Introductory Composition Course Research Articles

Reframing Writing Instruction in Physical Learning Environments: Making Connections Between Digital and Nondigital Technologies

Active Learning Classrooms provide several advantages for teaching and learning by offering many physical and technological affordances that one can choose from when designing instruction. For courses where student writing is central activity to course learning outcomes, a challenge exists in that the innovative digital technologies may hide the opportunity to incorporate non-digital tools, such as paper-based student writing. We argue that treating student writing as a technology can increase opportunities for active learning within technology-enhanced learning environments. In this article, we describe an approach to writing instruction that builds intentional connections between paper-based texts and digital technologies, describing the rationale for the design decisions in an introductory composition course through a design case model. Classroom applications are discussed for physical learning spaces where student writing is incorporated into overall course learning activities.

Chinese Students Negotiating L2 English Writing Identity: Navigating Introductory Composition at a U.S. University

This small scale ethnographic study explores the L2 English academic writing identity negotiation of three Chinese students within the context of an introductory composition course at a U.S. Midwestern university focused on the needs of international students. Through individual interviews and classroom observations, it was investigated whether participants’ previous language learning experiences and current language ideologies play a significant role in their attitudes towards acquiring L2 academic literacy skills in English. Another point of interest was how these students shape their ‘imagined communities’ in respect to second language writing and whether they experience any kind of ‘inferiority of identity’. Resultsconcluded that students were implicitly and explicitly aware of English as a dominant discourse and were able to describe specific stylistic differences between Chinese and English argumentative writing that seemed to have some effect on their conscious development of thought patterns in organizing writing assignments in a given socio‐‐‐cultural setting. Further notice of how L2 students accommodate or resist English academic writing conventions and how they may self‐‐‐marginalize their own L1 merits greater attention.

Uniting the Pre-Health Humanities with the Introductory Composition Course.

Drawing on my experiences at a teaching-focused university, I show how locating the health humanities in first-year or introductory composition courses improves learning and offers an economical, flexible, and far-reaching approach to bringing a health humanities education to all baccalaureate-level learners, regardless of whether they aspire to careers in the health professions. In terms of improving learning, health humanities composition courses support the disciplinary aims of both fields. Accessible, relevant issues in the health humanities, such as interventions in health debates or representations of illness and healthcare settings, nourish the cognitive and social conditions needed to develop college-level writing skills. The health humanities' emphases on interdisciplinarity and suspending judgment also inform students' writing abilities. Composition trains students to write rhetorically by considering purpose, context, genre, mode, and other factors when addressing an audience. This approach to writing helps pre-health humanists communicate intentionally and compassionately about health topics as well as the larger issues they call into question. Because students enroll in health humanities composition courses at an early, formative moment in their studies, they are poised to carry or "transfer" their knowledge to other courses, including those that might prepare them for the workforce.

Chat Transcript Analysis Reveals that Undergraduate Students are Open to Instruction, While Instructors and Librarians Care About Supporting Student Learning

A Review of:
 Jacoby, J., Ward, D., Avery, S., & Marcyk, E. (2016). The value of chat reference services: A pilot study. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 16(1), 109-129. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0013 
 
 Abstract
 
 Objective – To investigate student, instructor, and librarian perspectives of chat reference service in the context of first-year undergraduate students conducting research for an introductory composition course.
 
 Design – Focus groups, individual interviews, and surveys.
 
 Setting – A large, public university in the United States of America.
 
 Subjects – 57 library reference providers, 36 instructors of an introductory composition course, and approximately 936 undergraduate students in certain sections of the introductory composition course who were assigned a specific research project.
 
 Methods – In spring of 2014, all participants were invited via email to respond to an anonymous chat transcript of a librarian interacting with a student working on his or her research project. Study participants could participate via a brief survey or by taking part in a focus group or individual interview. The invited instructors were asked to forward the invitation to the students in their sections, and reminder emails were sent two weeks after the initial email.
 
 Main Results – Nine instructors, 24 students, and 25 library reference providers participated in the study, representing a response rate of 25%, 3% (estimated), and 44%, respectively. The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of key themes that were derived from both the focus groups or individual interviews and the survey questions. The themes were: students as novice researchers, question negotiation, open and closed questions, instruction, speed and convenience, customer service, and referrals. The theme of “students as novice researchers” is based on student comments related to their frustrations of being inexperienced researchers, as well as librarian comments on strategies for helping these students. Opinions regarding the traditional reference interview, including specific techniques that made the interaction successful, were categorized as “question negotiation.” The “open and closed questions” theme focused on feedback on the types of questions used by librarians in the reference interview. Several components related to chat and instruction were encompassed within the “instruction” theme, including whether those participating in the study were conscious of librarians providing instructions via chat and whether it was deemed valuable; the impact of a library instruction session in which students participated; and identification of missed teachable moments during the chat. The “speed and convenience” theme represented thoughts regarding the balance of instruction and librarian support of news skills, with the student expectation of having their question answered quickly and efficiently. The “customer service” theme focused on the service quality of the reference transaction, while the “referrals” theme encompassed thoughts related to whether students were referred to subject specialists, writing specialists, instructors, or if there was a lack of a referral altogether.
 
 Conclusion – Based on the research results, the authors highlighted the importance of the interconnectedness of teaching that is done in the classroom, in library instruction sessions, and on the reference desk, as all three types of instruction should align. Furthermore, because students are open to instruction via the chat service when they are creating and revising their research question and delving into subject research, chat can be viewed as a key teaching and learning opportunity.

Assessing the Value of Course-Embedded Information Literacy on Student Learning and Achievement

A team at the University of California, Merced, collaborated to evaluate the value of integrating information literacy into introductory composition courses through a curriculum developed by librarians and writing faculty. Using a mixed-methods approach, the team investigated the impact of the curriculum on students’ learning and achievement at the end of their first semester of college. Students participating in the curriculum demonstrated greater gains than their peers in using suitable sources and presenting arguments and multiple viewpoints with evidence. This learning did not translate to higher student achievement as represented by course grades and grade point average.

The Value of Chat Reference Services: A Pilot Study

This article explores student, instructor, and librarian perceptions of chat reference in the context of an introductory composition course. Participants in a mixed-method study responded to an anonymized chat transcript. While student respondents valued speed and efficiency, they were willing to receive instruction and open to questions that demonstrated interest or moved the research forward. Librarian and instructor comments focused on how these chats supported or could better support student learning, as well as on the interplay between classroom teaching, library instruction, and reference. The authors also identify implications that these findings have for the development of best practices in chat reference.

Rethinking library instruction:

Given the growing pressure on academic institutions and, by extension, academic libraries to establish student learning outcomes and demonstrate their impact on student learning, researchers at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) explored how outcome-based instructional design can be used to 1) collect student data, 2) assess student learning, and 3) improve instruction. Two surveys were distributed to 59 undergraduate students who were enrolled in an introductory composition course at IUPUI. Because previous studies (e.g. Ford, Miller and Moss 2005) have linked human individual differences with web search strategy, the first survey collected information about the students’ demographic features. The second survey, a search log, collected information about the sources that students chose, the search terms they used and the strategies they employed in order to complete their research. The students submitted their first survey after the instructional session and the second survey after they completed their research project. Using this data, the researchers examined whether students’ achievement could be associated with their personal characteristics and/or the librarian’s instruction. In contrast to Ford, Miller and Moss’s study (2005), no significant relationships were found between students’ personal characteristics and their search behaviour. However, after receiving instruction, all students were able to create keywords and structure them into search queries using Boolean operators. These results suggest that outcome-based instructional design is an effective pedagogical method for gathering assessment data and that the survey instrument was a useful tool for assessing this outcome - by providing both a measurement of student learning and a means of evaluating the librarian’s instruction.

Liminal Spaces and Research Identity

This article argues that prevailing approaches to research instruction in introductory composition courses, as represented in print and digital instructional materials, reflect outdated theoretical views and may damage students’ researcher identity. Teaching research as a closed, linear, universal process prevents students from leaving the liminal space of the composition classroom.

Critical Building Blocks: Mandatory Prerequisite Registration Systems and Student Success

Many colleges and universities require prerequisites prior to enrollment in introductory composition courses; however, enforcement of prerequisites is not consistent across institutions. In this study, we examine the impact of an automated, mandatory prerequisite enforcement system on students and advisors at a public comprehensive university. Results indicate that prerequisite systems are positively associated with student outcomes including improved GPAs and retention rates; furthermore, while functioning similarly to prescriptive advising, prerequisite systems can also facilitate developmental advising relationships between students and academic advisors.

It was the best of times. it was a waste of time: university of kentucky students' views of writing under KERA

A survey was administered to University of Kentucky freshmen enrolled in introductory composition courses. Former Kentucky high school students were asked to describe their high school writing experiences since the 1990 passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) and the implementation of its controversial testing and accountability component. The survey revealed much that is positive. Almost three-quarters of the students reported writing daily in high school in a variety of disciplines. Approximately one-half rated their writing abilities as “above average” or “excellent” and felt prepared or somewhat prepared to write in college. Most reported regularly employing writing process strategies. Few, however, mentioned consideration of purpose and audience as part of their approach to writing, even though these are the two most important criteria for scoring the portfolio. Some two-thirds of the students responded that compiling the portfolio was not a useful activity. These findings suggest that KERA's accountability system may be undermining the instructional improvements it was intended to foster. In its haste to implement mandated reform, the state failed to take into account students' willingness to assume new roles as “creators, authors, and owners” of writing portfolios. Students' negative attitudes toward writing under KERA may reflect a more widespread misunderstanding among teachers and administrators of the theoretical bases for the writing portfolio. Professional development might help to dispel some of this negativity, but classroom teachers alone cannot bear responsibility for ensuring that students see “real world” value in the writing portfolio. Public schools, post-secondary institutions, and employers must work together to find authentic uses for the portfolio.

From Writing to Composing: An Introductory Composition Course for Students of English

Originally published in 1988 as a single volume with student's pages and teacher's notes, this complete composition course for beginning and low intermediate level ESL students is now split into a separate Student's Book and Teacher's Manual.