I proposed a research project to the English department to investigate how multilingual and international students are impacted by the norms of SCU writing instruction. I conducted primary research (in the form of interviews) with students (both multilingual and English-speaking only) and writing professors. This website is the culmination of this research. This project mainly privileges the voices of multilingual students–as I hope to magnify the experiences of students that aren't always recognized in a predominantly English-speaking university. 

...are two courses that impacted my thinking around equitable writing instruction. These courses (and their learning goals) provided a foundation for understanding the normalized notions of “good writing” in English courses. I was also exposed to the processes of investigating stigmas around Standardized American Englishes, (presumptions around English language learning that often go unnoticed in higher education.)

...is another area of study from which this project draws. This area (in the form of teaching courses and published articles) gave me access points into growing areas of advocacy for multilingual students. Although I have chosen to use the term 'multilingual' or 'international' to describe the variety of English experiences at SCU, 'ESL' or "English as a second language" is still a popular term that encompasses this educational field. The work done by these scholars has legitimized and testified to alternatives to conventional teaching practices.

...is hugely influential in my approach to this research. My existing relationships with students and other writing partners allow me to be a unique and effective researcher. My position as a student didn’t discount me from being able to take action to support other students around me, but quite the opposite. As a peer, I found that my conversations with students were often more casual; and as a student, my conversations with professors were always enlightening. 

In my approach to drafting questions for my interviews, I was trying to keep many goals in mind. I wanted to know about subjects' (whether they be students or professors) relationships to writing and the languages they feel comfortable writing in, experiences with writing instruction courses, emotional responses to writing as a task or activity, when writing feels challenging or difficult, and what college-level writing means to them. To be able to conduct this research and investigate these questions, I had to complete an Institutional Review Board protocol training session and follow certain procedures. This means that my research was being overseen by the university itself, and met certain standards that assured the well-being of the subjects involved. 

These were some of these questions:

What have been your experiences with learning writing practices here at Santa Clara?

What challenges have you faced in your learning? Any specific anecdotes? 

Were your experiences with writing instruction/learning impacted by COVID? How so? 

What does your writing process look like? What is your approach or any strategies that you have? 

What does your feedback look like on writing assignments? 

What do you feel is expected from you in your writing?

My interviews ranged from 15 minutes to over an hour. I conducted these interviews in the Fall of 2022 and the Winter of 2023. My interview subjects agreed to voice recordings to document their responses, which I referenced repeatedly in my presentation of this website. As I have said, being a student interviewer often made this interview process more casual which made the students and professors I interviewed more comfortable talking openly about their experiences. In total, I interviewed 8 students and 4 professors at SCU. 

After I had conducted my research, I attended two conferences in the Spring of 2023. I went to the TESOL or "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages" conference in Portland, OR. There, professors, students, and professionals of multilingual education from all around the world presented findings from their own universities and institutions. In Denver, CO, I attended Sigma Tau Delta's conference where English students from universities around the world met to share their work. As a recent researcher of multilingual education, it was fascinating to see how professionals and students were grappling with norms of Standardized American English learning and teaching. In these conferences, World Englishes were the norm. So as a reference point, these experiences offered a really valuable perspective on how my research can be impactful at SCU.