Written Communication Jan 1994

Learning to Read Biology: One Student's Rhetorical Development in College

CHRISTINA HAAS

Abstract

This longitudinal study examines the reading processes and practices of one college student, Eliza, through eight semesters of undergraduate postsecondary education. Specifically, the study traces the development of this student's beliefs about literate activity—focusing not only on changes in her reading and writing activities per se, but also on her views about those activities, her representations of the nature of texts, and her understanding of the relationship between knowledge and written discourse within her disciplinary field of biology. Multiple data sources—including extended interviews, reading/writing logs, observations and field notes, texts, and read-and-think-aloud protocols—were used to explore Eliza's rhetorical development over her 4 college years. Results of various analyses together suggest that Eliza's conceptions of the function of texts and the role of authors—both as authors and as scientists—grew in complexity. A number of possibly interrelated factors may account for Eliza's expanding notions of authors and of texts: increased subject matter knowledge, instructional support, “natural” development, and mentoring in an internship situation.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1994-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088394011001004
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism discourse analysis empirical research qualitative research literacy studies
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (32)

  1. Markey (2025)
    Presenting and Making Relevant: Analyzing Teaching Assistant Perceptions of Wri…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Hutton et al. (2024)
    A Commonplace Problem: Uncovering Composition’s Tacit Axiologies of Reading
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Ihara et al. (2020)
    Feature: Writing on the Periphery: The Writing Landscape of a Two-Year College
    Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  4. Driscoll et al. (2020)
    Genre Knowledge and Writing Development: Results From the Writing Transfer Project
    Written Communication
  5. Wang (2019)
    Tracing Connections and Disconnects: Reading, Writing, and Digital Literacies a…
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 32 →
  1. Falconer (2019)
    “I Think When I Speak, I Don’t Sound Like That”: The Influence of Social Positi…
    Written Communication
  2. Imbrenda (2018)
    “No Facts Equals Unconvincing”: Fact and Opinion as Conceptual Tools in High Sc…
    Written Communication
  3. Swales (2014)
    Variation in Citational Practice in a Corpus of Student Biology Papers: From Pa…
    Written Communication
  4. Negretti (2012)
    Metacognition in Student Academic Writing: A Longitudinal Study of Metacognitiv…
    Written Communication
  5. Wardle et al. (2012)
    Addressing the complexity of writing development: Toward an ecological model of…
    Assessing Writing
  6. Artemeva et al. (2010)
    Awareness Versus Production: Probing Students’ Antecedent Genre Knowledge
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. Roozen (2010)
    Tracing Trajectories of Practice: Repurposing in One Student’s Developing Disci…
    Written Communication
  8. Lillis (2008)
    Ethnography as Method, Methodology, and “Deep Theorizing”: Closing the Gap Betw…
    Written Communication
  9. Ding (2008)
    The Use of Cognitive and Social Apprenticeship to Teach a Disciplinary Genre: I…
    Written Communication
  10. Lerner (2007)
    Laboratory Lessons for Writing and Science
    Written Communication
  11. Wilder (2005)
    “The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism” Revisited: Mistaken Critics, Complex Conte…
    Written Communication
  12. Ford (2004)
    Knowledge Transfer Across Disciplines: Tracking RhetoricalStrategies From a Tec…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  13. Dannels (2003)
    Teaching and Learning Design Presentations in Engineering: Contradictions betwe…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. Zepernick (2003)
    Book Review: Interacting with Audiences: Social Influences on the Production of…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  15. Smith (2003)
    The Role of Technical Expertise in Engineering and Writing Teachers’ Evaluation…
    Written Communication
  16. NEWMAN (2001)
    The Academic Achievement Game: Designs of Undergraduates' Efforts to Get Grades
    Written Communication
  17. Geisler et al. (2001)
    IText: Future Directions for Research on the Relationship between Information T…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  18. Wolfe et al. (2001)
    From the Margins to the Center: The Future of Annotation
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  19. HASWELL (2000)
    Documenting Improvement in College Writing: A Longitudinal Approach
    Written Communication
  20. Dannels (2000)
    Learning to Be Professional: Technical Classroom Discourse, Practice, and Profe…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  21. HILGERS et al. (1999)
    “As You're Writing, You Have these Epiphanies”: What College Students Say about…
    Written Communication
  22. GEISLER et al. (1998)
    Disciplining Discourse: Discourse Practice in the Affiliated Professions of Sof…
    Written Communication
  23. RUSSELL (1997)
    Rethinking Genre in School and Society: An Activity Theory Analysis
    Written Communication
  24. BLAKESLEE (1997)
    Activity, Context, Interaction, and Authority: Learning to Write Scientific Pap…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  25. SPACK (1997)
    The Acquisition of Academic Literacy in a Second Language: A Longitudinal Case Study
    Written Communication
  26. FABER (1996)
    Rhetoric in Competition: The Formation of Organizational Discourse in Conferenc…
    Written Communication
  27. Haswell et al. (1996)
    Gender bias and critique of student writing
    Assessing Writing

References (83) · 13 in this index

  1. Applebee, A. N.
    Contexts for learning to write
  2. Argyle, M.
    Social situations
     ↗
  3. Austin, J. L.
    How to do things with words
  4. Bartholomae, D.
    When a writer can't write
  5. BAZERMAN (1985)
    Physicists Reading Physics: Schema-Laden Purposes and Purpose-Laden Schema
    Written Communication
Show all 83 →
  1. Bazerman, C.
    Shaping written knowledge: The genre and activity of the experimental article in science
  2. Bazerman, C.
    Textual dynamics of the professions
  3. Beach, R.
    Developing discourse practices in adolescence and adulthood
  4. Belenky, M. F.
    Women's ways of knowing
  5. Belsey, C.
    Critical practice
  6. Bereiter, C.
    The psychology of written composition
     ↗
  7. Berkenkotter, C. (1988)
    Research in the Teaching of English
  8. Biesecker, B. A. (1989)
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  9. Bitzer, L. F. (1968)
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  10. 10.2307/1179517
     ↗
  11. 10.2307/377048
     ↗
  12. Blakeslee, A. M. (1992). Inventing scientific discourse: Dimensions of rhetorical knowl…
  13. Brandt, D.
    Literacy as involvement: The acts of writers, readers, and texts
  14. 10.3102/0013189X018001032
     ↗
  15. Cazden, C.
    Thinking Across Cultures: Third International Conference on Thinking
  16. Charney, D.
    Understanding scientific prose
  17. 10.1016/0010-0285(73)90004-2
     ↗
  18. FAHNESTOCK (1986)
    Accommodating Science: The Rhetorical Life of Scientific Facts
    Written Communication
  19. FARR (1993)
    Essayist Literacy and Other Verbal Performances
    Written Communication
  20. 10.1080/0022027850170407
     ↗
  21. Fish, S.
    Is there a text in this class? The authority of interpretive communities
  22. Geertz, C.
    Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive anthropology
  23. Geisler, C.
    Developing discourse practices in adolescence and adulthood
  24. Geisler, C.
    Textual dynamics and the professions
  25. Geisler, C.
    Academic literacy and the nature of expertise
     ↗
  26. Gilbert, G. N.
    Opening Pandora's box: A sociological analysis of scientists' discourse
  27. Goetz, J. P.
    Ethnography and qualitative design in educational research
  28. Goodlad, J. I.
    A place called school: Prospects for the future
  29. Gould, S. J.
    Understanding scientific prose
  30. GRAGSON et al. (1990)
    Fictionalizing the Readers of Scholarly Articles in Biology
    Written Communication
  31. Grice, H. P.
    Syntax and semantics. Vol. 3. Speech acts
  32. Haas, C.
    Critical perspectives on computers and composition instruction
  33. Haas, C.
    Conference on College Composition and Communication
  34. Haas, C.
    Hearing ourselves think: Cognitive research in the college writing classroom
  35. 10.2307/358026
     ↗
  36. Harding, S.
    The science question in feminism
  37. 10.2307/357469
     ↗
  38. HASWELL (1988)
    Error and Change in College Student Writing
    Written Communication
  39. Haswell, R. H.
    Gaining ground in college writing: Tales of development and interpretation
  40. Herndl, C. G.
    Textual dynamics and the professions
  41. Herrington (1985)
    Writing in Academic Settings: A Study of the Contexts for Writing in Two Colleg…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  42. Herrington, A.
    Constructing rhetorical education
  43. Huckin, T. (1991)
    Journal of Advanced Composition
  44. Hynds (1989)
    Bringing Life to Literature and Literature to Life: Social Constructs and Conte…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  45. Jamieson, K. H. (1973)
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  46. Kaufer, D. S.
    Arguing from sources: Exploring issues through reading and writing
  47. Keller, E. F.
    A feeling for the organism
  48. Latour, B.
    Science in action
  49. Latour, B.
    Laboratory life: The social construction of scientific facts
  50. McCarthy (1987)
    A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum
    Research in the Teaching of English
  51. McCarthy et al. (1991)
    Boundary Conversations: Conflicting Ways of Knowing in Philosophy and Interdisc…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  52. McCloskey, D. N.
    The rhetoric of economics
  53. 10.17763/haer.49.1.b748n4133677245p
     ↗
  54. 10.3102/00028312024004611
     ↗
  55. MYERS (1985)
    The Social Construction of Two Biologists' Proposals
    Written Communication
  56. Myers, G.
    Textual dynamics and the professions
  57. National Academy of Sciences
    On being a scientist
  58. Nelson (1990)
    This Was an Easy Assignment: Examining How Students Interpret Academic Writing Tasks
    Research in the Teaching of English
  59. Nelson, J. S.
    The rhetoric of the human sciences
  60. Nystrand, M.
    The study of written communication: Studies in reciprocity between writers and readers
  61. Nystrand, M.
    Comprehending oral and written language
  62. Patton, M. Q.
    Qualitative evaluation methods
  63. Penrose, A. M.
    annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association
  64. Perry, W. G., Jr.
    Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme
  65. Rich, A.
    On lies, secrets, and silence
  66. Rorty, R.
    Philosophy and the mirror of nature
  67. Scardamalia, M.
    What writers know
  68. Scribner, S.
    The psychology of literacy
     ↗
  69. Searle, J.
    Speech acts
     ↗
  70. Selzer, J.
    Understanding scientific prose
  71. Simons, H. W.
    The rhetorical turn: Invention and persuasion in the conduct of inquiry
  72. STOTSKY (1991)
    On Developing Independent Critical Thinking: What We Can Learn From Studies of …
    Written Communication
  73. Tierney, R. J.
    Understanding readers' understanding
  74. Tompkins, J. P.
    Reader-response criticism: From formalism to post-structuralism
     ↗
  75. van Dijk, T.
    Comprehending oral and written language
  76. Vatz, R. E. (1973)
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  77. 10.1016/0304-422X(84)90005-6
     ↗
  78. WINSOR (1989)
    An Engineer's Writing and the Corporate Construction of Knowledge
    Written Communication
CrossRef global citation count: 76 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Research in the Teaching of English Nov 2004
    Developmental Gains of a History Major: A Case for Building a Theory of Disciplinary Writing Expertise ↗
    Anne Beaufort
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis empirical research qualitative research literacy studies
  2. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Jun 2024
    Rhetorical Leadership ↗
    Catherine L. Langford
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis feminist rhetorics cultural rhetorics decolonial rhetorics graduate education argument empirical research qualitative research race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric affect and writing body and rhetoric editorial matter
  3. Composition Forum 2020
    Student-Athletes’ Metacognitive Strategy Knowledge ↗
    J. Michael Rifenburg
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis first-year composition writing pedagogy qualitative research literacy studies
  4. Rhetorica Sep 2014
    Rhetorical Delivery as Technological Discourse: A Cross-Historical Study by Ben McCorkle ↗
    Jonathan Alexander
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis archival research qualitative research literacy studies
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Dec 2013
    Rhetorical Appeals of Professional Designers in Decision-Making Sessions ↗
    Erin Friess
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument collaborative writing empirical research qualitative research book reviews