Multilingual Writers Research Articles

“It can be a very equalizing way to grade”: Contract grading and multilingual writers

In response to Crusan’s focus paper on the history, nuances, and implications of alternative assessment for second language writing and writers, I present an overview of multilingual student perceptions of contract grading across a University Writing Program. Both affordances and potential challenges with this method of assessment are discussed.

Tutors’ Perspectives on Their Work with Multilingual Writers: Changes over Time and in Response to Revisions in Training

Tutors’ Perspectives on Their Work with Multilingual Writers: Changes over Time and in Response to Revisions in Training

Multilingual authors ‘standing taller’ in arts-rich translanguaging spaces

Viewed through the monolingual English-only lens characteristic of many Australian schools, plurilingual students are often positioned as being in deficit as language and literacy learners and struggle to find their way into a writer’s identity. The importance of creating a translanguaging space to support plurilingual learners is well established in the literature. In the current case study involving a class of Year 4 students from a Melbourne school who took part in a six-week arts-rich book making experience, we addressed a gap in the literature by making visible how elements of the ‘translanguaging space’ interact to support students to come to see themselves as resourceful multilingual writers. Using Activity Theory, we found that the elements that supported the development of students’ multilingual writers’ identities consisted of the creation of a translanguaging space, the use of arts experiences to lead language interactions, the explicit introduction of translanguaging in a multimodal arts-rich space, and opportunities to apply translanguaging as multilingual writers. We argue that the playful multimodal opportunities for meaning making facilitated by arts experiences can support students to build identities as multilingual writers by providing a variety of multimodal entry points to that identity.

Trilingual Literary Self-Translation: An Interview with Two Montreal Writers, Hugh Hazelton and Alejandro Saravia

Abstract In addition to being multilingual writers who have made their home in Montreal, Hugh Hazelton and Alejandro Saravia have both chosen to translate a certain number of their own writings and—unlike most self-translators—to incorporate three languages (English, French and Spanish) into their practice. This interview explores a number of questions related to Hazelton’s and Saravia’s experiences with trilingual self-translation. In responding to these questions, the writers also reflect on key people, books and circumstances that influenced their linguistic and cultural attachments; ways that language, place and identity intersect; perceived distinctions and similarities between authoring, self-translation and allograph translation; and obstacles facing the contemporary publishing industry, within Canada and beyond.

Research: “It feels like a safe place”: A (Re)Invitation to the Writer’s Notebook as Humanizing Pedagogy in Preservice Literacy Teacher Education

This qualitative case study examines preservice teachers’ (PTs) self-selected writer’s notebook (WNB) entries and written reflections in two literacy methods courses. The authors use thematic analysis to consider how the writer’s notebooks supported PTs’ learning to teach multilingual writers while concurrently writing for themselves and navigating contemporary sociopolitical contexts. The authors describe how PTs used their writer’s notebooks to process emotion and identity, develop professional stances, and build experiential knowledge around multilingual, multimodal writer praxis. The authors conclude with suggestions for teacher educators and researchers to expand these practices.

Supporting Student Linguistic Identity and Autonomy in Directed Self Placement Through Linguistic Domains Using Qualtrics Scoring

In this article, we review the current and dynamic state of multilingual writers, especially their experiences in Composition and with English self-placement methods. Then, we position our institution and department’s theoretical underpinnings for support of multilingual writers and their self-placement, and we describe how we utilized Cavazos and Karaman’s (2021) Translingual Disposition Questionnaire as a framework for our recent revision of our Directed Self-Placement survey and utilized Qualtrics scoring tools to provide students with feedback on a novel language domain.  Our intent was to offer multilingual students transparency and choice in the English placement process so they could select the first year Composition course that best matched their needs. We hope that other WPAs gain insight on how to integrate asset-based philosophies and linguistic domains using Qualtrics scoring to offer their multilingual students more autonomy in their first year Composition experiences.  

Directed Self-Placement for Multilingual, Multicultural International Students

Directed self-placement (DSP) methods remain relatively rare in multilingual writing programs because such methods present unique ethical and academic risks. Grounded in five years of institutional research, this article reports on a first-year writing program in which DSP is the sole means of placement for international students and in which the international student population is linguistically, educationally, and culturally diverse. We offer logistical and technical guidance for creating DSP programs for multilingual writers, and we argue that DSP can be a vehicle for more equitable, socially just writing placement for multilingual, multicultural writers.

Taming the Dragon of SRL in a translanguaging-oriented classroom writing ecology: An L2 creative writing Teacher's poetic autoethnographic case study

Although studies have shown that Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is critical to successful language learning, SRL is often treated as a quantifiable and a-contextual trait possessed by certain learners. To personalize, contextualize, and artistically explore SRL, this poetic autoethnographic case study features an L2 creative writing teacher's pedagogical practices and reflections on his multilingual students' journeys of growing as self-regulated L2 creative writers in a Thai university. The inclusion criteria encompassed English-medium-instruction programs with ample classroom-based data. The eight students, four male, four female, came from five countries, i.e., Thailand, Myanmar, China, South Korea, and South Africa, and were all multilingual writers. Data from four students (two male, two female) were analyzed in conjunction with class artifacts and the teacher's fieldnotes. The analysis followed an expanded 5 PT classroom writing ecology perspective, which entails Participants, Products, Processes, Parameters, Past, and Translanguaging. Selected poems were presented and elaborated. The study sheds new light on ways through which the classroom writing ecology interactively activated, sustained, and enhanced the students' agency in L2 creative writing. The author argues that L2 creative writers' SRL can be nurtured through a translanguaging-oriented classroom writing ecology to unleash its decolonizing potential.

“May I basil your house?” Multilingual Writers' Use of Academic, Technical, and Translingual Lexicons Through Literacy Autobiographical Writing in a Thai EMI Program

“May I basil your house?” Multilingual Writers' Use of Academic, Technical, and Translingual Lexicons Through Literacy Autobiographical Writing in a Thai EMI Program

Writing Beyond Expectations: A Collaboration Between Tutors-in-Training and First-Year Multilingual Writers

Writing Beyond Expectations: A Collaboration Between Tutors-in-Training and First-Year Multilingual Writers

Exploring multilingual writers in secondary education: insights from a trilingual corpus

Abstract This study aims at contributing to the field of multilingual writing and providing evidence for Cummins’ Common Underlying Proficiency Hypothesis (CUP) through analysing trilingual writing among secondary education students enrolled in a Basque immersion program. The main objective of the present study is to explore the relationships between participants’ compositions in their three languages of schooling (Basque, Spanish and English). A trilingual corpus of argumentative scientific writing essays was collected from a sample of 113 secondary education students. The texts were analysed with MultiAzterTest to retrieve complexity, accuracy and fluency measures. Correlational analyses were performed to explore correlations of each measure across languages, and low-moderate correlations were found between most measures and their counterparts. Specifically, accuracy and fluency measures showed stronger between-language relationships, which were especially salient between Basque and Spanish. Findings suggest that multilingual learners exhibit similar across-language patterns in the writing process, thus supporting Cummins’ CUP. The emerging similarities have important implications for bi/multilingual education programs, as they might inform curriculum design and instruction to foster crosslinguistic transfer and metalinguistic multilingual awareness.

Audio versus written feedback: Multilingual students’ perspective in a U.S. composition class

This article aims to fill the existing gap in the research which indicates that few researchers have examined multilingual writers’ preference between audio and written feedback, and the impact of feedback format on their revision process in a U.S. composition class. To explore these, eight multilingual writers were interviewed, and their first drafts and revised drafts of the final research paper on which they received both audio and written feedback were compared using the “Compare” option in Microsoft Word. In addition to these, an early semester participatory survey and a reflection survey were conducted among the multilingual writers of a composition course. Results indicated that those who were confident about their English listening proficiency preferred audio feedback over written feedback. Results also indicated that multilingual writers expected directive explicit feedback from their instructors. Their perceptions regarding the effectiveness of audio and written feedback on their revision process varied depending on their own self-efficacy. Finally, the author recommends further investigating the potential of audio feedback in creating student-teacher connections, particularly in online composition courses.

«Человек неукорененный» в романах Саны Валиулиной и Петра Алешковского

The article deals with the problem of the ‘unrooted man’, which is conceptual for modern transcultural literature in Russian. The authors put an analytical emphasis on the modern identification crisis of phenomena that are associated with the self-identity of writers who model a multi-ethnic world in their texts with biographical coordinates. The protagonist of this world (the author’s reflective alter ego) loses his ancestral roots due to historical migration of peoples in the 20th century. The article analyzes the mythological concepts of the sacred space of the alien hero, the motive of initiation through internal and/or external migration, the existentialоgemes and ontologemes of ‘embedding’ into another ethnic group, the semiotics of the collective world image based on the novels by Sana Valiulina “I’m not afraid of the Bluebeard” and Pyotr Aleshkovsky “The fish. History of one migration”. Researchers use the analytical principles of the transcultural approach as a studying strategy of the artistic world not only by polydomic and multilingual writers, but also by Russian authors who seek to present the Russian person’s vision of the Other, his alien (different) culture, ontology, but in the prism of a common history, including the historicity of existence (M. Heidegger).

Challenges for Multilingual Writers in Pakistan: Issues and Implications of Linguistic Diversity and Complex Language Landscape

Pakistan’s multilingual linguistic diversity is shaped by its colonial past and post-independence history. After gaining independence, Pakistan's major languages were Urdu, English, Punjabi, and Saraiki. However, multiple languages have posed challenges for multilingual writers. One of them is the lack of a standardized orthography for regional languages, making it difficult for writers to produce texts in their native languages. The prevalence of Urdu and English has resulted in a language hierarchy where these languages are seen as superior to regional languages. In the face of these challenges, the establishment of language authorities, such as the National Language Authority and the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture, aim to promote and standardize regional languages. Efforts are being made towards the betterment of these writers. Promoting and standardizing regional languages and recognizing multilingualism as an asset can contribute to a more inclusive and representative society in Pakistan.

The multilingual poetry task: Innovating L2 writing pedagogy in the secondary classroom

This multiple case-study explores how a multilingual poetry task can be used to support multilingual writers in mainstream U.S. high school English language arts (ELA) classes. The purpose of the investigation is to closely examine the affordances of a multilingual poetry task and discuss its innovative pedagogical aspects in terms of the results that the task achieves—the learning it promotes—as well as highlight interdisciplinary collaboration between (English as a second language (ESL) and ELA teachers. I argue that the multilingual poetry task can innovate L2 writing pedagogy, address common problems that multilingual writers and their teachers face, and provide resident immigrant learners with affordances such as innovative developments in multilingual writing techniques, an understanding of compositional aspects of writing via open poetic forms, and an opportunity to explore humanistic aspects of language learning. A qualitative evidence-based approach is applied to analyze samples of multilingual poetry from two resident immigrant writers of diverse backgrounds (e.g., Belarus and Myanmar). This analysis is offset with learner immediate post-course and delayed interviews, learner reflective writing, and classroom observations and interactions. Finally, utilizing data from post-course ELA teacher interviews, the article discusses how interdisciplinary ELA-ESL teacher collaboration can better support emergent multilingual writers and move the field of second language writing forward.

Exploring writing processes in authentic writing tasks: A multimodal mixed-method approach

Writing is a critical skill in many academic and professional contexts, and multilingual writers often struggle to learn and master it. Understanding the processes and products involved in writing in these contexts is crucial to design better interventions and resources to help writers succeed in their writing endeavors. Yet, writing studies exploring the writing processes in authentic communicative situations are still scarce, partly due to the complexity of natural writing processes. In the article, we present a pedagogically and methodologically innovative task to explore multilingual writers’ processes and products when writing authentic texts. The task combines a range of unintrusive instruments that allow us to observe the writing processes (keystroke logging and screen recorder), collect writers’ perceptions and goals (writing logs, survey, and discussion) and assess their text's evolution, an extended research article abstract. The analysis integrates all data sources into Episodes to understand how and why writing processes and texts evolve. In the article, we describe the task in detail and discuss the main pedagogical and methodological benefits, as well as the challenges and future lines for writing research and teaching.

“It Makes Me More Aware of What I Should be Looking for”: Using Holistic Assessment to Foster Strength-Based Understanding of Students’ Biliteracy Development

Deficit mindsets of multilingual writers must be upended. Yet, little research has been done to explore how to prepare bilingual teachers with strength-based orientations, especially in approaches to assessment. Using a holistic biliteracy lens, this qualitative case study explored how Transliteracy observation shaped teachers’ understanding of biliterate writing development in K-5 dual language settings. Findings showed that teachers learned that writing is multifaceted and observable, influenced by oral language, and reflective of one linguistic repertoire. Participants gained a deeper understanding of biliteracy development and their students’ capabilities, supporting an asset-based orientation that challenged monolingual norms. Implications for teacher preparation are shared.

Tunnel, teapot, mermaid, ghost: Creative-critical practice as critical language awareness

What if a writing class is expressed as a shape? What if English is reimagined as an entity? Presenting case studies from two tertiary-level L2 English for Academic Purposes classes in the United States, this article explores intersections between creative-critical practice and critical language awareness (CLA). The multimodal and interdisciplinary approaches included here demonstrate how concepts from art education can be used to center students’ language practices and knowledges. Through prompts designed to elicit creative-critical responses, students explored their multilingual identities and their relationships to academic writing and academic writing classes. Examples of their work are analyzed according to three strategies of creative-critical practice: relationality, recursivity, and interpretation to demonstrate how arts-based practices align with CLA. Working inventively and imaginatively in response to these prompts, students’ work offers productive disruptions to dominant language ideologies and positively (re)frames their experiences as multilingual writers.

Unique supporters of multilingual writers in rural high schools

While much of the work on increasing diversity of U.S. schools has focused on urban and suburban contexts, rural schools and communities have seen an influx of multilingual immigrant and migrant students. Using qualitative data collected in English classrooms at two different rural high schools as part of a larger study, this article profiles two rural ELA teachers who stood out as unique supporters of their multilingual students’ literacy development. These profiles are contextualized in broader debates in writing studies about valuating language diversity and avoiding form-based approaches in instruction. In concluding comments, the author explores how these teachers don’t neatly fit categorizations of effective writing teachers and argues that writing researchers need to work across increasingly polarized divides to help make rural schools more inclusive spaces for linguistically diverse students.

The influences of cultural characteristics in writing English: Perspectives from multilingual learners

Research studies have discussed about potential influences of the learners’ cultural characteristics on writing in the first language to writing in English. However, only limited bodies of literature highlighted the phenomenon from the learners’ perceptions and experiences. Using a case study approach, the current study interviewed two ESL writing students who come from Indonesia and went to Australian high schools. The audio-recorded interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings of the study show that writing in their first and additional languages as well as writing in English do not have significant differences, despite a few difficulties dealing with English grammar. There were several other factors which could also determine students’ performance in writing classes, such as teachers’ instruction, teachers’ feedback, classroom environment, and home literacy practices. The participants’ experiences have demonstrated that intercultural rhetoric (IR) better approached ESL writers as it views culture in complex and dynamic perspectives, and acknowledges learners’ different cultural backgrounds. The learners expect that the writing teachers aware of potential cultural differences in their writing and provide more intercultural opportunities. This article also highlights the IR-informed pedagogical approach which can potentially utilize the strengths of multicultural and multilingual writers in ESL classrooms.