in a mid-sized university in eastern Canada. A qualitative methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews was followed. A small sample size of seven participants consisted of young adults enrolled at the bachelors or graduate level who were recruited through posters on campus. The interviews were transcribed, coded holistically, and thematically analyzed using software. Themes reveal the writing process, prescriptive instruction and adherence to rules, planning prior to writing, prior knowledge of academic writing, and experience versus inexperience in writing. The meta-themes were continua of agency/following instructions, experience/inexperience, and explicit teaching/finding their own methods Secondary findings highlight the impact of instructor feedback on learner attitudes and English language learners’ need for extra time to develop their academic English. Additional findings show that multilingual postsecondary students use translanguaging as a strategic tool when composing in English. These findings offer insights into the translingual writing process of multilingual postsecondary students.