I intended for this project to become a resource for others who are teaching first-year composition students. As part of my research in English 605, I began to see that my work has been looking into the ways in which students respond to various forms of feedback they receive from a multitude of sources. When it comes to student writing, they receive feedback in the form of the classes in which they are placed, the ways in which teachers respond to their drafts, and the responses grades offer. On this page, I will focus on my ethnographies study of feedback and its impact on student writing.
For discussions of other types of feedback, feel free to look through my pages on Writing Center Narratives and Institutional Feedback Analysis. These other pages offer insight into the implications such feedback has for students and how students take feedback with them into future writing endeavors. My aim is to offer an introduction to the issues, problem, and possibilities available when we endeavor to teach first-year writing students.
What follows is the results of my very, very short ethnographic study at Ball State University. This ethnographic project developed out of an idea to study the revision habits of first-year composition students over the course of one project. As time became an issue, I realized that the new limitations could actually help me understand an important part of students' development. The focus then shifted to an in-depth study of how students respond to the feedback constantly given to them by other members of their writing community. I soon realized it was important to follow and record all the particular feedback each student received throughout the drafting and revising process. The sections below outline the results.
For discussions of other types of feedback, feel free to look through my pages on Writing Center Narratives and Institutional Feedback Analysis. These other pages offer insight into the implications such feedback has for students and how students take feedback with them into future writing endeavors. My aim is to offer an introduction to the issues, problem, and possibilities available when we endeavor to teach first-year writing students.
What follows is the results of my very, very short ethnographic study at Ball State University. This ethnographic project developed out of an idea to study the revision habits of first-year composition students over the course of one project. As time became an issue, I realized that the new limitations could actually help me understand an important part of students' development. The focus then shifted to an in-depth study of how students respond to the feedback constantly given to them by other members of their writing community. I soon realized it was important to follow and record all the particular feedback each student received throughout the drafting and revising process. The sections below outline the results.
The Computer Classroom
The settings of the observations, though not vital to the ethnography, still provided one input for understanding how feedback becomes a part of the students' revising process.
Read a full description of the setting.
Read a full description of the setting.
The instructor in her office.
The following two sections of the ethnography explicate both a peer-review session and the teacher-student conferences. The peer review session showed how the students placed an emphasis on being technically accurate. Their revisionary processes centered on copy-editing corrections. The teacher-student conference, of course, focused on broader issues more closely related to developing the students' style and ethos.
Read both the section on peer reviews and teacher conferences.
The final section of the ethnography takes into consideration what the students accomplished before they turned in their drafts to be graded. After looking at the feedback, I started to see some patterns develop. The students tended to focus on the aspects of the revising process they felt they could accomplish. These students tended to focus on the the elements of the feedback that could be considered the most objective, giving them a sense of control.
Read the results section to see what first-year composition students felt they could accomplish.
Read the results section to see what first-year composition students felt they could accomplish.