Resources for Multilingual Writing Instruction

In line with the Composition Program’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is the recognition of university spaces and writing classrooms as multilingual and the respect for multilingual students and faculty. The resources included on this page offer a variety of perspectives and approaches to fostering environments supportive of linguistic diversity. Each of these sources is either open access or available through the VT library. 

Disciplinary Statements on Multilingual Writing Instruction

Selected Bibliography

To support pedagogies that are inclusive of multilingual students, we offer the following resources divided into the following categories: assessment and plagiarism, linguistic diversity, and technology. These categories are not meant to reflect the broad scope of scholarship on translingual pedagogies and multilingual classrooms but are meant to offer some guidance in navigating these selected resources. As with all efforts to foster accessibility and inclusion, we acknowledge that the work to recognize and honor all languages in the writing classroom is a continual and reflexive process. If you would like to contribute resources to this selected bibliography to support that aim, we hope you’ll submit feedback and materials via email to composition@vt.edu.

Assessment, Plagiarism, and Policy  

Howard, Rebecca Moore. (1995). “Plagiarisms, Authorships, and the Academic Death Penalty.” College English, 57, 788-805.

Price, Margaret.  (2002). “Beyond” gotcha!”: Situating plagiarism in policy and pedagogy.” College Composition and Communication 54(1), 88-115.

Lindsey, Peggy, and Deborah J. Crusan. (2011). “How Faculty Attitudes and Expectations Toward Student Nationality Affect Writing Assessment.” Across the Disciplines: A Journal of Language, Learning, and Academic Writing 8.

Matsuda, Paul Kei, Saenkhum, Tanita., & Accardi, Steven. (2013). “Writing teachers’ perceptions of the presence and needs of second language writers: An institutional case study.”  Journal of Second Language Writing, 22(1), 68-86.

Linguistic Diversity 

Canagarajah, A. Suresh, ed. (2013). Literacy As Translingual Practice: Between Communities and Classrooms. Routledge.

de Costa, Peter I., Singh, Jyotsna, G., Milu, Esther, Wang, Xiqiao., Fraiberg, Steven., and Canagarajah, Suresh A. (2017). “Pedagogizing Translingual Practice: Prospects and Possibilities.” Research in the Teaching of English, 51, 464-472.

Horner, Bruce, and Laura Tetreault, eds. Crossing divides: Exploring Translingual Writing Pedagogies and Programs. University Press of Colorado, 2017.

Horner, Bruce, and Sara P. Alvarez.  (2019). “Defining Translinguality.” Literacy in Composition Studies 7(2), 1-30.

Matsuda, Paul Kei. (2006). “The Myth of Linguistic Homogeneity in U.S. College Composition.” College English, 68(6), 637–51.

Matsuda, Paul Kei, Michelle Cox, Jay Jordan, and Christina Ortmeier-Hooper, eds. (2006) Second-Language Writing in the Composition Classroom: A Critical Sourcebook. Macmillan.

Ortmeier-Hooper, Christina. (2008) “English May Be My Second Language, But I’m Not ‘ESL’.” College Composition and Communication 59(3), 389-419.

Perryman-Clark, Staci. M., Kirkland, David E., and Jackson, Austin. (2013). Students’ right to their own language:  A critical sourcebook. Bedford /St. Martin’s.

Wang, Xiqiao. (2017). “Developing translingual disposition through a writing theory cartoon assignment.” Journal of Basic Writing 36(1), 56-86.

Williams-Farrier, Bonnie J. (2017). “” Talkin’ bout Good & Bad” Pedagogies: Code-Switching vs. Comparative Rhetorical Approaches.” College Composition and Communication 69(2), 230-259.

Young, Vershawn Ashanti, and Aja Martinez, eds. (2011). “Code-meshing as World English: Policy, Pedagogy, and Performance.” National Council of Teachers of English. 

Digital Literacies and Technology in the Multilingual Classroom 

Bloch, Joel. (2018). “Technology for Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) Writing.” Teaching and Technology, 1-8

Martín, Cristina Sánchez, Hirsu, Lavinia, Gonzales, Laura, & Alvarez, Sara. P. (2019). “Pedagogies of digital composing through a translingual approach.” Computers and Composition, 52, 142-157.

Wang, Xiqiao. (2019). “Tracing connections and disconnects: Reading, writing, and digital literacies across contexts.” College Composition and Communication, 70(4), 560-589.