Unmasking the Mask: Analyzing Caste Variations in the Lexicon of Charles W. Chesnutt

Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1997) once wrote: “Speaking of dialect, it is almost a despairing task to write it.” His supposed frustration with the treatment of dialect, specifically the black plantation dialect of the 19th century, presents a view of Chesnutt‟s own treatment of written dialect in regards to lexical choices he made in his fiction. Within the constructs of 19th century America, Chesnutt‟s ability to employ black dialect as a metaphor for social change contrasts with his ambivalence in using traditional diction as a weapon to affect this transition. Many critics have postulated that the historical context of Chesnutt‟s time relegated him to the realm of Plantation Fiction, that is, a genre of framed narratives that glorified the pre-Civil War South and its fractured cultural values. Other critics herald Chesnutt as the founder of African-American fiction, arguing that he was forced by societal context to accomplish this goal through non-offensive lexical choices that nonetheless proved effective in creating an African-American opposition to a lesser caste status. My study examines how Chesnutt not only operated within a sphere of literary racism, but that he further used his alleged “place” within this system to create a body of dialectal diction that actually subverted 19th century white values and stereotypes, even while he maintained his marketability to his predominately white readers. His juxtaposition of white and black dialects and lexical choices provide a framework for the very real cultural metaphor of white man as master and black man as servant

I\u27ll Fly Away: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of African-American Homecomings

As part of the 1940 Federal Writer’s Project, the Savannah, Georgia Unit sought to authentically record oral traditions and life experiences of coastal African Americans in their own words. The study sought to produce an important artifact of African American culture through dialectal awareness, especially to preserve these dialects during an apocalyptic linguistic change. Among the many voices, Katie Brown’s echoed reminisces of a family history. Combined with Cornelia Walker Bailey’s memoir, God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man, this historical documentation gives life to the cultural traditions brought by Bilali and other slaves when they were forcibly settled on the plantations of coastal Georgia. These forced settlement patterns arose from the antebellum institution of chattel slavery and continued postbellum with established settlements of the former slaves (most of whom identify their heritage as Geechee) who stayed in Georgia before and after the Great Migration of the early 1900s. Analyzing internal language features through their corresponding socio-cultural influences provides a written certification of a primarily oral heritage. Therefore, I focus my research lens on the settlement patterns that occurred both during and after slavery

Not a Stitch out of Place: Assessing Students’ Attitudes Towards Multimodal Composition

En aquest article es descriu, breument, la història de les pràctiques de composició multimodal en el camp dels estudis de l’escriptura. Emmarca la instrucció d'escriptura a través de la perspectiva teòrica de la pedagogia democràtica i presenta les obres claus sobre la didàctica de l'escriptura. Després, l'autor descriu un estudi d'investigació basada en los mètodes mixtos, realitzat amb estudiants en el seu primer any d'estudis en una universitat estatal, enfocat als STEM (les Ciències, la Tecnologia, l'Enginyeria i les Matemàtiques) als Estats Units. Els estudiants van participar en una enquesta sobre les seves actituds cap a les tasques d'escriptura multimodals, les alfabetitzacions digitals, i els resultats d'aprenentatge. L'autor arriba a conclusions sobre l'efectivitat de la composició multimodal basat en les respostes dels estudiants i proporciona informació addicional sobre els tipus de tasques i exemples de treballs per als alumnes.This article traces a brief history of multimodal composition practices in the field of writing studies. It frames writing instruction through the theoretical lens of democratic pedagogy and presents the works of key composition scholars. The author then describes a mixed methods research study, conducted with first-year students on the STEM campus of a state comprehensive university. Students participated in a survey that asked their attitudes towards multimodal writing assignments, digital literacies, and learning outcomes. The author draws conclusions about the effectiveness of multimodal composition based on students’ responses and provides supplemental information on the types of assignments and examples of student work.En este artículo se describe, brevemente, la historia de las prácticas de composición multimodal en el campo de los estudios de la escritura. Enmarca la instrucción de escritura a través de la perspectiva teórica de la pedagogía democrática y presenta las obras claves sobre la didáctica de la escritura. Luego, el autor describe un estudio de investigación basada en los métodos mixtos, realizado con estudiantes en su primer año de estudios en una universidad estatal, enfocado a los STEM (las Ciencias, la Tecnología, la Ingeniería y las Matemáticas) en los Estados Unidos. Los estudiantes participaron en una encuesta sobre sus actitudes hacia las tareas de escritura multimodales, las alfabetizaciones digitales, y los resultados de aprendizaje. El autor llega a conclusiones acerca de la efectividad de la composición multimodal basado en las respuestas de los estudiantes y proporciona información adicional sobre los tipos de tareas y ejemplos de trabajos para los alumnos

Here in the To-Day, Forgotten in the To-Morrow: Re-covering and Re-membering the Feminist Rhetorics of 19-Century Actress and Author Adah Menken

This dissertation project, which recovers the feminist invention of 19th-century actress and author Adah Menken, proves the efficacy of conducting historigraphic recoveries of heretofore forgotten and elided female rhetors. I situate Adah’s visual and written performances within the materiality of Victorian social codes, positioning her as a feminist commentator worthy of inclusion in our remembrances of feminist discourses. I use archival sources including carte de visites (CDVs) and Adah’s letters and poetry as heuristics for gendered critique, to analyze how she resisted the master narrative of Victorian society and its accompanying codes governing public and private feminine behavior. My objectives are three-fold: to use archival recovery as a method to unearth and evaluate what feminist inquiry can accomplish; to argue for the feminist intentions of a previously unknown female writer; and to offer an opportunity to discover cross-disciplinary connections for rhetorical recoveries. Feminist inquiry is itself an exemplar of rhetorical invention, the idea of making a path. In my dissertation project, I illustrate how Adah Menken blazed a path in her personal and public rhetorics. For my principal goal of asserting Adah’s importance as a feminist rhetor, I use primary sources to demonstrate that her invention and resistance provide fertile ground for vital feminist inquiry. As a secondary means of asserting the significance of archival feminist research, I also offer my Adah Menken recovery as a case study for examining ideas of resistance and subversion to dominant master narratives. For this application, I use Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and Michel Foucault’s ideas surrounding the topic of resistance. Ultimately, the convergence of theoretical and practical applications for rhetorical recoveries, both of which I describe in-depth in my dissertation, serve to re-connect fields of inquiry and make them relevant to scholars across the Academe

LILAC and Citation Project Workshop

The LILAC Project (Learning Information Literacy across the Curriculum) is a multi-institutional study of student information-seeking behaviors (lilac-group.blogspot.com). This year we join forces with the Citation Project, a study of how students use the information they find (CitationProject.net), to consider what both studies may have to tell us about students’ information literacy “habits of mind.” Participants will gain hands-on experience with the research-aloud protocol (RAP) video captures used as part of this study and identifying and coding subject behaviors. We will demonstrate coding and analysis of information-seeking behaviors of both native speakers of English and multilingual writers in composition courses, share preliminary findings of a project examining the information literacy of multilingual writers, and discuss its relevance in composition classes, ESL academic writing classes, and content courses in different disciplines. In both large- and small-group discussions, we will consider what we are learning from results of these studies and what we can do with the information, sharing our experience in data analysis and results interpretation, and inviting participants to discuss how to consider the framing of LILAC projects from different disciplinary perspectives. The addition of citation context analysis like that done by the Citation Project allows participants to explore both the research process and the products of that research. The triangulation of data made possible by this combined research provides deeper and more nuanced understanding of information literacy in general and use and misuse of sources in particular

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic University

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic University The goal of an attendance policy is to improve the academic success of students. However,current literature does not provide clear conclusions whether enforcing an attendance policy actually improves student performance. This study explores student and faculty perceptions regarding the utility of attendance policies in undergraduate courses at a polytechnic university.Anonymous surveys were completed by 89 faculty members and 455 responses from five schools (Engineering, Engineering Technology and Management, Computer and Software Engineering, Architecture, and Arts and Sciences) on a single campus. Comparisons between theperceptions of students and faculty members are presented, as are comparisons between theperceptions of lower-level and upper-level students. Variations in perceptions based on major arealso highlighted. Finally, trends in perceptions regarding attendance policies in lower-level versus upper-level undergraduate courses are revealed.Students, regardless of major, class standing, or course level, reported attending more classes in courses that had attendance policies. The most significant impact of an attendance policy on class attendance was observed at the freshman level. While 84% of freshmen reported attending at least 90% of the classes in a course with an attendance policy, only 67% reported attending at that rate in a course without one. Qualitative data containing student and faculty attitudes towards attendance policies are also analyzed and discussed.Even though class attendance appeared to have improved as a result of attendance policies,students’ perceptions about these policies varied significantly. Overall, the majority of students(51%) believed that, for a course with an attendance policy, the policy positively affected final grades. For a course without an attendance policy, the majority (57%) felt that the lack of a policy had no impact of final grades. Faculty members’ perceptions about attendance policy likewise varied. Overall, 61% of the faculty members surveyed reported having an attendance policy in one or more of their courses. The majority of faculty members believed that an attendance policy led to improvements in students’ grades in lower-level courses, but not inupper-level courses. Collectively, this study can help instructors make better informed decisions about the use of attendance policies in their courses

Not a Stitch out of Place : Assessing Students' Attitudes Towards Multimodal Composition

This article traces a brief history of multimodal composition practices in the field of writing studies. It frames writing instruction through the theoretical lens of democratic pedagogy and presents the works of key composition scholars. The author then describes a mixed methods research study, conducted with first-year students on the STEM campus of a state comprehensive university. Students participated in a survey that asked their attitudes towards multimodal writing assignments, digital literacies, and learning outcomes. The author draws conclusions about the effectiveness of multimodal composition based on students' responses and provides supplemental information on the types of assignments and examples of student work.En aquest article es descriu, breument, la història de les pràctiques de composició multimodal en el camp dels estudis de l'escriptura. Emmarca la instrucció d'escriptura a través de la perspectiva teòrica de la pedagogia democràtica i presenta les obres claus sobre la didàctica de l'escriptura. Després, l'autor descriu un estudi d'investigació basada en los mètodes mixtos, realitzat amb estudiants en el seu primer any d'estudis en una universitat estatal, enfocat als STEM (les Ciències, la Tecnologia, l'Enginyeria i les Matemàtiques) als Estats Units. Els estudiants van participar en una enquesta sobre les seves actituds cap a les tasques d'escriptura multimodals, les alfabetitzacions digitals, i els resultats d'aprenentatge. L'autor arriba a conclusions sobre l'efectivitat de la composició multimodal basat en les respostes dels estudiants i proporciona informació addicional sobre els tipus de tasques i exemples de treballs per als alumnes.En este artículo se describe, brevemente, la historia de las prácticas de composición multimodal en el campo de los estudios de la escritura. Enmarca la instrucción de escritura a través de la perspectiva teórica de la pedagogía democrática y presenta las obras claves sobre la didáctica de la escritura. Luego, el autor describe un estudio de investigación basada en los métodos mixtos, realizado con estudiantes en su primer año de estudios en una universidad estatal, enfocado a los STEM (las Ciencias, la Tecnología, la Ingeniería y las Matemáticas) en los Estados Unidos. Los estudiantes participaron en una encuesta sobre sus actitudes hacia las tareas de escritura multimodales, las alfabetizaciones digitales, y los resultados de aprendizaje. El autor llega a conclusiones acerca de la efectividad de la composición multimodal basado en las respuestas de los estudiantes y proporciona información adicional sobre los tipos de tareas y ejemplos de trabajos para los alumnos.Cet article décrit brièvement l'histoire des pratiques dans le domaine des études de composition multimodal écrit. Cadre enseignement de l'écriture à travers la théorique de la pédagogie démocratique et présente œuvres clés sur l'enseignement de l'écriture. Ensuite, l'auteur décrit une étude basée sur la recherche de méthodes mixtes, menée avec les étudiants dans leur première année d'études dans une université de l'Etat, mis l'accent sur STEM (sciences, technologie, ingénierie et mathématiques) en les États Unis. Les élèves ont participé à un sondage sur leurs attitudes à l'égard des tâches d'écriture multimodales alphabétisations 'digitals', et les résultats d'apprentissage. L'auteur arrive à des conclusions quant à l'efficacité de la composition multimodal basé sur les réponses des élèves et fournit des informations supplémentaires sur les types de tâches et des exemples de travaux par les étudiants