Second-Language-Writing Skills: A Novel Look at Identity

Introduction

With China’s rapid economic development and the explosive growth of its middle class, that country now sends more students to study abroad in the United States than any other country in the world, with more than 351,000 students, representing just over one-third of the one million international students studying in this country during the 2016-17 school year (Institute of International Education, 2017), the most recent year for which statistics were available. “While these students are enrolled in large and small public and private institutions across the country, the majority are located in major public state schools, whose total international enrollments have doubled or quadrupled within the span of a few years” (Fraiberg, Wang, & You, 2017). Although colleges and universities in the United States concentrated their efforts on bringing this large population of international students to the United States, such institutions have struggled to respond to the dramatic impacts this changing demography places on campus life and, particularly, on pedagogy. As a result, a large body of literature exists addressing the unique needs, skills, and linguistic sophistication that Chinese international students bring to the classrooms of American college and universities. Scholars such as Fraiberg et al. (2017); Ma (2020); and Ning (2002) have written comprehensive examinations of the experiences of Chinese students in the United States. In the discipline of Composition/Writing Studies alone, Cai (2002); He and Niao (2015); Jingxia (2010); Kang (2008); Leedham (2016); Liu and Ni (2015); Nan (2012); Sang (2017); Sun (2014); Wang and Machado (2015); Yang (2016); Zhan (2015); and Zhang and Zhan (2020) are among the many scholars who have contributed to the growing canon that focuses on the presence of Chinese students in U.S.-based writing programs.

In her work on academic writing in general, Ivanič (2002) said writing is not just about creating content, but also about the representation of self. She posited,

This state of feeling “alien” can persist throughout students’ post-secondary careers (Burgess, 2010) and may hinder their writing progress (Arum & Roksa, 2010).

Ivanič (2002), Burgess (2010), and Arum and Roksa (2010) focused the lens of their research on First Language (L1) writers. If representing the self feels “alien” to those L1 writers, it may seem truly daunting to some Second Language (L2) writers. L2 writers face myriad challenges that include insufficient preparation for academic writing (Jeffery, Kieffer, & Matsuda, 2013); academic and rhetorical traditions that differ from those of their L1 peers (Jwa, 2019); and a broad lack of knowledge on the part of instructors surrounding how L2 writers learn to write in English (Valdés, 1992). These and other challenges may combine to make the concept of consciously forming an identity through writing feel like an impossible task. For students who were raised in a collectivist culture (Hofstede, 1980), including Chinese students, establishment of individual identity may not be an active consideration, focused as they are on navigating the American university setting: understanding classroom work and assignments, managing teachers’ expectations, and acclimating to an unfamiliar culture, all while being thousands of miles away and 12 hours behind family and friends.

Literature Review

In discussing issues of multilingual students’ identities, Fraiberg et al. (2017) contended there was a “need for closer insight into the ways that multilingual (translingual) and multimodal (transmodal) literacy practices of international students—inside and outside school-based contexts—mediate the development of their academic, disciplinary, and transnational identities” (p. 5). Ortmeier-Hooper (2008) showed that despite the fact that English may be a learner’s second language, many do not identify with the English as a Second Language (ESL) label because of previous institutional experience with the term. Marshall (2010) wrote,