Date of Graduation

Spring 2019

Degree

Master of Arts in Writing

Department

English

Committee Chair

Margaret Weaver

Abstract

This thesis focuses on information gathered during Fall 2017 and Fall 2018, examining the students and the perceptions of the students in different developmental writing courses with regard to their own writing and their place in the academic community. Chapter One, “Redefining Developmental Writing Demographics,” focuses on demographics obtained from a mass survey given to students in prerequisite and corequisite sections of ENG 100 in Fall 2017 and Fall 2018. Primarily, this analysis focuses on readjusting assumptions about the demographics of students who enroll in developmental writing and how the students in prerequisite courses differed, and did not, from those who chose to enroll in pilot classes of a corequisite model of developmental writing instruction. Within, I also analyze claims about developmental education made by Complete College America, and I present the program structure for our institution’s pilot corequisite program during the years of the study. Chapter Two, “Student Perceptions of Academic Community in the Developmental Writing Classroom,” examines a single data point from my survey in more detail, focusing on how developmental writing students perceive their place in the “academic community.” My data revealed it is not that developmental writing students do not feel part of the “academic community” but rather that their definition differs from those of educators. I code qualitative responses from students to understand which factors are key in their understanding of the term.

Keywords

developmental writing, first year composition, corequisite, academic community, writing program administration, complete college america, basic writing

Subject Categories

Curriculum and Instruction | Higher Education | Rhetoric and Composition

Copyright

© Kailyn Shartel Hall

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