This dissertation investigates social annotation use in undergraduate reading and writing courses. It comprises three interrelated studies that examine different aspects of social annotation practices and pedagogical decision-making. The first study focuses on student annotations and analyzes students' knowledge construction practices. The second…

This dissertation builds from previous studies of social annotation in first-year composition to link social practice theories of literacy with technologically mediated social annotation practices. Using a design-based research framework, I consider how recent developments in social annotation tools allow instructors and students to share the…

"Mattering" is a key component of success for students (Rosenberg & McCullough, 1981). For community college students, the classroom plays a critical role in their college experience because community college students spend most of their time on campus (Lundberg, 2014). Among college courses, first-year writing classes hold…

In the context of a first-year composition course at an HBCU, I explored the potential of Open Educational Resources (OER) and OER-Enabled Pedagogy (OEP) to better understand how the resources and the pedagogical practices surrounding their use might innovate teaching and learning. In this study conducted with 14 participants from online, hybrid,…

A perennial problem for many first-year composition (FYC) instructors is deciding what curricular materials to use to teach their students about rhetoric and composition and how to use those resources to enable their students to practice and hone their writing skills. This dissertation argues that humor writing is a viable option as it offers…

First-year composition (FYC) has historically functioned as a space for furthering the linguistic assimilation of students into "appropriate" forms of communication in academic spaces. While often going unstated in course/writing program goals, Standardized American English (SAE) has typically been the language variety elevated in FYC…

The purpose of this study was to measure to what extent an experimental method of teaching argument incorporating elements from both Toulmin's (2004) structural approach and Walton's (2013) dialectical approach effects first-year college students' ability to write strong arguments. This experimental instruction used critical questioning as a…

The demand for concurrent enrollment courses, which allow high school students to earn college credit and high school credit simultaneous, is increasing and more students than ever are using these courses as a bridge to their college education. Despite a history of marginalization, an increasing number of students of color are also joining…

Students' successes in first-year writing courses at the university level are critical to academic success and degree completion. Fostering students' engagement in first-year writing courses has proved challenging for institutions of higher education (IHE). Utility value interventions (UV) employing social psychological intervention (SPI) methods…

In US-based postsecondary education, first-year students commonly have their compositional ability consequentially assessed on the basis of standardized tests. As a result, students who score above certain thresholds on ACT, SAT, or AP exams often are placed into honors or remedial courses; receive credit remissions; and/or test out of general…

Until recently, second language writers were typically separated from their peers in mainstream composition courses. However, as the field considers the possibility of integrating second language writers into mainstream composition classrooms, important questions arise. For instance, how are teachers of First Year Composition (FYC) prepared for…

Nearly all first-year composition learning objectives state that writing instructors will help each student to improve their knowledge of written conventions, like punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Historically, it has been difficult to achieve significant learning gains in writing mechanics. This teaching failure disproportionately damages the…

College freshmen are expected to enter the university setting with some previous writing experience. Freshmen are then expected to become collegiate writers by completing first-year composition courses. Standard American English remains the language of power in the university, which is problematic to minority student groups, specifically students…

Intended as a convenient and cost-efficient way for students to earn their first college credits while still in high school, dual-credit, or concurrent enrollment, is transforming many first-year writing (FYW) programs. Many institutions emphasize that dual-credit courses are the same as traditional college courses, yet "[dual-credit] tends…

This dissertation attempts to address three areas of significance to the current academic zeitgeist: 1) the disciplinary re-characterization of English composition in consideration of its ability to aid the transfer of writing practices, 2) the increasing theorization of writing in academic settings as sets of social practices, 3) the repeated…