Where are you from and what are you studying?

I am a third-year PhD student in second language/multilingual writing at Illinois State University. I am from Salamanca, Spain, where I completed my bachelor’s degrees in Hispanic philology and English studies, as well as a master’s degree in translation and intercultural mediation and a master’s degree in teaching English as a second/foreign language. Somehow, intuitively, I thought that studying multilingual writing seemed the best way to bring the knowledge I had gained from all of those disciplines.

What is an “a-ha moment” you experienced recently in either teaching or research?

As a second language writer myself, the most vivid “a-ha moment” I experienced was when I realized how much unconscious research I was doing every time I had to write in academic contexts. For this reason, I am investigating the types of connections (i.e., transfer of learning and of prior knowledge) that multilingual student writers make in order to deal with new writing situations.

What in L2 writing research excites you right now?

I am very interested in promoting the idea of writing as a sociocultural historical activity in the field of second language writing, mostly in ESL or multilingual writing classrooms. I believe, because I have experienced it, that students have often been taught that their goal should be to achieve ideal and unrealistic standards, something that can be very frustrating and hinder their learning. Therefore, I would like to investigate curriculum design for the second language/multilingual writing classrooms based on an understanding of writing as a sociocultural historical activity with all sorts of contradictions that writers have to negotiate.

Cristina Sánchez-Martín is a third-year PhD student in Second Language/Multilingual Writing at Illinois State University. She is currently teaching digital/technical writing and reading and writing at the English Language Institute (Illinois State University). She also works in the Writing Center at Illinois Wesleyan University, helping hard-working and dedicated multilingual writers. In her free time, she likes to paint, although she is currently learning how to make a quilt with her new sewing machine. Like with new writing situations, she started by researching the activity.