Writing in High School and College: Undergraduates Discuss Academic Identity and the Transition From High School to College

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Transitions in Writing Lives: Young People Writing in and Beyond High School

Abstract

Writing self-efficacy has been shown to have a large impact on student achievement in writing, and it is related to the formation of academic identity as well. This qualitative in-depth interview study focuses on the experiences of 16 undergraduate students at a large university, who vary in terms of demographics and courses of study. Students interviewed revealed developing an academic identity around writing in high school that they carried to college, and for students from diverse ethnic backgrounds, students looked at their peers’ writing performance as an important indicator of writing potential. Some students chose courses of study in order to avoid writing as much as possible.

Authors

• Christina L. Dobbs, Boston University

• Caysie Carter, Harvard University