Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Secondary Education
Department
Education
Committee Chair
Dr. Megan Adams
First Committee Member
Dr. Nita Paris
Second Committee Member
Dr. Ryan Rish
Abstract
This study sought to understand the influence of institutional structures of tracking and ability-grouping on the social worlds of an English language arts classroom – to understand how students construct and express identities against the backdrop of academic hierarchies, and to observe how these academic identities shape social patterns in the classroom. Drawing on dialogic and identity-focused literacy practices, this study used a design-based research methodology with ethnographic tools to observe the potential for literacy events to open more inclusive pathways to participation, beyond the social patterns that often marginalize students who do not fit conventional academic definitions of success. Data collection included video-recorded classroom observation, audio-recorded discussions, writing samples, and participant interviews to gain a wider perspective of students’ experiences with school. Findings revealed the challenges of shifting classroom activity away from the “rulebook” by which students have learned to “do school,” particularly in upper high school where the ever-present anxiety over college admissions reinforces the competitive pressures of GPAs and academic level. Dialogic activities that flatten hierarchies and question meritocracy encountered resistance from students privileged by those structures, and also from students marginalized by them. Further research over a longer duration might improve the usefulness of the design and research, and lead to the flattening of hierarchies within and beyond the classroom.
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Secondary Education Commons