Writing and Writing Instruction in Different Academic Contexts
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN THE INTERNATIONAL DISCIPLINARY WRITING CLASSROOM: INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENT PERSPECTIVES
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN THE INTERNATIONAL UPPERDIVISION WRITING CLASSROOM: STUDENT PERSPECTIVES
Auli Anneli Ek
University of California, Santa Barbara, Writing Program, Santa Barbara, USA
The globalization of writing classrooms presents challenges to both writing instructors and students. Although literature exists on international students in FirstYear Composition classes (Bauer & Picciotto 2013), the focus on upperdivision writing classes—such as Business Writing, Writing in the Social Sciences and Writing for Global Careers in my study—is scarce (Sweeney & Zhu 2010). Most literature also focuses on the instructors’ perspective (Arkoudis & Tran 2010), while neglecting the international students’ own perspective. The interviewbased study that this presentation draws on aimed at filling the two gaps: giving attention to the students’ experience and focusing on upperdivision (advanced) writing classes. The study examined the international students’ experience on student interaction in collaborative writing that involved both native and nonnative English speakers. The aim of the study was to find out the specific challenges international students experience. The main findings were twofold: while the international students least proficient in English found collaborative writing in diverse groups supportive and the “diversity adding perspective,” the students with the highest English proficiency found working with international students stressful and “holding them back.” Based on the data, I have incorporated pedagogical practices that support all students through increasing awareness on global themes, different sociocultural and learning practices, creating assignments easily accessible to international students, and avoiding ethnocentrism. My presentation offers vital, practical information for faculty development—to instructors who struggle with adjusting their curricula and pedagogy to meet the needs of international and multilingual students in their writing classrooms.
References
Arkoudis, S, & Tran, L 2010, ‘Writing Blah, Blah, Blah: Lecturers' Approaches and Challenges in Supporting International Students,’ International Journal Of Teaching & Learning In Higher Education , vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 169178. Available from: Education Source. [23 July 2013].
Baird, Cc 2012, ‘Targeted, Timely, Learning Support For International Students: One Australian University's Approach,’ Journal Of Learning Design , vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 5262. Available from: Education Source. [23 July 2013].
Bauer, H, & Picciotto, M 2013, ‘Writing in America: International Students and FirstYear Composition,’ Writing On The Edge , vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 7586. Available from: Education Source. [12 March 2014].
Ek, A, 20132014, ‘Study on the International and Multilingual Student Experience and Needs in the UpperDivision Writing Classroom,’ Unpublished.
Sweeney, E, & Zhu, H, 2010, ‘Accommodating Toward Your Audience: Do Native Speakers of English Know How to Accommodate Their Communication Strategies Toward Nonnative Speakers of English?’ Journal of Business Communication , vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 477504.