Accessing Academic Discourse: The Influence of First-Year Composition Students’ Prior Genre Knowledge

1. Accessing Academic Discourse: The Influence of First-Year Composition Students’ Prior Genre Knowledge University of Tennessee Mary Jo Reiff * Bill Doyle University of Washington Anis Bawarshi * Cathryn Cabral Sergio Casillas Rachel Goldberg Jennifer Halpin Megan Kelly Melanie Kill Shannon Mondor Angela Rounsaville * Indicatespresenter

2. Main Research Questions • What genres (written, oral, digital) do students already know when they arrive in first-year composition courses? • How do students use their prior genre knowledge when writing new genres for first-year composition courses? • What factors contribute to how and why students transform prior genre knowledge into new genre knowledge? • To what extent does this prior knowledge help or hinder students’ ability to gain access to academic discourse?

3. Sub-Research Questions • What genres do study students write most frequently? • What genres do students write most in different domains (school, work, other)? • What genres overlap domains the most? • What kinds of writing do students most/least enjoy, and why? • What do students consider their most/least successful writing, and why? • What prior writing experiences do students think will most help them succeed in FYC?

4. Sub-Research Questions (con’t) • What genres and/or strategies did students report being reminded of for the Preliminary/Diagnostic essay? • What genres and/or strategies did students report using when writing the Preliminary/Diagnostic essay? • What genres and/or strategies did students report being reminded of for the first Major paper? • What genres and/or strategies did students report using when writing the first Major paper?

5. UT Student Sample • Surveys distributed to 10% of all English 101: Composition I courses (Fall 2006) or 12 randomly selected sections of 101 (N=276) • Number of students responding to the survey: 52 • Follow-up interviews with 9 students UW Student Sample • Surveys distributed to all students enrolled in 33 sections English 131: Expository Writing (Fall 2006) (N=748) • Number of students responding to the survey: 64 • Follow-up interviews with 18 students

6. UT Survey: What genres do students write most frequently? Tie in ranking

7. UW Survey: Genre Frequency

8. Genre by Individual Domains 70 60 50 40 work school Number of Responses other 30 20 10 0 email fiction poetry speech resume summary song lyrics freewriting description storytelling book report spoken word lecture notes reading notes web page text personal letter journal writing business letter research paper literary analysis text messaging evaluation paper web page design newspaper article formal presention personal narrative instant messaging letter to the editor creative nonfiction lab write-up/report five-paragraph essay argumentative essay informal presentation blog or online journal opinion/position paper online discussion board Powerpoint presentation social networking profile compare and contrast paper blog or online journal commenting analysis of academic essay(s)/article(s) Genre

9. Domain Overlap 70 60 50 Three Domains 40 Two Domains Number of responses 30 One Domain 20 10 0 summary email fiction speech poetry resume song lyrics book report evaluation paper description lecture notes reading notes freewriting journal writing storytelling Powerpoint business letter web page text instant messaging personal letter text messaging creative nonfiction 5-paragraph essay lab write-up/report literary analysis research paper opinion/position paper personal narrative informal presentation formal presention newspaper article letter to the editor web page design online discussion board compare/contrast paper argumentative essay social networking profile blog or online journal analysis of academic essay(s) blog or online journal commenting Genre types

10. UT Most: Creative writing (16) Personal writing/personal essays/personal letters (6) Freewriting (5) Journaling (5) Persuasive (4) Research (4) Least: Creative writing (16) Research papers (14) Analytical (6) Reports (6) UW Most: Creative writing (20) Personal writing (11) Freewriting (9) Literary analysis (8) Opinion paper (7) Emerging technology (6) Research papers (6) Personal letter (5) Argument paper (5) Least: Literary analysis (14) Creative writing (12) Five-paragraph essay (6) Essays (6) Compare/contrast (4) Research papers (4) Most/Least Favorite Kinds of Writing

11. Most/Least Successful Kinds of Writing UT Most: Research paper (19) Analysis (6) Creative writing (5) Essays (4) Speeches (3) Don’t know (3) Least: Poetry (11) Research papers (8) Not sure (8) Timed/in-class (6) Analysis (4) Papers-general (4) Reports (3) Freewrite (2) UW Most: Creative writing (12) Research paper (8) Exam-based writing (7) Literary analysis (6) Argument paper (3) Personal writing (3) Presentation (3) Public writing (3) Least: Creative writing (9) Exam-based writing (7) Essays (6) Research papers (4) Literary analysis (4) Personal writing (3) Report (3) Five-paragraph essay (2)

12. UT High school writing/Genres (16) High school writing courses (9) AP Courses (8) Writing frequency in the past (7) Influential writing teachers (5) Exposure to diff. kinds of writing (4) Not well-prepared (4) Writing center help (2) Over-prepared (1) Writing tips (get point across, don’t use fancy diction, start early, develop ideas, be open-minded to feedback) UW Experiences writing diff. genres (22) Skills, strategies, & conventions (11) Experience in AP & college prep (11) Whole experience of H.S. (6) Influence of teachers (5) Experience with writing process (2) Writing frequency in H.S. (2) What high school writing experiences (if any) do you think will help you to succeed in FYC?

13. Genres Reminded Of: AP literature exam/essay (4) Book review (3) Opinion paper (2) Personal essay/narrative (2) School essays (2) Analysis paper Evaluation paper Informal essays Religion class essays College admissions prompt Scholarship essay Research paper Five-paragraph essay Literary analysis Book report Timed essays “Diagnostic” writing AP History SAT test/prep Debate Genres Drawn On: AP literary analysis (2) Letter writing (2) Analysis Argumentative essay Opinion paper Five-paragraph essay Book review Religion class essays “Pointless” essays Creative writing Scholarship essay Essay format Non-fiction Fiction AP test AP History Genres Reminded of and Drawn on for UW Preliminary Essay

14. Genres and Strategies • “Uhm, just like a general book review, uhm, like you do like in a typical standard uhm, you know, literature class in high school, you know, like in American literature class” • “You read a book, analyze it, you know, write a five-paragraph essay about, you know, a theme or a symbol or something specific about the book and then you know. . . . uhm, so just, it seemed pretty standard.” • “Uhm, it reminded me of a personal narrative, because the question in the prompt was asking you to draw on your experience. Uhm, and I have written, in high school I wrote a lot of personal narrative type things for scholarships, I applied for a lot of scholarships….” • “. . . . uhm, you know, like introductions, like I had never used like a road map before…. Uhm, the objection and response, I had never done that before.” • “So I remember the second prompt, uhm, I just thought a lot of my AP classes, especially the history ones where definitely they ask you to come up with a stance and to defend it” • “And one of the things that I always did when analyzing my quotes is, I use a quote and then two sentences analysis, at least two sentences, if not more. . . .”

15. From Genres to Strategies Preliminary Essay Major Paper

16. “NOT” Genres • “Just because the claim changed it and it is not a five paragraph essay anymore, it is different, different style and so” • “Yeah, it was not like literary analysis but uhm, like just how to make my argument like clear and not like ambiguous or anything like that” • “Uhm, well the prompt was kind of on the lines of, if you were writing a review about a chosen topic, and I chose uhm, the man in my basement by I think Mosley, Walter Mosley. So I wrote it kind of in a new format so not particularly essay, but I put in like the kind of review aspect for like, this author wrote these books before, you know, like kind of giving a background of the author, but more then I would in an essay.” • “I never written a paper like this before really, uhm, I wrote a term paper in my junior year, uhm, about a novel, but I mean that was a lot different because she gave us a paper about what every paragraph was supposed to be like…. I guess it made it a little harder just because like my term paper was based on one work, one like a book, and then this was based on four main things. So I kind of used the same strategy a little bit, uhm, just when you are doing it on one book it is easier to focus because you only, you are only drawing from one thing, but uhm, here I had to kind of integrate it more”

17. From Genres to Not Genres Preliminary Essay Major Paper