The First-Year Writing Student Experience at UNC Charlotte

Cat Mahaffey Associate Director of First-Year Writing

University Writing Program UNC Charlotte

Curricular Shifts

Piloted 2009-2010Implemented fall 2011

Some background

The Initial Shift: Away From Formalism

• Move from a formalist understanding of literacy and language to a social view

• Formalistic modes of writing instruction tend to focus on the mastery of forms which are treated as models to mimic

Social View of Literacy

• Reverses the logic of formalism by conceptualizing writing as a social process

• Presents genres as socially-situated forms that emerge from and within specific rhetorical situations

“Social View” of literacy cont.• Teaches writers to explore

rhetorical situations, encouraging adaptation rather than mimicry in a variety of contexts

• Creates space for an inquiry-driven model of writing where writers are able to take chances and learn how to transform genres according to purpose and context

The Initial Shift: Inquiry-Based Learning

• Researchers don’t generally start out with a thesis and then look for agreement or disagreement.

• Questions, responses and genres emerge within discourses, within social settings and situated interactions.

• In specific social contexts we question, dialogue, learn, position, and respond.

Teaching Writing as Inquiry

• Focus on writing and research as complex processes that are highly individualized and context-specific

• Immerse: Invite curiosity, build background, find topics, and wonder

• Investigate: Develop questions, search for information, and discover answers or new questions

• Coalesce: Intensify research, synthesize information, and build knowledge

• Go Public: Share learning, demonstrate understanding, take action

Continuing Shifts: Threshold Concepts

• UK national research project

• Teaching and learning environments in undergraduate education. What works?

• Economics• 2010

Threshold Concept Theory

• Threshold concept theory works to identify those concepts that are transformative to disciplinary learning—that is, those concepts that lead learners to a changed disciplinary view, a changed disciplinary understanding, or a changed self-perception about a discipline

Threshold Concepts of Composition

• Writing is a subject of study as well as an activity. • Writing (and language) is situated/shaped by specific

contexts, purposes and audiences• Writing (and language) is never neutral; always linked

to values and ideologies. Cannot be separated from the culture/context in which it circulates

• Writing (and language) is always situated in genre• Qualities of good writing are site-specific• Participation in writing (and language) is a form of

social activity/action

Examples of Student Changes

A student might:• view writing as an art, instead of a skill• start to understand writing as a mode of

knowledge production, instead of a mode of knowledge transmission

• experience an ontological epiphany and consider him or herself a writer, instead of a student.

Continuing Shift: Teaching for Transfer

• Spiraling model of writing development

• Considers what students bring with them to a course, concept, or assignment as well as what they take away afterward

• Focuses on deep learning so that students are equipped to adapt what they know (and continue to grow) in future situations

Newly-Revised FYW SLOs

Newly-Revised FYW SLOs

• PrefaceAs writing faculty, we recognize that all of the following student learning outcomes are interwoven, and often happen simultaneously. We also recognize that rhetorical awareness and critical thinking happen throughout all of composing and that it’s artificial to try to separate these acts from the highly complex work of composition. We have done so to help a variety of audiences—students, colleagues in other departments, for example—to better understand concepts that we introduce and reinforce in first-year Writing (FYW) that will continue to be practiced and developed throughout a student’s lifetime of literacy development.

Newly-Revised FYW SLOs

• Rhetorical Knowledge• Critical Reading• Composing Processes• Knowledge of Conventions• Critical Reflection

Newly-Revised FYW SLOs

FYW Courses at UNC Charlotte

Students take either

• 2-course sequence:– UWRT 1101 Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts I– UWRT 1102 Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts II

• 1-semester accelerated course:– UWRT 1103 Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts I

and II

UWRT 1101: Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts I

Writing is both the primary subject of inquiry and the primary activity. Students write, revise, edit and reflect on their writing with the support of the teacher and peers.

Students also engage critically with the opinions and voices of others, as they are encouraged to understand how their writing can have an effect on themselves and their environments.

As the primary subject of readings and discussion, writing is explored as it relates to different contexts, discourses, cultures and textual media.

As students inquire into literacy they understand their own writing and development with heightened awareness. Grades are derived primarily from portfolios that include work generated through the term.

Possible Topics of Exploration in 1101

• Conventions• Reading as Writers• Genre• Error• Authority• Students’ own writing processes

Possible Assignments

• Literacy Narrative• Rhetorical Analysis• Genre Analysis• Ethnography

The goal of these assignments is not to teach a formula; the goal is to heighten awareness of the socially-constructed, purpose-driven nature of writing and how and why writers make choices in different writing contexts.

UWRT 1102: Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts II

Students develop an extended inquiry project that integrates materials from varied sources and includes writing in multiple genres.

Students write, revise, edit and reflect on their writing with the support of the teacher and peers.

Students immerse themselves in a conversation about a topic through reading, questioning, and process writing.

Polished writing might assume the forms of presentations, reviews of research, essayistic arguments, or multi-media and web-based projects.

Students learn to distinguish rhetorical contexts, practice different conventions, and develop positions in relation to research. They also adopt digital technologies to network, compose, and/or critique and disseminate their work.

Grades are derived primarily from portfolios that include work generated throughout the term.

UWRT 1103: Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts I and II

• An accelerated version of 1101 and 1102

• Combines writing studies and extended inquiry

Sample Assignments for the Extended Inquiry Project

• Research Proposal• Research Map• Research Blog or Journal• Annotated Bibliography• Research Synthesis• Purpose-driven Genre Product

Emphasis is placed on inquiry and the writing process; risk and exploration are encouraged rather than conformity to a model.

Commonalities in ALL courses

• Classes are capped at 22

• Approximately 25-30 pages of polished writing throughout the semester

• The ePortfolio is the capstone assessment tool.

ePortfolio

• At least 50% of final grade• Portfolio-centered class• Reflective learning habits

throughout• Portfolio includes choice,

variety and reflection, and involves collection, selection and reflection