The Imagined Student: A Critical Discourse Analysis of College Syllabi

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 10:50 am
  In Roundtable Session: Student Learning in Supportive Spaces: What It Is, What It Could Be, and What It Must Become (Table 31)

Abstract

This Critical Discourse Analysis of college syllabi asks: who is the imagined student in undergraduate courses? How do racism and ableism contribute to this constructed “normal” student? Using a Disability Studies Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) theoretical framework, we conduct a thematic and sociolinguistic critical discourse analysis of 13 college syllabi. We describe the ways the syllabi use discourses of individualism and personal responsibility, standard language and grammar, and inaccessible aspects of the syllabi themselves to construct the imagined student as white, monolingual, and nondisabled. We raise implications for inclusive postsecondary education and those students who are rendered outside of the classroom community by virtue of their being different from the imagined student.

Authors

• Nikkia D. Borowski, Syracuse University

• Sara Jo Soldovieri, The IDEAL School

• Emilee Baker, Syracuse University

• Katie E. Ducett, SUNY - College at Cortland