Expressive Writing and Multilingualism

Literacies: Skills and Practices in Developing Writing Identity

Introduction

• The study is based on the observation that students using a second language (L2) in higher education often struggle to express themselves in writing.
• The research explores the experiences of multilingual students in higher education who engage in expressive writing.
• Mastering a language and self-expression through writing is particularly challenging for L2 writers.
• The study examines how the writing process can be better understood by considering multilingualism in South Africa, focusing on the social cognitive process and its impact on writing abilities.
• A literature review emphasizes Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossic dialogic relationship, which involves the tensions between various language forms within a national language, moving it toward a standard version through expressive writing.
• A qualitative case study design, using interpretive epistemology, was used to gather students’ opinions, insights, and suggestions about their writing experiences.
• The study aims to identify strategies that can help L2 students with English writing tasks.
• Findings show that multilingual students benefit from expressive writing.
• The study supports the use of expressive writing as a tool to develop academic literacy.
• Keywords: literacy pedagogy, expressive writing, multilingualism, cognitive challenges, academic literacy, heteroglossia.
• Expressive writing is defined as connecting the known with the new on paper, or writing to display knowledge or self-expression (Graham & Harris, 1989; Pfeiffer, 2015; Russell, Baker & Edwards, 1999).
• Expressive writing helps students find their sense of being and improves their academic writing.
• Multilingual students can develop fluency in academic writing through expressive writing as it involves multiple discursive practices.
• Garcia (2009: 45) notes that multilingual students do not have identical skills across all languages, comparing their language use to an all-terrain vehicle rather than a bicycle: ‘more like an all-terrain vehicle whose wheels extend and contract, flex and stretch, making possible, over highly uneven ground, movement forward that is bumpy and irregular but also sustained and effective’.
• Multilingual students may find it easier to overcome communication challenges in a non-native language by using their other languages as resources to learn new words and understand what they read.
• Many universities use coursebooks that present fact-based and transference-based models of teaching and learning (Garcia, 2009).
• This approach often leaves little opportunity for teachers or students to use their own language if it differs from that of the textbook.
• Makalela (2014: 670) argues that students are forced to engage with texts in the language of those texts, which may not be their first language (L1), preventing them from reformulating their language.
• Makalela (2014) suggests that we need to view multilingual students differently, because forcing them to use only the language of instruction leads them to merely repeat textbook content.
• Teaching and learning of language should develop critical and creative consciousness in the classroom.
• This article explores the use of expressive writing through autobiographical and journal writing in a Communications classroom.
• The article seeks to understand the relationship between teaching language to both native and non-native English speakers, showing how varied teaching methods can be beneficial (Brumfit & Carter, 1986; Pfeiffer, 2015).
• The article also examines how expressive writing can encourage provisional interpretations, leading to constructive educational and social change.
• The research aims to explore using expressive writing in multiple languages to enhance academic writing in a single language.

Literature Framework

• Classroom-based studies should examine how students learn to write in a second language, and how they learn a second language through writing (Harklau, 2002; Pfeiffer, 2015).
• Academic writing involves producing text for other academics, such as articles, assignments, or essays (Harklau, 2002), where the author adheres to standards of spelling, grammar, and other academic conventions.
• Besides formal academic writing, there is also journal or autobiographical writing, where the writer is the primary audience, and formal rules can be relaxed.
• Such writing can serve as a stepping stone to formal academic writing (Pfeiffer, 2015).
• Our writing is influenced by our life histories; each word represents an encounter between past experiences and the demands of a new context (Ivanic, 1998).
• Writing is not a neutral skill but implicates every aspect of the writer’s being (Ivanic, 1998: 181).
• In journal and autobiographical writing, words become one’s own when the speaker infuses them with their intentions (Middendorf, 1992: 35), implying that our discourse is ourselves.
• Opposing forces exist within human discourse and society.
• A writer’s background and identity are socially constructed and constantly changing, reflecting their life’s history (Ivanic, 1998: 181).
• Healthy heteroglossic awareness is strongest when this interplay is balanced.
• Heteroglossia is the coexistence and combination of ways of using communicative resources that languages offer (Leppänen, Pitkӓnen, Piirainen-Marsh, Nikula & Peuronen, 2009: 1082).
• Language learning should facilitate personal expression and reflection. Studies have explored autobiographical writing as a method for constructing L2 identity (Lapidus, Kaveh & Hirano, 2013; Park, 2013a, 2013b).
• Students often struggle to translate between languages due to a lack of experience and opportunities for academic conversation, where concept formation and logical thinking are developed in both L1 and L2.
• In South Africa, teachers face the challenge of teaching a multilingual student body with diverse backgrounds and native languages, making it difficult to translate work into every student’s native language.
• Garvin (2013: 77) argues that students need basic language skills to transfer knowledge between languages to express themselves in L2, enabling them to translate cognitive knowledge; otherwise, their creativity is stifled.
• Students need to develop both L1 and L2 writing competency.
• L2 writers struggle to maintain lexical and structural constraints to produce English text, often avoiding imagination, self-expression, and creativity (Garvin, 2013: 78).
• Activities that encourage creativity within subject-related constraints lead to empowerment and ownership of learning (Nunn, Suvasubramaniam, Guefrachi, Tariq & Al Shami, 2012: 7), allowing students’ identities to emerge in their writing.
• Creating an identity for L2 students can be challenging due to subject teacher expectations.
• The author’s presence in the text may be explicit or absent, affecting the creation of a credible academic identity and voice (Ivanic, 1998: 48).
• We should not assume academic writing is universally impersonal, as this can disguise variability and prevent students from meeting the specific demands of their disciplines.
• Hyland (2002: 353) argues that we need to guide learners toward awareness of the options in academic writing, rather than equipping them to achieve rhetorical invisibility.
• Ivanic (1998: 24) identifies three aspects of writer identity: the ‘autobiographical self’ (writers’ sense of roots), the ‘discoursal self’ (the impression a writer conveys in a text, relating to values, beliefs, and power relations), and the ‘self as author’ (the writer’s position, opinions, and beliefs).
• Identity construction is significant in academic writing, as writers vary in how much they claim authority and establish an authorial presence (Ivanic, 1998: 26).
• These identity constructions raise awareness of how English and its culture impact the academic and professional development of language learners and users (Park, 2013).
• In multilingual classrooms, students navigate different spaces of self when articulating thoughts in different languages (Canagarajah, 2011; Makalela, 2015).
• Languaging is integral to identity construction, with languaging experience representing the negotiation of multiple and fluid identities (García, 2011).
• Multilingual speakers decide who they want to become by using multilingual spaces to express complex meanings (Makalela, 2013, 2015).
• The multilingual space can be seen in students’ journal writing.
• Expressive writing instruction can assist students in their writing by helping them create a ‘self as author’ identity (Ivanic, 1998: 26).
• The goal of expressive writing is to move students away from shallow ‘performance’ (Spigelman, 1996: 130) towards ‘true and honest narratives’ (Spigelman, 1996: 130).
• Writing and reading allow one to appreciate the richness of another’s vision.
• Garcia (2009: 45) views this discursive practice as ideologically desirable for multilingual students and their languaging practices.
• Students articulate their thoughts and make situation-sensitive strategic choices to achieve their communicative goals (Makalela, 2015).
• This study aims to demonstrate that expressive writing helps students learn independently and discover relationships among their reading-writing-thinking practices in multiple languages, enhancing the writer’s thinking processes and the reader’s reception of the material (Pfeiffer, 2015).
• This can lead to growth in power and effectiveness when the reader and writer complement each other.

Methodology

• This study describes qualitatively and impressionistically the writing processes and strategies students use in class, and the outcomes of their writing in multilingual contexts.
• The study was conducted at a tertiary institution in the Western Cape with 14 participants from South Africa and other parts of Africa (Ghana, Congo, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Eritrea), who were interested in improving their writing skills.
• Ethical clearance was obtained from the university where the data was collected and from the University of the Western Cape.
• Table 1 provides participant information, including country of origin, time in South Africa, English proficiency, and home language.
• Only two participants were native English speakers, while the rest were either second language (L2) or foreign language (EFL) speakers.
• The length of time that the EFL speakers had been living in South Africa indicated their exposure to English.
• Even students who had lived in South Africa for several years were aware that their English writing was challenging.
• The study used a text-based instruction program that integrated reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing, ensuring all students were involved in tasks and activities.
• Students were provided with texts to read, discuss, and write about.
• The study spanned a semester to help students improve their academic writing technique.
• The purpose was to determine the centrality of a text-based instruction approach for L2 students and whether it could address the apprehension experienced by L2 users of English at a tertiary institution in Cape Town, with potential implications for other South African universities.
• L2 apprehension manifested as rote learning, reluctance to read or write, exam-oriented habits, poor motivation, and increasing failure rates.
• The study seeks to demonstrate how multilingual students can recreate themselves by using less common forms of communication at university level.
• Research questions included:
  • How did expressive writing create a space for students to represent their identities?
  • How can expressive writing improve their language skills?
  • How can students write more expressive/responsive and communicative texts?
• Students kept journals to record their daily experiences in English.
• They also created an autobiographical writing piece, which was viewed as a personal response, aiming to be both intimidating and liberating.
• These writing styles gave students exposure to writing for different audiences, with journal writing being personal and autobiographical writing being for an audience.
• Before data collection, interviews were conducted to gather students’ verbatim feedback.
• Interviews used a diagnostic assessment tool to improve instructional design and guide student learning (Jan, 2008).
• The interviews aimed to identify areas needing improvement, assess familiarity with journal writing, and determine which exercises would help improve academic writing.
• The article focuses on whether students wrote expressively and personally, examining examples where home language use emphasized the personal nature of their writing.
• Journal entries were not graded, but autobiographical writing used a holistic grading scale (Addendum 1) to evaluate writing quality and audience appropriateness.
• The pedagogical framework aimed to make writing a form of ‘self-making or forming’ (Van Manen, 1989: 238).

Research Instruments

First Interview

• Interviews were conducted before data collection to guide instructional redesign, evaluate resources, and remediate weaknesses (Jan, 2008).
• These interviews helped understand students’ understanding of ‘expressive writing’ and identify their writing challenges.
• Due to word limitations, only three students’ views on selected interview questions are included.
• Question 1: Define your understanding of the term ‘expressive writing’.
  • Student 1: ‘The thought you have, you like to have and your imagination through it.’
  • Student 2: ‘To think fast. To think what is asked.’
  • Student 3: ‘It’s a free way of thinking and expressing yourself.’
  • Students 1 and 2 did not fully grasp the concept of expressive writing, while Student 3 had a better understanding.
  • This question aimed to assess students’ familiarity with ‘expressive writing’ before the study began.
• Question 2: What importance do you place on expressive thinking in English Studies? Why?
  • Student 1: ‘It’s important because you are dealing with people. The way you want people to view you.’
  • Student 2: ‘It’s important so that people can express themselves, so that you know what you want to say and that you know what they mean.’
  • Student 3: ‘In writing one can express oneself better than in speaking. Speaking you have to consider the person. In writing you let your feelings flow and write to your heart’s content and not based on the way the person looks or judge you. That’s your own person bring across yourself.’
  • Students 1 and 2 did not fully understand the question, while Student 3 provided a more appropriate response.
  • The students had some awareness of the emotional aspect of expressive writing but were unsure how it affected their writing.
• Question 3: Have you done expressive writing at high school?
  • Student 1: Yes.
  • Student 2: No.
  • Student 3: Yes.
  • It was unclear whether students truly understood and practiced expressive writing at school. The term may not have been commonly used.
• Question 11: Did you have any problems in your writing exercises? What are the problems?
  • Student 1: ‘Problems with understanding and interpreting my writing. Understanding of words, spelling, pronunciation of words. Sometimes the sentences. Can’t make a complete sentence. Difficulty summarizing in own words. Speaking French confuses me, then don’t have the words in English.’
  • Student 2: ‘Language problems. How to use grammar and vocabulary neatly. How to use punctuation. How to structure essays neatly. How to work professionally.’
  • Student 3: ‘Punctuation problems. Spelling problems. Don’t have problems in expressing myself in writing. Feel I can express myself better in writing than speaking.’
  • These answers guided the selection of writing exercises to help students improve their academic writing.
  • Grammatical worksheets were provided for students to work through at home, though they were not corrected.
• The data aimed to reveal students’ understanding of expressive writing and how they sought to improve their writing.
• The segment also indicated the students’ intuition and beliefs about their ability to recognize, explore, and nurture their abilities in writing.

Journal Entry

• The interest here was to understand the journals as a space where the students wrote personally and expressively.
• The focus was on examples where using other languages emphasized the personal nature of their writing.
  • Student 1: ‘I didn’t do my presentation maybe I’ll be the first one tomorrow, so I have to get there early, because my lecture is very strict. I don’t blame her infect because she is trying by all means to teach us a punctuality because it is very important.’
  • Student 2: ‘I went to collect my journal from Ms or Mrs Pfeifferv. The reason for the “or” is because I don’t know if she is married or not. This reminds me of Valentinesday when she “interrogated” me about my plans for the day and I replied by asking her if she was willing to take me out for lunch. Where I got the strength to ask that, “U weet allen” as the afrikaaners would say.’
  • Student 3: ‘I was one of the unpriviled kids born in a family where parent are incapable of looking after them. I grow up moving from a family member to the other, trying to fit into other people’s home because my parent never gave me one. Growing up was like climbing mount Ever-Rest a million times without reaching the top.’
• The journal entries suggested that students made an attempt to express themselves freely, writing about their hopes, fears, joys, doubts, intuitions, and initiations.
• The numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes suggested freedom and honesty in expressing themselves, without fear of judgment.
• The writing was in the first person, with little attention to grammar and punctuation errors.
• Code-switching occurred, as seen in Student 2’s entry: ‘Where I got the strength to ask that, “U weet allen” as the afrikaaners would say.’
• This was an example of multilingualism, with an isiXhosa student including Afrikaans in his English journal entry, demonstrating how he moves between languages to construct his understanding.
• Other excerpts from another journal entry:
  • Student 1: ‘buying food every month or even worse you can runout of food in the middle of the month, buying expensive bus tickets, adjusting to the environment, language barrier you quickly have to learn other people’s languages I know you become multilingual but I think its more fun and interesting when you speak you own language, I think that might be a reason why most black students (not trying to sound racist) fail to part orm well or live to the standard of their progress report because we or feel we fail to get the rhythm going because of the expression but its not anyone’s fault.’
  • The student feels that being multilingual is an advantage but prefers speaking his own language, viewing L2 writing as meaningful literacy that can enhance understanding.
  • Learning a language involves widening one’s expressive resources and positioning oneself in a multicultural and multilingual world (Hanauer, 2012: 10).
  • Student 2: ‘Once I arrived by his place, I was surprised to see one of my old friends. It was been a longtime without seeing him. His name is Mathias. Cannot even remember the last time I saw him. I think, it can be more than ten years. After we conversated for such a long time, He told me that him and his family travelled to USA in 1999.’
  • The student demonstrates direct translation from French to English, using the verb ‘to be’ to form the past tense, indicating a common mistake when conducting direct translation.
  • Student 3: ‘Today has set the pace for this whole term. I can tell now already it is going to fly by; but I’m quite prepared for anything coming my way. Eish! I forgot to go fetch my exercises from Ms Pfeifferv.’
  • Code-switching is evident when the student includes: ‘Eish!’
  • Student 4: ‘My answers were so quickly. I said finding a job. My preference of where I want to work is here in South Africa, just for trois of four years.’
  • Again, code-switching occurs when the student writes: ‘… trois of four …’, demonstrating how the student pays no attention to their writing, writing ‘trois’ instead of ‘three’ in English.
• The journal entry aimed to allow the students to write freely in English, developing a love for writing without worrying about writing structure.

Autobiographical Writing

• Students were given the opportunity to create a mind map, make notes, or create a rough draft before submission.
• Only part of the autobiographical writing is included due to word restrictions.
• ‘Anonymous’ is used to maintain student confidentiality.
  • Student 1: ‘I wish I knew my father
    My life was not easy to be born without a father by myside. My mother was there for me yet I needed my father. Growing older without a male in our house becomes a big challenges to me. In 1999, on November at the age of 8 it was the first time I live in the house that rules by a man. I startet call any man I see around me a father to me. I never wanted to question my mother whose my father, because I thought she has the reasons why she never told me about him.’
  • Student 2: ‘My Uncle Christian
    In 2011, when I came in South Africa, my uncle gave me a gift and told me to be serious with my studies. He was doing his last year in the faculty of medecin in Lubumbashi. Tow month later my father called me, and asked me if I really love uncle Christian. I answered the question by yes, I do love uncle Christian. My father took a couple of minute to continue our conversation. He told me that something bad had happened, and uncle Christian passed away.’
  • Student 3: ‘Never forget you Dad
    My name is Anonymous, born in DRC. I was born in a kingdom family, my father Anonymous was a kind in our village. He had 7 wives and my mother Anonymous known by the name of Anonymous. Bint means the fourth wives of king Anonymous. I am the youngest in our family, when I was born in August 1992 my father told his wives and family that they must call me Anonymous. In our culture Evo means ‘my heart’. My father did loves me too much, I was everywhere with him, he never leave me alone.’
• The excerpts are from three students who are not South Africans.
• Higher education involves dealing with both South Africans from various language backgrounds (11 official languages) and students from other parts of Africa.
• Foreign students may not have much exposure to English lessons in their home countries, thus only getting to learn English in the country where they study.
• There are clear signs of code-switching, for instance, Student 3 writes: ‘did loves me too much…’ translated directly from French ‘M’aiment trop’.
• Student 2 spells the word ‘medecin’ the French way.
• This form of expressive writing is meant to enable students to write with confidence, with spelling mistakes becoming minimal over time.
• Writing about personal things was challenging for the students.
• For most students, this was the first time they had undertaken autobiographical writing.
• There was a flow in their sentence structures, with minor spelling, grammatical, and punctuation mistakes.
• For example, Student 1 writes: ‘My life was not easy to be born without a father by myside. My mother was there for me yet I needed my father.’
• The confidence in writing is evident in their opening lines.
• A definite flow in the sentences is detected with the use of conjunctions, like ‘yet’ from Student 1.

Second Interview

• A second interview was conducted to find out what students thought of the writing exercises.
• Question 1: How did you feel about the writing exercises?
  • Student 1: ‘The writing exercises helped me a lot. I learnt new words, which I never knew before. I feel that I can explain better now.’
  • Student 2: ‘See what I missed out at high school. I looked up meaning of words. High school had no real exercises.’
  • Student 3: ‘It was good. It helped in writing. Expressed myself in writing what I thought and felt.’
• Question 2: How did you feel about writing in your journal?
  • Student 1: ‘At first I just started writing. I started writing nonsense. I couldn’t think of what to write. Was challenging, was the first time to write in a journal.’
  • Student 2: ‘I felt good about writing in the journal. Sometimes I made sacrifices. Enjoyed writing, but at the same time anxious writing in a book that exposed myself. Wrote what I thought and felt. Had fun writing in the journal.’
  • Student 3: ‘It was good, helped me discover myself. Seeing it like a mirror. Re-read then surprised at how I felt.’
• Question 3: Have your ideas about expressive writing changed during this course?
  • Student 1: ‘Yes, now I write what I see. Used to think what was naturally, before people didn’t get what I wanted to say.’
  • Student 2: ‘Yes, as a Xhosa speaking person normally speaking Xhosa, during that time to write in English or at least exposed myself in English’
  • Student 3: ‘Yes, there are different ways that you can write. Ways you can interpret things. Know now how to naturally express myself and that if someone reads it, know where I am coming from.’
• The students seemed to perceive a benefit to this form of writing, in that it helped them discover themselves.
• One student felt that he had exposed himself, which he was not used to in his culture.
• In this sense, cultural identity takes shape, and we learn that certain things are not acceptable in certain cultures.
• The data supports the conceptualization of learning to write as a lived-through experience.
• The students helped themselves to appreciate and believe the immediacy and primacy of the meanings and the knowledge that they created through the use of writing (Lantolf, 2000).
• Their writing has not only become ‘their own’ or ‘authentic’ but has also become a valuable creation in the context of study as it is ‘eminently aesthetic’ (Lantolf, 2000: 152).

Discussion

• Researchers generally assume that, unlike essay writing, creative writing offers an opportunity for students to tap into a more private, personal, and emotional reality for their ideas (Canagarajah, 1999: 175).
• This is characterized by freedom from the non-personal, external demands of facts, other people’s ideas, comments, and forms.
• For the most part, writing is concerned with original, creative, personal experiences and feelings that can be discovered by the ‘self’ (Pfeiffer, 2015; Voit, 2009).
• The students were appropriating the language ‘on their own terms, according to their needs, values and aspirations’ (Canagarajah, 1999: 175-176).
• As a result, the elaborative processing evidenced in the journal entries and the absence of tension associated with linearity and conventional structures of discourse can help account for the meaning potential evident in the fluency of writing by the students (Pfeiffer, 2015; Voit, 2009).
• The journal entries point to the fact that this kind of writing exercise helped students recognize their identity and gave them a sense of belonging in society.
• It appears that one of the greatest benefits of writing in a journal is that it may help students get over the fear that they may have of writing in a non-native language, which may lead to more self-confidence and a willingness to write.
• These benefits are also reported by Jones (1991) and Voit (2009).
• The data from autobiographical writing revealed how the students were able to transcend the barriers that accuracy normally imposes on writers, through a fluency which they identified with as a motivating force.
• It was found that their sentences were simple, yet there was a definite flow in the structure and it was logical.
• The intention was that the student was able to make themselves understood in their writing.
• Accordingly, in the situation of heteroglossia, the dominant perspective, or one’s own perspective, is itself defamiliarised in academic writing (Middendorf, 1992: 35).
• As a writer, one is able to make oneself visible from the perspectives of others, as well as one’s own.
• Writing appears to rupture the mythological relationship to language, showing the gap between words and their meanings.
• The students’ perspective does become defamiliarised, and they are not certain how to bring their views across clearly, but with the help of expressive writing, this gap between the writer and audience is narrowed in that the student is able to express themselves in writing.
• The data reflect that the students’ responses in the second interview demonstrated their ability to recreate themselves in new spaces and adopt new identities.
• There is not one single right form of writing which promotes expressive writing, but an informed way of writing can be achieved by getting the students to use personal response writing tasks. This can help promote fluency in writing. (Pfeiffer and Sivasubramaniam, 2016: 106)
• Integrating personally and emotionally meaningful writing instruction allows L2 writers to reflect on their personal experiences and to extend their self-understanding in relation to the cultural, linguistic, and emotional factors (Chamcharatsri, 2013: 72).

Shifting Lenses

• The students’ writings reflect their identities as social beings.
• The languaging experiences of the multilingual students revealed features of the 21st century, ‘which extend our understanding of identity construction in super-diverse contexts: fluidity, versatility and mobility.’ (Makalela, 2014: 679)
• When multilingual students are given the freedom to tap into their emotions while performing an expressive writing task, it can assist them in academic writing.
• Using journal entries which are not corrected helps students to feel motivated to write but also without the pressure of paying attention to grammar.
• Writing about things that make them feel comfortable and familiar will help build their confidence in writing.
• Once stability in writing has been established, it will be easier for students to move into academic writing because their confidence in writing has been developed.
• For this reason, students do need some guidance with grammatical worksheets.
• Students need encouragement and experience ‘writing in the non-threatening context about a subject matter they enjoy, will help develop confidence and a more open attitude toward writing’ (Jones, 1991; Voit, 2009: 18).
• Personal expression and reflection at the core of academic literacy practice enhances the real purpose for language learning and relates to ‘widening one’s experience resources and positioning oneself in a multicultural and multilingual world’ (Hanauer, 2012: 10).
• The students use the target language to increase their linguistic capital and sense of self (Makalela, 2015).

Conclusion

• The study aimed at encouraging students to view their writing as personal constructions of meaning.
• One of the primary ways in which respect for and the maintenance of all languages in South Africa can be achieved in higher education is by creating spaces that enable students to use, draw on, and develop their home languages in addition to acquiring English (Van der Walt & Dornback, 2011).
• Students should be granted space to use either their home language or other language in which they feel comfortable.
• Having witnessed this heteroglossic, many-sided issue, these student writers seem aware that their position about this matter is, in fact, of only partial consequence and still evolving – one voice among many.
• By changing their thinking about writing, they change their writing (Middendorf, 1992: 43).
• A love of writing takes time to manifest itself in students. Educators have to recognise the importance of allowing students both space and time to ‘construct deeper understandings and make sense of their bi/multilingual worlds' (Garcia, 2009: 45).
• By providing students with opportunities to construct their own stories, we can legitimise and validate their lived experiences and identities as valuable assets and resources in South Africa.
• Educators could also support students to negotiate their L2 learning processes and provide them with space to generate authentic narratives that explore their own language and cultural learning experiences (Makalela, 2015).
• Educators should not only pay more attention to what courses are doing to the way students think about writing, but also to the way they teach writing. With this kind of focus, we must begin at the very first stages of children’s writing, both in school and at home.