Search

As an extension of the personal and intellectual conversations that took place in the sister-scholar group consisting of four East Asian international doctoral students from China and South Korea, in this article, we narrate and examine our (counter)stories traversing between different spaces and across time. These narratives center our racial, linguistic, social, and academic experiences and illustrate our processes of awakening, resistance, and collective healing. We used transnationalism and Asian Critical Theory as our theoretical guide, and collaborative autoethnography as our methodology. Through the canvas of (counter)stories, we (a) refuse dominant views and definitions of what it means to be Asian in the United States, (b) resist the simplistic and monolithic ways of understanding our existence and experiences as international students, and (c) challenge the academic community and broader society to develop more complex and critical social praxis regarding race, culture, and relations of power.

This research aims to explore whether guided visual artwork discussions called Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) using picture book images can benefit and enhance Korean EFL secondary students' L2 writing. Incorporating content analysis, this research examines how carefully guided artwork discussions can enhance visual understanding, critical thinking skills and interpretive L2 writing skills. The L2 writing samples of the focal students revealed that they were able to think based on visual clues. The discussions were led by the teacher who pointed out significant visual elements and allowed time for the students to explore diverse ideas. The focal students were able to piece together the jigsaw of the images and articulate their thoughts in English, during which time they learned to take risks and to make mistakes in using a foreign language. Their critical comments and improved L2 writing suggest how critical/aesthetic thinking skills can be developed through continued visual practices in a secondary EFL setting.