Second Language Creative Writers

This book elicits L2 creative writers’ own perspectives of their life histories through the form of interviews and think-aloud story writing sessions, and investigates the writers’ emerging writing processes. It integrates socioculturalist L2 identity studies with the typically cognitivist process-oriented L2 writing research.

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This monograph investigates 15 L2 creative writers’ social constructive power in identity constructions. Through interviews and think-aloud story writing sessions, the central study considers how L2 writer voices are mediated by the writers’ autobiographical identities, namely, their sense of selves formulated by their previous language learning and literacy experiences. The inquiry takes the epistemological stance that L2 creative writing is simultaneously a cognitive construct and a social phenomenon and that these two are mutually inclusive. The study contributes to L2 creative writing research and L2 learner identity research and will be of benefit to researchers, language teachers and writing instructors who wish to understand creative writing processes in order to help develop their students’ positive self-esteem, confidence, motivation and engagement with the L2.