Reimagining Writing as a Tool for Transformative Literacy Instruction

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Vygotskian-Inspired Pedagogical Practice: Creating Transformative Spaces for Learning and Development

Abstract

Framed by Sociocultural Theory (SCT), the focus of this cross-case study was understanding teachers’ expectations for teaching writing based on learning beliefs and illustrating external pressures’ impact on writing praxis. Perspectives of six teachers from three Southwest US high schools constituted individual cases. Combining event mappings with discourse, domain, and situated meaning analyses, data were triangulated resulting in a model of English teachers’ writing praxis based on learning beliefs. Findings suggest that teachers’ writing praxis was grounded in transmittal pedagogy, with focus on writing function and form rather than teaching for relevance and meaning. External pressures of professional and content standards and the push to graduate students have added to English teacher frustration and reliance on traditional teaching methods.

Authors

• Nicole Klimow, California State University - San Bernardino

• LeAnn G. Putney, University of Nevada - Las Vegas