Adolescent English language learners' stances toward disciplinary writing

• Adolescent ELLs' stances differ across secondary disciplinary contexts.
• Differences relate to task features and perceived teacher attitudes.
• L1 literacy experiences influence some ELLs' perceptions of writing abilities.
• High-interest topics and cognitively complex tasks relate to agentive stances.

Since adolescent English language learners (ELLs) are facing increasing demands to engage in advanced disciplinary writing and this type of writing is oftentimes one of the most challenging academic tasks they encounter, this study investigated their experiences with writing in English language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics classrooms. Rooted in a social-constructivist conception of writing, which foregrounds the relationship between individual agency, engagement, and disciplinary discourse, this study asked: 1) What are adolescent ELLs' stances toward content-area writing and how do they differ by grade level? 2) To what factors do adolescent ELLs attribute their stances toward writing? 3) How do adolescent ELLs' stances vary across content areas and by type of writing? A micro-level discourse analysis approach was used to analyze interviews with 26 ELLs in different school contexts with varying emphases on writing in the core disciplines. The analyses revealed generally positive stances toward source-based writing tasks, even when students viewed these as challenging, yet negative stances toward writing in which literary texts provided the source material. This study is timely in light of the increased emphasis on the development of advanced disciplinary writing competencies among adolescent ELLs. Implications for pedagogy are discussed.