Analysis of Compositions Written by a Fifth Grade Chinese Child in Japan

Author Information

Lucy Spence, University of South Carolina, USA
Yang Tao, Kansai University, Japan

Abstract

This paper outlines an approach to analyzing linguistically diverse student writing. The current study focuses on the Chinese and Japanese writing of a fifth grade student living in Japan who is ethnically Chinese and multilingual. Literary and Bakhtinian analysis are used to explore the literary elements and voices in this student’s writing (Bakhtin, 1986). Such analysis has been shown to be beneficial to teachers for understanding linguistically diverse student writers. In a related study, teachers who learned this technique developed more sophisticated understandings of writing curriculum and their student writing scores increased. The current study revealed that the multilingual student evidenced writing strengths in two languages. Implications for school curriculum that develops student languages as a resource for learning are explored.

Save as a Favourite

• Category: Multilingual societies

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

All Posts