Article Critique

College campuses are ideal places for learning and interacting with a wide range of

cultures and nationalities. However, being an international student, and having English as a

second -language poses a tremendous challenge in many areas including the writing of

assignments (Nadal-Vicens & Beresin, 2021). In the article “Writing Gravity: International

Female Students’ Academic Writing Experiences”, Abir A. Eldaba and Janet K. Isbell (2021)

examined the academic writing experiences of three international female graduate students at a

southern U.S. university. The purpose of the research was to understand the participants’ view of

themselves as cross-cultural writers, their experiences with academic writing, and the coping

strategies that they employed for their writing tasks. Although the article revealed the need for

universities to restructure their support system for international students in the area of writing,

limitations exist in the areas of the abstract, sample size, methodology, and title of the article.

From the research (Eldaba and Isbell, 2021), international students enrolled at colleges

and universities in the U.S. face the problem of not only speaking but writing English at a

proficient level. The university at which the study was conducted provides a wide range of

services and programs to aid and support international students. However, students at the

graduate level still lack the necessary writing skills that are required in academia. The three

female graduate students were carefully chosen due to their prior enrollment in the ESL classes

and the fact that their gender corresponds with that of the researchers. Data was collected via

interviews, analysis of participants’ graded assignments, and their instructors’ feedback on their
papers. The results showed that all participants felt that they were unprepared for graduate

writing tasks although they passed the ESL class. They also concluded that their writing tasks

were “hard” and hence, doubted their ability to express themselves fully in English. In an attempt

to cope with these challenges, English writing models were sort after, peers were recruited to

review their writing pieces and feedback from their instructors was thoroughly followed. In

conjunction with these strategies, participants also sought to avoid plagiarism and to revert to the

use of their first language when writing their pieces.

The researchers studied an important and critical issue and one that was not new to the

literature. The study of international students’ inability to write proficiently in English must be

thoroughly considered by the relevant education stakeholders. However, Eldaba and Isbell’s

(2021) abstract was inadequately constructed. An abstract is a summary of the research process.

In this study, the abstract did not include the methodology and it give no clear, definitive results

of the findings. Furthermore, the sample size was insufficient and did not represent the reality of

international female graduate students’ enrollment. In the area of methodology, all three

participants were female, two of whom share the same nationality and were enrolled at the same

ESL-affiliated school prior to graduate studies. These realities could reveal some biases and

hence, affect the result of the study.

Additionally, the researchers indicated that the study was not to be generalized but

viewed as interpretive and context-specific” (p.1888). While I agree with this due to the sample

size, it gives occasion for a misleading title. In its syntactical structure, it is understood that the

study referred to all international female graduate students. However, the study focused on only

three students.
 The Literature Review was found to be quite resourceful and provided much evidence

and support for the current issues that were affecting the participants as international students.

These were present in the areas of writing challenges and coping skills that were employed by

the participants. Unfortunately, many of the experts were found to be more than ten years from

the article’s date of publication. This implies that new data/research could have been found that

could have proven the situation futile. Moreover, the role of the authors could have also impacted

the outcome of the findings. The first author had similar experiences as an international student

while the second, due to her associations has cultivated feelings of empathy toward international

students. Although nothing is inherently wrong with the authors’ position, these already

calculated feelings and experiences can ‘force’ the findings in a particular direction. The authors

should have been completely divorced from this subject. This would avoid the potential for

biases on their part.

On the other hand, the researchers were forthcoming in their suggestions for further

research. They claimed that the study “could include male participants and observation of

student interactions with professors or tutors” (p.1888). The inclusion of males will open the way

for a generalized approach rather than a gender-based (female) approach.

Overall the study found that new ways must be sought after by stakeholders of

universities to find solutions to the challenges international students face regarding their

education. Writing centers that are established to assist international students must be

academically staffed with lecturers who are cognizant of the writing tasks of international

students. Finally, there must be a dialogue between university administrators and international

students on the way forward regarding proper support in their academic writing journey.
 References

Eldaba, A. A., & Isbell, J. K. (2021). Writing gravity: International female graduate students’

academic writing experiences. Journal of International Students, 8(4), 1879–1890.

https://doi.org/10.29121/web/v18i2/31

Nadal-Vicens, M., & Beresin, G. (2021, January 27). International College Students: Challenges

and Solutions. MGH Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds.

https://www.mghclaycenter.org/parenting-concerns/young-adults/international-college-

students/