Through a sociocultural theoretical perspective, this mixed-methods study examines four lines of inquiry related to writing within school spaces. First, the notion of unhindered writing is conceptualized through an in-depth review of empirical studies illuminating elements that young writers employ. Next, based on the elements of unhindered…

College courses, especially those housed within an English department, are rooted in a partnership with the university library. This study seeks to understand the effects of instructor and librarian collaboration on student learning in the English composition classroom. Using a single-case case study, the author explores possible answers to the…

Writing is a vital part of literacy development. It affords the opportunity for the expression and analysis of comprehensive thought, while simultaneously being a modality for unique and creative communication. In order for productive dialogue about the study of writing to be engaged, the contemplation of its many dynamic parts occurring across a…

This dissertation examines how modernity sets conditions within higher education and how those conditions impact writing-related transfer. I draw on research into modernity and higher education; narratives of teaching writing; and a qualitative research project with student-athletes, student-non-athletes, and writing tutors to explore how…

Writing support for graduate students is one of the top concerns in the field of graduate writing education and research. The need of graduate writing support through communal writing practice opportunities has not been explored empirically yet. The main purpose of the study is to explore graduate student perception to develop and test a graduate…

Community is a concept with tremendous power in higher education and writing studies. For higher education institutions, community influences the purpose and method of education. Based on John Dewey's work on the social nature of education and other histories of community-based education, higher education practitioners and theorists like Ernest…

The purpose of this dissertation study is to examine the ways underprivileged fifth-grade students enacted digital multimodal composing practices and enhanced their understanding of digital multimodal composing in activity systems of ELA and science classes in a public school. This study was conducted within one fifth-grade classroom at McGrove…

This qualitative study explored how student writers adjust to the shifting composing demands in a multitude of composing contexts: in English, in history and across the two disciplines, as well as in various modes, including alphabetically and multimodally. Naturalistic inquiry case study was applied to explore the participant's experiences with…

Community college students often struggle with writing tasks, and the skills used in summary writing are especially challenging for many of them (see Brown & Day, 1983; Day, 1980, 1986; Friend, 2001; Perin, 2002). Modeling has been demonstrated to be an effective tool for teaching a variety of writing skills to elementary and secondary pupils…

Inspired by a recognition of high school students' frequent disengagement during reading and their lack of comfort and confidence with finding ways to engage with texts, the purpose of this research was to examine the impact of social-media formatted low-stakes writing tasks in the high school English classroom. Drawing from research on writing…

This research sought to ascertain through a phenomenological approach whether and how collaboration occurs in writing center administration. The reflections and perceptions of former writing center gWPAs provided insight into a variety of institutional contexts and experiences present in writing center collaboration. The participants perceived…

This dissertation examines the epistemological moves made by Washington State University undergraduates in their general education course writing and during two impromptu writing assessment exams administered by the WSU writing program. It builds from previous interview-based research on epistemological change (Perry, 1998; diSessa, 1993;…

A review of the literature suggests that grammar instruction delivered within the context of writing instruction may impact students' writing development (Fearn & Farnan, 2007; Myhill, Jones, Lines, & Watson, 2012), but there have been few studies that suggest how this occurs. This study followed a group of 17 teachers throughout 3 classes…

Dual credit programs afford high school students the opportunity to earn college credit prior to graduation while exposing them to the rigor and culture of college, which may help make college more accessible to first-generation college students and underserved populations. The purpose of this study was to understand students' dual credit…

College freshmen are expected to enter the university setting with some previous writing experience. Freshmen are then expected to become collegiate writers by completing first-year composition courses. Standard American English remains the language of power in the university, which is problematic to minority student groups, specifically students…