Chapter 17. Reconstructing Teacher Roles through a Transnational Lens: Learning with/in the American University of Beirut

Abstract

Johns, A. M. (2001). ESL students and WAC programs: Varied populations and diverse needs. In S. H. McLeod, E. Miraglia, M. Soven, & C. Thaiss (Eds.), WAC for the new millennium: Strategies for continuing writing-acrossthe-curriculum programs (pp. 141-164). Urbana, IL: NCTE. Lancaster, Z. (2011). Interpersonal stance in L1 and L2 students' argumentative writing in economics. Across the Disciplines, 8(4). Retrieved from http:// wac.colostate.edu/atd/ell/lancaster.cfm Leki, I. (2003). A challenge to second language writing professionals: Is writing overrated? In B. Kroll (Ed.), Exploring the dynamics of second language writing (pp. 315-332). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Leki, I., & Carson, J. G. (1994). Students' perceptions of EAP writing instruction and writing needs across the disciplines. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 81-101. Lindsey, P., & Crusan, D. (2011). How faculty attitudes and expectations toward student nationality affect writing assessment. Across the Disciplines, 8(4). Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/ell/lindsey-crusan.cfm Matsuda, P. K., & Jablonksi, J. (2000). Beyond the L2 metaphor: Towards a mutually transformative model of ESL/WAC collaboration. Academic.Writing, 1. Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/aw/articles/matsuda_jablon-ski2000.htm LINGUISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE WRITING PROGRAMS, COURSES, ASSIGNMENTS, ACTIVITIES, AND ASSESSMENTSRelated to the second bullet point in our list of expanded WAC/L2 principles, we turn now to another strand of research in SLW that has focused on the writing experiences of L2 students as they write in courses and contexts across the curriculum. Michelle Cox's (2011) review of this longitudinal research revealed that second language writers often struggle due to writing assignments that "assume deep cultural and historical knowledge of the US" (para. 9), the lack of scaffolding of assignments, the lack of time for completing the heavy reading and writing required by a project, and evaluation methods that focus too heavily on standard written English. There's also an abundance of SLW literature on developing linguistically and culturally inclusive assignments and writing curricula, noting especially the contributions made by Dana Ferris on teaching L2 writing (2004, 2009) and, in WAC contexts, Leki's pedagogical recommendations in her extensive body of work on L2 writers across disciplines. Also related to WAC contexts, Joy Reid and Barbara analyze eleven assignment descriptions from across the curriculum for accessibility and equity to L2 students, and then make recommendations for creating assignments that are more conducive for L2 student success. In their scholarship, SLW practitioners also address other faculty who work with L2 students, including composition instructors (such examples include work already cited, particularly

Toward a Transnational University: WAC/WID Across Borders of Language, Nation, and Discipline

“…We often discussed what I learned from these engineering professionals, and faculty shared what they have learned from their alumni interactions and advisory boards. Like Zenger et al (2014), I anchored the WAC/WID program in a transnational praxis that asks first what students and faculty know about languages and disciplinary structures.…”

“…Although the name, original curriculum, and accreditation of turnkey institutions are often American, the emphasis on local control also means that these institutions have considerable leeway for creating new models for WAC/WID. At the American University of Beirut, Amy Zenger et al (2014) detail how their assumptions changed as they worked with students in their English 300 course, a course for graduate students writing in their disciplines. The authors adopted new roles of "literacy brokers" as they invited students' multilingual abilities into the classroom and assigned tasks that encouraged "students' understanding of writing as a social act, rather than a set of discrete skills" (2014, p. 427).…”

What Makes Writing Academic

“…The multimodal pedagogies described in Archer and Breuer (2015) and Palmeri (2012) provide rich insights into how the linearity of traditional academic writing prose can be disrupted to become more recursive and open to creating meanings. The rich body of work on multilingualism and translanguaging referred to in Wei (2016), Canagarajah (2011Canagarajah ( , 2013bCanagarajah ( , 2013c, Ávila Reyes et al (2020) and Zenger et al (2014) further offers several insights into what multilingual classrooms might look like if they were given space to mobilize, or mesh, all the resources of communication available to writers in the joint endeavour to enhance meaningmaking and equality of access in the process of composing texts.…”

Hybrid Writing Positions within WAC/WID Initiatives: Connecting Faculty Writing Expectations and MENA Cultures

“…Cox and Zawacki's (2011) special issue in Across the Disciplines on "WAC and Second Language Writing: Cross-field Research, Theory, and Program Development," and Zawacki & Cox's (2014) multi-authored volume, WAC and Second Language Writers: Research Toward Linguistically and Culturally Inclusive Programs and Practices, have made tremendous strides towards a foundation of research on L2 writers in U.S. university classrooms. Two of those studies-Ronesi (2011) and Zenger, Mullin, & Haviland (2014)-consider L2 writers based at universities in the MENA region.…”