English 4210—Syllabus

The syllabus for 4210 English: Writing for Social Justice. The syllabus includes an introduction and course overview, learning objectives, competencies, course assignments, evaluation, resources, and class schedule

Why Inquiry Matters: An Argument and Model for Inquiry-Based Writing Courses

This article considers the value and implications of inquiry-driven learning for secondary and postsecondary education. In response to ongoing interest in and the need to foster inquiry in English education, we share the course model of “Ethnography of the University.” This writing-intensive course asks students to become authors of their own educations; to identify problems facing the campus community; to conduct semester-long, original research projects; and to make proposals for change. Through conducting inquiry projects, students come to see themselves as writers with real audiences, to personalize an often-impersonal education, and to connect academic with everyday concerns. Two undergraduate researchers describe their projects on student life—projects that emerged from and have continued beyond the course. By describing “Ethnography of the University” and sharing undergraduate research projects, we argue that inquiry helps students see themselves as agents over their own writing and learning. When students become agents, they can more easily write their way beyond a semester, course, or educational experience—and into the stance of writers

English 4210—Grading Contract

The grading contract for 4210 English: Writing for Social Justice. The contract lays out learning objectives and expectations for different grades

Toward Explaining the Transformative Power of Talk About, Around, and for Writing

This article provides an initial approach for capturing moments of talk about, around, and for writing to explain why writing groups and writing conferences are so often considered “transformative” for the people involved. After describing the widespread and yet disparate transformations so often attributed to collaborative writing talk, I introduce applied conversation analysis (CA) as a method for getting at what is often difficult to identify, document, and explain: the intricacies of moments that underlie, if not directly account for, transformations. At the core of this article, I present a case study of a writer, Susan, and tutor, Kim, and analyze their talk and embodied interactions around writing. In particular, two sequences of their talk—the first an example of “troubles telling,” or attending to a reported trouble (Jefferson, 1981, 1984, 1988) and the second an enactment of humor that names asymmetrical power relations (Holmes, 2000)—illustrate the ways in which building affiliative relationships might allow for naming and poking fun at, if not restructuring, power relations. Further, self-reports from interview data indicate how the occasions of talk between Susan and Kim mark shifts in thinking about themselves, their writing, and their commitments—shifts that can be attributed to their relational, affiliative interactions and that provide supporting evidence for the transformative power of collaborative writing talk

Writing Up: How Assertions of Epistemic Rights Counter Epistemic Injustice

By attending to interactions around writing, this article sheds light on moments when educators affirm and when writers assert their epistemic rights, or the rights to knowledge, experience, and earned expertise. Affirmations and assertions of epistemic rights can work to counter epistemic injustice, or harm done to a person in their capacity as a knower. Though an understanding of rhetoric as “epistemic” or “epistemological” is not new (e.g., Berlin; Dowst; Scott; Villanueva), I argue that we need to bring attention to the related terms and conceptual frameworks of epistemic rights and epistemic injustice. Together, these terms help to explain the wrongs (micro-inequities leading to macro-injustices) that manifest when writers are stripped of language, experience, or expertise and their attendant agency, confidence, and even personhood. Case studies from writing center and community literacy partnerships illustrate the work of asserting one’s epistemic rights through the act of “writing up” (akin to speaking up) to audiences with greater institutional power and more implicit right to speak. Most prominent is a conversation analytic rendering of just two minutes of “writing up.” These minutes show the work of negotiating one’s right to speak/write. As such, this study highlights both the social stakes involved and the interactional work needed for putting one’s words into the world. Hence, this project contributes empirical research in addition to an understanding of epistemic rights that can counter epistemic injustice