A Study of Expertise in Instructional Delivery While Teaching Argumentative Writing in an American ESL Composition Program
Within the field of L2 writing, a growing emphasis has been placed on the need to investigate L2 writing teacher expertise and instructional practices. While some previous studies have identified characteristics of expert L2 writing teachers, there remains a gap in understanding the explicit relationship between pedagogical approaches and expertise, particularly in the context of teaching argumentative writing, one of the most complex forms of L2 writing. In response to that gap, this chapter presents a study that explores how two instructors within a university-level American ESL composition program approached the teaching of argumentative writing. While doing so, it investigates their movement between two types of expertise-routine and adaptive-in response to recent calls for investigations of these notions of expertise as related to L2 writing instruction. While shedding light on the relationship between these forms of expertise, this study underscores the dynamic nature of L2 writing instruction when instructors must try to strike a balance between accounting for program-imposed course requirements and materials, on the one hand, and addressing students’ needs as they arise on the other. Through its use of the adaptive expertise framework as an analytical lens, the chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of that framework amid ongoing discussions of L2 writing teacher expertise.
