The writing process of multilingual postsecondary students

Abstract

This research project is rooted in an atmosphere of globalization in Canadian higher education, in which universities are multilingual sites of learning. With an increasingly multilingual population made up of domestic and international students at Canadian universities, more information is needed about the writing practices of multilingual students. The purpose of this study was to learn in detail about the cognitive and strategic steps used by postsecondary students in a mid-sized university in eastern Canada as they wrote their university essays. Results were presented on a study of seven multilingual postsecondary students enrolled at a mid-sized Canadian university. Qualitative interviews were conducted and thematically analyzed. The findings included a continuum of meta-themes: agency/following instructions, experience/inexperience, and explicit teaching/finding their own methods. Findings indicate that the role of prior learning in writing and the learner’s context have an impact on the writing. Secondary findings highlight the importance of instructor feedback on learner attitudes and English language learners’ need for extra time to develop their academic English. Additional findings show that multilingual postsecondary students use translanguaging as a strategic tool when composing in English. These findings offer insights into the writing process, choice of strategies, and translanguaging practices of multilingual postsecondary students.