Autobiographical writing in English as a foreign language: A Classroom Experience

Abstract

This article reports the results of a pedagogical intervention in writing in English, called Improving writing process in an English First Level Course, at a Foreign Language Teaching Program at Universidad del Valle, based on writing an autobiographical text. The intervention considers aspects such as the textual characteristics, the composition process, and the writing context, in terms of micro and macro levels (Cumming, 2001). The experience of writing in the classroom enables teachers to highlight the importance of writing to build the bases for the future foreign language professional; to establish a remarkable interdependence between writing and learning and to recognize that new learning affects teacher-trainees beyond the academic domain. These findings make it possible to understand that the learner’s voice gives full account of an academic personal style and of an identity during shaped in the process of professionalization.