Tracing the Microhistory of "Literary Commentary" as a Genre in an 11th-Grade International Baccalaureate Classroom

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

Abstract

Objectives
As an initial effort to study argumentative writing development in the context of a high school International Baccalaureate (IB) Literature classroom, this poster will capture how we examined a series of literacy events and emergent written literary commentaries as arguments. Our inquiry was shaped by three questions: (1) What were the key events during the initial writing assignment? (2) What writing moves do the students make in speaking and in writing when making literary arguments? (3) How does the teacher, through classroom talk, support students in making these moves?

Theoretical Framework
Our framework is grounded in the idea that knowledge is discursively constructed over time and that discourse processes, social actions, and communicative practices shape what counts as knowing and doing within a particular group (Gergen, 2009; Prior, 1998). Accordingly, writing development can then be seen as the ability to participate more effectively in written genres of a wider range of communities of practice (Applebee, 2000). One way to conceptualize this social action through language is with the term move (Harris, 2006) or action mediated through language (Bazerman, 2004).

Methods
Context of the Investigation
The findings reported here—one small part of a larger project--are based on our field research with Ms. Hill, an IB Literature high school teacher in an urban high school. Ms. Hill (mixed race [African-American and white]), female, with 12 years of teaching experience) had taught IB English for three years at the start of the study in autumn 2014. Her 11th grade IB Literature class (26 students; 16 white and 10 other ethnicities) was embedded in a “humanities” program as an advanced or “high level” IB Literature option that students self-select.

Data Sources and Analyses
The corpus of data used in this study consisted of classroom instruction (video-recordings and field notes) that occurred across an initial instructional unit (September 8th to November 3rd), teacher interviews and collaborative data analysis (with video clips), student interviews about instruction and their writing, samples of student writing, and related documents. We focused our analysis on 24 essays written in response to what Ms. Hill described as an IB “open commentary.” We also conducted a more detailed move analysis (Vanderheide, 2014) of the writing of four case study students to understand the influences of interactional (analytic-literary practices) and institutional forces (e.g., previous instruction).

Findings and Significance
Our observations of Ms. Hill’s 11th grade IB Literature curriculum revealed her efforts to enact a shift from pre-set structures to more heuristically oriented approaches, a practice that her students found challenging. For example, analysis of the 24 essays revealed that the genre employed was largely the heritage of a formulaic structure acquired in 9th and 10th grade English courses. Analysis of the writing of case study students suggested their struggle to move beyond formulas to more provisional genres (Dixon, 1988) to capture their tentative understandings of the stories they analyzed. Perhaps teachers should be clearer about the generic choices they suggest. But when and how might teachers teach students to make such choices?

Authors

• George E. Newell, The Ohio State University

• Theresa Thanos, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• Subeom Kwak, The Ohio State University - Columbus