Date of Award
Summer 7-28-2016
Degree Type
Capstone
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)
Department
English
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Mary Lou Odom
Co-Chair
M. Todd Harper
Abstract
As instructors, it is very clear to us that our students all come from different backgrounds, different places, and different social environments. Some students are returning to college as they change vocations, while others are entering a brand new environment quite different from those they may have encountered in previous scholastic endeavors, whether they come from another country or even a somewhat different part of the United States. Students, like travelers to foreign lands and cultures, enter the university facing new expectations and ideas for which many frequently find themselves ill-prepared. They might struggle as they learn to speak and write amid the expectations found within the discourse communities. Their identities may be challenged as they face new roles as academics. They may even struggle to develop confidence, self-efficacy, or ownership of their texts amid the many other voices in academia. Enculturation pedagogy is a matter of looking at our students first year composition experiences as part of a process of acclimating to the college environment, to their roles as academics, and to new expectations while preparing them for the many discourses found within the academic disciplines of their respective majors.