DO-IT-YOURSELF COMPOSITION: MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO CONTINUE WRITING IN THE FIRST YEAR WRITING CLASSROOM AND BEYOND

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dc.contributor.committeeMemberButler, Paul
dc.contributor.committeeMemberZebroski, James Thomas
dc.contributor.committeeMemberDuran, Chatwara Suwannamai
dc.contributor.committeeMemberDiepenbrock, Chloé
dc.creatorBrooks, Stuart Rolland
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-5124-2232
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-11T17:09:39Z
dc.date.available2023-01-11T17:09:39Z
dc.date.createdMay 2022
dc.date.issued2022-05-12
dc.date.updated2023-01-11T17:09:40Z
dc.description.abstractDo-It-Yourself Composition: Motivating Students to Continue Writing in the First Year Writing Classroom and Beyond began with the goal of determining the answer to the question, “What kinds of situations and assignments at various levels of schooling stimulate a desire to write well” (Braddock 52)? Studies have shown that extrinsic motivation, such as completing an assignment to receive a particular grade, is less likely to stimulate a desire to write well than intrinsic motivation, such as performing “activities that individuals find interesting and would do in the absence of operationally separable consequences” (Deci and Ryan 233). In other words, students are more likely to be stimulated to write well if they equate writing assignments to activities that they find interesting in their own right, rather than just as a means to an end. In seeking to determine what types of assignments students would find interesting in their own right, this study collected essays from two First Year Writing (FYW) classes. One class, the Control group, was given the assignment to write a research paper on a topic of their choice. The second class, the Experimental group, was given the assignment to write a preliminary essay, and then write a research paper on the same topic as the preliminary essay. The research papers written by the Control group on a topic of their choosing and the research papers written by the Experimental group on a topic previously explored were buffed of any identifying characteristics, randomized, and submitted to a group of lay readers for evaluation. My expectation was that the Experimental group would be more interested in their topics which would result in the research papers written by the Experimental group being rated more highly by the lay readers than the Control group. Instead, the Control group’s research papers were rated more highly. The results on the question, “Did you enjoy reading this paper?” were that there is a 99% probability that mean scores on the Control essays of 6.41 (Yes) on a 9-point scale and mean scores on the Experimental essays of 4.81 (Generally) on a 9-point scale, were an accurate representation of reader preferences, and that the results were not due to chance. It is extrapolated from this result that one answer to “What kinds of situations and assignments at various levels of schooling stimulate a desire to write well” (Braddock 52), Is to allow students to choose their own writing topics.
dc.description.departmentEnglish, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/13300
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectFirst Year Writing
dc.subjectComposition
dc.subjectAssignments
dc.subjectSocial Development Theory
dc.titleDO-IT-YOURSELF COMPOSITION: MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO CONTINUE WRITING IN THE FIRST YEAR WRITING CLASSROOM AND BEYOND
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
thesis.degree.departmentEnglish, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineEnglish
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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