SLWIS Newsletter - June 2023 (Plain Text Version)
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ARTICLES MEET THE EXPERTS: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. LUBIE GRUJICIC-ALATRISTE Svetlana Koltovskaia, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK, USA
We feel privileged to feature an interview with Dr. Lubie Grujicic-Alatriste in the SLWIS newsletter. Dr. Grujicic-Alatriste holds the position of Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at the Department of English in NYC College of Technology (CUNY). Her research areas include writing and composition studies, genre analysis, classroom techniques for teaching writing, and second language acquisition. Dr. Grujicic-Alatriste is immediate past Editor-in-Cheif of the NYS TESOL Journal. Svetlana: Could you tell us when and how you got into the field of SLW? Lubie: When I arrived from the UK, with a postgraduate degree in theoretical linguistics, I got a job as an adjunct lecturer in Composition at Lehman College. Given my linguistics background, I was assigned special ESL sections. From there onwards, I developed a passion for teaching composition to second language and international students. Within two years, I became Assistant Director of English Composition and I had the good fortune of working in the same department as Sondra Perl who did think-aloud protocols with composition students during office hours. Ann Raimes was still active at the time at CUNY. For those who may not be familiar, she wrote a now seminal article in TESOL Q (Vol.25, No.3), "Out of the Woods: Emerging Traditions in the Teaching of Writing." It was then that I also became aware of the Journal of Basic Writing (founded by Gay Brookes at CUNY) and read Mina P. Shaughnessy's Errors and Expectations. I was mesmerized by all the scholarly work and intrigued by the topics they discussed. That is how my journey started, from curiosity to continuous search for answers. Svetlana: Could you tell us what kind of research you do? Lubie: There are a number of research areas I am involved in as an applied linguist and composition researcher. However, I primarily research genres and genre-based instruction in higher education. More specifically, my work has focused on what Ann Johns calls "School Genres." I study all different types of writing that students get asked to do, but that are not necessarily "real-life" genres, or types of writing that people use in the world beyond the classroom. I also look at finding connections between those two types of school and real-world genres, as well as how communicative competence gets created in a specific genre. My ongoing deep interest is finding more answers related to the question of genre transfer. I posed it in the last sentence of my doctoral dissertation back in 2005. I don't think we have really reached a space where we can say: Yes, we know what happens. So, genre analysis is my long-term focus, but I do work in discourse studies and have been collaborating with a group of International scholars to make applied linguistics more applicable and relevant. In particular, I am interested in the possibility of translating research results into practice and building praxis with multiple stakeholders. Svetlana: What person or experience has had the greatest impact on your research/career? Lubie: Without a doubt, John Swales' Genre Analysis (1990) has had the most profound impact on me. John's work was introduced to me by my then-mentor, Prof. Nathalie Bailey, at Lehman College, where I was an Assistant Director of Composition. John's CARS Model (Create a research space model) influenced my doctoral dissertation on argumentative genres that were student-generated, and I built a CATS model (Create an Argumentative Space Model) from there. People sometimes ask me: “Why Swales? In some ways, we have gone much further from the 1990 Genre Analysis framework.” Yes, sure, but John's work is fundamental to a strong understanding of genres and their amazing potential to help communicative competence, be it personal, professional, public, or private genre types. We all get to learn and use them in somewhat similar ways. Users recognize genre types even if they are not fully aware of their existence; they "just use them" after years of exposure.. Svetlana: What is the biggest issue or challenge in the field, as you see it? Lubie: The field of SLW has made huge strides in the past couple of decades and,I think, the field of Applied Linguistics and Education as a whole. In higher education, where I work, there are still many questions about First Year Writing or Composition. The one question I grapple with is language growth or further development–what the scientific discipline of Second Language Acquisition calls language acquisition processes. My classes are typically a beautiful mosaic of international or EFL learners, resident writers, bilingual US-born students, incoming immigrant students, refugees, and the list goes on. Each student has a distinct writing history, educational cachet, literacy norms, background schemata and English in the classroom when composing seems to be on very different proficiency levels, as ELT or TESOL would refer to it. Of course, there are many aspects of a writing course that play a role in student success, but expressing abstract concepts often requires complexlanguage use. So, how do we help our students continue to develop their linguistic expressive powers and syntactic levels in a composition class? How do we navigate genre and identity work with language work? They need to be contributive, not contrastive, and yet, they present a daily challenge even to seasoned teachers like myself. More research is needed to connect SLW and SLA, something I am working on now. Svetlana: Could you share some of the most interesting findings from your recent research? Lubie: I am involved in a couple of research efforts, so I will share the results published in Second Language Writing Across Educational Contexts (a UMICH edited collection). Most composition faculty are familiar with the questions of their incoming students' writing histories. I looked at the actual student reports of those prior writing histories by collecting data on high school genres the students engaged with their high school teachers. The findings show that incoming freshmen have a high level of genre awareness when it comes to what was practiced in high school and what they perceive as being needed in college application processes, or college admissions writing tests. Student perspectives are not always heard in our field. We hear a lot of expert voices, theoreticians, and researchers, but it seems to me that we don't always ask students what they think, what they want, or what they need. So, student opinions should be front and center, as they are key stakeholders in any institution, and they should be driving the research agenda in most cases, not just "blue skies" preferences. Svetlana: As an expert in the field of SLW who has done extensive research and service for the field and community, what would you recommend for someone who wants to develop expertise in SLW? Lubie: Hmm...this is always difficult. There are so many levels of knowing, doing, perceiving, and prioritizing. Each person who joins our field, our work, and our students can have many different views. But I would say, fundamentally, the students are, or should be, the beginning of everything: who they are, what they do, what they need, and what their goals and dreams are. When I do faculty workshops, I feel that having a solid background in composition theories is one part of the puzzle, but understanding the science of language learning is another. Language acquisition and second language writing, whether it's in Rosa Manchon's words "learning to write or writing to learn," should be indivisible. Getting a handle on both will largely open the doors to understanding the intricacies of the writing processes in a second, or additional language. Svetlana: I appreciate you for sharing your personal experience, research, and insights on second language writing, as well as offering suggestions to our SLW community. Thank you very much! Below are a few suggested publications by Dr. Grujicic-Alatriste that may be of interest to you. Grujicic-Alatriste, L. (2020). Language research in multilingual settings: Doing research knowledge dissemination at the sites of practice. Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-34671-3 Grujicic-Alatriste, L., & Grundleger, C. C. (2022). Second language writing in transitional spaces: Teaching and learning across educational contexts. https://www.press.umich.edu/11306986/second_language_writing_in_ Grujicic-Alatriste, L., DePalma, M. J., & Ringer, J. M. (2013). A response to DePalma and Ringer’s article “Toward a theory of adaptive transfer: Expanding disciplinary discussions of ‘transfer’ in second-language writing and composition studies.” Journal of Second Language Writing, 22(4), 460–464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2013.04.002
Lubie Grujicic-Alatriste holds a doctorate from Columbia University and is professor of English/Applied Linguistics at the City University of New York (CUNY). Her research interests include genre analysis, institutional discourse, reflexivity and praxis in education, second language writing, curriculum and materials development. Her most recent book-length publication is Language Research in Multilingual Settings (2020, Palgrave MacMillan), and Second Language Writing in Transitional Spaces (2020, University of Michigan Press). Lubie is a founding co-editor/Editor-in-Chief of TESOL Affiliate NYS TESOL Journal and an advisory board member and reviewer on other international journals. Dr. Alatriste publications have appeared in Journal of Second Language Writing, Language and Mind Journal, among others. She has presented and numerous conferences nationally and internationally (Lalatriste@citytch.cuny.edu) Svetlana Koltovskaia is an Assistant Professor of English and Director of the ESL Academy at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Her research centers around L2 writing, computer-assisted language learning, and L2 assessment. She had her works published in journals like Assessing Writing, ReCall, JALT CALL, and TESL-EJ. |
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