How do our cultural backgrounds influence our writing? In the past, scholars have made broad generalizations about, for example, how “Asian” writing differs from “Western” writing. More recent research suggests, however, that our cultural backgrounds do not determine that we are destined to write in one and only one cultural mode. Still, culture can influence writing in some important ways. So how can instructors address the impact of students’ cultural backgrounds on their writing and help all students communicate more effectively?

To answer this complex question, we interviewed three UW specialists: Mariana Pacheco is an assistant professor in Curriculum and Instruction in the ESL/Bilingual Education Area; Sandra Arfa is the director of UW’s English as a Second Language Program; and Julie Minikel-Lacocque is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction who is writing her dissertation about multilingual Latino/a undergraduates at the UW.

KV: What kinds of cultural expectations and experiences can influence students’ writing?

SA: Instructors should remember that multilingual students come from diverse backgrounds—maybe they had very little writing instruction or maybe they had a very different kind of writing instruction that may seem to interfere with the style of academic writing your course requires. For example, things like what kind of information should be cited and how a paper is logically organized can vary in different cultures. Some academic cultural styles do not require an article’s main argument to be laid out at the beginning of a paper. Such differences can make it hard for students to make the jump to a particular style of writing in your discipline.

MP: The kinds of writing we ask students to do in the university, for example, can be really difficult for people because it requires a great deal of culturally-specific knowledge. Graduate school was difficult for me as a Chicana/Latina, especially since I felt like there were certain theoretical and philosophical authors I was already supposed to know about, and I didn’t have that knowledge yet. Also, I still identify myself as an English-language learner and wonder how my experience in academia differs from that of native English speakers. So, it’s important for instructors to re-think our assumptions about what our students already know or should already know.

JML: I work with multilingual undergraduates who went to high school in the U.S. Most of them did not go to a white, middle-class school, and they are acutely aware of not having had the privileges that many of their college classmates have had. They see that their peers are coming in with these great academic writing skills and they aren’t necessarily. It is an issue of race, class, and language, and instructors need to be aware of all of these elements.

KV: What are ways to teach with writing that are culturally inclusive?

MP: Consider the kinds of cultural expectations embedded in your writing assignments. We have to be really thoughtful about what we expect students to know already as they participate in college-level writing. For example, as an instructor here in Madison teaching about Latino/a students, I have to be careful not to expect all students to know what terms like Chicano” and “Latino” signify. I have to be explicit about what the labels I use signify. Generally, either breaking down the assignment with students or creating flexible assignments that allow students to build on what they know—not what you think they should know or what the academy thinks they should know—can help.

Because students are all going to interpret assignments differently, I create assignments that build on each other. This sequencing gives me a sense throughout the semester of how students are making sense of the reading, the class, and the subject so that I can go back into the classroom and help students where they’re struggling.

SA: One way to make accessible writing assignments that contain culturally-specific knowledge is to have a session or two to give students the knowledge that they need to be successful at the assignment. Another possibility that is less time consuming for instructors would be to have some small-group brainstorming time so students can share their cultural questions and knowledge. Another possibility is to provide help looking for resources.

JML: For the student population I research, that one-on-one relationship with the instructor is really important. Students appreciate individual specific feedback on their writing. One research participant kept getting bad grades on a writing assignment, but the instructor didn’t give any specific suggestions on how to improve! Additionally, evaluation systems like portfolios that take students’ progress as writers into account can really help. Instructors also can help hook students up with university resources by actively encouraging students to work with the Writing Center and even showing them where the Writing Center is. The students I work with often already feel out of place, and so they don’t necessarily feel comfortable navigating the bureaucracy that could help them with their writing.

KV: What are ways that instructors can use the cultural differences students bring to their writing positively?

JML: Often, the students I work with bring passions, life experiences, and a way of communicating that is an asset and can be celebrated and honored in a classroom where writing is being used. In addition to teaching more traditional academic writing, instructors can honor these differences by giving all students some flexibility about the genres in which they write, letting them reflect on course content with, for example, poetry or expository writing.

SA: Sometimes international students do not feel comfortable contributing to a group. These are smart students who think people don’t have patience to listen to them. Think of what we’re losing! It helps to do some free writing before talking. This activity gives all students more time to prepare to speak and helps to include all voices in the classroom.

MP: I teach graduate courses in education, and I am very explicit about the fact that all of us come with our own social, ideological, and cultural biases. So one way I use cultural differences positively is by attempting to be very explicit about them. One of our very first writing tasks requires students to acknowledge that bias and to reflect on how that bias will affect the kind of research they conduct. But these cultural differences are also essential to expanding the ways we write about, think about, and explore particular educational issues.