Date of Award

January 2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

English

First Advisor

Margie Berns

Committee Member 1

Tony Silva

Committee Member 2

April Ginther

Committee Member 3

Aya Matsuda

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to discover how teaching college introductory composition for international students within the World Englishes paradigm looks like. The study was conducted through questionnaires, blog entries, and interviews across three semesters in a public university in Indiana, America. In total, three introductory composition classes consisting of 41 students participated the study. The students were introduced to World Englishes through a series of related readings and the designed World Englishes workshop while they were also prepared for writing for other university courses. The results of this mixed-method study show that by learning about World Englishes, international undergraduates were able to improve their writing process – particularly the idea forming stage. Furthermore, it gave the students confidence to write in English when they were no longer stuck in the beginning of the writing. Learning about World Englishes made the students more positive about their cultures playing a role in their writing which also brought them more confidence. Lastly, learning about World Englishes helped the students identify rhetorical situations. Based on the findings, the author suggests that it is applicable to introduce World Englishes to international undergraduate English writing learners.

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