The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of collaborative computer-mediated projects on students' writing performance. The subjects of the study were 20 advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) composition students enrolled in an English 107 course at the University of Arizona in the Spring 1999 semester. The class met twice a week: once in a regular classroom, once in the College of Humanities Collaborative Learning Laboratory (COHlab). The study addressed three main research questions: (1) Does student participation in on-line synchronous discussions vary in different configurations of discussions and for different thinking styles? (2) Does writing performance vary between collaborative and independent tasks? (3) Is there a change in students' attitudes to collaborative assignments and to the use of computers in class from the beginning to the end of the semester? To answer the first question, the researcher analyzed the transcripts of on-line discussions and essays written collaboratively and independently. Discussions were conducted in different configurations (whole class vs. small group and anonymous vs. non-anonymous). To collect discussion data, an archive feature was used that provided complete transcripts of discussions, including students' names (or random numbers in anonymous discussions) and time when each comment was written. Repeated measures MANOVA and qualitative analyses were used to examine the data. The second question, investigating the difference in writing performance between independent and collaborative academic writing tasks, was addressed by (1) examining the results of textual analysis performed by the computer, and (2) examining the results of holistic evaluation conducted by ESL raters. Repeated measures MANOVA was used to analyze the data. To answer the third question, pre-semester and post-semester student surveys were used, as well as course evaluations. The students' thinking styles were measured using Sternberg's Thinking Styles Questionnaire. Qualitative analysis was used to examine the data. The results of the study indicated no difference in the discussion content, amount of communication, or interaction dynamics between the discussions of different configurations, or between the students with internal and external thinking styles. In terms of differences in writing performance between collaborative and independent essays, no difference was found by discrete-point computerized text analysis. However, ESL raters evaluated collaborative essays higher than independent ones. Finally, the results of the analysis of the students' attitudes indicated that, in general, the students' attitudes to the use of computers have improved over the course of the semester. This finding is important, as previous research has shown that positive attitudes lead to increased motivation, and increased motivation, in its turn, leads to more favorable learning outcomes in an L2 classroom.

This dissertation investigates rhetorical theories and practices in Chinese cultural history. I examine the rhetorics that are explicit and implicit in Chinese philosophical, political, and academic theories and practices. Based on my case studies in Chinese history, I argue that rhetoric is a social, cultural, and historical construct, and rhetoric in the Chinese context is better understood as the study and practice of putting philosophy into social action for practical purposes. These case studies also illustrate that since assumptions about rhetoric are integrally related to particular cultural assumptions, the conventions of "good writing" are also culture-specific. I begin by refuting the notions that rhetoric is entirely Western and that Western rhetoric is universal. Rhetoric is better understood as having a cultural dimension. In the succeeding chapter, I examine the rhetorical expositions and implications of Han Fei-tzu's (c. 298-233 BCE) legalist philosophy. A concept of rhetoric, I argue, is explicitly developed in Han's theories of quan-fu or the art of speaking to convince and shui-shu or the art of advising. I also explore the conceptions of rhetoric that is implicit in his legalist theories of fa, shu, shi, which assume that persuasion and coercion are used simultaneously to preserve social order. In Chapter 3, I argue that the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) provides a good example of how ideology functions as a system of rhetoric. I analyze The Little Red Book as an exemplary ideological discourse to show that the Thought of Mao Zedong, which was the dominant ideology of the Cultural Revolution, determined what was discursive, what was possible, and what was acceptable. In Chapter 4, I argue that Chinese academic writing has always served clearly defined sociopolitical purposes that have historically adapted with changes in political ideology. My analyses in the preceding chapters should give readers an historically grounded sense of Chinese rhetorics. With my case studies as points of reference, I conclude by exploring the implications of this project for the theories of rhetoric and comparative rhetoric. I examine how theories of comparative rhetoric can be developed with historical research on rhetorical conventions, cultural assumptions, and social practices. I also show how such an historically informed comparative rhetoric can be applied to teaching students to negotiate cultural differences in their writing.

This study argues for sociolinguistics to be foundational to an adequate theory of rhetoric, and the need for composition teachers to view academic written English as a second language. By viewing academic written English as a second language, it is easier to see (1) how native students' struggles to learn genre or rhetorical conventions are similar to second-language acquisition problems, and (2) why there is a need for the development of multidisciplinary curricula and research using both pedagogical and research strategies from the rhetoric/composition and second-language acquisition fields. The goal of this study is to examine under what conditions analytical skills can be developed in students that they can later transfer from one genre or discipline to another. Chapter 1 gives a background and overview of the study. Chapter 2 describes how and why sociolinguistics should be a basis for rhetoric and composition; introduces the connection between sociolinguistics and academic English as a form of discourse; and describes the benefits of a multidisciplinary base for composition research and pedagogy. Chapter 3 further examines how the theory that academic English should be seen as a second language offers great insights from the ESL field as to the cause of (and potential solutions to) student writing errors. Chapter 4 describes a multidisciplinary curriculum based on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) needs analysis methodology. The model for teaching composition that is offered teaches students how to deconstruct popular culture and academic genres using genre, rhetorical, and discourse analysis, and ethnographic techniques; extends the use of contrastive rhetoric from a means of looking at cultural differences to a method of exploring differences in disciplinary discourse, and teaches composition teachers how to use popular culture texts as analytical tools. The result is a new type of composition curriculum designed to develop analytical skills in students that will enable them to discover the rhetorical character and conventions of academic disciplines, master academic discourse, and expand their repertoire of options and strategies for communicating in writing. Chapter 5 describes how this curriculum was evaluated using an educational ethnographic approach. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 describe the four case studies. And Chapter 9 reviews the findings from evaluations of the case studies, and offers suggestions for future research utilizing this approach to teaching composition.

For English as a Second Language students, learning to write academically effective essays is an immense challenge because the students must obey linguistic conventions, write for an unfamiliar audience, and employ rhetorical strategies that the audience expects. In composition programs the special challenges that ESL students face are sometimes overlooked. In this dissertation I provide a rationale for developing ESL composition programs and concrete strategies for doing so. To account for, understand, and accommodate rhetorical expectations for American academic audiences, ESL students need information that acts as an interface between conventions in their countries and the conventions American academic readers expect. The study of popular culture allows ESL students to develop such information by helping them decipher aspects of the culture they are living in. Popular culture texts reflect everyday uses of language and commonly held views because they are produced for general American audiences. They reflect widely accepted rhetorical strategies because audiences demand that texts be written according to their expectations. The process of studying popular culture is liberating for ESL students because it integrates learning about academic essay writing with broader cultural concerns. I concentrate on three genres of popular culture texts: ads, because their use of rhetorical appeals is so clear and because their content suggests American values; formula fictions, because they portray popular role models and follow readers' expectations; and news articles, which show examples of discursive domains and structural conventions. I also make suggestions for using contrastive analyses to help students perceive differences and similarities in cultural expectations, and I demonstrate partial results through research and samples from student writing. By incorporating popular culture texts into the ESL composition curriculum, we help students learn to communicate their ideas in practical, accessible ways. It is by actively targeting American culture as a focus of study and helping students develop tools to analyze popular culture materials on their own that we can make effective changes in composition programs for ESL students.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the knowledge and application of a writing scoring rubric to writing performance. Participants in a Minority Medical Education Program were given intense instruction in the use of the Medical Colleges Admissions Test Writing Sample scoring rubric. Scores from the participants' pretest and posttest were compared.

Most studies of higher education examine the university as either economically determined--relying on Louis Althusser's notion of ideological state apparatuses--or culturally determined--embracing either traditional or multicultural approaches. Alternatively, this dissertation blends postcolonial and Marxist theories to show that the U.S. public research university responds to the historical exigencies of a multivalent and dynamic political economy. I trace the evolution of this university system in conjunction with changes in the capitalist political economy and focus on the construction and reconstruction of the professional as the site of individual and collective agency. Chapters One and Two historicize the U.S. public research university system and argue that it has always been a vital component of the capitalist political economy. While the popular narrative of public higher education emphasizes civic preparation and upward mobility, these chapters demonstrate that supposedly egalitarian policies like the Morrill Land-Grant Act and the GI Bill serve the changing interests of capitalism. Such legislation forges and enables a university-produced professional class that functions both ideologically and structurally to facilitate transitions in the capitalist political economy. Mapping economic and cultural globalization onto the university system, Chapter Three discusses how contemporary university professionalization contributes to new methods for producing surplus value. Chapter Four examines how the U.S. public research university model circulates outside the United States, changing the global political economy as well as the production of surplus value in its wake. Focusing on a range of U.S. public research universities, I argue that the rhetoric and structure of mission statements move overseas through supranational organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and becomes implemented through policies attached to World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans. To conclude, Chapter Five develops specific strategies for the professional who opposes the capitalist logic of this global university system. Informed by Marxists scholars, like Althusser and Antonio Gramsci, critical pedagogues such as Paulo Freire, Peter McLaren, and Paula Allman, as well as the U.S. Third World politics of Chela Sandoval, Gayatri Spivak, and Edward Said, this chapter proposes concrete options for engaging and redirecting globalization.

This study examines the impact of service-learning on native and non-native English speaking college composition students. The general research question is: In what ways does participation in service-learning impact student learning? Specific research questions pertaining to the general categories of student writing performance, motivation, and social orientation, are as follows: (1) Does service-learning impact students' perception of self, school, community, and society? If so, how? (2) Do native and non-native English speaking students respond to service-learning similarly? Why or why not? (3) Are native and non-native English speaking students affected by service-learning similarly? Why or why not? (4) What other factors--such as learning style, previous experience with community service, and career goals--impact service-learning outcomes? (5) Does service-learning lead to improved student writing? If so, in what ways? The study consists of treatment and comparison groups of native and non-native English speaking students, for a total of four classes in the case study. Critical pedagogy, complexity theory, teacher research, experiential and service-learning theories provide the main theoretical rationales for the study. Data collection involved surveys, student interviews, participant observations, analysis of students' journal and essay writing, and course evaluations. Douglas Biber's (1988) multifeature/multidimensional approach to textual analysis was used, along with holistic and primary trait analyses of student texts to determine what, if any, impact service-learning had on the student's writing performance. The initial results document cognitive, sociocultural, and affective factors that contribute to the writing performance of linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Service-learning had a positive impact on participants' self-perception as members of the local community and on their personal agency in promoting social change. ESL students were especially enthusiastic about improved cross-cultural understanding and oral communication skills as a result of their community service. More students in the service-learning sections also thought their writing had improved as a result of the course than in the comparison sections, and independent assessments of their essays supported this view. Textual analysis of the students' writing found more situated and interactive features in the comparison essays than in service-learning essays, however.

This case study explores the experience of nonnative speakers of English enrolled in Freshman Composition at the University of Arizona, including the groups commonly identified as International and Resident Nonnative Speakers of English. This study examines the experiences of these groups in learning English, coming to the university, and making their way through freshman composition. A major goal of this study is to identify concrete pedagogical implications, including suggestions regarding placement, curriculum design, classroom teaching, and student support. Data were collected in 2 stages over a two-year period, from fall 2000 to spring 2002 and came from a variety of sources, including: (1) questionnaires; (2) classroom observation; (3) oral interviews with students, instructors, and administrators; (4) written materials from students and instructors. The results of the first stage of this study were primarily based on a questionnaire completed by 3,234 students attending freshman composition. This stage examined the characteristics of NNS attending composition courses designed for NNS and others attending courses designed for NS, finding important differences between these two groups in terms of their overall numbers, linguistic diversity, gender ratio, age, and L1/L2 language strength. The second stage of this study focused on 16 NS of Spanish. This stage of the study presented a more complex picture of the NNS experience, dividing these NNS into three orientations: U.S., Cross-border, and Mexico. This stage first examined the experiences of these students before their entrance to the university, finding differences in four areas: their perception of and relationship with the U.S./Mexico border, their language learning experiences at home, their language learning experiences at school, and their writing experiences before the university. The second stage investigated the university experiences the students in these three groups via eight themes that emerged over the course of the study, also finding many differences between these three orientations. These themes included how they were placed into composition courses, the culture shock they sometimes experienced, their behavior in the classroom, their writing difficulties, the writing they did in other classes and outside of the classroom, the resources available to them, and an analysis of their success.

<p> The American healthcare system has since WWII regularly suffered seasonal shortages of blood donations. This dissertation examines, through the theories of activity systems, genres, frames and social groups, the discourses and rhetoric associated with the practice and social activity of blood donation. The history of the discourse and the activities of intermediaries responsible for recruiting blood donors are examined focusing on significant discontinuities to the activity system of blood donation such as WWII; the shift to an all-volunteer, free donation system; and the threat to the system posed by the advent of HIV/AIDS. Altruism has been posited as "the" motivation for blood donation since the US moved to an all-volunteer donation system. In spite of assurances that the use of an all-volunteer system would result in an increase in blood donations, since 1974 shortages have regularly occurred but no other appeals have been officially tested or implemented by major intermediaries such as the American Red Cross or America's Blood centers. Reasons for this resistance to consider alternatives and possible changes to the system are examined to begin to develop ideas about ways that communication might help remedy these regular shortages.</p>

<p> Argumentation should be approached as a practice that is woven into the larger instructional practices across the core educational disciplines. With the advent of The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the ability to analyze and write an argument is now a predominant skill students are required to repeatedly demonstrate. As student achievement is now being used to reflect the larger portion of teacher accountability, it is essential that educators better understand how to make argumentation a disciplinary practice. I suggest that students should first be able to examine, identify, and understand the necessary function of evidence as a primary element of argumentation in order to more effectively construct a meaningful, sustainable argument. Through the categorization and analysis of explicit and implicit evidence, students are able to establish more meaningful claims. While this procedure elicits more student engagement and requires educators to reorient their instructional considerations, it also provides a practical starting point for all stakeholders when dealing with emerging argumentation in the classroom.</p>