The reluctant writer: identity, emotion and episodic resistance in adult migrant literacy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how writing resistance can emerge in adult migrant language classrooms and how such moments may be misinterpreted when affective and identity dimensions are overlooked. This study responds to limited attention to negative affective experiences among adult migrant learners in vocational and settlement contexts. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts an interpretive qualitative critical incident case approach. Drawing on prolonged engagement over six months, this paper analyzes a critical classroom incident involving a mature-age migrant learner in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program. Data consist of two naturally occurring traces: a contemporaneous teacher journal entry and a learner-produced writing artifact, examined through a teacher-researcher lens. Findings The analysis suggests that the learner’s resistance to writing is not necessarily linked to demotivation or language proficiency; instead, it acts as an affective and identity-protective strategy in response to a perceived face threat from a reflective writing task. The case highlights the interplay of affective history, professional identity, occupational literacy history and future-oriented pressure on writing engagement. Originality/value This paper offers a fine-grained, classroom-based account of writing resistance in adult migrant education and proposes a multi-domain conceptual model integrating affect, identity and investment. This study contributes to broader contextualization in language writing research and has relevance for multicultural education by offering insight into how visibility, voice and belonging may become affectively charged in host-country literacy classrooms serving culturally and professionally diverse adult migrants.