Composition Course Research Articles

Nutritional composition of dishes commonly consumed by Japanese Brazilians in São Paulo, Brazil

Primary objective To calculate the nutritional composition of commonly consumed Brazilian foods and beverages to analyze dietary intake data obtained with a quantitative food frequency questionnaire in a colorectal adenoma case–control study in Japanese Brazilians.Methods and procedures Weighed recipes were collected in São Paulo, Brazil and analyzed using NutriBase Clinical Nutrition Manager.Main outcomes and results A total of 387 recipes for 76 dishes commonly consumed by Japanese Brazilians were collected: 30 composite main course dishes, 26 composite vegetable dishes, 19 snack foods and desserts, and one beverage. The nutritional composition (energy and 32 macronutrients and micronutrients) was calculated per 100 g for each dish.Conclusions We provided, for the first time, complete and up-to-date calculated nutritional composition data for commonly consumed Brazilian food items, which are essential to assess the current dietary intake among Japanese Brazilians.

Research into How to Facilitate Interactions in On-line English Composition Courses

Research into How to Facilitate Interactions in On-line English Composition Courses

“We All Got History”

This review essay places Local Histories in the context of recent books and studies examining the wide variety of composition and rhetoric courses and pedagogical practices that existed in nineteenth-century America. The book has two general foci as represented in its split title: Local Histories, or microhistories of institutions, curricula, and figures; and Reading the Archives of Composition, an extended look at several hitherto unexamined archival sources and their associated projects. The editors identify three central purposes for their book: to challenge the “Harvard narrative,” which, they claim, places the origin of “composition” at Harvard and other elite Eastern colleges; to offer several alternative “microhistories” from various institutional sites, and to document, interpret, and interrogate specific archival holdings and the nature of archival work in composition. While the reviewers find the challenges to “the Harvard model” as history and historiography overstated, overall, they find the collection important for its studies of diverse sites and its attention to less visible figures: teachers who acted as early innovators, and students whose written compositions, informal diaries and letters offer new lenses for making history. The authors of various chapters who unveil their documentary and archival work in process, disclosing both finds and gaps and offering their developing understandings of the archive as construct, perform a valuable service to future scholars of composition studies.

Instructional Note: Using Google Documents for Composing Projects That Use Primary Research in First-Year Writing Courses

For faculty seeking to engage students in inquiry-based, emergent, and primary research in first-year composition courses, Google Documents provides both an efficient and effective means.

Does Automated Feedback Help Students Learn to Write?

We examined whether an automated essay feedback system could improve the writing performance of college students. Students in a freshmen composition course received no feedback or varying amounts of formative feedback on their first drafts of three practice essays (none, intermittent, or continuous). The students wrote a first and then a revised final draft of an essay in a writing lab held once per week. After a retention interval of 2 weeks, a test essay was written without the use of feedback to assess transfer of learning. Holistic scores showed no reliable gains, but the transfer test showed that students learned to reduce errors of mechanics, usage, grammar, and style. The benefit was found for continuous but not intermittent feedback.

The Changing Space of Research: Web 2.0 and the Integration of Research and Writing Environments

Web 2.0 challenges the artificial compartmentalization of research and writing that often characterizes instruction in composition classes. In Web 2.0, writing and researching activities are increasingly integrated both spatially and conceptually. This article contends that, with this integration, Web 2.0 technologies showcase how research and writing together participate in knowledge production. Through analyzing specific technologies that incorporate Web 2.0 features, including Wikipedia, JSTOR, ARTstor, and del.icio.us, this article argues that including Web 2.0 technologies in composition courses as objects of analysis and as writing and researching resources offers a means to bridge the gap between students’ online proficiencies and academic writing tasks.

Using Blackboard to Deliver Library Research Skills Assessment: A Case Study

Like other college and university departments, academic libraries are increasingly expected to assess their services and facilities. This article describes an initial step in the development of a comprehensive assessment program for library instruction in the Brooklyn College Library. A pre- and post-quiz were developed based on the curriculum for a required library session in an introductory English composition course. The quizzes were designed to establish a baseline for student knowledge of information literacy as well as measure the effect of library instruction on student learning. We also sought to evaluate the suitability of the Blackboard learning management system for assessment of library instruction. Our discussion of the benefits and limitations of this pilot project will be useful to instruction librarians considering using Blackboard to implement multiple choice quizzes as a means of assessing information literacy and library instruction.

Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note Elizabeth A. Jones (bio) It is crucial that general education outcomes such as critical thinking and communication skills are integrated across the undergraduate curriculum. While most general education programs require introductory courses in English composition and/or oral communication, it is imperative that various majors or areas of specialization continue to address and build upon these important types of outcomes. When cultivated across the curriculum, such complex capabilities can be enhanced with higher levels of challenge for students and greater achievements (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2008). Specific majors also give students a concrete context where they can apply their outcomes as they attempt to address real-world issues or solve problems. The first article, “An Exploratory Investigation of the Assessment Practices of Selected Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–Accredited Business Programs and Linkages with General Education Outcomes,” by Elizabeth Vitullo and me, examines these important connections. We found that schools of business do explicitly focus on essential general education outcomes in the context of the major and align assessment practices to gather information about student achievement of these types of outcomes. In this study, the business program faculty also used the results from these assessments to identify changes that need to be made to strengthen student learning experiences. Class size can affect student participation and the levels of perceived student learning. Lauren Chapman and Larry Ludlow investigate these variables in their article, “Can Downsizing College Class Sizes Augment Student Outcomes?” They used data from course evaluations to identify the effect of class size on student learning. They found that class size persisted in having a significant negative relationship with perceived student learning. This finding emerges taking into account student effort and instructor quality. Another factor affecting student learning is what actually transpires in the classroom. Justin White, Stefinee Pinnegar, and Patricia Esplin examine student learning in a problem-based learning (pbl) course. Their article, [End Page vii] “When Learning and Change Collide: Examining Student Claims to Have ‘Learned Nothing,’” presents interesting results from the analysis of final reflection papers. All students claimed to have learned from this course even if they were resistant to pbl in the beginning of the course. The final contribution in this issue is a book review by Julie B. Walsh-Covarrubias examining the creation of entrepreneurial universities to support liberal education. We hope that you find this collection of material useful and invite you to join our dialogue. Elizabeth A. Jones Elizabeth A. Jones is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership Studies in the College of Human Resources and Education at West Virginia University. Her research focuses on assessing student learning and development. She has published numerous journal articles and three assessment books. Reference Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2008). Our students’ best work: A framework for accountability worthy of our mission. Washington, D.C.: Author. [End Page viii] Google Scholar Copyright © 2010 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Virtually Embedded: Library Instruction within Second Life

Embedded librarianship in distance learning courses taught within virtual environments such as Second Life is an emerging, leading-edge practice. This paper describes the experiences of librarians embedded in undergraduate English composition courses taught entirely in Second Life and presents the results of an empirical research study to assess the effectiveness of Second Life library instruction. Information literacy competencies and confidence levels of students did not improve significantly with the introduction of course-embedded librarian instruction and support. The authors discuss the unique challenges of “virtual embedding” and consider possible ways to improve librarian effectiveness in Second Life.

Cruising Composition Texts: Negotiating Sexual Difference in First-Year Readers

The article describes and analyzes the exclusion of LGBT content in composition courses by reporting on a study of how queerness is (and is not) incorporated into first-year writing courses. The authors critically examine the presence or absence of LGBT issues in first-year composition readers; offer analyses of how some first-year readers handle issues of queerness; and consider how queerness, when it is included in composition textbooks, is framed rhetorically as a subject for writing. The article concludes with recommendations for those seeking to explore issues of sexuality in ways that are productive for students, other faculty, and our profession. Ultimately, the authors demonstrate that, while some ground has been gained in understanding sexual difference as an important domain for students to explore, there is still much work to be done in creating textbooks that invite students to think critically and usefully about the interconnections among sexuality, literacy, and writing.

The Figure of Writing and the Future of English Studies

With the long-term decline in the cultural capital of literature and a steep decline in tenure-track hires in literary studies, faculty across English are rethinking their relationship to writing. As interest in digital media grows, together with rising enrollment in courses in creative, civic, and professional composition, can the figure of writing provide a sense of disciplinary coherence? What will it take for literature faculty to agree that they, too, are interested in writers and writing?

“It Was Just That I Was Afraid”

This article considers the risk of failing college and how the fear of failure shapes students' behavior. Drawing on a semester-long study of students and instructors in a community college English composition course, this analysis highlights the potential for students to undermine their own educational goals in the absence of active intervention from the college, especially from course instructors.

Using language learning strategies to improve the writing skills of Saudi EFL students: Will it really work?

Abstract This study investigates the use of language learning strategies (LLSs) by Saudi EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study determines if gender and academic major have any effect on that use and reveals the potential benefits for Saudi students in the area of strategy instruction. Data was collected during the academic year 2007–2008 from three sample universities in Saudi Arabia using Rebecca Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), a self-report questionnaire, as the instrument. Participants in the study ( N = 165) were all enrolled in similar Freshman English composition courses and totaled 71 male students and 94 female students. The results of ANOVA (analysis of variance) tests showed that female students used slightly more LLSs than male students, and Computer Science students used slightly more LLSs than Management Information Systems students. In response to these findings, a program for direct strategy instruction was piloted with an English writing class at one of the sample universities. Encouraging results from this trial program suggest new avenues for approaching the teaching of writing inside the Kingdom.

Hospitality in College Composition Courses

There has been little discussion of hospitality as a practice in college writing courses. Possible misuses of hospitality as an educational and ethical practice are explored, and three traditional and still tenable modes of hospitality are described and historicized: Homeric, Judeo-Christian, and nomadic. Application of these modes to instructional situations may lead to new and sometimes counter-establishment methods, in terms of course objectives, shared labor of teacher and students, writing assignments, response to writing, and assessment of student work. Perhaps the most radical form is transformative hospitality, which accepts the possibility that host and guest, teacher and students, will all be changed by their encounter, a potentiality that is characterized by risk taking, restlessness, and resistance to educational entrenchments. Traditional hospitality as practiced in writing classrooms does not mark a return to student-centered pedagogies of past decades but does stake out a position that might be considered marginal apropos the current political and educational climate in the United States.

Practicing Participating in an Academic Discourse: Language Socialization during ESL Teacher-Student Writing Conferences

This case study examines how a student was socialized into participating in writing conferences as part of a basic ESL composition course at a university. Language socialization and the notion of ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978) were employed as theoretical frameworks to understand the student’s development in taking part in the routines of writing conferences. The participants were an ESL instructor and one of her students, and the data were collected during the participants’ three writing conferences held in one semester. Interactions during the openings and closings of these conferences were focused upon since the language socialization process is especially noticeable at these times. The results show that socialization occurred in several different ways. The teacher gave explicit instruction on conference procedures, including the necessity of bringing a second draft and note-taking during conferences. The student also received less explicit direction regarding participating in conference closings. In some cases, such as by bringing a second draft and initiating the closing of a conference, the student seemed to show movement from other-regulation to self-regulation. However, no such progression occurred with the student’s note-taking. This contrast shows that different skills develop at different times and rates. The findings have important implications for ESL writing conferences and composition instruction as well as for student learning.

Food composition training: Distance learning as a new approach and comparison to courses in the classroom

Food composition training courses in classrooms, which have been given since 1992, have reached approximately 500 professionals worldwide. In many fields distance learning is being increasingly used as it provides a means to reach a wider audience more cost effectively, which otherwise might never be able to access the knowledge being disseminated. The Food Composition Study Guide is being developed for worldwide use by FAO and INFOODS as a distance-learning tool to assist students gain knowledge on food composition and be able to evaluate their knowledge acquisition and ability to perform. The Study Guide was designed based on instructional and learning principles with the aim of helping students to fill their specific knowledge gaps, i.e. by choosing the modules of interest, and to perform better when generating, managing or using food composition data. It will be published in English, French and Spanish. The Study Guide is divided into 15 modules, each of which includes learning objectives, required reading, questions and exercises. With the points obtained through correct answers the learner is able to evaluate whether or not knowledge gaps have been filled. The Study Guide was compared with three classroom food composition training courses in terms of organization of course, participants/learners, content, instructional principles, learning principles, and evaluation. The Study Guide compares well with the courses in terms of content, but differs in design and delivery, and moreover lacks interaction among teachers and students. The Study Guide has a standardized quality and it reaches a wide audience cost-effectively, and because it was developed using instructional and learning principles and includes many exercises, it might be effective in keeping learner motivation high to acquire knowledge and building the confidence necessary to apply this knowledge in real job situations. Although the Study Guide is mainly designed as a stand-alone tool, it is also useful in conjunction with food composition courses, either prior to the course to increase the knowledge of students with little or no knowledge of food composition, at the end of sessions to evaluate learning, or after the course as a refresher.

Collaborative Composition For Musical Robots

The goal of this research is to collaborate with a number of different artists to explore the capabilities of robotic musical instruments to cultivate new music. This paper describes the challenges faced in using musical robotics in rehearsals and on the performance stage. It also describes the design of custom software frameworks and tools for the variety of composers and performers interacting with the new instruments. Details of how laboratory experiments and rehearsals moved to the concert hall in a variety of diverse performance scenarios are described. Finally, a paradigm for how to teach musical robotics as a multimedia composition course is discussed.

What Looms

This article explores how the author folds prison studies into his composition courses at Texas' only open-admissions university, located directly across from a massive county jail bearing an uncanny resemblance to his home institution. The author not only examines the semiotics of the two buildings but also explains how and why he teaches students about the jail and its connection to a larger system of punishment. Asking first-year students to research a accustomed part of their local surroundings demystifies their understanding of incarceration as it helps to demystify the entire experience of research, writing, and going to school in a unique urban setting. Such a move fosters for the students a theoretical and experiential connection between public education and critical citizenship. It also reminds students to take a good look around (no matter where they are) and think more deeply about what's there, what's not there, and why.

Just Not Enough Time: Accelerated Composition Courses and Struggling ESL Writers

Although accelerated summer and winter intersession courses may appeal to developmental ESL students who are required to take several ESL/English courses before placing into first-year composition, the abbreviated time period may actually be detrimental for weaker ESL students. Two case studies are presented here that chronicle two students’ struggles in such a course.

Infection dynamics and virus-induced apoptosis in cell culture-based influenza vaccine production—Flow cytometry and mathematical modeling

Cell culture-based influenza vaccine manufacturing is of growing importance. Depending on virus strains, differences in infection dynamics, virus-induced apoptosis, cell lysis and virus yields are observed. Comparatively little is known concerning details of virus–host cell interaction on a cellular level and virus spreading in a population of cells in bioreactors. In this study, the infection of MDCK cells with different influenza A virus strains in lab-scale microcarrier culture was investigated by flow cytometry. Together with the infection status of cells, virus-induced apoptosis was monitored. A mathematical model has been formulated to describe changes in the concentration of uninfected and infected adherent cells, dynamics of virus particle release (infectious virions, hemagglutinin content), and the time course of the percentage composition of the cell population.