In order to create a 21st century pedagogy of learning experiences that inspire the engaged, constructive, dynamic, and empowering modes of work we see in online creative communities, we need to focus on the platforms, the environments, the microworlds that host, hold, and constitute the work. A good platform can build connections between users,…

Driven by the desire to expand and deepen the understanding of the academic performance and multiliteracies development of international Chinese undergraduate students, and the current scarcity of research on the said topic, this study examined first-year international Chinese students' academic writing process, and how this process was situated…

Some students are entering college and graduating with the inability to write scholarly and professionally. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine the perceptions of college instructors and students about the essential writing skills of entering first-year college students within a Southwestern university. This study provided…

The Rhetoric* of Writing Assessment uses strategic variations of rhetorical theory to reimagine writing assessment's complicated disciplinary past and rethink its foundational concepts through its multifaceted rhetorical situatedness. Although scholars such as Bob Broad, Brian Huot, Patricia Lynne, Norbert Elliot, Edward M. White, and Kathleen…

In response to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2001 (No Child Left Behind), states have sought various ways to adequately assess students in order to in turn hold schools and districts accountable for closing the achievement gap. As the state of Texas, motivated by pressure from parents, teachers, and other vested interest groups who…

This study investigated the approximations of disciplinary literacy in high school English Language Arts students' writing. To study the development of these disciplinary conventions, the portfolios of written literary analyses were examined from fourteen twelfth-grade students over their last two years in high school. The conceptual framework for…

This study considers how English educators can catalyze learning within secondary English education programs to help preservice teachers define and re-examine what counts as writing in the 21st century, and to apply this knowledge in their future school contexts. In it, I explore how preservice teachers develop, articulate, and enact conceptual…

The present study investigated the effects on student test scores of providing Tier 1 and Tier 2 professional development (PD) about language arts instruction to teachers at a Title I elementary school. All general education teachers received ongoing feedback and assistance in hands-on learning of effective instructional techniques for reading,…

This research examines the case studies of two participants, students at a large land-grant university, as they transfer their knowledge of writing skills and practices across contexts as evidence of the shifting nature of writing. This project proposes that, as many have theorized, the study of writing transfer needs to be longitudinal;…

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) is a cutting-edge technology-based intervention designed to help teachers meet their challenges in writing classrooms and improve students' writing proficiency. The fast development of AWE systems, along with the encouragement of technology use in the U.S. K-12 education system by the Common Core State Standards…

This dissertation will broaden the purview of recent scholarship pertaining to socially just writing assessments by making connections among assemblage theory and materialism, studies of ecological and anti-racist assessments, and studies of writing center work, to ground theoretical conversations in everyday practices. Focusing on systemic…

This study is an examination of the outcomes of practicing autoethnography, specifically in the context of first-year undergraduate, writing-intensive courses. The researcher recounts his initial, inspiring encounter with autoethnography and explores the possibility of its pedagogical application in composition instruction. Autoethnography is a…

This dissertation presents an interpretative content analysis of the "Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing." A joint publication from major professional organizations in the field of composition studies, the "Framework" articulates the principles of the field in response to assessment standards. Composition scholars,…

Online learning is one of the fastest growing trends in education. A practical problem faced by instructional designers and online instructors is how to design an interactive learning activity that benefits content mastery without adding technological barriers. The online discussion forum provides quick solutions because it is usually ready for…

In the past three decades, the construct of second language (L2) writing complexity has been theorized and refined in both second language acquisition (SLA) (Crossley, 2020; Housen, De Clercq, Kuiken, & Vedder, 2019; Lu, 2011; Norris & Ortega, 2009) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) research (Byrnes, 2009; Ryshina-Pankova, 2015;…