Social and Psychological Valence Components of Translingual Graduate Writers’ Inventory of Strengths

Abstract

This study of the assets that international graduate students bring to the process of learning English academic writing in the US has two purposes. The primary purpose is to develop the Translingual Graduate Writers’ Inventory of Strengths (TGWIS) and to test its reliability and validity as a tool to determine the particular strengths and resources of international graduate writers. The second purpose is to describe the academic writing strategies used by translingual graduate writers in order to suggest a conceptual framework of graduate academic writing in English and to promote teaching and learning of graduate academic writing in English for international graduate students based on positive psychology and translingualism. Previous studies of L2 learning have paid more attention to negative psychological and affective dimensions such as foreign language learning anxiety and writing apprehension. In response tothe need particularly psychological and social dimensions of international graduate academic writers in English, the TGWIS was developed. Based on the conceptual frameworks of translingualism (Canagarajah, 2013a), embodied self (Kramsch, 2009), Strength-Centered Therapy (Wong, 2006a), positive psychological perspectives (Lopez, Pedrotti & Snyder, 2015; Nakamura & Csíkszentmihályi, 2002, 2009; Seligman, 2002), and growth mindset (Dweck, 2000, 2006, 2008, 2010; Dweck & Master, 2009), the TGWIS V.10 was developed with eight psychological and social components (N=509). I tested the validity and reliability of the TGWIS as an instrument to promote a positive perspective on translingual academic writers by employing exploratory factor analysis (n=249) and confirmatory factor analysis (n=260). The final measurement model of the TGWIS V.10 is consisted of four factors with16 items: Interest and motivation to pursue graduate academic writing (GAW) in English (5 items; α = .84), self-confidence in GAW in English (5 items; α = .80), perceived professional value of GAW in English (3 items; α = .73), and using translingual resources in GAW in English (3 items; α = .74). The major contribution of this study is to inform stakeholders in US graduate education programs of the perspectives of international graduate students and to inform efforts to provide customized graduate level writing assistance. These aspirations can be fulfilled in a “nested” environment with affective and social supports, validating their strengths as translingual writers.