This study explores the effect of collaborative writing (CW) and peer feedback (PF) practices on subsequent individual writing assignments. Two groups of university students in a Spanish as a foreign language course experienced both CW and PF (Group 1 CW then PF; Group 2 PF then CW), and pre and posttests were analyzed for syntactic complexity, lexical diversity, accuracy, and fluency, as well as for overall quality using an analytic scale. Results suggest both treatments produced improvements, although PF was more beneficial for syntactic complexity, fluency, and overall quality, while CW led to more accurate texts. The order of treatments also affected scores: PF followed by CW produced better results in overall quality and fluency, while CW followed by PF was more beneficial for syntactic complexity and accuracy. Based on the results, pedagogical implications and recommendations, as well as limitations and suggestions for future research, are provided.

This piece explores the need to provide better training to graduate student instructors by first conducting a needs analysis of current graduate students and recent graduate students regarding their conceptualizations of writing, multiliteracies, and second (L2) and heritage language (HL) pedagogies. Based on this survey, it is evident that with just one teaching methods course as the typical training graduate student instructors receive it behooves us to implement innovative pedagogy in other ways to develop graduate students’ abilities to navigate new technological tools and reconsider how they can teach writing in the L2/HL courses. Based on previous research as well as practical experience, this paper discusses several approaches for training and preparing graduate students to reconsider their preconceived notions of what it means to learn to write in an L2 or HL to include more focus on multiliteracies and technological skills to prepare students for 21st century communication.

In 2015, the World Education Forum sought agreement from the international education community to promote inclusive and equitable education with sustainable development goals. In particular, by 2030, all learners would acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including human rights, gender equality, and the appreciation of cultural diversity and a culture’s contribution to sustainable development. This chapter describes the pedagogical design and implementation of a fourth-semester Spanish curricular project carried out at Texas Tech University with these goals in mind. Grounded on content-based pedagogy, the project focused on sustainability-based foreign language education through learners’ discussion and reflection on migration. Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero’s thinking routines and the ‘Re-imagining Migration’ framework were used for scaffolding students’ reflections and analyzing data. Examples of student growth, challenges in implementing curricular changes, and suggestions for overcoming said challenges are discussed.

The growing recognition of the important role that technology plays in language learning has been reflected in increasingly dynamic and productive discussions on the topic of second language (L2) and heritage language (HL) instruction and writing theory

Estudiar en el extranjero (EE) se considera una de las mejores formas de aprender una lengua extranjera (LE) o una segunda lengua (L2) a la vez que se desarrolla una mentalidad abierta y conciencia intercultural. Sin embargo, se ha prestado poca atención a la percepción de los estudiantes sobre su desarrollo de la identidad en este proceso. Este estudio explora las percepciones de seis estudiantes de EE sobre la construcción de la identidad a través de la incorporación de multialfabetizaciones y textos multimodales (historias digitales), en un curso de español de segundo año y un curso de Gramática Española Avanzada en un programa de EE. Los análisis de encuestas, historias digitales y artefactos finales se basaron en la noción de autoconcepto de Rogers y la teoría de actividad (Leontiev, 1978). Los resultados sugieren que la naturaleza multimodal y digital en la creación de las historias digitales ofreció más oportunidades para que los estudiantes documentaran el crecimiento autopercibido de su identidad.