ERIC Number: ED646328
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 159
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-8417-5654-5
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Learning Improvement at Scale: Improving Rhetorical Awareness in a First-Year Writing Program
Caroline Prendergast
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, James Madison University
Despite decades of increasing assessment activity in higher education, the literature provides few examples of assessment leading to improved student learning (Banta & Blaich, 2011). The simple model for learning improvement provides an avenue for linking assessment efforts with faculty development and pedagogical changes in order to increase students' knowledge, skills, and abilities (Fulcher et al., 2014). Although this model has been applied successfully in prior improvement efforts, previous initiatives have focused on relatively small programs (reaching 200 or fewer students). This dissertation reflects a large-scale application of the learning improvement model to improve rhetorical awareness in a general education writing program. This dissertation outlines the development of a measure of rhetorical awareness as well as the collection of relevant reliability and validity evidence. Interventions to enhance rhetorical awareness were developed, piloted, and deployed. The measure was then administered to students at the beginning and end of two adjacent semesters, during which time the interventions were delivered to students. Students enrolled in course sections where targeted rhetorical awareness interventions occurred had significantly higher rhetorical awareness skills at the end of the semester than students in non-intervention sections (after accounting for differences in beginning-of-semester rhetorical awareness ability). This finding reflects an important step forward in deploying learning improvement efforts in large-scale settings. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Freshman Composition, Rhetoric, Intervention, Educational Improvement, Writing (Composition), Skill Development, Writing Instruction, College Freshmen, Models, General Education
ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A