1. Where are you from, and what are you studying?

I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee from South Carolina, where I received a BA in English from Clemson University. As a senior, I pursued research related to disciplinary divisions, specifically those between rhetoric and composition, literature, and creative writing, and the effects of these on student writing and on students’ understanding of writing. This focus was largely inspired by my work as a writing tutor with both the Writing Fellows program and with the athletic department. In these positions, I encountered students of diverse backgrounds, majors, and interests, and I assisted them with writing across many different disciplines, courses, and genres. While working in the Writing Center, I also worked alongside many graduate students, and it was through speaking with them, along with my research and tutoring, that I decided to apply to graduate programs.

I am currently specializing in L2 writing in the Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics Master’s program at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. I am engaged in several research projects at the moment which focus on identity, agency, and cross-cultural composition. In my first year, I also pursued research on transfer among multilingual students. I presented on these topics at the Symposium on Second Language Writing and the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference in the summer of 2017.

2. What topics in second language writing research excite you right now?

I am particularly interested in recent developments in research relating to identities, investment, and agency. One of my current research projects, which is also my thesis, focuses on how multilingual students’ hopes for the future impact their investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015) and their perception of their own agency (Saenkhum, 2016) in the context of the first-year composition (FYC) program. My goal is to gain an understanding of how identities can be driven not only by past or present contexts, but also by perceptions of and hopes for the future. I hope that this research will be important from both a pedagogical and research standpoint in L2 writing.

I am also working on a study of cross-cultural composition with my advisor, Dr. Tanita Saenkhum. This project investigates the implementation of cross-cultural composition as a placement option in the second course of our FYC sequence. It draws data from two sections of cross-cultural composition that I am teaching this semester, as well as follow-up interviews with students after the semester’s end. It is an exciting project to be working on, as little research has been done in this area since the late 1990s.

3. Could you share one way that research informs your teaching and/or vice versa?

I see my research and teaching as entirely reciprocal in nature; they each inform the other in multiple ways. This view began in spring 2017, when I co-authored a study on transfer among multilingual students with one of my cohorts. Through interviewing the students and hearing about their experiences with FYC, we highlighted the importance of explaining transferrable skills to students to generate metacognition about writing. Although I teach L1 English-speaking students this semester, these recommendations have still informed my teaching, as I outline the major goals of each assignment in terms of either transferrable writing or researching skills.

In the fall 2017 semester, my research and teaching became further intertwined as I developed the curriculum for a cross-cultural composition course. Since each class is comprised of ten international and ten domestic students from the United States, I had to draw from both L2 writing and composition pedagogy. My syllabus and course materials developed in tandem with a research methodology for studying the outcomes of cross-cultural composition as an option for placement. While teaching the course, I have continued to work closely with my advisor, Dr. Saenkhum, to draw from research-based recommendations on teaching cross-cultural composition (Matsuda & Silva, 1999; Reichelt & Silva, 1995), which emphasize the importance of making intercultural dialogue the primary focus of the course. When the course is over, I hope to continue working with my students from a researcher’s perspective through interviews and developing recommendations for implementing cross-cultural composition courses.

4. What have you learned in your graduate courses that, in your opinion, will lead you to accomplishing your professional goals?

My coursework has been instrumental to accomplishing my professional goals. I plan to continue working in academia as a writing program administrator specializing in L2 writing, and I have been fortunate enough to take coursework in both of these areas. In my first semester at the University of Tennessee, I took a seminar course on L2 writing theory which introduced me to the field; it was there that I began the research on identity that has informed how I view myself as an L2 writing specialist. In the following semester, I took three courses focusing on writing program administration, research methodologies in L2 writing, and composition pedagogy. These courses have been integral to developing my professional goals and how I see myself in the future as a transdisciplinary administrator who is concerned with the needs of all student populations. In my third semester at the university, I have continued to develop my expertise as an instructor by taking coursework focusing specifically on writing instruction for multilingual students.

References

Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2015). Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 36-56.

Matsuda, P. K., & Silva, T. (1999). Cross-cultural composition: Mediated integration of US and international students. Composition Studies, 27 (1),15-30.

Reichelt, M., & Silva, T. (1995). Cross-cultural composition. TESOL Journal, 5(2), 16-19.

Saenkhum, T. (2016). Decisions, agency, and advising: Key issues in the placement of multilingual writers in first-year composition courses. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado.

Hannah Soblo is a second-year Master’s candidate at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, in the Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics program. Her research focuses on second language writing, identity, and writing program administration.