Schedule of Events

There has been a move towards translingualism in composition studies, where scholars advocate for diversity in language and see linguistic difference as assets rather than writers’ problems (Horner, Lu, Royster, & Trimbur, 2011). While campus diversity is embraced in US higher education as a fundamental element, ideal Standard English is widely expected and required of students for their academic successes, especially for international, multilingual students. ESL and remedial writing courses are created to fix international students’ language problems, and students are constantly sent to the Writing Center for remediation of their English communication performances. There remains a gap between current scholarship in composition studies and the existing practices of teaching writing across different disciplines on campus. To fill the curricular and pedagogical gaps, and respond to the call from composition scholars for a new paradigm, two bilingual Writing Center professionals, the presenter included, created a translingual writing group where this new approach was put into practice. Facilitating in a weekly writing group consisting of five Chinese international graduate students, we used both the Chinese and English languages to examine the results of linguistic differences for the writers in their writing processes and identified the ways these distinctions might function expressively, rhetorically, and communicatively in their academic engagements in and outside the classroom. Data collection methods include the accumulation of texts in Chinese and English (e.g., drafts, papers, notes, emails) and semi-structured interviews in both languages. Specific implications are drawn for multilingual writers, writing center consultants, and classroom instructors.

We would like to discuss the mutual benefits of a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) having a writing center that accommodates the Hispanic population. We will discuss what writing centers could do for a Hispanic student to help them acknowledge their individual strengths and include ways in which the writing center can develop to better fit Hispanic students’ needs. Our process was through input from students and faculty with interviews and a survey to see the vignettes of the Hispanic population to help consultants empower the Hispanic population. In an HSI institution, the ways a writing center can develop are in the areas of marketing, event planning, and through one-on-one consultations. We found that bilingualism is considered useful during consultations as well. Overall, support for these students is most important because through supportive relationships, students can feel the safety and comfort necessary for productivity and growth.

There has been a move towards translingualism in composition studies, where scholars advocate for diversity in language and see linguistic difference as assets rather than writers’ problems. In this presentation, the presenter, who is a bilingual speaker, participated in a translingual writing group to address the translingual concerns. Facilitating in a weekly writing group consisting of two Chinese international graduate students, we used both the Chinese and English languages to examine the results of linguistic differences for the writers in their writing processes and identified the ways these distinctions might function expressively, rhetorically, and communicatively in their academic engagements in and outside the classroom. Data collection methods include the accumulation of texts in Chinese and English (e.g., drafts, papers, notes, emails) and semi-structured interviews in both languages. Specific implications are drawn for multilingual writers, writing center consultants, and classroom instructors.

For tutors working in a university writing center serving a diverse student body, it is essential for them to know how to work with ESL international students and understand the students’ background they bring with them to the writing center. This presentation based on an academic service learning project for ESL students will detail how ESL students face the challenges of learning about the American culture and balancing their school work and life experience here. In this project, we meet with the ESL students both on and off campus in order to learn more about them as persons rather than just students. Working with them periodically on their communication skills and checking on their social experiences, our goal is to help them learn the new culture in America and at the same time improve their English skills for better future job opportunities in their home countries.

This past summer, the California Lutheran University’s Writing Center ran its pilot Multiliteracy Camp, in an effort to reach out to community writers outside the university. Not only did the elementary-aged campers learn to work with various modes of storytelling, but the camp counselors learned to adapt the consultant skills they used during the semester with their college peers to fit the needs of energetic and sometimes very impatient young campers. This session shares, with other writing center consultants and community service advocates, how those new skills we employed when working with the campers, namely the roles of teacher, counselor, and entertainer, were simply derivatives of consultant hats used when working with our peers during the semester. We hope to then demonstrate when those newly developed skills can be applied in consultations with other nontraditional clients and, more typically, college students. 

Many times, one’s pronunciation and foreign accent is often focused upon when learning a new language. However, it is very beneficial to understand how and why a student processes, speaks, and writes the English language the way that they do. This specific presentation will cover the downsides of learning English in America. For example, our main focus questions are as follows: Will the slang that international students hear while in America appear in their English writings? Or will they be able to differientiate from informal and formal language based on the knowledge of the English language that they currently acquire? The purpose of this project is to specifically allow writing consultants to understand the common mistakes made in writings by international students. Also, we personally find it much more fulfilling to get to the root of the problem instead of simply telling an international student “that’s not how we say it here.” Through many interviews with two specific Asian, international students as well as written and spoken exercises performed by these students, the end results will be recorded as to whether or not international students are able to differientiate between proper and improper English language.
 
 

This research presentation aims to explore the various similarities and differences within writing strategies with a specific guiding question: what are the differences and similarities between writing approaches from Eastern and Western cultures? This research project strives to understand the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western students in their writing process. It is important to note how international students approach their writing assignments in a writing center environment because it can help writing consultants better aid international students. By becoming more familiar to the writing practices and rhetorical patterns of international students, there is less confusion during consultations since the writing consultant understands the motivation and purpose behind a student’s writing style (Bruce & Rafoth, 2004). For data collection, we first started our research process by meeting with two ESL students. During our weekly meetings we would go out to get food, walk around campus, or go over their English papers with them all in the hopes of learning more about their communication styles, cultures,  and the difficulties they face living and studying in a foreign country. Through our research, it is our hope that we are able share ways in which the writing center can empower international students with their writing, rather than hinder their potential and unique voice.