Written Communication Jul 1991

Contextualizing Writing and Response in a Graduate Seminar

PAUL PRIOR

Abstract

Theoretical and pedagogical interest in writing in academic disciplines and other discourse communities has grown in the last decade, but few studies have looked at advanced levels of disciplinary enculturation. In this study, I examine the contexts for writing and response in a graduate education seminar with fifteen students, including eight nonnative speakers of English. I consider how the professor explicitly and implicitly communicated expectations for the form and content of writing assignments; how the students understood, negotiated and undertook these tasks; and how the professor evaluated and responded to students' final written texts. Finally, I argue that the students' writing tasks occur in a complex, multidimensional historical field of personal and social contexts and that advanced levels of disciplinary enculturation are marked by a specific set of issues revolving around students' emerging authority and conflicts inherent in disciplinary microsocieties.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1991-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088391008003001
Open Access
Closed
Topics
graduate education

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (12)

  1. Olsen et al. (2018)
    Examining Intertextual Connections in Written Arguments: A Study of Student Wri…
    Written Communication
  2. Lee et al. (2008)
    Constructing Trust Between Teacher and Students Through Feedback and Revision C…
    Written Communication
  3. Ding (2008)
    The Use of Cognitive and Social Apprenticeship to Teach a Disciplinary Genre
    Written Communication
  4. Taylor et al. (2006)
    Ten Engineers Reading: Disjunctions between Preference and Practice in Civil En…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Leki (2003)
    Living through College Literacy
    Written Communication
Show all 12 →
  1. Dysthe (2002)
    Professors as Mediators of Academic Text Cultures
    Written Communication
  2. Lunsford (2002)
    Contextualizing Toulmin's Model in the Writing Classroom
    Written Communication
  3. ANGELOVA et al. (1999)
    “If You Don't Tell Me, How Can I Know?”
    Written Communication
  4. SPACK (1997)
    The Acquisition of Academic Literacy in a Second Language
    Written Communication
  5. PRIOR (1994)
    Response, Revision, Disciplinarity
    Written Communication
  6. CHIN (1994)
    Redefining “Context” in Research on Writing
    Written Communication
  7. SMELTZER et al. (1994)
    Managers as Writers
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (12)

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    This Was an Easy Assignment: Examining How Students Interpret Academic Writing Tasks
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  2. CLARK et al. (1990)
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    Written Communication
  3. BONK (1990)
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    Written Communication
  4. McGINLEY et al. (1989)
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    Written Communication
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Show all 12 →
  1. NYSTRAND (1989)
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    Written Communication
  2. McCarthy (1987)
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Also cites 10 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 47 View in citation network →

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