Graduate Student: Shyam B. Pandey

Where are you from, and what are you studying?

I am from Nepal, where, upon my graduation from Kathmandu University with my first graduate degree, I led a program sponsored by the U.S. government called the English Access Microscholarship Program. This program sought to improve access to education for low-income families by increasing access to English language education, new technologies, and leadership skills. Additionally, I taught English as a foreign language at the high school and undergraduate levels. I came to the United States in 2015 to pursue a research-intensive graduate education, and I am now completing a master's degree in teaching English as a second language at Minnesota State University (MSU), where I have added substantive academic and professional experiences in second language (L2) writing. During my time at MSU, I have served as a writing center tutor and a teaching assistant in the Department of English. For the purposes of strengthening my research skills in the areas of L2 writing and digital rhetoric, I have decided to pursue my PhD this coming fall.

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

At MSU, I teach students with very different linguistic backgrounds and skills, as well as students with different levels of knowledge of and confidence with the technology involved in writing and communication. Working with students from various academic disciplines, I see that students often have to handle not just unfamiliar “languages” of the U.S. academy and their disciplines, but also rapidly emerging technologies associated with academic communication. As transnational and cross-cultural communication becomes more ubiquitous across all professions, I take responsibility in preparing my students to successfully navigate and negotiate cultures, languages, and technologies in academic contexts. However, while new technologies may increase academic access in certain ways, I now realize that new technologies may also inhibit learners’ and professionals’ communication if they are not prepared to use and discuss such technologies in a particular context. This pedagogical “a-ha moment” has sparked my research interest in multilingual writers’ knowledge construction and application of academic technologies.

What in L2 research excites you right now?

I am currently exploring issues related to multilingual writers, digital rhetoric, and multimodal pedagogies. I am particularly interested in investigating the following questions:

• How can I address the unique needs of multilingual writers while also teaching mainstream students through multilingual-friendly composition pedagogy?

• How can I embrace online teaching and learning without digitally dividing my class?

• How can I turn my multilingual students’ prior linguistic and cultural differences into a resource for all students?

• What sense can I make out of linguistic and technological issues in the composition classroom as a researcher exploring the intersections of language, culture, and technologies?

• How might writing studies further move beyond “subtractive models" to "additive models”?

Along these lines, I continue to collaborate with my professor on L2 writing–based research projects, share pedagogical ideas with my fellow graduate teaching assistants, and present research findings and their pedagogical applications at various workshops and conferences.

Elena Shvidko is an assistant professor at Utah State University. Her research interests include L2 writing, multimodal interaction, and interpersonal aspects of language teaching. She is also a TESOL blogger, focusing on L2 writing. Her work appears in Journal of Response to Writing, System, TESOL Journal, and TESOL’s New Ways series.

Shyam B. Pandey is a second-year graduate student in the MA-TESL program at Minnesota State University and a graduate teaching assistant. He currently teaches basic writing for multilingual writers. His research interests include L2 writing, digital rhetoric, multimodal pedagogy, cross-cultural issues in writing, and TESOL methods.