The purpose of this study was to investigate issues of writer identity in a college classroom, especially as they relate to the social and cultural influences of society. Using a poststructural lens to establish the theoretical viewpoint, this study examined the role of discourse in both framing student constructions of their identities and shaping the ideological stances from which they drew those understandings. The methodology used included an ethnographic study of a junior year writing class required of education majors at a large university. Examination and analysis of student writing/talk was used along with observation of student behaviors. Discourse analysis was also employed as a means of more closely examining the work of four of these students who were chosen because they constructed their identities in a more negative fashion. The research was conducted with twenty-one students with findings indicating they did not generally recognize aspects of race, ethnicity, second-language, disability or other sociocultural conditions as influential factors on their writer identity constructions. Students demonstrated a clear preference for expressivist writing, constructing more positive identities around it. Many students expressed concerns about aspects of traditional formal writing and signaled stunted growth and uninitiated-type identities when discussing these concerns. A third of the students expressed concerns about process writing, primarily fearing judgment and critique of their peers. Discourse analysis provided evidence that the composition discourses of expressivism, traditional formal academic discourse, and process permeated student language and were instrumental in constructing writer identity. This methodology also provided evidence that the basic composition metaphors of “stunted growth” and initiation were implicated in student writer identities, especially in relationship to traditional formal academic discourse. Writer identity in almost all cases was found to be multiple and, for most students, conflicting across situation and genre. The implications of this study suggest a need for explicit discussion of the political aspects of written language use in the academy. A case is also made for integrating more hybrid forms of discourse into writing classes as students taking up expressivist discourse, for the most part, constructed more positive writer identities.

This dissertation is based on an interview study of twelve participants who had been students in various sections of College Writing taught by the researcher. This study focuses on participant descriptions of the writing they did in the class and its transformative impact on them. Based on the literature that claims that writing can transform and heal writers, this study seeks to understand how university students make sense of the ways in which writing makes personal and social change possible. I conducted two, ninety-minute individual interviews with each participant. I also collected complete College Writing portfolios from each participant. Data coding and analysis were ongoing and guided by a feminist poststructural perspective. Through recursive analytic induction, I coded transcribed interviews and student texts for references to writing and transformation. I looked for individual and shared stories, metaphors and discourses that participants used to construct their writing experience in College Writing. The identified sections of the data that referenced writing and transformation underwent discourse analysis. To conduct discourse analysis, I coded the data for the social, cultural and institutional discourses students drew on to shape their understanding of writing and transformation. Findings of the study include: (1) Students draw on multiple and complex discourses to define transformative writing. (2) Students identify multiple literacy practices as transformative. (3) Relationships within the classroom play an integral role in writing for transformation. (4) Feminist poststructuralist discourse can offer students the space to write for transformation. (5) Writing for transformation may offer resistance to the silencing of dominant discourses. This study suggests that for these students writing is a sociocultural practice deeply imbedded in their sense of self and their constructs of knowledge and power. This study also suggests that writing in a classroom that creates the space for students to connect their subjective experience and knowledge with academic literacy practices is transformative. This study argues feminist poststructuralist discourse can offer teachers and students subject positions of resistance and agency so students may enter academic discourse communities as speaking subjects and teachers may work toward a more transformative educational practice.

Magic, writing, rhetoric, and poetry have been associated from their beginnings. Today, in the throes of a rationalistic view of language, we see words as having an arbitrary relationship to things, as transcriptions of an objective reality. But language actually operates as a tension between magic and logic. The history of rhetoric and composition is the history of a discipline attempting to form itself while continuously attempting to cast out the magical aspect of language. Plato was suspicious of the early orator/rhetorician, pointing to the “wizardry” in his power to convince people of falsehoods, and argued that we should aspire to be philosophers before becoming orators, so that we might employ “true” magic. This distinction between “true” and “false” magic, however, proves to be problematic. Derrida's notion of language as pharmakon, as a volatile substance that is both poison and remedy, provides us with a more accurate description of how the magical aspect of language operates. The realm of the oral attracts magic. Although some academics are skeptical about the orality-literacy shift theory and tend to avoid discussions of the sacred sound/orality, others attempt to reach across the oral-literate divide to gain access to the lost features of orality. Poetry, first and foremost the language of spells and charms, is still often characterized as spellbinding, magic. The Orphic poetic tradition describes the miracle-working power of poetry and song. In Trilogy, however, H.D. exemplifies a different kind of magic, one that might be called a literate magic. Trilogy is a successful attempt to establish, explore, and problematize correspondences between words and gods as well as the correspondences between words and the damage done by patriarchy. Since magic is inextricably bound with writing, writing classrooms inevitably attract it, and a healthy respect for this magic should play a role, small or large, in every writing course. We can invite magic with faith in its ability to remedy and examine magic with wariness of its capacity to poison, no matter what other assumptions shape the course. Writing professors and teachers can court magic mildly or aggressively in their courses.

By using Foucauldian critical discourse analysis along with Stuart Hall's theories of representation, I investigate the meanings that Yaqui representations reproduce and how they develop a discourse of Yaquinesss: the set of terms through which Yaquis came to be understood as subjects in Tucson. With the recognition era as a timeframe-the years between the onset of publicly visible Yaqui political action in Tucson in the early 1960s, to the early 1980s after official Yaqui recognition in 1978-this project argues that a discourse of Yaquiness during the recognition era expanded to include various meanings that reconstituted the Yaqui community and its survivance efforts. While a discourse of Yaquiness can be traced back to Tucson media representations that positioned Yaquis as marginal non-citizens, during the recognition era Yaqui self-representations emerged and circulated along with earlier meanings, sometimes rearticulating and challenging them, to reproduce the Tucson Yaqui community as an economically, politically, and culturally autonomous entity. I use Gerald Vizenor's definition of survivance as an active sense of presence over absence to interpret how the community's political, economic, and cultural initiatives assert Yaqui futures. This project identifies a discourse of Yaquiness through analyzing how Tucson print media representations reified Yaquis as marginal, non-citizens. However, Yaqui self-representations have also played a role in Yaqui survivance by accompanying and challenging the meanings produced by Tucson print media. This project examines how Yaqui representations added meanings to a discourse of Yaquiness that transformed as the community practiced survivance during the recognition era.

With the knowledge that teachers are not formed entirely through training and theoretical study, and the hope that teachers do not compose their pedagogies entirely in isolation and solely from their own experiences, I ask the question: how do practicing teachers successfully construct pedagogies which are personally and experientially valid as well as theoretically informed? To explore this question I conducted a qualitative study of three women writing teachers which describes how these teachers have come to construct their own pedagogies. From feminist educational theorists and most particularly Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule (Women's Ways of Knowing), I have developed a theory for understanding pedagogical development as a process of "integrating objective and subjective knowing" (134). It is on this epistemological conception that I base my own thesis on how teachers ideally "construct" their pedagogies: by integrating the knowledge they obtain from theory with their own beliefs, educational experiences, and the knowledge they gain from their pedagogical contexts--the communities of teachers and students with whom they work. My qualitative methodology consists of regular classroom observations, collection of student writing and teachers' written responses, extensive interviews with teachers as well as shorter interviews with students, and a system of working with teachers to identify issues and to share case study drafts with teachers for feedback. The core of the dissertation consists of the three case studies: in each, I first describe the courses observed, with an emphasis on detailing the role each teacher plays; and second, discuss the educational, experiential, theoretical and situational influences which teachers offered and/or I observed as significantly influencing their pedagogical decisions. I examine how these three teachers, within their particular contexts, negotiate and make decisions about their role in the classroom. In my analysis, I illuminate the connections--and mis-connections--between theory and practice, and suggest the implications of these findings for scholars of composition and pedagogical theory.

This dissertation documents new curriculum and instructional strategies for teaching writing in a first and second grade classroom during the eight years of the Writing Box project. It is a first-person account of ongoing change as I, the teacher-researcher experienced and understood it. My descriptions of change and children's writing samples show how teaching practices and learning activities developed and evolved through incorporating writing at the core of student learning. My experiences demonstrate how substantive change can occur in elementary schools through the efforts of a teacher and students working together to create successful academic achievement. One hundred seventy-five first and second graders were given Writing Boxes to use at home and they were in a classroom that featured writing across the curriculum. Six conclusions are drawn from their experiences. First, choice of writing materials makes a difference in how willing children are to write. Interesting, open-ended materials are prerequisites for children to write all year. Second, teachers must create many writing times throughout the day. My students wrote during regularly scheduled writing times as well as before school began, during snack and "you-choose" time, and at recess and lunch. Third, how teachers talk with children about writing is crucial to children becoming active writers. I changed my vocabulary and approach to emphasize that children are writers right now with ideas and pictures in their heads to communicate to others through text. Fourth, process models for teaching writing based on the experiences of adult writers must be modified to create "a writing process fit for a child." This child-centered approach includes diverse ways of opening up writing, generating first drafts, revising and editing, and publishing. Fifth, writing can be integrated into the study of mathematics, science and social studies using "I Wonder" journals, fiction-nonfiction stories, and math comics. Finally, computers and other technologies promote writing. Having more than one computer in the classroom allowed me to do more small group instruction with writing. The machines provide different ways to write and to publish while supporting children's creativity and self-expression.

Japanese student in the United States have an opportunity to receive education in American public schools and in Japanese weekend supplementary schools guided by the Ministry of Education in Japan. This "bi-schooled" situation emphasizes positive aspects of educating biliterate children. However, developing literacy skills in both English and Japanese is a complicated task for students. Focusing on maintenance and development of literacy skills in Japanese as a first language, this study provides an intensive description of the Japanese writing experiences and practices of four ninth graders and of teaching experiences of three Japanese teachers in one weekend school in the United States. The students are native-born Japanese who have received more than five years of education in both American and the Japanese weekend school. All three teachers have experience teaching in Japan and have lived in the United States for over seven years. There is gap between the present situation of Japanese bi-schooling students and these teachers' standards in the weekend school. Investigating these students and teachers allows us to perceive this gap. Data collected through a phenomenological in-depth interview method is presented in the following three aspects: students' self-understanding, their positive perspectives on learning two languages, and their difficulties under current conditions of bi-schooling. Also from teachers' perspectives, the teachers' observations of problems in the students' essays, their perception of problems in the students' bi-schooled situation, their strategies for instruction in Japanese composition, and their understanding of the role of Japanese weekend schools are examined. The examinations of thirteen students writing samples by the teachers were included in the interviews. The findings identify important insights and approaches in the following areas: bilingual education, language-minority education, and teachers' roles, including their academic expectations of students, in educational settings. This study has implications for meaning of bilingual education, issues of language-minority education, the importance of teachers' awareness of issues and problems faced by language-minority students, the importance of parental involvement in education. In addition, it has ramifications for Japanese education in the United States as well as Japanese bilingual education in Japan.

In June of 1997, when President Clinton introduced his “Initiative on Race”, his plan was to engage the people of the nation in an open, honest dialogue about the problems of prejudice and racial discrimination. Mayor Michael Albano of Springfield, MA answered his call to dialogue by creating the Springfield World Class City Commission (SWCCC), whose tasks it would be to assist the municipal government in eliminating racism and discrimination in the city and improving the living conditions for all citizens of Springfield. Within a year, the activities of the SWCCC that had started with high enthusiasm and hope had all but ended, falling well short of their intended goals. In this study, the dialogues of the SWCCC meetings are analyzed for the communicative accomplishments and difficulties within the meetings, themselves, and within, and as influenced by, the social, political, and cultural scene of Springfield at the time. The analysis, done from a social constructionist perspective (Berger and Luckmann, 1966), uses of the theory and methodology of the Coordinated Management of meaning (Pearce and Cronen, 1980). It provides a critical, case study interpretation of the ways in which the SWCCC's communicative action contributed to, changed, and sustained the sociocultural environment of Springfield; it also examines the use and usefulness of “dialogue” as a method of conflict resolution. The paradoxical story of Springfield was the story of the SWCCC, as they struggled to construct grammars of race, identity, and action that would lead to change and reconciliation between ethnic and racial groups in the city. Three repeating, reflexive loops were revealed in the SWCCC's communication when the talk turned to issues about race, the most effective way to talk about these issues, and the ongoing struggle between grassroots and administrative approaches to social change. The analysis of these three loops leads to suggestions about the paradox and promise of the dialogue on race, and opens a discussion about the dichotomy in the field of communication about methods for analyzing communication.

This is a study about how lesbian, gay and bisexual undergraduate students from both minority and dominant cultural/racial/ethnic groups use language for social action. It is an ethnographic study of the Speaker's Bureau (an educational outreach program of a gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender resource center) and includes two case studies of student speakers from the Bureau. The aim of this study is to explore the literacy practices that may help student speakers to interrupt heterosexist discourse inside and outside the classroom. The ethnographer uses critical discourse analysis to examine two phenomena: First, the ways student speakers use Speaker's Bureau literacy practices to attempt to change heterosexist attitudes on campus; and second, the ways individual student speakers use individual literacy practices to address their private need to construct a viable self and their public aim to help create a more just community for that self. This study illustrates the ways in which the telling of personal stories on Bureau panel presentations serve to build bridges of understanding between the speakers and the audience by humanizing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their struggles. The dialogues that follow the personal stories show how the genre of the panel presentation positions speakers as educators and experts on sexuality, identity, and social justice. This study also details the various speaking and writing opportunities that assist speakers in developing a positive sense of a “gay” self and how they use these opportunities to create a safe place for that self to exist.

This study examines the writing requirements and structures for administering writing at 54 small, selective liberal arts college. After a brief introduction to the theory and practice of writing across the curriculum, I place writing in the context of these small colleges. I base my research on these colleges' primary documents as well as data from an extensive qualitative survey in which all 54 schools participated. I define three of the most common types of writing requirements at these institutions: (1) Composition Courses in their different forms; (2) First-Year Seminars; and, (3) Writing Intensive Courses. I discuss the self-reported advantages and challenges of each approach. I focus on the role of writing in a liberal arts education and the distributed nature of teaching writing at such schools. I then offer an overall view of writing requirements and administrative structures at these schools, noting the advantages and challenges of teaching and administering writing in these distinctive institutional settings. Finally, I move towards developing a theory and practice of writing at the small liberal arts college and propose a framework for thinking about writing that helps cultivate an overall culture of writing. I suggest some "best practices" for writing at such colleges, and include recommendations for the structure of student writing experiences, support for faculty in the teaching of writing, and the administration and oversight of writing. I end with a vision of writing across the curriculum at the small liberal arts college that integrates teaching, writing, and learning.