Although it may not seem possible that a student could graduate from an Ivy League institution without basic writing skills, a 2003 Chronicle of Higher Education article concluded that it is not only possible, but that it does happen. Some students are actually suing colleges and universities because they do not believe they have been taught the skills necessary to succeed in the area of written communication. This deficiency reflects poorly on universities, and even small liberal arts colleges are not exempt from this problem. This dissertation was driven by a desire to learn how professors at one small liberal arts college viewed the use of writing in their courses. The professors were interviewed to determine how they viewed writing, how they viewed their students" writing, how familiar they were with writing-across-the-curriculum practices, and how much writing was assigned in their courses. The study results indicated that many professors use writing extensively in their courses, and that they considered their assignments appropriate and successful in achieving their goals. The study also revealed that some professors use little or no writing, and their reasons for doing so were varied. The most common explanation was a lack of time to create assignments and to read and assess written assignments. Some professors also concurred that they felt uncomfortable using writing because their own writing skills were lacking. Other professors were discouraged by poor student writing and had given up on using additional writing assignments. The most surprising result from this study was the professors" lack of knowledge concerning the use of writing as a learning and thinking tool. Most were comfortable with the standard research paper, case study type of writing assignments, but few used writing-across-the-curriculum methods or practices. Writing prompts, journals, and non-graded pieces were not part of their teaching repertoire. Even professors in the field of education reported that they have not adopted the newer teaching strategies. The concluding chapter addressed faculty concerns and provided suggestions for overcoming these concerns. / Ph. D.

With the rise of the writing-to-learn (WTL) movement, studies on reflection and implementing reflective writing became key focal points in research on writing across the curriculum (WAC). Scholars from a wide range of disciplines have noted the benefits of implementing genres of writing that prompt students to look back and assess aspects of their own performance and understanding. Other inquiries examine if reflective writing impacts student performance, as well as analyze students' reflective processes and their perceptions of reflection. This investigation represents a continuation and expansion of these different research efforts on reflection across the curriculum. The goal of this work is to gain more knowledge about students' reflective processes and the language that they use to describe reflective thought and action by focusing on multiple, discipline-specific contexts. Through an exploratory study of four courses within two disciplines--English and History--at a large, public university, this work examines the reflective processes and perceptions of students and how their perceptions and processes align with their instructors' expectations. This study suggests that students and instructors in various disciplines have unique and sometimes divergent ways of using and talking about reflection, which presents implications for research on WAC and knowledge transfer. Aligning with the rich body of research in the field, this investigation uses reflection as both a subject of inquiry and a guiding action.

This thesis attempts to reclaim the imagination, defined by Ann Berthoff as the "name for the active mind," by looking at brain biology as it relates to teaching and learning. The section titled "Keeping Biology in Mind: The Brain as Speculative Instrument" demonstrates how biological naturalism, a philosophy developed by John Searle, validates the concept of an ontologically subjective "I" and hence the creation of course materials based on David Kolb's experiential-learning model. In addition, it discusses how biologist James Zull maps the actual structure of the brain onto Kolb's model. Adding to this bottom-up theory of learning that emphasizes brain biology and subjective experience, this thesis discusses how the mind, through mental force, works in a top-down fashion to change the brain, and suggests that students can learn to take control of their own learning by applying mental force. The section titled "Keeping Affect in Mind: The Biology of Intuition" presents the aspect of affect known as intuition and how it fits into the discussion. The main premise of this thesis is that we can employ concepts of the brain and learning in the composition classroom to facilitate the teaching and learning of writing. The last section titled "Keeping Composition in Mind: Theory into Practice" is devoted to this premise on a practical level.

The purpose of this study is to explore how experienced student writers in Swedish schools handle two different writing tasks, a lab report in physics and a text to be written within Swedish as a school subject. Applying a dialogical perspective on writing, the study is an attempt to explore what role subject contexts play for the students’ writing processes and to what extent the strategies used by the students are more individual. The writing tasks were solved outside of class, a frequent, but relatively unexplored way of organizing writing tasks in upper secondary school in Sweden.The results of the study indicate that different subject contexts enforce the emergence of different writing processes. The lab report was written in a certain order, from easy to difficult parts. Each part of the text was written on its own. Editing affecting the macrostructure of the text did not occur. In contrast, when writing the text within Swedish as a school subject, the paragraphs were developed at several different times during the writing process and questions concerning the global structure of the text seem constantly to have presented themselves. Extensive deletions were performed, and new angles to the subject introduced, affecting the macrostructure of the text.Writing processes are also individual. In a close-up study, three students – here called Kerstin, Paula and Sara – video filmed their work with the two texts. The texts were logged by the students, writing on Google Drive. In this material the individual strategies come out in basically two ways: in the resources chosen by the students as well as in their editing of their texts. Kerstin may be said to have used “herself” or, rather, a general writing ability. For Paula, her father functioned as an important resource. Sara was the one of the three who used digital media most frequently. In the students’ editing patterns, above all, Kerstin and Sara differed significantly. Kerstin did her editing during the formulation stage, regardless of writing task, while Sara mainly did her editing after the formulation stage.

Magister Educationis - MEd / This mini-thesis comprises two sections, the what and the how of writing-across-the curriculum (WAC). Section one investigates the integration of writing into content area subjects through the writing process as a project of possibility for critical pedagogy. The view is held that the writing in content area subjects makes learning more meaningful, enjoyable and also empowers students to become critical self-determined thinkers. Students no longer only fill in blanks, choose the correct answer or rely on rote learning when writing in content area subjects, but write creatively and expressively in a variety of discourse forms. In chapter two the literature on WAC is reviewed in depth. The chapter commences with some thoughts on what writing is. Then it investigates the writing process and proceeds to what writing across the curriculum is, with all its merits highlighted. The implementation of writing across the curriculum which involves the whole school as well as a proposed writing across the curriculum policy comprises the main section of the chapter. One of the objectives of this research is to show that implementing the writing process in a content area subject not only improves the standard of writing but also enhances the internalisation of subject matter. A further objective is to illustrate that writing across the curriculum can facilitate change in the classroom. Section two, starting with chapter three, is devoted to the "how" of WAC, and its practical application. Observations in classrooms where writing in content area subjects were done in Missouri schools are described and examples of work done at the schools are cited. In chapter four attention is given to the design and presentation of a writing project in Home Economics based on the standard eight Home Economics syllabus. This classroom research is based on experiential learning. A detailed description of the results is included. The last chapter starts with a dream, an outline of a Home Economics project of possibility for a standard eight Home Economics class. The project is developed around community work to convince students that they can make a difference in the world by showing care and concern for the elderly. The second part of chapter five, deals with constraints with regard to the implementation of a writing programme in Home Economics at the school where I teach. The chapter concludes with recommendations for the implementation of a writing programme in Home Economics.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact standards-based aligned computer-assisted writing instruction had on improving writing scores for eighth-grade students that attend an urban middle school. The researcher wanted to remedy the problem of low writing achievement of eighth-grade students and determine if writing across the curriculum along with differentiated instruction through the integration of technology better prepared students for state level assessments. The data gathering instruments were Standardized Testing, Scholastic Achievement Manager Reading Reports, and open-ended format questions. Three research questions guided this study. 1. What is the impact of computer-assisted instruction and use of technology on improving eighth-grade students’ writing in an urban middle school? 2. What are eighth-grade students’ perceptions and experiences with computer-assisted writing? What is the pedagogical significance of computer assisted learning from students’ perspective? 3. What are eighth-grade teachers’ perceptions and experience with computer-assisted writing? What are the challenges and benefits? A qualitative case study approach revealed the need for better integration of technology in order to support student learning. There were similar perceptions on the use of instructional technology pointed out in the participants’ responses on the questionnaire. Archived assessment data showed a prevalent need for consistency of computer-assisted instruction and group efforts to write across the curriculum. Student and teacher participants agreed that they felt more operational technology was needed to increase student engagement and academic achievement. The findings can be used to inform stakeholders of effective instructional technology when deciding on computer-based programming designed to increase student writing scores.

The number of English as a second language (ESL) students attending universities in the United States has increased during the 2011-2012 school year (Hagedorn & Lee, 2005), with, for the first time since 2001, more undergraduate international students than graduate students in institutions across the country (Davis, 2012). Given the wide range of backgrounds and English proficiencies represented by this group, their varying needs are frequently not being fully met, particularly in reading and writing, two areas that are often weak in ESL students but linked to academic success (Matsuda, 2004). Regarding writing, much research has shown that ESL students need feedback on various aspects of writing to improve (Ferris, 2009), ranging from content, to organization, to linguistic features. However, giving feedback on each of these components may not be possible for writing teachers, due to time demands. Alternatively, peer tutors may effectively work with ESL students to help them understand academic writing expectations in the U.S. and meet said expectations. This investigative study looked at a newly-developed ESL Writing Fellows (WF) program at Brigham Young University, focusing on the perceptions of the various stake holders (students, writing teachers, and Fellows themselves) regarding the success of the ESL WF program. Via pre- and post-program surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups, the perceptions of the students were obtained. Via non-structured interviews, the perceptions of the teachers and Fellows themselves were obtained. From these data, themes that looked at the aspects of the program that were successful and that need to be improved were developed and analyzed, primarily from an administrative perspective. Overall, this study found that ESL students greatly appreciated having the individualized tutoring provided by the ESL WF program. Students valued the feedback given by the tutor on content, organization, and grammatical issues, and found the follow-up conferences with the tutor to be a great asset as the tutors could explain intended meaning. Additionally, tutors felt more comfortable negotiating intended meaning with the Fellow, which may be more effective at helping students develop the needed schema to apply Fellow suggestions to future writing assignments. However, much of the success of the program relies on the individual Fellow, with Fellows who neglect duties or provide feedback that conflicts with that of the teacher creating problems for students. Administrators should hire and train tutors accordingly. Teachers agreed that the Fellows generally were an asset to their classes, and the Fellows themselves appreciated the opportunity to work one-on-one with ESL students, feeling that this program afforded them experience that would make them more employable in the future.

Few research studies have focused on WAC program development. Those that exist do not examine the ideological grounds for programmatic changes. This dissertation explores the dynamics of such changes through a four-year ethnographic study of WAC program development at a small, public, liberal arts college. The study employed extensive participant observation, interviewing, and document collection to trace how curricular and cultural changes around writing take shape and what ideologies and rhetorical practices come into play during that complex change process. The site for the study is of special interest because WAC there was in transition from an informal coalition focused on changing culture and pedagogy to a potentially institutional program equally invested in curricular reform. My study documents the interactions that characterize the change process, using Jenny Edbauer's conception of rhetorical ecology for its explanatory power in non-linear discursive environments. I analyze rhetorical encounters between a wide range of institutional constituents, including administrators and faculty from multiple disciplines. In these encounters, higher education's historic ideologies surface and interact in complex ways with WAC's ideologies. Using critical discourse analysis, I unpack these interactions and ideological multilectics, examining how language and values circulate among multiple users, texts, and sites within the rhetorical ecology of one college, influencing the shape of program developments. WAC scholars suggest that contemporary practitioners need to forge alliances with other cross-curricular initiatives in order for WAC to continue as a viable educational movement. My analysis of how WAC advocates at one college positioned their efforts in relation to other curricular changes reveals both benefits and costs resulting from such alliances. Although alliances can produce significant reforms, working with groups that have divergent ideological premises risks positioning WAC in subordination to others' ideological priorities. Two intertwined strategies appear to mitigate this problem: 1) ideological recentering on WAC's core theoretical commitments and 2) formation of recombinant multilectics by identifying the ideologies in play and considering how, or whether, core WAC ideological commitments align with them. Acts of recentering that incorporate deliberate multilectics may be key survival strategies for WAC programs as they interact with other cross-curricular initiatives.

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