| This ethnography, conducted at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, conveys the experiences of tutors, students, and administrators in a multilingual writing lab. As the number of both multilingual and international students in American universities increases, more writing centers in the United States have begun to explore the idea of multilingual tutoring. This study offers implications for establishing American multilingual writing centers based on data that emerged from observations and interviews conducted at Stellenbosch. Several themes emerged from the data that have important implications for American centers. First, there must be a clear understanding of what defines a multilingual writing center. To that end, this study presents three different models from which American labs can choose. Findings also discuss the importance of a strong language policy to back up the work of the lab, as well as information on when and how multilingual tutors and students codeswitch in sessions. These findings are tied to theories of Ubuntu, social justice, developmental ecology, and literature on multilingualism. Given that this study took place at a time during which Stellenbosch students were protesting the university language policy, findings on the operations of the writing lab are tied to the greater context of student protests, which are now taking place in the United States as well as South Africa. One of the primary implications to emerge from this study was that writing labs can serve as a much needed safe space amid even the most stressful political and racial tensions. The overall finding was that the Stellenbosch University multilingual writing lab serves a social justice function in helping underrepresented students succeed in college. |
