26.2475, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acq; Ling Theories; Socioling; Translation: Disney (2014)

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Subject: 26.2475, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acq; Ling Theories; Socioling; Translation: Disney (2014)

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Date: Wed, 13 May 2015 22:12:41
From: Hyung-Jo Yoon [younhjo at gmail.com]
Subject: Exploring Second Language Creative Writing

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-2817.html

EDITOR: Dan  Disney
TITLE: Exploring Second Language Creative Writing
SUBTITLE: Beyond Babel
SERIES TITLE: Linguistic Approaches to Literature 19
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2014

REVIEWER: Hyung-Jo Yoon, Michigan State University

Review's Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

This edited volume addresses the role of second language (L2) creative writing
in promoting learner voice and identity in the act of writing. This book
consists of a total of seven chapters, each one of which explores how an L2
creative writing pedagogy works in a particular L2 setting. While describing
somewhat different aspects of L2 creative writing, all seven chapters commonly
emphasize the importance of understanding contextual features (e.g., status of
a target language, purpose of L2 learning) in order to make L2 writing
meaningful to learners. 

In the introduction, Dan Disney presents the aim of a creative writing
pedagogy, such as facilitating voice-filled discourse and going beyond a
traditional focus of L2 pedagogies on instrumentality of an additional
language. He apparently sees L2 creative writing as a valuable
interdisciplinary resource that can connect several language-related fields.
Particularly, contrary to a traditional practice of discouraging first
language use in L2 learning, the author appreciates inter- and
multi-lingualism; thus L2 learners, as entities equipped with unique
experiences and resources including their first language skills, need to be
encouraged to make full use of their assets. What L2 writing practitioners
attempt to accomplish through such an alternative pedagogy is their students’
idiosyncratic bilingual identities. 

“Appreciating the beauty of second language poetry writing” is the first
chapter by David I. Hanauer. This essay critically discusses the value of
poetry writing as a genre of L2 writing pedagogy. According to the author,
traditional L2 pedagogies have excessively focused on the accuracy of L2
writing as compared to native English users’ writing. This practice of
assigning native speakers’ work as a reference drew L2 writers’ attention to
how to copy other reference work with no trace of individual voice in their
text; however, according to the author, poetry writing can be a genre that
encourages L2 writers to meaningfully interact with their text and readers.
Thus, the pedagogy of poetry writing may enable L2 learners to experience
authentic and personally meaningful writing.

In the second chapter, “Learner and writer voices: Learners as writers and the
search for authorial voice”, Jane Spiro deals with how L2 writers gain
ownership of, and achieve a voice in, their texts; this involves the four
steps of choosing published text, articulating the reason for their choice,
applying reading insights to their writing, and reflecting on the writing
process. The author notes a transition from reading-as-writer to
writing-as-reader as an important process for emerging L2 writers to “notice”
linguistic and stylistic features of a particular text. With a deep
appreciation of other texts, L2 writers can produce their own creative writing
full of their unique experiences. 

The third chapter is “Is this how it’s supposed to work?: Poetry as a radical
technology in L2 creative writing classrooms” written by the editor of the
volume, Dan Disney. In this chapter, drawing on his pedagogical application of
poetry in an EFL setting in South Korea, the author explores the availability
of poetry as a creative genre for developing L2 writers’ self-exploration and
expression. It is suggested that after some initial struggle to make creative
decisions in their own poems, L2 writers, as competent poets, will be able to
express their own voice and appropriate poetic devices. 

“Literacy translation as a creative practice in L2 writing pedagogies” is the
fourth chapter, in which the authors, Eugenia Loffredo and Manuela
Perteghella, discuss the potentiality of “literary” translation as a creative
practice when the focus is given to its process, but not to its product. That
is, going beyond the traditional practice of replication void of meaning,
translation can be used as a pedagogical tool enabling critical and creative
interaction of L2 writers with texts. In exploring such values of literary
translation, the authors explicate some changing aspects of creativity, with a
particular focus on transformational and dialogical features.

“Process and product, means and ends: Creative writing in Macao” by
Christopher Kelen is the fifth chapter; in this chapter the author examines
how creative writing can be taught and learned in a non-native English
speaking context, here Macao. Considering the significant effect of contextual
factors on the process and product of creative writing pedagogies, this
chapter presents the historical, cultural, and political background of Macao,
where Confucian culture has been functioning as an underlying ideology. Along
with specific contextual features of Macao, this chapter discusses predictable
challenges of adopting creative writing, such as the rather passive attitude
of the L2 learners towards language learning (although arising from their
respect for the teacher) and a lack of appreciation of imagination in terms of
academic achievement. Despite such difficulties, the author sees multiple
sources of negotiation as a feature common to Macao and creative writing, and
argues for a strong likelihood of successful creative writing through “a
mentor-led process of negotiation.”

In Chapter 6, “Curriculum as cultural critique: Creative writing pedagogy in
Hong Kong”, Eddie Tay explores the use of creative writing as a critical,
pedagogical tool that can fully address social and cultural contexts. First,
this chapter discusses how Hong Kong people have established instrumental and
pragmatic attitudes toward the English language by looking into a sense of
dispossession arising from a series of historical and political events. This
contextual information is followed by an argument in support of creative
writing full of personal, affective, potential meaning. The author further
suggests why Hong Kong is the right place for adopting a critical pedagogy
based on creative writing rather than on instrumental, academic writing.

The last chapter, “Co-constructing a community of creative writers: Exploring
L2 identity formations through Bruneian playwriting” is written by Grace V. S.
Chin. This chapter reports on how creative writing can function as a
pedagogical tool for constructing L2 learners’ identities and their sense of
community. Unlike the previous chapters focusing mostly on poetry, the target
genre of this chapter is playwriting, where a written piece needs to be
developed through a full collaboration with other members in a community. The
author first introduces the notions of sociocultural aspects of L2 learning
and identity development. Identifying the connection between cooperative
social learning and creative writing, the author also explains how creative
writing should be operationalized in the target context, Brunei, which is a
collectivist society, as are other many Asian countries. Then, based on the
role of dialogue in constructing a shared community, this chapter shows how
dialogues are effectively working to co-construct creative knowledge and local
identities as playwrights.

EVALUATION

This book is a valuable resource for L2 writing practitioners and researchers
who hope to learn the value of a creative writing pedagogy and to better
understand the way it should be practiced in a particular setting. This also
provides a comprehensive explanation of why creative writing should be pursued
in L2 learning contexts. Thus, for those who have mainly attended to
linguistic accuracy in L2 writing development, this volume can serve to draw
their attention to a basic, underlying purpose of writing: writing in order to
convey a message to the reader. It is thus important for novice writers to be
fully aware of a specific rhetorical situation when they are involved in the
act of writing. As indicated in several chapters, traditional L2 writing
pedagogies had a tendency to disregard this fundamental aspect of writing,
resulting L2 writing lacking a writer’s personal voice and contextual
understanding. 

This is the primary concern each chapter of this volume attempts to address,
and the author were convincing in presenting the need for a paradigmatic
change in the teaching of L2 writing. According to the authors, through
realizing their voice, L2 learners will be able to truly express themselves
using their additional language, and they can finally gain the ownership of
this new resource. In a similar vein, Widdowson (1994) notes that language
ownership is a matter of using and adapting a language to one’s own meaning
and wishes regardless of their nativeness. This critical argument, along with
the concept of “World Englishes” (Kachru, 1997), seems to provide sufficient
grounds for L2 creative writing. 

Several different, but somewhat interlocking, ESL and EFL contexts are
introduced in this book, ranging from international students in the UK
(Chapter 2) to college students in Brunei (Chapter 7). The chapters in which
Asian countries were chosen as target settings describe the historical and
cultural background of each country in detail and explain how such factors
have influenced and shaped the views of people towards second language
learning. It is true that up-to-date teaching methodologies, such as task
based instruction or communicative language teaching, have been derived from
some English-speaking countries, so-called the inner circle (Kachru, 1997),
and they have been widely adopted in the majority of EFL settings (i.e., the
outer circle and the expanding circle) without much consideration of their
unique contextual features. As illustrated in Chapters 3, 5, 6, and 7,
however, it is essential for L2 writing practitioners (and researchers) to
fully understand the specific contextual features and purpose of L2 learning.
This book is a good starting point to connect such efforts with creative
writing and a critical pedagogy.

Another worthwhile contribution of this book is that many chapters not only
provide the theoretical underpinnings of creative writing (e.g., Freirian
critical theory, sociocultural theory, community of practice, etc.) but also
some detailed steps for practical applications. Since the notion and practice
of creative writing is well grounded in theory, this book will provide the
reader with insight into this socially oriented field of L2 writing. Together
with the introduction of related theories, for example, given a recent trend
of incorporating technology in L2 learning, the authors of Chapter 4 designed
and introduced the creative translation workshop in the two formats of live
and virtual settings. This seemed an interesting attempt to reflect fast
changing features of L2 instruction and to realize best pedagogical practice. 

On the organization side, the editor seems to put great effort into showing
different aspects of the common theme of creative writing effectively. The
volume started by problematizing a traditional practice of L2 writing and
introduced several main features of creative writing in the following
chapters, with poetry writing as a central genre of creative writing. Along
with the majority of work revolving around the use of poetry, Chapter 7
suggests the use of playwriting as a possible genre of creative writing that
promotes a cooperative atmosphere and community among learners. Wrapping up
this book by dealing with a new genre opens up the possibility of extending
the scope of creative writing to other written genres.

Additionally, this text clearly justifies why L2 writers should be encouraged
to make full use of their linguistic resources including their L1 skills. In
particular, Chapter 4 introduces the concept of multi-competence (Cook, 1991),
suggesting that L2 learners have different linguistic systems than
multilingual users; thus, monolingual native speakers cannot emulate
bilinguals’ unique linguistic repertoires. Based on previous findings,
creative writing is securely established as an alternative pedagogy to be
pursued in order to promote authentic, purposeful writing. 

Nevertheless, I still believe that no matter how important it is to support
aesthetic aspects of writing, we should not underestimate the role of
learners’ motivation for L2 learning since it is highly possible that many L2
learners are driven to exert much effort simply to achieve their external or
instrumental motivation (e.g., acquiring a high score on a gatekeeping test).
While a dichotomy between academic and creative writing was suggested in
Chapter 6, it would be a great next step to develop a well-balanced L2
creative writing pedagogy that includes diversified genres and some academic
aspects of writing, and considers a wide range of motivation for L2 learners.
Lastly, since the book mainly targeted high proficiency, college-level L2
learners, it seems important to conduct further research to show how creative
writing works differently with beginning L2 learners (or child learners).

Overall, this volume can be seen as a greatly valuable resource to possess,
not only for L2 writing educators, but also for those who are interested in
the fields of sociolinguistics, critical pedagogy, or ethnography. Reading
this book will lead them to better comprehend the value of L2 writing as the
realization of authentic writer voice that reflects the writer’s unique
experiences in a specific context. 

REFERENCES

Cook, Vivian. J. 1991. The poverty-of-the-stimulus argument and
multi-competence. Second Language Research, 7(2), 103-117.

Kachru, Braj. B. 1997. World Englishes and English-using communities. Annual
Review of Applied Linguistics, 17, 66-87. 

Widdowson, Henry. 1994. The ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly, 28(2),
377-389.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Hyung-Jo Yoon earned his M.Ed. in TESOL from the University of Pennsylvania in
2013. He is now a Ph.D. student in the Second Language Studies program at
Michigan State University. While studying as a Ph.D. student, he is currently
teaching English as a second language at the English Language Center. His
research interests center around second language writing, language assessment,
second language acquisition and computational analysis of natural language. He
is now working on a research project regarding the influence of genre on
linguistic features and their development over time.





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