Understanding Student Preparedness to Handle L2 Writing Curriculum Transitions: A Hidden Curriculum Perspective

ABSTRACT Despite the efforts devoted to improving L2 writing pedagogy to promote student writing development, students’ dissatisfactory writing development and outcomes are still reported. Investigating student learning preparedness to navigate L2 writing curriculum transitions may generate new understandings and provide an alternative explanation for students’ limited writing development. This qualitative case study aims to examine student preparedness to navigate L2 writing curriculum transitions from a hidden curriculum perspective, using data from classroom observations, interviews with students and teachers, student reflective journals, and classroom documents. The findings revealed two key dimensions of learner preparedness to handle L2 writing curriculum transitions: the interpersonal dimension (i.e., collaborative skills) and the information literacy dimension (i.e., searching and utilizing proper information as the support of writing). In addition, the participants showed disparate profiles of learner preparedness from unpreparedness to partial preparedness to preparedness. This interpersonal and intrapersonal variation was shaped by the interacting effect of learner factors, including students’ prior learning experiences and personality, and constraints from curriculum makers, like the lack of needs analysis and teacher training, and from curriculum implementers, like teachers’ limited pedagogical knowledge and skills. The pedagogical and academic implications are then discussed.