Supporting Multilingual Writers

In line with the mission of the Writing Program at Colby aimed at “supporting a culture of writing,” the Multilingual Writing Specialist, Dr. Chaoran Wang, provides expertise and resources to both students and faculty that center around multilingual pedagogy to enrich students’ experiences on campus. To that end, the Multilingual Specialist offers the following writing support options:

1 – Faculty Support: As a faculty member at Colby, there are different ways you can take advantage of the support the Multilingual Writing Specialist provides. You can either:
a) attend the Pedagogy Lunches that are offered by the Writing Program that focus specifically on multilingual pedagogy, or
b) schedule a one-on-one meeting with the Multilingual Writing Specialist if you wish to discuss any issues related to multilingual students you have had in the past, or you currently have in any of your courses. 
Additionally, you can refer any multilingual student in your class, who might be struggling, to the Multilingual Writing Specialist. Based on previous experience, this referral works best when the student you wish to refer is copied on an email you send to the Multilingual Writing Specialist, rather than having the student initiate this process.

2 – Multilingual-Student Support: This service provides ample opportunities for multilingual writers to hone their writing skills in academic American English. These opportunities include:
a) workshops that are geared towards second language writing and writing issues and
b) one-on-one sessions with the Multilingual Specialist that focus on working with students on their Colby-related writing. There are two ways that a student can seek the help of the Multilingual Writing Specialist; they can either email the Multilingual Writing Specialist on their own ([email protected]) or have a faculty member refer them.

Additional Resources on Working with Multilingual Writers:
•  Faculty Guide for Working with Multilingual Student Writers (Purdue Writing Lab)
•  US Higher Education: A Local Introduction (Purdue OWL)
•  Tips for Writing in North American Colleges (Purdue OWL)
•  Cultural Differences in Plagiarism (Turnitin)
•  Self-Editing Workshop (Purdue OWL)