Xinyan Xiang ’22
she/her/hers
Physics major

How is writing in English different from writing in your first language?
The grammar of Chinese is very different from that of English. Therefore, I need to be careful when writing essays in English, since the grammar of English does not look natural to me at the first place.
It is interesting that I spent a lot of time writing non-academic essays (novels, journals, poems…) in Chinese, while I spent a lot of time writing academic essays in English. This means that I am very bad at writing journals and some other types of non-academic essays in English.
What has been your experience with writing at Carleton?
Carleton is a supportive community. I did not feel super stressed out when writing an essay for a class, since I know I can always go to the writing center to ask for help.
But this does not mean that I don’t feel pressed at all. I feel a significant amount of peer pressure. Since most of my peers are native speakers, I always feel unconfident in my writing skills and worried about my inproficiency in writing.
What are some of the benefits of being a multilingual writer/thinker?
Being a multilingual writer, I have benefited from thinking and questioning from different perspectives. When I wrote an essay, I always found it not hard for me to answer this essay’s question from various perspectives.
Since a language is always associated with the culture, being a multilingual thinker has made me more likely to embrace something new and unfamiliar.
What resources have supported your development as a writer?
- Writing Center
- Professor’s office hours
- Grammarly (an online website that helps you revise your essays)
What strategies have professors used to make writing a positive experience for you?
- Some professors always invited librarians to give a talk about finding and citing sources. These talks helped me understand how to write a professional or academic essay.
- Some professors always provided clear rubrics about a certain essay. This helped me clearly know how to write a strong essay.
- Some professors gave nice feedback and comments. Their comments helped me know my essay’s weaknesses and guided me to revise parts that were unclear.
What kinds of challenges have you faced as a multilingual writer?
I was always limited by the words I know. That means I always had problems choosing the right or appropriate word.
What advice would you give faculty to help them support multilingual writers?
- Please provide a clear rubric about how you will grade the essay.
- Please provide a well-defined prompt or question. Moreover, it would be helpful if they include some sources or sample essays.
- Please allow students to revise and resubmit their essays.
- Please provide constructive feedback for the essay.
What advice would you give another student from your country who is coming to study in the U.S.?
- Read different magazines in English and familiarize yourself with different uses of words and various ways of writing a sentence.
- Practice your grammar by reading more books in English.
- Go to professors’ office hours and ask about their standards on essays.
- Go to the writing center for help or proofreading.
What else would you like faculty or staff at Carleton to know?
I hope faculty members could be patient with international students by providing more help. For example, I hope faculty members could meet international students more often and ask how they feel about writing in their classes.