“They’re Killing our Imaginations”: Dialogue and Reflexive Writing Development in Historically Marginalized Students

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy K. Spence ◽  
Priscila J.B.M. Costa ◽  
Amanda Cullars
Keyword(s):  
Writing Development ◽  
Marginalized Students

scholarly journals Influence of Writing Instruction on Spanish Heritage Learners in Heritage-Only and Mixed Courses: A Longitudinal Study

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Irati Hurtado ◽  
Kacie Gastañaga
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Composition Course ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Final Essay

University Spanish courses designed specifically for heritage language learners (HLLs) are becoming more common, and researchers have indicated that empirical research is needed to evaluate their effectiveness. This longitudinal study investigates the writing development of 24 HLLs as a result of instruction over the course of the semester. Nine were enrolled in a heritage-only section of a Spanish composition course, and the remainder were from mixed HL/L2 sections of the same course. Both section types were taught online. The major assignments the students produced were two 500-word essays, and students also completed bi-weekly forum posts. We examined the development of lexical density, sophistication, and diversity as well as syntactic complexity and accuracy by comparing each student’s first and final essay and forum posts. Findings indicate that there were significant differences between the scores received on the forum posts in comparison to the essays. However, there were no significant developmental differences in terms of group. Implications, avenues for future research, and pedagogical suggestions are discussed.

scholarly journals Genre Knowledge and Writing Development: Results From the Writing Transfer Project

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Lynn Driscoll ◽  
Joseph Paszek ◽  
Gwen Gorzelsky ◽  
Carol L. Hayes ◽  
Edmund Jones
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Genre Knowledge ◽  
Audience Awareness

Using a mixed-methods, multi-institutional design of general education writing courses at four institutions, this study examined genre as a key factor for understanding and promoting writing development. It thus aims to provide empirical validation of decades of theoretical work on and qualitative studies of genre and the nature of genre knowledge. While showing that both simplistic and nuanced genre knowledge promote writing development, our findings suggest that nuanced genre knowledge correlates with writing development over the course of a semester. Based on these findings, we propose an expanded view of Tardy’s four genre knowledge components and argue for their explanatory power. We recognize these genre components can be cultivated by using three particular strategies: writing for nonclassroom audiences, using source texts explicitly to join existing disciplinary conversations, and cultivating two types of metacognitive awareness (awareness of the writing strategies used to complete specific tasks and awareness of one’s levels of proficiency in particular types of writing knowledge). Findings can be used to enrich first-year or upper-division writing curricula in the areas of genre knowledge, audience awareness, and source use.

scholarly journals Cracks to Craters: College Advising During COVID-19

AERA Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233285842110187
Author(s):  
Meredith R. Naughton
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Marginalized Students ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
College Advising ◽  
Communication Challenges ◽  
High Need Schools ◽  
Education Of Students ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Systemic Barriers

The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease–2019) pandemic disrupted the education of students across the globe in the spring of 2020. Students who were previously at most risk for falling behind their peers and through the cracks because of academic, financial, racial, and/or generational disadvantage faced a wide range of additional obstacles in the pursuit of their college goals. This qualitative study sought to uncover postsecondary advising implications for students through the perspectives of near-peer college advisers (n = 23) serving in high-need schools in two different states as intensive, in-person advising was forced to adapt to virtual formats. Two key thematic findings reveal that advisers faced new communication challenges and existing systemic barriers for marginalized students became even larger. For seniors who had not yet made final postsecondary decisions or who had remaining to-dos, the impact of school closures and distanced advising may have fatally widened existing cracks in the path to college.

L2 Theme development in Discursive and Experimental undergraduate student writing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Chen ◽  
Sheena Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Experimental Writing ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Report Writing ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Successful Student ◽  
Lexical Density

Abstract To complement earlier studies of writing development in the BAWE corpus of successful student writing (Nesi & Gardner 2012; Staples et al. 2016), we examine the Systemic Functional Linguistics notion of Theme as used by L2 writers across first- and third-year and in two distinctive discourse types: persuasive/argumentative Discursive writing of assignments in the soft disciplines and Experimental report writing of assignments in the hard sciences. Theme analysis reveals more substantial differences across the two discourse types than between first- and third-year L2 undergraduate writing. Textual Themes are consistently more frequent than interpersonal Themes, and some variance is found within subcategories of each. Significant differences in lexical density occur across third-year discourse types and between first- and third-year Experimental writing where a predominance of N+N topical Themes is also found. These findings are important as previous research has tended to focus on L1 Discursive writing.

From Protest to Protection: Navigating Politics with Immigrant Students in Uncertain Times

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
REVA JAFFE-WALTER ◽  
CHANDLER PATTON MIRANDA ◽  
STACEY J. LEE
Keyword(s):  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Undocumented Students ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Marginalized Students ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The Us ◽  
Immigration Politics ◽  
The Subject

With the rise of nationalism and the current contentious debate on immigration in the US, school leaders and educators are faced with difficult questions about how to negotiate sensitive political topics, including debates on immigration. In this article, Reva Jaffe-Walter, Chandler Patton Miranda, and Stacey J. Lee explore how educators grapple with the political policies and discourses surrounding immigration with marginalized students who are the subject of those politics. Drawing on research from two US schools exclusively serving recently arrived immigrant students, the authors explore how educators negotiate the teaching of immigration politics during two different time periods, in 2013 during the Obama era “Dreamer” movement and in early 2017 after the inauguration of Donald Trump. They consider how the unique conditions of each political context inform educators' strategies for “teaching into” political events and supporting their immigrant and undocumented students. Their analysis reveals the unique challenges of engaging marginalized students who are the subject of contentious politics in political discussion and action and supports their call for a deeper consideration of students' identities and experiences of politics within scholarly discussions of critical civic engagement.

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