Leveraging Peer Support for Mature Immigrants Learning to Write in Informal Contexts

For adult newcomers to countries such as Canada, learning language is more than an academic task. Language proficiency is their gateway to long-term economic and social stability, but limited access to resources contributes to systemic inequities which disproportionately place immigrants at socioeconomic disadvantages. Many new immigrants rely heavily on informal peer-networks to pursue avenues of success within an unfamiliar and inadequate system. To explore how we could leverage such a peer-based approach to meet their needs for feedback and support when learning to write in English, we deployed a peer-based writing app with 16 participants. Post-deployment focus groups and analysis of writing artifacts reveal that the design of writing support tools should present transparent feedback from both peers and automated sources, foster community through semi-structured discussions, incorporate guided review, and scaffold affective development. We discuss how incorporating these elements into the design of community learning platforms can address the language literacy needs of diverse immigrant learners and foster more positive experiences for newcomers as they negotiate their evolving identities.