Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2023

Agency, Identity, and Writing: Perspectives from First-Generation Students of Color in Their First Year of College

Jie Y. Park Clark University

Abstract

This paper highlights the perspectives of first-generation students of color in their first year of college, and the ways in which they exercised agency in their writing. Framed by definitions of agency as mediated action that creates meaning, the paper reports on qualitative data collected from a summer writing program for first-generation students and students of color, and from writing samples and follow-up interviews with six students who participated in the summer program. Findings suggest that students in their first year of college leveraged their social and discoursal identities to offer new ways of understanding an issue. They also wrote using a translingual approach, integrating different discourses and forms of knowledge, and challenging views of academic writing as monolithic. The findings also suggest the link between awareness and action, meaning that what and how students wrote were informed by their awareness of writing and awareness of themselves as writers and cultural beings. The study’s findings have implications for advancing more nuanced views of agency and academic literacies, and redesigning writing instruction at the high school and college level.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2023-02-01
DOI
10.58680/rte202332353
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Open Access
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Topics
writing pedagogy translingualism literacy studies race and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Mack (2024)
    Developing Dispositions for Transfer
    Pedagogy
  2. Autry et al. (2024)
    Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English
    Research in the Teaching of English

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CrossRef global citation count: 4 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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