Sociolinguistic profiling and the negotiation of stakeholder expectations in a writing program: A case study
Abstract
The subject of this case study is a university-level writing program with students who are primarily writing in English as their second language. The purpose of the study is to investigate the ways in which the writing program's curriculum and instruction adapts to or “negotiates” the various expectations placed upon it by its primary constituents within its institutional context. This study makes use of sociolinguistic profiling methodology so that the background for the program's writing instruction can be better understood. Once this description of the social context for the subject program has been completed, survey, interview, and document analysis data on the expectations of primary stakeholder groups is analyzed. The writing program's four primary stakeholder/constituent groups are: the students within the program, the program's faculty, the University administration, and other University faculty. Three “sites of negotiation” are identified, within which the writing programs curriculum and instruction adapt to conflicting expectations. These sites of negotiation are: (1) the role of oral communication in the two composition courses; (2) the role of grammar and mechanical instruction in the courses; and (3) the role of the writing program as a gatekeeper to academic success.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Lauer, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Rhetoric|Composition|Language arts|Bilingual education|Multicultural education
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