Foster, D., & Russell, D. (Eds.). (2017). Writing and learning in cross-national perspective: Transitions from secondary to higher education. London, England: Routledge.

Teaching writing to ESL or EFL students could be a challenge for writing instructors. In some cases, a writing classroom could consist of students from various educational backgrounds, and they may have different views and approaches to writing. Writing instructors should be better prepared to teach and attend to the students’ varying needs. This book gives insight into various writing practices in six countries in the inner and outer circles of English: China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Kenya, and South Africa. It is recommended for higher education teachers, especially for teachers teaching writing to second language learners.

The book is a collection of studies conducted in different contexts on how ESL and EFL writers transition from writing at the high school level to the university level. The studies provide insight into the academic systems of the different countries represented, including their history and how it influences writing, and the expectations of writing both in high school and at the university levels. The book has an introduction section, followed by six chapters each covering one of the six countries, and a conclusion. The editors place emphasis on how students write at the high school level, what texts they are exposed to and why, how they are prepared to write those texts, and the writing situation at the university level. Finally, in every chapter, the authors discuss the implications their findings can make to further improve the situation for the learners in their respective educational contexts.

Different themes emerge from the different studies conducted. Generally, the theme of educational ideologies and traditions is clearly portrayed. In China, students at the high school level are taught about their ancient traditions, and they are expected to demonstrate knowledge of this by writing about or discussing various historical times using examples from periods such as the Roman empire, quotations from Mencius, and the teachings of Confucius. In several of the studies conducted, educational ideologies and national curricula determine the types of writings that students engage in. In test-driven countries such as China, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and France, writing exams are viewed as a gateway to admission into university, and students are expected to perform well. In preparation for such exams, students are exposed to various writing tasks, such as opinion pieces, argumentative essays, or essays that require a personal response. These tasks have different writing styles than what is expected of them at the university.

The studies in this book reveal that teachers need to explicitly teach and prepare students on how to respond to tasks. Sometimes, teachers use terminology (e.g., analyze, discuss, argue) with the aim of guiding learners through assignments, but these new terms end up confusing students who do not know their meaning and application. In the United Kingdom, students are also expected to be able to handle the theoretical diversity of literary criticism, an issue that has proved to be a challenge to students transitioning to the university because they do not have prior knowledge or exposure to the different theories in literature and how to incorporate them in the analysis of their work. This creates a discrepancy because their high school writing prompts did not prepare them to handle such tasks. In all the contexts presented, explicit instruction needs to be provided in terms of teaching students topics such as sentence structure, use of cohesive devices, integrating sources and citations, and paraphrasing, among others.

The theme of language policy and traditions emerges in Chapter 5 in the context of Kenyan writers. In this context, writers face challenges when writing in English because English is their third language. In a writing class, this problem manifests itself in the way students’ writing samples might lack coherence as a result of the use of inappropriate sentence connectors and misunderstandings of paragraph structure. Muchiri mentions that in Kenya, any written content is viewed as true, and it becomes public property. Because of this notion, students end up quoting long paragraphs from texts without acknowledging the sources, thereby committing plagiarism.

The theme of identity and authorization emerges in Chapter 6 in the case of South Africa. The study investigates how different writers construct roles in their various writing tasks. The researcher studied student texts prior to joining the university and compared them to their university writing samples to note any differences. At the university level, students are just not writing and producing texts in rote fashion like they did before. They are required to integrate historical sources and yet still convey their voice and sense of authorship. The researchers propose that students need to be explicitly taught how to interpret tasks, read from primary sources, and respond to secondary sources. The authors suggests having curriculum designers provide instructional support and incorporate social roles and features into the curriculum. This will model appropriate roles and voices for students, thereby giving them a chance to rehearse these roles in a nonthreatening learning environment.

In the book, it is clear that students face problems when transitioning from writing at the high school level to the university level. Writing teachers at the university level need to be aware of these gaps and make accommodations for helping students improve. They should also be aware that writing expectations and practices vary from context to context and understand the development of international students’ writings. Particularly interesting was the way some of the issues presented in different studies cut across different nations: issues like how writing in these contexts is shaped by social and historical perspectives of the countries, the possibility for curriculum change, and teacher training on how to teach writing to students.

Salome Aluso is from Kenya. She is a second-year MA student in applied linguistics and a Swahili language instructor at Ohio University.