College Composition and Communication Jun 2025

Writing for Perspective: A Case Study of Literacy Practices and Personal Agency among Latinos/Latinas in Northwest Arkansas

E. Domínguez Barajas

Abstract

Extracting a writer’s profile from a broader literacy study aimed at documenting extracurricular literacy practices among the Latinx population in Northwest Arkansas, this article presents a case study of a Peruvian woman’s lifelong use of literacy to enhance her personal agency in the face of personal, social, and civic demands. The article presents the writer’s profile as an indicator of the various literacy demands faced by the Latinx community and suggests that a critical consideration of such demands may lead to improved understanding and theorizing of writing through a lifespan writing research lens. Such a reorientation to writing may have a beneficial impact on first-year college composition courses by cultivating pedagogical practices oriented toward socioculturally diverse student populations and nontraditional students in college-level writing courses.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2025-06-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc2025764567
Open Access
Closed
Topics
qualitative research race and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (15)

  1. Cedillo et al. (2019)
    Relating Our Experiences: The Practice of Positionality Stories in Student-Cent…
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Yancey et al. (2019)
    The Teaching for Transfer Curriculum: The Role of Concurrent Transfer and Insid…
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Anderson et al. (2015)
    The Contributions of Writing to Learning and Development: Results from a Large-…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  4. Enoch et al. (2013)
    Meaningful Engagements: Feminist Historiography and the Digital Humanities
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Purcell-Gates et al. (2011)
    Featured Methodological Article: Analyzing Literacy Practice: Grounded Theory t…
    Research in the Teaching of English
Show all 15 →
  1. Horner et al. (2011)
    Opinion: Language Difference in Writing: Toward a Translingual Approach
    College English
  2. Powell (2009)
    Retention and Writing Instruction: Implications for Access and Pedagogy
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Klausman (2007)
    Instructional Note: Resurrecting the I-Search: Engaging Students in Meaningful …
    Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  4. Barajas (2007)
    Parallels in Academic and Nonacademic Discursive Styles
    Written Communication
  5. Kynard (2006)
    Y’all Are Killin’ Me Up in Here: Response Theory from a Newjack Composition Ins…
    Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  6. Kells (2002)
    Linguistic Contact Zones in the College Writing Classroom
    Written Communication
  7. FARR (1993)
    Essayist Literacy and Other Verbal Performances
    Written Communication
  8. Trimbur (1990)
    Essayist literacy and the rhetoric of deproduction
    Rhetoric Review
  9. Fluitt-Dupuy (1989)
    Publishing a Newsletter: Making Composition Classes More Meaningful
    College Composition and Communication
  10. Miller (1970)
    The Linguistic Imagination
    College English
Also cites 19 works outside this index ↓
  1. Bandura (2006)
    Toward a Psychology of Human Agency
    Perspectives on Psychological Science  ↗
  2. Bou Ayash (2019)
    Toward Translingual Realities in Composition: (Re)Working Local Language Representations …
     ↗
  3. Brandt (2001)
    Literacy in American Lives
     ↗
  4. Dippre (2020)
    Approaches to Lifespan Writing Research: Generating an Actionable Coherence
     ↗
  5. Domínguez Barajas (2010)
    The Function of Proverbs in Discourse: The Case of a Mexican Transnational Social Network
     ↗
  6. Farr (2005)
    Latino Language and Literacy in Ethnolinguistic Chicago
     ↗
  7. Guerra (2008)
    Cultivating Transcultural Citizenship: A Writing Across Communities Model
    Language Arts  ↗
  8. Howe (1970)
    Using Students’ Notes to Examine the Role of the Individual Learner in Acquiring Meaningf…
    Journal of Educational Research  ↗
  9. Kogen (1986)
    The Conventions of Expository Writing
    Journal of Basic Writing  ↗
  10. Mattern (2015)
    Identification of Multiple Nonreturner Profiles to Inform the Development of Targeted Col…
    Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice  ↗
  11. Meece (1988)
    Students’ Goal Orientations and Cognitive Engagement in Classroom Activities
    Journal of Educational Psychology  ↗
  12. Pike (1967)
    Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior
     ↗
  13. Pratt (1992)
    Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation
     ↗
  14. Rose (2010)
    Going Public: What Writing Programs Learn from Engagement
     ↗
  15. Ruiz (2016)
    Reclaiming Composition for Chicano/as and Other Ethnic Minorities: A Critical History and…
     ↗
  16. Ruiz (2016)
    Decolonizing Rhetoric and Composition Studies: New Latinx Keywords for Theory and Pedagogy
     ↗
  17. Street (2009)
    The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development
     ↗
  18. Vaughn (2020)
    What Is Student Agency and Why Is It Needed Now More than Ever?
    Theory into Practice  ↗
  19. Yancey (2014)
    Writing Across Contexts: Transfer, Composition, and Sites of Writing
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. College Composition and Communication Dec 2025
    Contextualizing Reflective Writing for Creating Change: A Cross-Institutional Case Study of First-Year Students’ Reflections ↗
    Jaclyn Fiscus-Cannaday; Lillian Campbell; Jennifer E. Eidum
    writing program administration qualitative research race and writing multilingual writers
  2. Research in the Teaching of English Nov 2025
    Native Youth Re-Learning Their Language to Story the Future Examining Indigenous Language Revitalization, Relationality, and Temporalities ↗
    Robert Petrone; Adrianna González Ybarra; Nicholas Rink
    qualitative research race and writing multilingual writers
  3. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Remixing the College Essay ↗
    Felisa Baynes-Ross; Caitlin Cawley; Caroline Hagood; Mira Zaman
    first-year composition two-year college qualitative research multimodality race and writing multilingual writers
  4. Written Communication Jan 2025
    Composing Time in a Secondary U.S. Classroom: (Not) Challenging Ideological Polarization through Straight and Queer Temporal Movements ↗
    Ryan Schey
    writing pedagogy qualitative research race and writing gender and writing
  5. Research in the Teaching of English Aug 2024
    An Eight-Year Longitudinal Study of an English Language Arts Teacher’s Developmental Path through Multiple Contexts ↗
    Peter Smagorinsky; Stacia L. Long
    writing across the curriculum empirical research qualitative research race and writing affect and writing