Browsing by Subject "Writing"
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Item Building Bridges: Making Space to Connect Identities in a Newcomer Multilingual Classroom with Writing(2023-05) Espíndola Peixoto, Sinélia; Henry, Laurie; Bugdal, Melissa; Franzak, Judith; Doctoral Studies in Literacy; Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Contemporary Curriculum Theory and Instruction: LiteracyThe purpose of this dissertation was to explore ways for multilingual students to draw on their background knowledge and culture during writing instruction. In addition, I wanted to investigate how newcomer multilingual students (Canagarajah, 2013) understood and assessed their writing, the relationship between students’ self-assessments, their writing identities, as well as their understanding of who a writer was. Multiple linguistic repertoires (Garcia, 2009) and writing (Casanave, 2002; 2003) are effective and beneficial resources to empower multilingual students. This practitioner research (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) using case study methods (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2018) in a literacy support class helped me, the teacher and researcher, evaluate my own teaching, and explore the writing identities of the whole class (16 participants total), with four focal participants who were sixth grade newcomer multilingual students. The research questions helped me investigate ways to accommodate students’ needs as writers, explore varied assessments, and discover the relationship between self-assessments (Andrade, 2019), writing identities and students’ understanding of writers. The qualitative study data included interviews, writing samples and conferences about those samples, portfolio review conferences, teacher generated artifacts and reflections, as well as students’ self-assessments and classroom audio recordings. Findings from the study showed that by accommodating students’ needs as writers in a space that allowed the fluidity of languages and use of multimodalities (McCarthey & Garcia, 2005; Pacheco & Smith, 2015) most students felt motivated to write, and believed they were learning writing in English. Conferences and self-assessments helped multilinguals learn about themselves as writers in diversified ways, expressing their understanding of their writing, and of their writing identities as complex and seeing growth as writers (Skerrett, 2013). Students became more aware of their needs as writers, tried different ways of helping themselves when facing challenges, and understood writing could be improved with revisions.Item Composing practices of multiracial emergent adult college students: Expressions of identity(2018) McFadden, Jenny; Franzak, Judith; Andes, Laurie; Stutelberg, Erin; Doctoral Studies in Literacy; Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Contemporary Curriculum Theory and Instruction: LiteracyThis qualitative multiple case study research design examined the ways in which multiracial emergent adult college students engaged in identity work in and out of formal educational contexts. Through case studies of nine students at three higher education institutions (an open-admissions community college, a Historically Black University, and a four-year, public Predominantly White Institution with more selective entrance requirements), I sought to understand how participants used composing practices to express, negotiate, establish, explore and/or refute racial and other identities, thus adding to the literature on multiracial college students’ experiences in a variety of campus contexts. The focus on composing practices in formal educational contexts revealed some of the ways that educators and academic assignments assisted and encouraged as well as hindered and suppressed these students in engaging in racial (and other) identity work through writing; the examination of composing done outside of such contexts explored similarities and differences in the ways that participants engaged their racial identities as they wrote for different purposes and audiences. Data sources included semi-structured interviews, samples of writing and other compositions self-selected by participants, and reflective journals that offered both records of one week’s worth of participants’ composing practices and their written responses to questions designed to allow them to consider how their compositions allowed or denied them opportunities to engage in identity work. Findings suggested that participants engaged in racial identity work selectively and overtly through composing practices, at times transcending singular or even multiple racial identities.Item Digital-to-Print Adaptive Transfer: An Examination of a Pedagogical Approach for Eliciting Rhetorical Knowledge Transfer(2023-01-01) DePrima, Justin; McCarthy, Lucille; Mallinson, Christine; Language, Literacy & Culture; Language Literacy and CultureStudents have always had to Òamalgamate new writing and writing practices in response to rapid social changeÓ (Brandt, 1995, p. 651), but the speed at which digital technologies have been influencing communicative practices and processes has never been faster. In the early twenty-first century, calls to address emergent literacies became prevalent within the field of Writing Studies. A renewed interest in writing knowledge transfer developed as a byproduct. In 2009, Kathleen Yancey, Liane Robertson, and Kara Taczak designed a Teaching for Transfer (TFT) course and studied whether, and how, their curriculum supported the transfer of studentsÕ writing knowledge and practice from course to course. This dissertation project continues that line of research to address the increasingly digital and diverse prior writing knowledge that students carry with them to college. Grounded in theories of abstraction (Salomon & Perkins, 1989) and adaptive remediation (Alexander et al., 2016), the original curriculum employed for this research project presents students with rhetorical concepts in overtly multimodal, digital contexts and then asks them to recognize the remediated concepts in print. By the end of the semester, students were tasked with adapting three or more concepts from a digital source for an original print-based research paper. The dissertation examines the efficacy of the adaptive transfer pedagogical approach by asking: (1) To what extent can students develop a meta-awareness that allows them to reshape rhetorical knowledge across media? (2) What aspects of a digital-to-print adaptive transfer pedagogy enhance or deny such transfer? (3) Does the pedagogy foster other types of knowledge transfer such as composing processes, student attitudes or dispositions, and/or other literacies? Using inductive coding, descriptive analysis, student work samples, and three single-case studies, this qualitative teacher-research found that the pedagogical approach resulted in ten of the fifteen student participants demonstrating the capacity for digital-to-print adaptive transfer during a single semester. To increase the potential for adaptive rhetorical knowledge transfer within and without the first-year composition classroom, the dissertation argues that writing instructors need to provide extensive time for students to explore key concepts within digital spaces, explicit instruction on academic writing genres, guidance and oversight with recursive reflective writing, and opportunities for developing conceptual writing knowledge such as goal-setting peer review sessions and Òcritical incidentsÓ (Yancey et al., 2014).Item The Ecology of Writing, Feedback, and Revision Practices in an Upper-level Undergraduate English Course(2022-04) Endicott, Kelsie Gaskill; Finch, Maida; Williamson, Thea; Towle, Beth; Doctoral Studies in Literacy; Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Contemporary Curriculum Theory and Instruction: LiteracyA dearth of knowledge exists in empirical literature regarding how effectively upper-level college students (juniors and above) and their professors communicate during feedback rounds of written assignments, in addition to the resources that these students utilize when revising. Therefore, this single case study explored how college students and their course professor perceived the role of feedback and revision on written assignments in an English course, how the professor constructed feedback, and how students interpreted the feedback and revised their written assignments. Data sources consisted of classroom observations, interviews, documents and artifacts, and field notes. The data was analyzed by engaging in multiple rounds of coding. First cycle codes included initial (Saldana, 2016) and a priori codes to examine the language of the participants in an effort to better understand the nuances of their communication and writing practices. Second cycle codes included pattern coding so as to collapse codes into thematic categories that highlighted findings. Five findings emerged from the data I collected: (1) students perceived feedback to be shaped by their experiences, the way students perceived feedback was situational and context-dependent, and feedback should function to improve the piece, (2) students had similar processes for applying feedback, (3) students used myriad resources to revise their written assignments, however, they were not always aware of all of the resources that they used, (4) the professor perceived feedback as being valuable when it is effective, and feedback is most effective when it is personalized to the writer, dialogic, and instructive, and (5) when providing feedback, this professor predominantly saw herself as a writing coach and likewise provided coaching-style feedback to students in varied modalities, but primarily through digital end comments.Item An Examination of the Use of Argument Driven Inquiry Strategies to Support Argumentative Writing in the Middle School Science Classroom(2021-06) Barrie, Michele; Rhoades, Thomas; Masters of EducationThe purpose of this study was to explore the impact that argument driven inquiry strategies would have on the written ability of seventh grade science students. The measurement tool used was the 15-point rubric Claim Evidence Reasoning Rubric used for Grades 6-12 in the Science Curriculum. The Next Generation Science Standards have a focus on students’ use of argument, particularly in writing, to communicate their knowledge and scientific findings and to develop an understanding of scientific practice. The purpose of this action research study is to evaluate the influence of inquiry-based argumentative writing exercises, based on the Argument Driven Inquiry (ADI) model, in a middle school science classroom. This study utilized a quasi-experimental pretest/-posttest using a convenience sample. Using the ADI strategies did statistically impact student written ability. The ADI strategies should continue to be implemented in various level science classes in order to assist students in their ability to validate or refute a scientific idea/phenomena/claim.Item The Impact Active Listening Skills Has [sic] On Opinion Writing(2016-07) Turk, Kenzie; Hecht, Allison; Gallo, Susan; Masters of EducationThis study examined whether active listening skill instruction impacts opinion writing performance among fourth grade music class students. The study used a convenience sample of two intact pre-existing classes. The Active Listening group (n = 25) was given explicit instruction and practice in active listening skills with most activities related to three musical compositions. The Control group (n = 24) listened to the three musical compositions the same number of times but participated in typical classroom learning activities. The intervention took place during 10 weekly music class sessions. After the intervention, the students wrote opinion essays in which they identified their favorite of the three compositions and provided supporting evidence. The essay content was structured and students revised their work. They had 4 sessions to complete their essays. Essays were scored using a researcher created grading rubric. The Control group's mean Opinion Writing Assignment score (Mean = 25.35, SD = 7.16) did not differ significantly from the Active Listening group's mean score (Mean = 25.72, SD = 8.09) [t(46) = .17, p = .87].While there was not a significant difference between the writing scores, observational data suggested that the intervention had positive outcomes such as greater student engagement and that further research appears warranted. Implications and ideas for future research are discussed.Item Utilizing Open Educational Resources (OER) and Introducing OER-Enabled Pedagogies (OEP) in a First-Year Composition Classroom at a Historically Black College or University(2023-08) Mari-jo Ulbricht; Judith Franzak; Heather Porter; Laurie Henry; Doctoral Studies in Literacy; Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Contemporary Curriculum Theory and Instruction: LiteracyIn the context of a first-year composition course at an HBCU, I explored the potential of Open Educational Resources (OER) and OER-Enabled Pedagogy (OEP) to better understand how the resources and the pedagogical practices surrounding their use might innovate teaching and learning. In this study conducted with 14 participants from online, hybrid, and face-to-face sections of the course, I obtained their perspectives on innovations made possible by OER/OEP. Using a qualitative action research approach, I collected data through syllabi analysis, interviews, digital artifacts, discussion posts, coding memos, and journals. Analysis of the data found that OER/OEP: • highlights the social nature of writing, signifying the value of students’ active engagement within a diverse and supportive community of peers; • promotes culturally responsive pedagogy by actively motivating and challenging students through a culturally relevant curriculum that addresses social justice issues; • supports the writing process by scaffolding with customizable materials and hands-on practice, including interactive multimodal activities, to build confidence; • opens possibilities for a student-centered experience by providing accessible materials, differentiating learning, and empowering students with agency as they engage in co-creating and producing knowledge through alternative assessments. The findings revealed that incorporating OER/OEP is a compelling approach that innovates teaching and learning in the first-year composition course at an HBCU. The study demonstrates the transformative potential of OER/OEP and suggests further research to fully leverage this innovative pedagogical approach.