ERIC Number: EJ1311330
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1522-7502
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Assignments and Expectations: The Role of Genre and Faculty Expectations in Transfer
Danielewicz, Jane; Jack, Jordynn; Hall, Ashley; Singer, Sarah Ann; Stuemke, Emi; Ware, Jennifer
Composition Forum, v46 Spr 2021
As WPAs at a research institution without a WAC program, we embarked on this project to learn about the types of writing prompts faculty across the disciplines assign and their expectations for student writing. Although our first-year composition program is genre-based and focuses on teaching for transfer, we did not know what genres other faculty assigned nor which writing skills they hoped students could apply to their assignments. We also wanted to understand how they crafted writing assignment prompts and how they perceived students' abilities to meet their expectations. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 faculty members from a range of disciplines about their writing assignments in courses in the major. We found that faculty (1) want or even expect students to take on certain disciplinary roles as writers in their assignments; (2) but they are not routinely making these expectations clear to students in their writing assignment prompts. To address these impediments to transfer, we present a three-part rhetorical framework for faculty that relies on genre to clarify expectations and allows for cuing to promote transfer for students in disciplinary writing contexts.
Descriptors: Writing Assignments, Writing Instruction, Writing Across the Curriculum, College Faculty, Expectation, Teacher Attitudes, Cues, Undergraduate Students, Majors (Students), Intellectual Disciplines, Transfer of Training, Literary Genres, Teaching Methods, Guidelines, Teacher Student Relationship
Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition. e-mail: cf@compositionforum.com; Web site: http://compositionforum.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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