DeJoy, N. & Quarshie Smith, B. (Eds.). (2017). Collaborations & innovations: Supporting multilingual writers across campus units. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press ELT.

In Collaborations & Innovations: Supporting Multilingual Writers Across Campus Units, editors Nancy DeJoy and Beatrice Quarshie Smith argue for collaborative support of multilingual writers of English in post-secondary institutions. The text underscores the need to reframe pedagogy and restructure campus support to maintain pace with globalization efforts.

As the title indicates, this text addresses how post-secondary departments can collaborate and innovate to serve multilingual writers. The editors make the case for the need for collaborative support of multilingual writers on college campuses. They assert that institutions of higher education increasingly are recruiting international students, in large part to fill the voids caused by decreased government funding and resident student attendance. If support infrastructure has not been adjusted to accommodate the needs of a more linguistically diverse student population, according to DeJoy and Quarshie Smith, international students and support faculty/personnel can become frustrated. According to the editors, “fragmented approaches” (p. 4) (unconnected, inconsistent, and/or misguided internationalization efforts) provided by campus units can inadvertently create boundaries that international students must negotiate while concurrently acclimating to learning in a new cultural context. The chapters chosen for this volume exemplify innovating ways in which higher education can not only be more supportive of diverse student populations, but can actually move toward a perspective that values the assets that this diversity brings to campuses.

Four sections comprise this text, with each section devoted to a unique area in which collaboration among university units could occur. Part 1 focuses on how university English language programs have approached hurdles in supporting international students. Chapter 1, “Preparing Graduates for a Global World” by Fabiola P. Ehlers-Zavala, John C. Didier, and Nancy Berry, demonstrates how one university contracted with INTO University Partnerships to recruit and provide holistic support for international students on its campus. Under this contract, INTO provided not only recruitment services but also teaching support, curricular and extracurricular opportunities, and overall campus support of all multilingual students. Similarly, Jay Jordan and Erin Jensen in Chapter 2, “Writing Programs, Student Support, and Privatizing International Recruitment,” argue that university writing programs are stakeholders who should be included in conversations among campus units and third-party international recruiters regarding placement and support of multilingual writers. The authors also state that campus composition programs may not be prepared to teach multilingual writers yet often have little capital in institutional decision-making regarding appropriate placement and pedagogy. In Chapter 3, “Challenges and Opportunities in Preparing English Language Learners for the University Environment,” Susan Gass and Patricia Walters share the growing pains and successes of the Michigan State University English Language Center. Once a small English language program, the center has grown over the past two decades to reveal unique challenges but also opportunities for reframing and restructuring in order to meet the needs of an increasingly globalized campus.

Part 2 addresses accommodating multilingual students in university classrooms. In Chapter 4, Karla Saari Kitalong reflects on how she has mentored her multilingual graduate teaching instructors (GTIs) who often encounter challenges in teaching first-year composition to native English speakers. Kitalong also explains her own transformation since the role of mentor has prompted her to readjust her perspective of multilingual GTIs as assets to the teaching staff. Also in the vein of preparing teachers for the reality of multilingual classrooms, in Chapter 5 Joyce Meier, Yunjeong Choi, and Ellen Cushman report on a study in which they placed pre-service teachers (PSTs) as facilitators in a first-year writing bridge course. PSTs gained valuable experience in working with linguistically diverse writers, and the students received additional classroom support.

Part 3 addresses how first-year composition programs specifically can accommodate multilingual writers. Youmie J. Kim, Matthew J. Hammill, and Paul Kei Matsuda’s chapter, “Intensive English Programs and First-Year Composition: Bridging the Gap,” acknowledges the foundational differences and disciplinary division of labor (Matsuda, 1999) between writing instruction in multilingual writers’ prior learning contexts and that of composition studies. The authors argue that in order to best support multilingual writers, the fields of TESOL, L2 writing, and composition studies must work together both in theory and in practice. Chapter 7 by Steven Fraiberg, Xiqiao Wang, and Keying Wen reports on a study in which multilingual composition curricula were revamped to employ the prior literacy experiences of writers through Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and multimodal practice in order for writers to participate in global contexts. Chapter 8 follows with a discussion by Shawna Shapiro and Megan Siczek of incorporating the global in first-year composition. Important to note is that the authors of both Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 propose curricula that build upon students’ prior literacies, positioning multilingualism as an asset rather than a deficit.

The authors of the final section present innovative ways in which university writing centers can support multilingual writers. Both Chapter 9, “Connecting the Pedagogical Dots Between the Writing Center and the ESL Writing Classroom” by Scott Chien-Hsiung Chiu, and Chapter 10, “Sites of Opportunities: Leveraging Writing Centers and Multilingualism in Support of Campus Communities” by DeJoy and Quarshie Smith, raise awareness of the need for writing centers to think more globally in addressing the literacy needs of student writers. The authors emphasize that collaboration between writing center and writing classroom is an integral step toward supporting multilingual writers in negotiating writing contexts and building upon prior literacies.

Every chapter in this compilation provides insightful and theoretically based ideas on accommodating multilingual writers and reframing the perspective of multilingualism as additive to the globalization efforts of institutions of higher education. This text speaks to faculty, writing program administrators, language program administrators, and curriculum coordinators, as well as faculty and staff of other campus support structures. These ideas for collaboration are contextual and are offered so that readers hopefully can glean innovative sparks of ideas for such collaborative work in their own campus contexts.