How Do Multilingual Writers in FYC Talk about, Write about, and Engage with Sources and How Can Pedagogy Include Them?
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation
Conference Strand
Diversity and Inclusion
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Ballroom C
Relevance
Before writing instructors can know how best to adjust pedagogy to include multilingual writers, they must know what students are actually doing. I systematically examined how 15 multilingual writers in first-year composition (FYC) at one small southeastern university engaged with sources from the start of approaching a research-paper assignment through writing a first full draft.
Proposal
Enrollment of multilingual students, particularly resident multilingual students who graduated from U.S. high schools, is steadily increasing at U.S. universities. Before writing instructors can know how best to adjust pedagogy to include multilingual writers, they must know what students are actually doing. I systematically examined how 15 multilingual writers in first-year composition (FYC) at one small southeastern university engaged with sources from the start of approaching a research-paper assignment through writing a first full draft. The study adapted methods from two large-scale studies–Learning Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (LILAC) and the Citation Project (Blackwell-Starnes and Walker; Jamieson and Howard).
I collected and analyzed data from three assignments: 1) a video think-aloud capturing participants’ first online search for sources, 2) a two-page reflection on the use of sources in the first full draft of students’ research paper, and 3) their first full draft of the research paper. My study’s findings show that the 15 study participants learned a great deal about the expectations of the “community of practice” (Lave and Wenger) of the FYC classroom. In particular, they acquired the language of the “community of practice.” However, results were uneven among participants in demonstrating understanding of the expectations of practice in the FYC classroom. Four students showed continuity by integrating source material in their research paper from a source that they had found in their first online search. Students’ papers contained 15 instances of what I call “sustained paraphrasing”--including at least three sentences that restate content from a particular source. However, only five of those examples of sustained paraphrasing were effective. At the same time, multilingual writers were resourceful by using Google Translate to understand text, reading background information in a language other than English, and using vocabulary they read on screens during online searches as keywords for new searches. I will argue that the composition field needs to develop more pedagogical models to encourage multilingual writers to use their native languages and to teach them the functions of sources and meaningful integration in FYC. This matters so that FYC classrooms can become more inclusive.
Short Description
The composition researcher will discuss how 15 multilingual writers in first-year composition at a small private southeastern university engaged with sources from the start of approaching a research-paper assignment through writing a first full draft. The study adapted methods from Learning Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (LILAC) and the Citation Project. Pedagogical implications include how video think-alouds can be used as a teaching tool.
Keywords
multilingual students, first-year composition, information literacy
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Zehr, Mary Ann, "How Do Multilingual Writers in FYC Talk about, Write about, and Engage with Sources and How Can Pedagogy Include Them?" (2025). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 8.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2025/2025/8
How Do Multilingual Writers in FYC Talk about, Write about, and Engage with Sources and How Can Pedagogy Include Them?
Ballroom C
Enrollment of multilingual students, particularly resident multilingual students who graduated from U.S. high schools, is steadily increasing at U.S. universities. Before writing instructors can know how best to adjust pedagogy to include multilingual writers, they must know what students are actually doing. I systematically examined how 15 multilingual writers in first-year composition (FYC) at one small southeastern university engaged with sources from the start of approaching a research-paper assignment through writing a first full draft. The study adapted methods from two large-scale studies–Learning Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (LILAC) and the Citation Project (Blackwell-Starnes and Walker; Jamieson and Howard).
I collected and analyzed data from three assignments: 1) a video think-aloud capturing participants’ first online search for sources, 2) a two-page reflection on the use of sources in the first full draft of students’ research paper, and 3) their first full draft of the research paper. My study’s findings show that the 15 study participants learned a great deal about the expectations of the “community of practice” (Lave and Wenger) of the FYC classroom. In particular, they acquired the language of the “community of practice.” However, results were uneven among participants in demonstrating understanding of the expectations of practice in the FYC classroom. Four students showed continuity by integrating source material in their research paper from a source that they had found in their first online search. Students’ papers contained 15 instances of what I call “sustained paraphrasing”--including at least three sentences that restate content from a particular source. However, only five of those examples of sustained paraphrasing were effective. At the same time, multilingual writers were resourceful by using Google Translate to understand text, reading background information in a language other than English, and using vocabulary they read on screens during online searches as keywords for new searches. I will argue that the composition field needs to develop more pedagogical models to encourage multilingual writers to use their native languages and to teach them the functions of sources and meaningful integration in FYC. This matters so that FYC classrooms can become more inclusive.
