Search

Despite effective knowledge transfer being a primary goal among post-secondary instructors, scholars, and administrators, students still have difficulty adapting their skills to novel contexts. This challenge is especially salient in writing pedagogy, where the transfer of writing-related knowledge is not guaranteed (Driscoll, 2011; Perkins & Salomon, 2012). To investigate possibilities for catalyzing writing transfer, this paper reports on a collaborative autoethnography project (Chang et al., 2013) carried out by two undergraduate students and a faculty member based at a large Ontario university. Their experiences on the editorial team of a first-year writing journal provide insight into how mentorship within journal environments can contribute to post-secondary students’ literacy development, and, concurrently, help them to transfer what they know to new contexts. We consider how similar learning opportunities may contribute to undergraduate skill development outside traditional classroom contexts.

Writing is an important literacy skill that K-12 students must develop for academic success. For young ESL students, developing writing skills entails both learning English and developing writing as a literacy skill. The need for this dual skill development underlines the challenges of teaching K-12 ESL writing, as teachers must strike a balance between teaching writing as a tool for students’ English language development and literacy skill. This paper reports on findings related to pedagogical approaches and classroom techniques that are prevalent in K-12 ESL writing instruction. Our research is based on a systematic review of 49 studies published between 2010 and 2019. Using content analysis, three pedagogical approaches were identified: (a) approaches centered on teacher perspectives, (b) approaches centered on student perspectives, and (c) approaches centered on emerging research and theories of ESL writing instruction. As well, the analysis yielded four classroom techniques: (a) adopting SFL-oriented and genre-based activities, (b) utilizing ESL-bilingual student writers’ language learning traits, (c) incorporating digital technology, and (d) adapting instructional practices in response to student needs. Critically reflecting on these pedagogical approaches and classroom techniques, the paper discusses the advantages and challenges of implementing them in the classroom. The paper provides a taxonomy of instructional practices that K-12 ESL writing teachers may find useful.