Ethnography As a Way In

Writing Meets Research in First-Year Composition

Authors

  • Jennifer Cook Rhode Island College Author
  • Meg Carroll Rhode Island College Author
  • Karen Pfeil Rhode Island College Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v3i1.17

Keywords:

Ethnographic research, Teaching writing, first-year writing, composition

Abstract

In this article, we describe an approach to teaching first-year composition that is built on a qualitative design for undergraduate research and writing. As writing instructors at a state teaching college, we see the need to move our students beyond the boundaries of expressivism, personal narrative, and argument and into the murkier, messier, and more critical territory of considering subjectivities, interpreting cultural texts and contexts, and, ultimately, coming to see the dynamic and dialogic nature of rhetorical situations and knowledge production. We have discovered that asking undergraduates to do field work as a way to enter the academic conversation allows them to shift from high school writing to college-level writing. Inviting them to delve into a primary research project of their own design grants them permission to construct their ownership, authority, and intellectual engagement of ideas. Case studies of the experiences of five student research writers illustrate the process through which, as ethnographers, students become actors in their own learning process.

Author Biographies

  • Jennifer Cook, Rhode Island College

    Jennifer Cook (Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst) is Associate Professor of English and Secondary Education at Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island, where she is also Director of the Rhode Island Writing Project. Jenn teaches first-year writing and courses in cultural studies, adolescent literature, English teacher education and the teaching of writing.

  • Meg Carroll, Rhode Island College

    Meg Carroll (M.A., Rhode Island College) is recently retired from her 20-year position as the Director of the Writing Center at Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island, where she also taught first-year writing and led faculty development efforts in writing across the curriculum. She is a co-author of The Everyday Writing Center (2007, University of Utah Press).

  • Karen Pfeil, Rhode Island College

    Karen Pfeil (M.A., Rhode Island College) is the volunteer coordinator and therapeutic riding instructor at High Hopes Therapeutic Riding Center in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Karen is a former first-year writing instructor at Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island. She is also the author of several short stories, most recently “Promise to Remember This,” published in Kaleidoscope Winter/Spring 2010.

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Published

2011-06-29

Issue

Section

Feature Article

How to Cite

Cook, J., Carroll, M., & Pfeil, K. (2011). Ethnography As a Way In: Writing Meets Research in First-Year Composition. Writing and Pedagogy, 3(1), 17-38. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v3i1.17

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