The number of second language writers in US higher education has been increasing continuously during the latter half of the twentieth century. Today, there are over 480,000 international students, the majority of whom come from countries where English is not the dominant language. In addition, there is an equally significant number of permanent residents and refugees as well as native-born and naturalized citizens of the United States who grew up speak languages other than English at home and in their communities. Thus, it is becoming increasingly likely that writing teachers at one point or another in their career will encounter ESL writers in their classrooms.

While ESL students are similar in many ways to native-English-speaking writers, there also are many significant differences that make working with these students challenging for writing teachers. Yet, the preparation of writing teachers generally does not include the teaching of writing to ESL writers, and composition theory and research, for the most part, continue to be uninformed about the needs and characteristics of second language writers and writing. The lack of attention to second language writing issues in composition studies, I argue, is related to how those issues have been positioned in relation to two closely related intellectual formations: composition studies and second language studies—or more specifically, Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). To construct a view of the interdisciplinary relationship that is conducive to meeting the needs of second language writers, this study investigates the historical development of second language writing issues in twentieth-century US higher education.

This study consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of current disciplinary and instructional practices in composition studies and second language studies to establish the need for interdisciplinary cooperation between the two in addressing the needs of second language writers. Chapters 2 and 3 examine how disciplinary interests informed the formation of composition studies and second language studies and how second language writing came to be positioned almost exclusively in the context of second language studies. In Chapter 2, I trace the development of scientific linguistics in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries and how it contributed to the neglect of writing in the early years of second language studies. Chapter 3 examines the rise of second language writing issues in composition studies and how those issues shifted to second language studies as a result of the professionalization of both TESL and composition studies.

Chapters 4 and 5 consider how the separation of writing issues into first- and second-language components have influenced the development of second language writing issues in composition studies and second language studies. In Chapter 4, I consider the demographic change in the 1960s and 70s, which brought a critical mass of immigrant ESL students and how composition studies responded—or didn't respond—to their presence. Chapter 5 examines the development of second language writing as a subfield of TESL with a strong emphasis on the development of pedagogical approaches mostly in the context of second language programs. Finally, in Chapter 6, I consider existing metaphors for the field of second language writing—the disciplinary division of labor model and the intersection model—that continue to reinforce the disciplinary separation between composition studies and second language studies. I then propose a symbiotic model that promotes the view of the field of second language writing as an integral part of both composition studies and second language studies.

In addition to constructing an identity for the field of second language writing as a site of disciplinary and instructional practices, this study contributes an understanding of the historical context in which second language writing theory and pedagogy have developed, thus providing a basis for the critique of existing disciplinary and instructional practices. The first dissertation-length examination of the history of second language writing, this study also contributes historical insights into second language issues in composition studies and writing issues in second language studies.

Matsuda, P. K. (2000). ESL Writing in Twentieth-Century US Higher Education: The Formation of an Interdisciplinary Field. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Purdue University.

Matsuda, P. K. (2001). ESL Writing in Twentieth-Century US Higher Education: The Formation of an Interdisciplinary Field (Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University, 2000). Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(06), 2100A. (University Microfilms No. AAT 3018244; ISBN: 0-493-29282-9)