Teaching in the Aftermath of the Test: Understanding and Addressing Student Conceptions of Writing in the Era of High-Stakes Testing

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorZebroski, James Thomas
dc.contributor.committeeMemberWingard, Jennifer
dc.contributor.committeeMemberShepley, Nathan
dc.contributor.committeeMemberButler, Paul
dc.contributor.committeeMemberGolden, Paullett
dc.creatorBlomstedt, Elizabeth
dc.creator.orcid0000-0003-2015-6857
dc.date.accessioned2019-09-13T03:12:33Z
dc.date.available2019-09-13T03:12:33Z
dc.date.createdMay 2017
dc.date.issued2017-05
dc.date.submittedMay 2017
dc.date.updated2019-09-13T03:12:33Z
dc.description.abstractIn this study, I seek to understand and address the limited ways that students see writing as a result of being taught to write for high-stakes exams. Specifically, I use teacher research methodologies to explore the following questions: 1) How do students conceive of writing in the era of high-stakes testing?, and 2) How might we teach first-year writing in order to help students see writing more broadly than it is portrayed in these testing situations? First, I use interviews with my former first-year writing students to discover to what extent and in what ways writing instruction in K-12 is shaped by high-stakes tests. I present broad findings from coding these interviews as well as quotes directly from interviewees. Second, I use classroom-based inquiry to design and teach an online first-year writing class in which students perform inquiry into what writing is for them, in part by having them reflect on and contextualize their past experiences writing for exams and then research how writing overlaps with their own interests. I include my own course design and assignments as well as excerpts of student writing to demonstrate the successes of implementing this kind of reflexive, rhetoric-based, student-centered pedagogy in order to encourage students to think of writing more broadly. Using liminal theory, I argue that the first-year writing class is an appropriate place to help student re-see what writing is and can do, and this approach proves effective for addressing the limited ways students see writing and education in this era of high-stakes testing.
dc.description.departmentEnglish, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/4498
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.subjectHigh-stakes assessment
dc.subjectOnline writing instruction
dc.subjectOnline learning
dc.subjectWriting
dc.subjectHigh school students
dc.subjectCollege students
dc.subjectFirst-year writing
dc.subjectFirst-year composition
dc.subjectRhetorics
dc.subjectComposition
dc.titleTeaching in the Aftermath of the Test: Understanding and Addressing Student Conceptions of Writing in the Era of High-Stakes Testing
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
thesis.degree.departmentEnglish, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineHigher Education Leadership and Policy
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
BLOMSTEDT-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf
Size:
2.27 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE.txt
Size:
1.82 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

Published ETD Collection