Thirteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Second language (L2) writing classes bring together learners from many majors and minors, traditionally leading to a lack of real-world application for students’ careers (given instructors’ lack of expertise is these fields). This aggravates an already pervasive view of writing as an inoculation and L2 writing classes as grammatical-accuracy boot camp. This paper reports on an alternative pedagogical approach to L2 writing in Spanish, embracing the multifaceted (and imperfect) writing process and exploring how various forms of technology (both inside and outside the classroom) affect students’ agency, motivation, and development in that process. Pre- and post-test surveys were distributed to participants, who were students in Advanced Spanish Composition classes in different classroom contexts (to determine the effect of class configuration and student- vs. instructor-controlled technology on outcomes) at a large, public, U.S. university. Data were also collected from focus groups and samples of student writing. Tasks were designed to make the writing relevant for students’ careers and personal lives post-college (including the exploration of social problems), to give them practice generating and receiving feedback to/from peers, and to help them learn to tailor their writing to specific audiences and thus more effectively communicate their ideas beyond the scope of academia.