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Article In: Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education: Online-First Articles

“Remember: Writing is a slow process”

An investigation of study abroad program writing pedagogy

ORCiD logo with link | University of California, DavisDavis
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Abstract
Study abroad (SA) scholars have called for greater investigation of writing development during SA and, particularly, for research on curricular features that afford the writing growth of students including Spanish heritage language learners (SHLLs). Responding to this gap, the present study documented the Spanish writing pedagogies employed by an island program in Madrid, Spain that served 13 U.S. university students, including six SHLLs, in spring 2023. Through inductive, qualitative analysis of interviews, field notes, and program artifacts, the study described stakeholders’ evaluations of the strengths and limitations of writing pedagogies. Students and instructors emphasized the value of process-based composition assignments with low-stakes writing components; portfolio assessment; and timely instructor written corrective feedback. SHLLs particularly valued writing by hand as a way to address their perceived need for improvement in orthographic accuracy. Results are discussed in terms of the potential of meaningful writing assignments for curricular developments in SA writing instruction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Study abroad and writing development
    • 2.2Study abroad writing pedagogy
    • 2.3At-home Spanish L2 and HL writing pedagogies
  • 3.Present study
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Research site
    • 4.2Data collection and participants
      • 4.2.1Student interviews
      • 4.2.2Field notes
      • 4.2.3Instructor interviews and instructional materials
    • 4.3Analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Students’ self-perceptions of their writing abilities
    • 5.2Study abroad program writing pedagogies and student evaluation of their impact
      • 5.2.1Level 1 (Beginner): Pedagogy description
      • 5.2.2Level 1 (Beginner): Student evaluation of pedagogy
      • 5.2.3Level 2 (Upper-division): Pedagogy description
      • 5.2.4Level 2 (Upper-division): Student evaluation of pedagogy
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Research question 1
      • 6.1.1Emphasis on lower-order concerns
      • 6.1.2Orthography as an area for growth
    • 6.2Research questions 2 and 3
      • 6.2.1Frequent low- and high-stakes writing
      • 6.2.2Process-based approaches & timely written corrective feedback
      • 6.2.3Writing by hand
      • 6.2.4Meaningful writing assignments
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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