Towards more effective and equal L2 writing instruction and curriculum: A hidden curriculum agenda

ABSTRACTThis opinion paper focuses on foregrounding the issue of the hidden curriculum in L2 writing and how addressing its negative sides can greatly move forward our understanding of students’ writing learning experiences and further promote more effective and equal writing teaching. Specifically, this paper argues that the negative sides of the hidden curriculum could partially account for students’ dissatisfying writing development and unpleasant writing learning experiences and discusses its possible harm to educational effectiveness and equality. The paper then outlines recommendations for future research and proposes strategies for teaching practitioners to better handle the hidden curriculum.KEYWORDS: Hidden curriculumeducational equalityL2 writinglanguage educationwriting instruction Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Research Services and Knowledge Transfer Office, University of Macau [MYRG2022-00273-FED].Notes on contributorsYu ZhouYu Zhou is a lecturer at School of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China. She received her PhD degree at Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. Her research interests include second language writing, written feedback and writing curriculum. Her publications have appeared in System, Language Teaching Research, Applied linguistics Review and RELC Journal.Shulin YuShulin Yu is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include second language writing and second language writing teacher education. His publications have appeared in Journal of Second Language Writing, Assessing Writing, Language Teaching Research, Language Teaching and TESOL Quarterly.