English 522 Elizabeth
Chiseri-Strater
Mondays 6:30-9:20 McIver
114/ e_chiser@uncg.edu
English
522: Teaching Composition, Theories and Applications
This
course introduces participants to a range of pedagogical theories and research
methodologies in the field of Composition Studies to prepare them to undertake
their own research projects as well as to understand the professional
literature in the field. We’ll begin by
grounding ourselves in contemporary theories and terms that guide current
classroom practices for teaching writing. Nest, we’ll explore the wide range of
methods used in composition research–historical, feminist, narrative,
linguistic, experimental, and cognitive–in an attempt to understand how
different research questions demand different methodological approaches. The major focus of the course is for
participants to become competent at reading and understanding research studies
in the field. English 522 is a required
course for all students in the M.ED degree in English Education and will cover
as well many of the composition readings on the doctoral reading list.
Readings:
Harris,
Joseph. A Teaching Subject: Composition Studies Since 1966. Prentice Hall: New Jersey, 1997.
Heilker,
Paul and Peter Vandenberg. Key Words in Composition Studies. Heinemann:
New Hampshire, 1996.
There
will be an extensive e-reserve reading list which you will be able to download
(see e-reserve bibliography).
Learning
Objectives:
Seminar
participants will become familiar with the range of scholarly journals in the
field and consult them throughout the course as they prepare their research
portfolios. Some of these journals
include: Research in the Teaching of English, College Composition and
Communication, College English, Journal of Advanced Composition, Journal of
Basic Writing, Journal of Teaching Writing, English Education, Anthropology and
Education, Harvard Education Review, Written Communication, Rhetoric Review,
Writing Program Administration, Teaching in the Two Year College, Journal of
Technical Writing. Some of these
journals are available online and others such as Kairos are exclusively
online.
More
explicitly, these are the skills you should master in English 522:
1.
To learn and apply research methods appropriate to composition research
(historical, feminist, ethnographic, narrative, linguistic, cognitive, etc).
2.
To understand and critically analyze various research methodologies and
studies.
3.
To design a research project focused on ways of investigating writing
instruction.
4. To research and write a
review of the literature on some aspect of writing instruction.
5. To become familiar with
current approaches in the field–i.e. educational reports, theoretical
perspectives, and pedagogical approaches to various issues of writing
instruction.
6. To understand the
relationships between research methods, findings and implications for the
purpose of curriculum and instruction.
7. To make decisions
related to curriculum and pedagogy based on research in the field.
Rituals and Routines
Since this is a graduate
course, I expect everyone to be courteous, to arrive on time, be prepared,
engage fully in our discussions and collaborate with one another in every way
possible. You should not miss any classes unless in an extreme emergency
situation which you would discuss with me by phone or email.
Research Design Portfolio
The major work of this course
will be to assemble a research portfolio which will include descriptions and
critiques of a range of studies in the field taken from professional journals
and books. In addition to responding
weekly to the required readings, the research journal will also include a
design for a possible study you might want to conduct, using a methodological
approach appropriate for the question under consideration. The portfolio is intended to provide
participants with bibliographic resources for future research and inquiry. We’ll share the portfolios throughout the
semester and at the end of the course when it will be submitted for evaluation.
Bibliographic Essay
Each participant will write a
bibliographic essay related to an area of composition studies of interest to
the both as teachers and scholars (7-10 pages). The essay will include some historical grounding for the topic as
well as current research in the area.
The text, Keywords, models a bibliographic essay for terms
in Composition Studies. Your essays
will be about an area within the field such as ESOL writers, Basic
Writing Programs, Writing Centers, peer tutoring, evaluation and assessment,
collaborative learning, or computer assisted courses. We will share these essays at mid-term and they will become part
of the research portfolio at the end of the course. There will be no exams in
this course.
Evaluation
The research portfolio and
bibliographic essay will be equally weighted, along with class
participation. Class participation
includes giving a report on a professional journal, presenting your
bibliographic essay, co-leading a class discussion, as well as being prepared
for weekly discussions. Students are
encouraged to collaborate with one another on any aspect of the course–the
bibliographic essay, the research design study, and leading a class discussion,
although each student will submit an individual research design portfolio.
Outline
of Topics and Readings
Week One: Introduction
(8/19)
Introduction to the course,
to one another and to what it means to ask research-based questions.
Week Two:
Keywords/Bibliographic Essays (8/26)
Reading: Heikler and
Vandenberg, Keywords in Composition Studies. Read the introduction and
two entries in the book that interest you.
Write a one paged paper about one of the terms, responding to what you
found surprising, disturbing, confusing, or engaging about the keyword. Make one copy to hand in and keep one copy
for your first entry in your researcher portfolio.
LABOR
DAY NO CLASS 9/2
Week Three: What is
Composition Studies as a Discipline? (9/9)
Reading: Joseph Harris, A
Teaching Subject. Read the book and
write a two paged response to it, again focusing on wh at you found to be
surprising, disturbing, or confusing about the book. This paper will become your second entry in your researcher
portfolio.
Week Four: Historical
Approaches (9/16)
Reading: Sullivan and Kirsch,
Methods and Methodologies, Introduction by editors and chapter by Robert
Connors, “Dreams and Play” and one article of your choice from Rhetoric
Quarterly, vol. 2, Issue 1, Winter, 2002 from e-reserve. Write about the Connors article and the
article you selected from the journal for your portfolio.
Week Five: Feminist
Approaches (9/23)
Reading: Kirsch and Sullivan,
Methods and Methodologies, Sullivan, “Feminism and Methodology,”
Hawisher and Sullivan, “Women on the Networks: Searching for E-Spaces of Their
Own,” and Flynn, “Composing As a Woman.”
Write about all three articles for your portfolio.
Week Six: Quantitative and
Positivist Approaches (9/30)
Reading Kirsch and Sullivan, Methods
and Methodologies Schriver, Connecting Cognition and Context,” Flower,
“Writer Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problem Solving in Writing,” and
Rose “Writer’s Block.” Respond to one
of these articles for your portfolio.
Choose a professional journal which includes articles on writing (see
list) to present to the rest of the class.
Write a two paged summary/critique of the journal for your portfolio.
Week Seven: Linguistic
Approaches (10/7)
Reading: Shaughnessy, Introduction and chapter one from Errors
and Expectations, and Bartholomae, “The Study of Error,” and Haswell,
“Textual Research and Coherence: Findings, Intuition, Application.” Respond to Shaughnessy and one other essay
for your portfolio. Have the topic for
your bibliographic essay by this date and be ready to share it.
FALL
BREAK, NO CLASS 10/14
Week Eight: Narrative or
Case Study Approaches (10/21)
Sullivan and Kirsch, Methods
and Methodologies, Newkirk,, “The
Narrative Roots of the Case Study,” Emig, “Lynn:Profile of a Twelfth Grade
Writer,” and “Claiming the Essay for Himself: Nam” from Herrington and Curtis’s
Persons in Process. (Schedule a conference with instructor this week to
discuss plans for bibliographic essay)
Week Nine: Bibliographic
Essays(10/28)
Harrington, Keither,
Kneupper, Tripp and Woods, “A Critical Survey of Resources for Teaching
Rhetorical Invention: A Review Essay.”
Read this bibliographic essay and write your own. Be prepared to discuss your essay and hand
it in at this class meeting.
Week Ten: Ethnographic
Approaches (11/4)
Sullivan and Kirsch, Methods
and Methodologies, Moss, “Ethnography and Composition,: Studying Language
at Home,” Chiseri-Strater, “Anatomy of a Discourse Community,” and “The
Discourse of Discourse Communities,” from Academic Literacies.
Week Eleven: Action or
Teacher-Research (11/11)
Sullivan and Kirsch, Methods
and Methodologies, Ray, “Composition from the Teacher Researcher,” and
study from Martha’s Vineyard teacher researcher (handout).
Week Twelve:
Methodological Pluralism (11/18)
Sullivan and Kirsch, Methods
and Methodologies, Kirsch, “Methodological Pluralism.” Have draft of your research design to share
in class. Make several copies. Sign up for conference with instruction
about research design.
Week Thirteen:
Thanksgiving/ NCTE (11/25)
No class this week. Instructor giving folklore/fieldwork workshop at NCTE
in Atlanta.
Week Fourteen: Portfolio
Sharing (12/2)
Have portfolio ready to share
in small groups.
Week Fifteen (12/9)
Share research designs with
class. Turn in portfolios. Portfolios
to be returned during scheduled exam time.
Research is the name we
give to the activity of writing...whatever it searches for, it must not forget
its nature as language.” Roland Barthes