1. Introduction

This chapter discusses the challenges faced by Chinese ethnolinguistic minority learners in literacy education, and the proposals made to address these social issues. It also provides an overview of the literature on creative writing by second and foreign language writers, highlighting the benefits observed in the pedagogical use of creative writing. Lastly, it emphasizes the need for contextualized exploration of creative writing and learner identity work, and introduces the case study that explores three ethnolinguistic minority learners’ emerging agency in an optional English creative writing course in a Chinese university, addressing two specific questions.

2. Writer Identity, Investment, and Identity Text

In general, writer identity is a multi-dimensional and dynamic process with autobiographical self, discoursal self, and self as author. It continues to evolve and be constructed in various writing contexts. Ivanič’s framework has been refined to account for investment and a temporary conclusion of writer identity. Creative writing serves as a space to enrich writers’ experiences and expand their identity options. Pedagogically produced creative writing is viewed as situated identity work and can effectively mediate the relationship between the writer and the world. It also functions as "identity texts" where students invest their identities, and their multiple social identities are often foregrounded and shared. Creative writing may be a special kind of identity text at three levels: indexing language learners’ non-writer-related identities, indexing their emergent creative writer identity, and that these identities are socially performed and can be socially affirmed as well.

3. The Study

The study took place in a Chinese university with a high percentage of ethnic minority learners. The study focused on a creative writing course for English major students, with three main features: the use of a Chinese textbook, teaching multiple creative forms, and implementing a dialogical teaching style. Three ethnolinguistic minority learners were chosen as case study participants due to their active engagement in creative writing and ability to speak their own ethnic minority language. Data collection included textual data, reflection data, and interview data. Data analysis was conducted using qualitative analysis software to analyze writing samples, reflection data, and interview data to understand the students' investment in creative writing and its impact on their writer identity.

4. Findings

Jia's story highlighted her enhancement in writing skills and knowledge of language conventions. Her creative writing portfolio also demonstrated her investment in various genres and her emotional depth. Liu, on the other hand, displayed an improvement in her language usage and content generation throughout the course. Her writing samples showcased her progress in writing creatively on different topics and genres, demonstrating her deepened creativity. Both students showed increased confidence and ability, ultimately enriching their writing experience throughout the course.

5. Discussion

This chapter discusses earlier findings about ethnolinguistic minority learners’ struggles in literacy development, creative writing, investment and identity texts, the potential of process-oriented creative writing in nurturing learners’ writer identities, ecological factors that contribute to growing agency, the critical source of agency rooted in biographical contexts, and the differences among the three ethnolinguistic minority learners in their initial attitude towards writing and the content of their writing.

6. Conclusion

This chapter discussed the findings of an ethnographic case study on Chinese ethnolinguistic minority learners’ investment in creative writing. It highlighted the positive impact of creative writing on the learners’ writing development, language proficiency, and identity development, while also pointing out the limitations in distinguishing ethnolinguistic minority learners from Han Chinese learners. The chapter suggested the need for effective ways to link foreign language writing with ethnolinguistic minority learners’ home communities and emphasized the importance of dialogical teaching and a process-combined-with-product approach to facilitate their learning. The study also highlighted the potential for ethnolinguistic minority learners to become capable creative writers in English. The chapter concluded by emphasizing the possibilities of selfhood within a nurturing environment for ethnolinguistic minority learners.