Finding Their Academic Voices: Tracing the Development of Two First-Generation Latina Writers

• In Event: Taking the Long View: Learning From Longitudinal Studies of Writing

Abstract

Purpose
Situated at a Hispanic-serving public institution, this poster traces the writing experiences of two first-generation Latina college students, designated by the university as requiring remediation, through their first two years of college. The study draws on qualitative data to examine (1) the students’ shifting identities as writers and (2) their development as academic writers.

Framework
The writing privileged within the university typically asks students to read and synthesize information from multiple texts to form an original argument (Blau, 2010; Armstrong, Stahl, & Kantner, 2015). In doing so, students must take up the identity of expert while expressing their ideas in genres many are still struggling to learn. For first-generation students from non-dominant cultures, this poses an even greater challenge, as many already feel unprepared for the academic demands of the university (Engle, Bermeo, & O’Brien, 2006) or are told they are unprepared by their placement in remedial courses (Solórzano, Datnow, Park, & Watford, 2013).

Methods
Data come from a larger study tracking the literacy development of 19 first-generation, first-time freshmen, designated as requiring remediation, throughout their college careers. This study focuses on data collected from two female students during their first two years. Both students identified as Latina and were raised in bilingual households.

Data Collection & Analysis
Data include five interviews conducted with each student, in which they reflected on their identities as writers and their overall writing development and discussed their writing processes and the writing required of them in their courses. Interview transcripts were coded using the constant comparative method (Strauss, 1987).
Additionally, students shared writing samples from each semester. These were analyzed to determine the aims of each text and the methods and materials used to achieve those aims (Harris, 2007). After, comparisons were made across texts to look for shifts in how students achieved their aims.

Findings
Brenda began college unsure of herself as a writer, primarily because of feedback she received in high school. In her first year, she discovered the importance of including her own voice and ideas, in addition to the ideas of others. Slowly, she began to incorporate others’ views as a way to forward her ideas rather than just report a collection of facts. Still, she felt trepidation when approaching writing assignments.
As a writer, Karina began college feeling very confident. She drew upon strategies she had learned in high school to assist her, though she demonstrated little understanding of the rhetorical purposes of the strategies. After focused instruction in her writing courses, her aims when writing a paper shifted from simply employing strategies to complete the task to drawing on specific types of evidence to argue her positions.

Scholarly Significance
Following these students over time allows for the detection of nuances in their development and shifts in their identities as writers. More closely understanding both are critical for considering how to better support students in their writing at the university and how to better prepare them in high school, prior to their transition to college.

Author

• Juliet Michelsen Wahleithner, California State University - Fresno