Written Communication Jan 1994

Learning to Read Biology

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
Open Access
Closed
Topics
empirical research qualitative research race and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (28)

  1. Hutton et al. (2024)
    A Commonplace Problem: Uncovering Composition’s Tacit Axiologies of Reading
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Ihara et al. (2020)
    Feature: Writing on the Periphery: The Writing Landscape of a Two-Year College
    Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  3. Driscoll et al. (2020)
    Genre Knowledge and Writing Development: Results From the Writing Transfer Project
    Written Communication
  4. Wang (2019)
    Tracing Connections and Disconnects: Reading, Writing, and Digital Literacies a…
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Falconer (2019)
    “I Think When I Speak, I Don’t Sound Like That”: The Influence of Social Positi…
    Written Communication
Show all 28 →
  1. Imbrenda (2018)
    “No Facts Equals Unconvincing”: Fact and Opinion as Conceptual Tools in High Sc…
    Written Communication
  2. Swales (2014)
    Variation in Citational Practice in a Corpus of Student Biology Papers
    Written Communication
  3. Negretti (2012)
    Metacognition in Student Academic Writing
    Written Communication
  4. Artemeva et al. (2010)
    Awareness Versus Production: Probing Students’ Antecedent Genre Knowledge
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Roozen (2010)
    Tracing Trajectories of Practice: Repurposing in One Student’s Developing Disci…
    Written Communication
  6. Lillis (2008)
    Ethnography as Method, Methodology, and “Deep Theorizing”
    Written Communication
  7. Ding (2008)
    The Use of Cognitive and Social Apprenticeship to Teach a Disciplinary Genre
    Written Communication
  8. Lerner (2007)
    Laboratory Lessons for Writing and Science
    Written Communication
  9. Wilder (2005)
    “The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism” Revisited
    Written Communication
  10. Dannels (2003)
    Teaching and Learning Design Presentations in Engineering
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  11. Zepernick (2003)
    Book Review: Interacting with Audiences: Social Influences on the Production of…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  12. Smith (2003)
    The Role of Technical Expertise in Engineering and Writing Teachers’ Evaluation…
    Written Communication
  13. NEWMAN (2001)
    The Academic Achievement Game
    Written Communication
  14. Geisler et al. (2001)
    IText
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  15. Wolfe et al. (2001)
    From the Margins to the Center
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  16. HASWELL (2000)
    Documenting Improvement in College Writing
    Written Communication
  17. Dannels (2000)
    Learning to Be Professional
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  18. HILGERS et al. (1999)
    “As You're Writing, You Have these Epiphanies”
    Written Communication
  19. GEISLER et al. (1998)
    Disciplining Discourse
    Written Communication
  20. RUSSELL (1997)
    Rethinking Genre in School and Society
    Written Communication
  21. BLAKESLEE (1997)
    Activity, Context, Interaction, and Authority
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  22. SPACK (1997)
    The Acquisition of Academic Literacy in a Second Language
    Written Communication
  23. FABER (1996)
    Rhetoric in Competition
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (13)

  1. FARR (1993)
    Essayist Literacy and Other Verbal Performances
    Written Communication
  2. McCarthy et al. (1991)
    Boundary Conversations: Conflicting Ways of Knowing in Philosophy and Interdisc…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. STOTSKY (1991)
    On Developing Independent Critical Thinking
    Written Communication
  4. Nelson (1990)
    This Was an Easy Assignment: Examining How Students Interpret Academic Writing Tasks
    Research in the Teaching of English
  5. GRAGSON et al. (1990)
    Fictionalizing the Readers of Scholarly Articles in Biology
    Written Communication
Show all 13 →
  1. WINSOR (1989)
    An Engineer's Writing and the Corporate Construction of Knowledge
    Written Communication
  2. Hynds (1989)
    Bringing Life to Literature and Literature to Life: Social Constructs and Conte…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. HASWELL (1988)
    Error and Change in College Student Writing
    Written Communication
  4. McCarthy (1987)
    A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum
    Research in the Teaching of English
  5. FAHNESTOCK (1986)
    Accommodating Science
    Written Communication
  6. Herrington (1985)
    Writing in Academic Settings: A Study of the Contexts for Writing in Two Colleg…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  7. MYERS (1985)
    The Social Construction of Two Biologists' Proposals
    Written Communication
  8. BAZERMAN (1985)
    Physicists Reading Physics
    Written Communication
Also cites 16 works outside this index ↓
  1. Argyle, M.
    Social situations
     ↗
  2. Bereiter, C.
    The psychology of written composition
     ↗
  3. 10.2307/1179517
     ↗
  4. 10.2307/377048
     ↗
  5. 10.3102/0013189X018001032
     ↗
  6. 10.1016/0010-0285(73)90004-2
     ↗
  7. 10.1080/0022027850170407
     ↗
  8. Geisler, C.
    Academic literacy and the nature of expertise
     ↗
  9. 10.2307/358026
     ↗
  10. 10.2307/357469
     ↗
  11. 10.17763/haer.49.1.b748n4133677245p
     ↗
  12. 10.3102/00028312024004611
     ↗
  13. Scribner, S.
    The psychology of literacy
     ↗
  14. Searle, J.
    Speech acts
     ↗
  15. Tompkins, J. P.
    Reader-response criticism: From formalism to post-structuralism
     ↗
  16. 10.1016/0304-422X(84)90005-6
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 76 View in citation network →

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