Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore the fit between the cognitive concept of writing self-efficacy and a socially constructed epistemology of writing. Socially constructed perspectives on writing emphasise context and community and include academic literacies, rhetorical genre theory, and the writing across the curriculum movement. These perspectives have been prominent in theoretical discussions of writing since the 1980s. This paper argues that the measurement of writing self-efficacy has continued to prioritise assessing writing self-efficacy as ability to successfully accomplish superficial writing product and process features, while the social context of writing and its resultant impacts on the identity forming, relational, emotional and creative impacts on writing self-efficacy have been largely ignored. The historical context of paradigmatic shifts in writing theory will be discussed with a lens towards proposing a synthesis of three constructionist situated perspectives - activity theory, rhetorical genre theory, and communities of practice - and how these situated perspectives may inform a more complete view of how writing self-efficacy should be assessed and measured. How practitioners may consider the merger of these theories in writing pedagogy will be introduced to inspire future research.
Highlights
In the evolution of writing epistemologies, writing research, which at its origins explored and priorit ised writing text as products, evolved to exploring cognitive processes and, more currently, social processes
A ‘literacy crisis’ was declared, which placed a spotlight on grammatical correctness, the product elements of writing, thought to be markers of education and social class. It was cognitive process theorists, in particular the work of Flower and Hayes (1981) by defining and describing the recursive processes of planning, composing, and revising, that triggered the recognition that a person sat behind the text produced and that person should be considered in research efforts
A 2015 special issue of Educational Psychologist aimed to start a conversation about the potential for merging the two perspectives by exploring how ‘situative perspectives’ could enhance educational psychology research by recognizing that individual goals were situated within the collective goals apparent in the individual’s social context or system (Turner and Nolen, 2015).The social movement, for example, could enlighten writing self-efficacy researchers on the contextual factors which limit self-efficacy development
Summary
In the evolution of writing epistemologies, writing research, which at its origins explored and priorit ised writing text as products, evolved to exploring cognitive processes and, more currently, social processes. Movements focused on describing how writing was socially situated in communities where products and processes would shapeshift from context to context They evolved in response to the recognition that there was no single recipe to develop writing in post-secondary student populations. A 2015 special issue of Educational Psychologist aimed to start a conversation about the potential for merging the two perspectives by exploring how ‘situative perspectives’ could enhance educational psychology research by recognizing that individual goals were situated within the collective goals apparent in the individual’s social context or system (Turner and Nolen, 2015).The social movement, for example, could enlighten writing self-efficacy researchers on the contextual factors which limit self-efficacy development. The paper will attempt to answer the question: Is there epistemological congruence between a socially constructed epistemology and the measurement of writing self-efficacy, which may allow for the merger of the social perspectives on writing and the social cognitive perspectives on writing self-efficacy? The paper will present a synthesis of Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997) with three social theories that we will refer to collectively as ‘situated perspectives’ in the ‘complimentary yet distinct’ (Artemeva, 2008, p.162) triad of socially constructed theories which include activity theory, rhetorical genre theory, and communities of practice
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