Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2019, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD

This dissertation explores how a group of first-year graduate teaching associates (TAs) at Bowling Green State university (BGSU) accounts for embodied performance in teaching first-year writing (FYW). Guided by a feminist community-based teacher-research methodology, I conducted a mixed-methods case study of BGSU's Fall 2017 composition practicum course, ENG 6020: Composition Instructors' Workshop, in order to understand how TAs performed embodiment as they taught for the first time locally, and for some, for the first time overall, in BGSU's FYW program, General Studies Writing. By analyzing TAs' teaching portfolio documents, including teaching philosophy statements, performance narratives (a video-recording of the TA teaching plus a written reflection), and observation memos, plus individual interview conversations with four TAs, I hoped to learn how first-year TAs representing a range of English sub-disciplines and experience levels demonstrated embodiment and performance, as well as teacherly identity construction, in their teaching portfolios. Through this study I concluded that my TA co-researchers practice what I term rhetorical embodied performance in their FYW instruction—they perform their bodies so as to construct themselves as the teacher. Moreover, I identify three modes through which the TAs demonstrate rhetorical embodied performance in their teaching: embodied engagement, embodied authority, and embodied reflection; and I explore how each of my co-researchers individually cultivates their teaching identity by referencing their rhetorical embodied performance in their teaching philosophy documents. I use this analysis to propose a pedagogy of rhetorical embodied performance for TA education, which would contribute to scholarly conversations in rhetoric and writing surrounding the theoretical and practical divide in TA preparation and development. Therefore, this dissertation project contributes to disciplinary conversations on the intersections of tea (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, English/Rhetoric and Writing

This dissertation discusses composition history treatments and the scant amount of scholarly research devoted solely to composition textbooks, though scholars such as Robin Varnum and Stephen North argue that studying textbooks cannot divulge much about the history of composition instruction. However, in “Handbooks” History of a Genre” and “Handbook Bibliography,” Robert Connors sets in motion detailed historical studies of composition textbooks. Composition textbooks can provide insight into how publishers think instructors should teach students or how colleges want instructors to teach students—merely how students should learn to write, what students should learn about writing. Most importantly, this dissertation explores structural changes of handbooks by: first, in Chapter Three, defining the composition handbook genre as one comprised of textbooks that help instructors mark essays and help students correct essays; Second, in Chapter Four, tracing the development of purely American composition textbooks from the 1800s to 2005, namely by describing how John C. Hodges's Harbrace College Handbook has evolved since it's first printing in 1941; and third, comparing features in the most recent editions of Harbrace to features in current textbooks: The St. Martin's Handbook and Penguin Handbook. Though the composition handbook genre has markedly changed during the last century, I conclude Chapter Four by arguing that the guiding theory behind composition handbooks has not changed. New handbook chapters dedicated to writing with computers or composing in a digital age merely come with corresponding correction codes. Though Connors argues in 1983 that composition handbooks have not changed although composition theory has, my exploration of handbooks shows that handbooks have remained largely similar to Woolley's Handbook, first published in 1907. Handbooks have since then and still exist as tools to assist grading (instructor) and correcting (student) compositions. Becau (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2012, English-Composition

The process of becoming a writer – choosing the topic, recognizing the audience, acknowledging the facts and theories of the subject – is similar to that which an actor goes through to design a specific character for a specific role. This similarity, and its inherent potential for effective teaching and learning, has been neglected in the Composition/Rhetoric field's literature and in the college writing classroom. Some students come to First Year Composition (FYC) with the understanding that writing is merely repeating what the instructor has told them, and writing in the way the instructor has told them, not realizing that they, too, have a voice. This is not a new observation, and composition theory has and continues to address the issue of developing a writerly voice, but the problem remains: students too often do not develop their own well-rounded author/character, but stick to a flat stereotype instead, producing writing that is uninteresting, disengaged, and ineffective. This project argues that there are various processes an actor might choose to create each character he portrays on stage or in film, and that understanding these processes could help the student writer develop his own author character during the writing process, thus producing more effective texts and enabling a more fruitful process for future writing. Method Acting is one of the unique processes which make use of multiple influences and experiences that contribute to the forming and presentation of the self. A clear parallel may be found between the process a method actor goes through to create and present his character within the context of a play or film and the process an expository writer (journalist to essayist) goes through to create and present his text. Little has been written of this parallel thus far, and it may be useful to evaluate its potential for integration into the traditional implementation of the writing process, as well as the pedagogies used in composition and research (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2017, English

This thesis investigates the development and influences of the writerly self-efficacies of three college students transitioning between first-year composition requirements and disciplinary coursework. Mixed-methods— including interviews, quantitative surveys of writerly self-efficacy, and portfolio analysis—provide insights into how students understand their abilities as writers. Students expressed both generative and disruptive self-efficacy expectations toward writing and learning. These self-perceptions were informed by mastery experiences, social persuasion, vicarious experiences, and affective states surrounding writing. For some students, first-year composition was a meaningful transition for positive efficacy expectations. The study results support the importance of recognizing students' strengths, conferencing pedagogies, sponsoring co-curricular writing experiences, discouraging normative comparisons, and teaching for genre awareness. Interviews and the quantitative self-efficacy measures revealed at times contradictory data, confirming the importance of triangulation in studying writerly self-efficacies. Implications for classroom instructors are also discussed, including strategies for teaching to support generative self-efficacies toward writing performances and learning writing.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2014, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD

My dissertation, Affective Possibilities for Rhetoric & Writing: How We Might Self-Assess Potentiality in Composition, presents a reconceived approach to teaching self-assessment practices to writing students in college writing classrooms by combining practices of reflection with consideration of potentiality. As defined in this project, potentiality is a quality of student writers and of their writing−a capacity for change, growth, and development into the future. These findings are built upon an empirical study of four first-year writing students, who were interviewed about their own assessment practices, both in terms of their writing processes with specific texts and in terms of their own conception of themselves as writers. I situate my data within contexts of writing assessment, feminist scholarship, affect studies, and liminality. At the crossroads of these varying conversations are concerns about literacy and agency, as well as about capacity and potential. Haswell and Haswell (2010) advocate for writing assessment practices that honor and encourage student writers’ sense of authorship. They conceive of this sense of authorship as being intimately tied to a notion of potentiality. How to define, identify, and attend to potentiality are the questions that I consider through the lenses of feminist scholarship and affect studies. Feminist scholarship promotes literacy as a means to achieve identity and agency in the spaces around us, in education and in practice. In the spaces between texts and agents, feminism finds possibility for change and for access to power that seems tied to fixed positions. Similarly, affect studies draws attention away from subject positions and subjects to focus on the interactions and expressions that pass between agents. My analysis of the data from my empirical study includes a definition of potentiality informed by these aspects of feminist scholarship and affect studies. My project demonstrates that potentiality can b (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2006, English-Composition

Writing Values: Between Composition and The Disciplines explores the differences I imagined between Composition and other classrooms, especially the social sciences. Three Composition instructors and instructors from History, Sociology, Political Science, and Economics explain their experiences with writing in their classrooms. They discuss revision, the student, the purpose of writing, and writing assessment. I compare their stories with my own experiences against a backdrop of theory in the field of Composition to find out the nature of the disconnect, if any, between writing in Composition and in other disciplines.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, English (Arts and Sciences)

Rhetoric and composition histories have given considerable attention to first-year composition in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. However, they have primarily limited their attention to current-traditional rhetoric's manifestations — especially its over-focus on superficial correctness. They have failed to give any significant attention to the writing assignments central to composition classes. To address this gap, this dissertation examines the history of composition instruction in the United States through the lens of writing assignment genres. I argue that such an examination can reshape our understanding of our field's history and is significant for understanding the role and history of many writing assignments still in use today, which might influence current teaching and future developments in our discipline and our classrooms. Focusing on assignments, I utilize genre theory as a theoretical lens in analyzing and understanding their role and historical development. Examining and revising composition history through the lens of what I call a “theme system” and genre theory complicates the field's conception of the period's current-traditional focus and can inform our understanding of current pedagogical practices that have roots in the theme system. In making my argument, I first trace the history and development of theme writing from its roots in classical rhetoric and sixteenth-century English education to its forms when first-year composition was instituted at Harvard in 1885. I then examine how the spread and development of first-year composition, characterized by a theme writing approach, can be seen as the spread and development of an assignment genre system: the theme system. Following this, I reexamine the design of Harvard's influential English A, focusing on the role and purpose of the course's writing assignments. Finally, comparing the writing assignments in three popular current composition textbooks to assignments of th (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2005, English (Arts and Sciences)

This qualitative, participant-observation study examines the political dynamics that affect the preparation of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) by writing program administrators (WPAs) at a mid-sized public research institution, “Ridge University.” As my primary source of data, I recorded, observed, and participated in a teaching assistant preparation (TAP) seminar that prepared new teachers to teach college composition and that met twice weekly during the fall term of 2000. I also rely on data gathered in participant interviews and during GTA orientation, department meetings, graduate program colloquia, and public functions throughout the twelve-week data collection phase of this study. Building most centrally on the scholarship of James Berlin, Bruce Horner, Margaret Himley, and Laura Micciche, I represent the experiences of graduate teaching assistants and writing program administrators and analyze their material, local, political, and emotional contexts. Examining formative events that took place in the teaching assistant preparation seminar I studied, I not only interpret the different ways GTAs and WPAs responded to political approaches to writing instruction, I explore how GTAs' and WPAs' respective institutional political locations affected their work. Through an investigation of research data and pertinent scholarship, I argue that GTAs' lack of institutional authority, teaching experience, and familiarity with political discourse negatively influenced their perceptions about their work. I also demonstrate the ways WPAs inhabited a split subjectivity, one that positioned them to be both disciplinary-activists and manager-disciplinarians and, as a result, caused tensions in their work. In order to combat the disaffection associated with teaching assistant preparation, I suggest that preparation initiatives proactively surface the pressures that erupt in work surrounding the teaching of writing by historicizing relationships among cultural, institutional (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2010, English

The primary purpose of this thesis is to explore the effectiveness of first-year composition courses for business students. In order to assess whether first-year composition courses address the skills students need for success in academia and as business majors, two business faculty members at each of three universities in the South are interviewed, comparing their desired skills for college students with the skills actually taught at the same universities through interviews conducted with two First-Year English Composition Faculty at each school. This is a complex area of study for English and Business Faculty, and while many faculty interviewed agreed on the importance of some current FYC objectives, including coherent and clear writing, the study identifies other objectives that must be included and/or reprioritized in future composition syllabi for business students. This paper identifies grammar and Internet citation skills as requiring more emphasis among a plethora of perceptions about writing held by those interviewed.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, English/Rhetoric and Writing

This dissertation examines the technology and pedagogy histories of composition teachers outside of the computers and writing community in order to provide context and future avenues of research in addressing the instructional technology needs of those teachers. The computers and composition community has provided many opportunities for writing teachers to improve their understanding of new technologies. However, for those teachers who lack the resources, positions, and backgrounds often enjoyed by the computers and composition community, there is little that can be provided to more equitably address their teaching needs. Although there is much innovative work in the computers and composition community, more needs to be done to address the disconnect between theory and practice often perceived by the marginalized majority of composition teachers. Although the community has often cast itself as sensitive to the majority of composition teachers, they have also implicitly ignored these teachers because the community has addressed technology in highly focused terms, relied on contexts for its scholarship that do not reach many composition teachers, and has been dismissive of many mainstream technologies. In order to address the gaps left by these assumptions, this dissertation shares literacy, teaching, and technology narratives of five writing teachers from different generations, educational backgrounds, and regions, situating their histories against the backdrop of composition and computers and writing history. These narratives revealed that contemporary theory did not appear relevant to the teaching of writing for those teachers who were not educated in the field of composition. They also revealed that the teaching of writing and the use of technology was remarkably uniform across many contexts, even as the specific technologies employed were different based mostly on an individual's own educational history. Specific recommendations for the computers and writing comm (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, English/Rhetoric and Writing

Although previous studies on teaching anxiety have clarified the general characteristics and manifestations of this phenomenon and established the need for more effective teacher preparation programs, most do not reflect the practices or concerns of writing instructors or indicate how or why they experience anxiety. The purpose of this dissertation, therefore, was to determine how the rhetorical and situational elements of writing instruction contribute to teaching anxiety and to what extent composition instructors attempt to resolve or minimize the effects of potential triggers and symptoms. Over a period of sixteen weeks, five first-year composition instructors completed a series of interviews and surveys related to their teaching and met periodically in small groups to discuss instructional matters and strategies for handling them. Data yielded from interview and group session transcripts and survey responses indicated that a) general teaching anxiety triggers (that is, triggers found in any discipline and at any level) are often compounded by discipline- and/or program-specific anxiety triggers, b) the potential anxiety triggers instructors reported or exhibited seem to interfere with their abilities to successfully impart student learning, and c) instructors' behavioral responses to such anxiety triggers are influenced by what they consider to be the likeliest and/or most addressable sources of their anxiety. These findings provide several starting points for a much needed in-depth look into the causes and manifestations of and possible remedies for teaching anxiety as well as the long-term effects of teacher preparation and faculty development programs on anxiety and job performance.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2004, English/Rhetoric and Writing

This dissertation examines out lesbian teachers in the college composition classroom from a viewpoint of feminist teacher research and “queer geography”. Employing composition history, the ideological erasure of lesbian teacher subjectivities in the composition classroom is outlined. Case studies of lesbian teachers and students in lesbian teachers' composition classrooms indicate in a preliminary way that students' choice of writing topics, student writing and student subject positions are affected by the presence of out lesbian composition teachers.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, English

This dissertation, Examining Programmatic Practices of First-Year Writing at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), focuses on the various ways writing programs at HSIs and emerging HSIs (eHSIs) serve and support their minoritized student populations. Because federal law (Higher Education Opportunity Act, 2008) defines HSIs based on enrollment percentages alone, writing program administrators (WPAs) can experience challenges when seeking to enact policies and practices with an explicit aim to serve and support their students. The scholarship of writing studies at HSIs has typically examined what it means to serve students at the classroom level (Baca, Hinojosa, and Wolff Murphy, 2019; Kirklighter, Cardenas, and Wolff Murphy, 2007); however, my research focuses on what servingness means at the programmatic level through various practices that WPAs employ across their programs. Using a mixed-methods approach such as an Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Design (Creswell & Creswell, 2018), I conducted an analysis of archival materials, recent surveys from 98 WPAs from HSIs and eHSIs across the country, and 42 one-on-one semi-structured interviews. I present research-driven narratives of writing program administrators (WPAs) who discuss existing program-level practices related to placement procedures, program goals, culturally relevant and sustaining curricula and instruction (Paris & Alim, 2017), instructor training activities, and program assessment structures in the context of their HSI or eHSI designation. Overall findings reveal that possessing an HSI or eHSI designation does not mean that a first-year writing program supports students equitably and inclusively. It is up to the individual choices and leadership decisions that administrators make to make meaning of their designation and take action through program-level practices. With the ongoing shifts of student demographics in higher education and with more students entering such institutions, I expand upon (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD

In 2019, The Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) was voted onto the city charter of Toledo, Ohio. The charter amendment made it possible for citizens of the city of Toledo to sue polluters on behalf of the Lake, effectively giving Lake Erie more standing in court closer to that of legal personhood. A year later, LEBOR was deemed unenforceable by Judge Jack Zouhary, who critiqued it as vague and reaching too far beyond the jurisdiction of Toledo. This dissertation starts from those two critiques, analyzing how LEBOR fell short in 1. specifically connecting to the thousands of years of landscape practices and relations Indigenous residents had developed in the time before the region was colonized and 2. understanding the Lake as a place with a dynamic set of naturecultural relations with deep ties to the watershed and landscape within the jurisdiction of Toledo. This analysis uses theories from spatial rhetoric, placemaking, naturecultural critique, Indigenous scholarship, and postcolonial studies focused on the U.S. to understand why these shortcomings occurred and how future activist composers can possibly benefit from avoiding them. At the center of the analysis is an oral history composed using only the words of the activists in order to ground the work in their more immediate context. The dissertation concludes by evaluating how my analysis of LEBOR can be applied to teaching writing in and outside of the classroom and to scientific research projects that may otherwise be falling short in their connection with the public connected to the knowledge they gather and the organisms and entities they research.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: English

Rhetorical Power and Purpose in Nineteenth-Century Everyday Writing is a historical study of how three different nineteenth-century communities—middle-upper to upper-class white men and women, formerly enslaved men, and rural, working-class children—used everyday writing in rhetorically meaningful and powerful ways. I define “everyday writers” as people who engaged in writing practices for non-professional reasons. The examination of these everyday writers will help to broaden the understanding of how and why people wrote in the nineteenth-century, how different writing genres were used, and how writing became rhetorically consequential. Drawing from archival research from Colonial Williamsburg, the College of William and Mary, Eastern Kentucky University, the University of Iowa, and Documenting the American South, I rely on textual analysis to examine three different groupings of historical texts. In Chapter One, I use rhetorical genre theory to analyze what type of content three Kentucky enslavement narratives contained and to understand what type of social action the authors accomplished through writing the narratives. In Chapter Two, affect theory and new materialism frame my examination of personal letters that acted as facilitators of affective experiences through both text and tactility. In Chapter Three, as I analyze diary entries from four different rural, working-class children, I consider lifespan writing research as a method for examining historical texts. Lastly, in my conclusion, I make an argument for why archival research is necessary for writing studies and present four different reasons that a historical understanding of writing can be pedagogically advantageous when integrated into the writing classroom. My intention in studying nineteenth-century everyday writers is not only to build a fuller narrative of nineteenth-century writing, but also to extend that knowledge into the present in ways that are beneficial to studies of presen (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This dissertation examines the effectiveness of blogging to improve student writing fluency and writing self-efficacy in ninth-grade English courses at Mount St. Mary Academy. Utilizing a case study approach with convergent mixed methods, a paired samples t-test found no statistically significant changes in pre- and post-assessments of general and writing self-efficacy over an eight-week period. A bivariate correlation revealed a moderately positive linear and statistically significant relationship between SESAW (pre- and post-assessment) and WCVALUER scores—indicating a strong association between initial self-efficacy and writing fluency development. Furthermore, specific blogging activities, such as reflective pieces following a communal class retreat, showed significant correlations with the SESAW and WCVALUER. The qualitative analysis revealed both positive and negative perceptions of writing among students, highlighting areas of stress and anxiety alongside opportunities for engagement and growth. Implications for practice include program refinements and tailored interventions to meet student needs, supported by ongoing faculty development programs. Future research could explore unique correlations observed in this study, particularly relating to communal experiences like the class retreat. While this study adds to the understanding of blogging as a tool for enhancing student writing outcomes, continued research and refinement of instructional practices are essential for maximizing its effectiveness in educational contexts.

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This study expounds the ways in which a contemporary group of writers of the English language have been, and are being, inspired to write and to teach writing through familiarity with a specific form of Zen Buddhist thought and practice developed from the relatively recent familiarization in both eastern and western populations to the prolific writings of Dogen Kigen, a 13th century Japanese Buddhist teacher and philosopher. Broadly speaking, this study is an inquiry into how individuals whose primary language is English come to find value in writing primarily as a personal practice. More specifically this study centers its attention on the writing of individuals whose motivation for writing comes from meaningful contact with Dogen Zenji, a thirteenth century Japanese Zen Master and author, and through that contact found themselves intent on writing from a recognition of a fundamental spirituality perceived in language and writing itself.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Arts and Sciences: English

This dissertation explores the relationship between genre and identity in college-level writing. It investigates how genres facilitate or hinder the expression of students' identities, focusing on how identity expression affects student-writers' relationship with writing, particularly those student-writers from racially marginalized communities. Drawing on critical race theory and cultural rhetoric, the study examines the increasing use of diverse genres that allow scholars to address their experiences within a racist society and challenge the boundaries of traditional academic writing genres. By analyzing students' writing topics across different college writing genres, the research aims to uncover the epistemological affordances of these genres, specifically their ability to empower marginalized students in confronting racism and structural inequality. The dissertation engages with debates surrounding genres labeled story in rhetoric and composition, explaining the history of these debates and highlighting current tensions over the role of story in rhetoric and composition scholarship and teaching. Ultimately, this research contributes to the understanding of the role genres play in shaping students' rhetorical challenges within racist structures and in finding their identities.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2023, English: Composition and Rhetoric

We in writing studies have much to learn and gain from the communities and cultures of making created in makerspaces. My dissertation contributes to writing theory and pedagogy by examining and connecting the communities and communities of practice in makerspaces to the composition classroom. I present a frame that focuses inclusivity, equity, and diversity in functional access and sustainability, material access and sustainability, and social access and sustainability. Chapter 1 introduces and maps makerspaces and examines the practices that makerspaces employ to build their space, including cultural community making spaces. In chapter 2, I contextualize makerspaces further by putting them in conversation with discussions on space, place, community, and communities of practice. However, makerspaces and other communities of practice often exclude cultural practices of community from underrepresented and marginalized communities. For this reason, I work to include concepts of community from across cultural rhetorics and social justice scholarship to help bring cultural community knowledge into our understanding of makerspaces. Chapter 3 moves from the theoretical practices of community to show how the material, functional, and social aspects of the community are built and work together to sustain the community through practice. Drawing from interviews with administrators, staff, and makers from two makerspaces, I show how they enact practices across the material, functional, and social to provide access and sustain their making communities. Chapter 4 examines the integration of makerspaces and making practices into the classroom, specifically my fall 2021 sections of technical writing, drawing with IRB approval and student consent from student coursework, my instructor reflections, and interviews with students after the semester was over. Students shared how the material, functional, and social aspects of the community as well as their own dispositions and feelings a (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, English

This project responds to disciplinary calls from within Composition Studies to take up socially just, linguistically just (Baker-Bell) pedagogies of “languaging” (Inoue). Specifically, it examines the potential for one integral, yet largely unaddressed pedagogical site for furthering such goals: grammar instruction. Through a two-stage, mixed methods study, I first analyze generalizable trends in contemporary grammar pedagogy and training practices through a national survey. I second evaluate receptivity to and potentials for developing and circulating anti-racist, liberatory grammar curriculum and training through a college-wide case study. Overall, my project seeks to examine the ways that Composition instructors and writing program administrators might understand, develop, and circulate grammar pedagogies in ways consistent with contemporary disciplinary ideologies on languaging. After articulating the exigency for the project in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 reports on a nationwide survey that was completed by over 130 Composition instructors across the U.S. on their grammar pedagogy training, attitudes, perspectives, goals, and practices. Out of findings that revealed the presence of both historically established pedagogies and an emergent, grassroots grammar pedagogy responsive to anti-racist perspectives, this chapter proffers an ideological framework for categorizing and understanding grammar pedagogies. This frames Stage Two of the project, which applies the framework as an administrative and analytical tool for localized curriculum development and training. Chapter 3 situates Stage Two's case study, which was a collaborative project between me and Linn-Benton Community College English faculty member Dionisia Morales. Chapter 4 discusses the results of our Feminist Writing Program Administration and critically pedagogies-based participatory action research, which supported Morales' project by surveying over 200 students, faculty, and staff, conducting 14 indi (open full item for complete abstract)