Understanding Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) Disciplinary Reading Practices Using Collaborative Retrospective Miscue Analysis (CRMA)

Abstract

This qualitative, exploratory, single case study of one Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) academic program sought to better understand how members actively engaged and transacted with their disciplinary readings. Using purposeful sampling, eleven members of the MLS disciplinary community (faculty professionals, ascending professionals, and college students) helped to explore the two questions: (a) how do MLS college students, MLS ascending professionals, and MLS faculty professionals co-construct disciplinary literacy knowledge informed by Collaborative Retrospective Miscue Analysis (CRMA)?; (b) how does CRMA between disciplinary faculty professionals, ascending professionals, and college students inform the development of college readers’ disciplinary literacy knowledge? I used Miscue Analysis and data analysis for coding and theming of data sources to look for patterns and to support developing themes. This study provides empirical evidence of how disciplinary literacy practices are enacted in the MLS discipline. This study found CRMA to be a powerful tool toward creating a sense of community in the college disciplinary setting. College student’s self-confidence in their MLS disciplinary literacy practices grew and they felt more connected to their disciplinary community. CRMA allowed MLS community members to co-construct disciplinary literacy knowledge through their creation of a safe learning space. CRMA in this study made implicit disciplinary literacy practices explicit to better support college student development and co-construction of disciplinary literacy knowledge. Findings can better inform current disciplinary instructional practices and learning opportunities for college students.