Written Communication Jan 1992

Bilingual Minorities and Language Issues in Writing: Toward Professionwide Responses to a New Challenge

GUADALUPE VALDÉS

Abstract

This article takes the position that teaching writing effectively to diverse students of non-English background will require an examination of existing views about the nature of writing and a critical evaluation of the profession's ability to work with bilingual individuals of different types. In order to explain this view, the article is divided into three parts. Part 1 describes the nature of bilingualism, identifies the population of students who can be classified as American bilingual minorities, and suggests that existing compartmentalization within the composition profession cannot address the needs of this particular population. Part 2 of the article reviews trends in current scholarship in second-language writing and points out that most of this research has focused on ESL students rather than on fluent/functional bilinguals. Finally, Part 3 lists and discusses a number of research directions in which the involvement and participation of mainstream scholars would be most valuable. In presenting an outline of questions and issues fundamental to developing effective pedagogical approaches for teaching writing to bilingual minority students, this final section argues that involvement in research on non-English-background populations of researchers who generally concentrate on mainstream issues would do much to break down the compartmentalization now existing within the English composition profession. It further argues that by using bilingual individuals to study questions of major theoretical interest, the profession will strengthen the explanatory power of existing theories about the process and practice of writing in general.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1992-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088392009001003
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy teacher development assessment multilingual writers race and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Juzwik et al. (2006)
    Writing Into the 21st Century: An Overview of Research on Writing, 1999 to 2004
    Written Communication
  2. Kells (2002)
    Linguistic Contact Zones in the College Writing Classroom: An Examination of Et…
    Written Communication
  3. MATSUDA (1998)
    Situating ESL Writing in a Cross-Disciplinary Context
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