Research Motivation

As I sit here pondering and designing a pedagogical research proposal, I find myself wrestling with my (so far) limited experience within English 101 classrooms on our campus. Or, perhaps, a better way of putting it, I struggle approaching this without the experience of a static English 101 class roster to provide an overarching perspective upon which to build a useful pedagogical research design. It has been invaluable to work with many classes, but I have found it difficult to narrow down a specific research avenue that would benefit this type of curriculum on the whole.

I really like how the current curriculum prizes the ability to move from medium to medium. As we help to prepare first-year students for their journey through this institution, I think that it is really important to instill the tenets of adaptability and self-driven discovery when approaching new tasks, disciplines, projects, or whatever else the university might require of them. However, I also notice that there seems to be a cognitive disconnect between the works that we ask students to do across mediums and their recognition of this work as a tool for tackling the rest of their education. It feels as though this insecurity or disconnect arises from the eclectic and fast-paced nature of the curriculum – we jump from literacy narrative to the poster, from private work to partner work, from poster to web text, and we still expect them to be able to synthesize the tools used across these projects into a more-or-less singular educational tool belt that can carry them through their time at Western and beyond.

I am curious how the presence of a singular text to return to throughout the quarter could ground these concepts within the already solid and existent framework of the curriculum. By returning to something static, we could apply the concepts of genre, medium, style, etc. to this central piece while still facilitating the exploration of several mediums and forms of literacy. While there is plenty of reading to be done in the existing curriculum, I feel like a short work, a piece of flash fiction, or, even, a singular outstanding paragraph to return to could be grounding. This would hopefully provide a piece for the future English majors to enjoy, a common element for all in the class to return to, and a source of inspiration for Humanity majors and STEM majors alike in this strange and nebulous English 101 classroom in which we find ourselves.

Possible Sources

I am still thinking, gathering, and working through my sources for research. There are several scholars that we have already used that I plan on revisiting such as Peter Elbow. As well, I am curious to go through Joanne Addison’s work and the article that is available for our final reflective annotated bibliography, “Narrative as Method and Methodology in Socially Progressive Research.” Although it is centered on the construction of an introductory literature course, I am hoping to include information from an article by Gillian Steinberg titled, “Literature and Influence: A New Model for Introductory Literature Courses,” as well. I plan on continuing to peruse the journals that we have used so far to continue my search for critical sources in order to build this pedagogical research design.

Research Process/Data Gathering/Analysis Methods

The data gathering and analysis methods are the areas where I feel as though I need the most guidance. While I think that this idea could be particularly useful in our English 101 curriculum, I struggle a bit with the construction of it as a piece of pedagogical research. It seems to me that the information gleaned from an experiment like this would be the most useful anecdotally across several quarters. Given the construction of my teaching schedule, I don’t have the liberty to approach this repeatedly and on such a large scale.

At the same time, I don’t want this research project to involve an exorbitant amount of extra work for the students. I envision this addition to the curriculum as something that opens new avenues, and I am concerned that the data gathering necessary for an analysis will ultimately discourage and stymie students’ engagement with the central text that I am proposing. I am curious if some very short quizzes throughout the quarter that relate to the students’ conceptions of the core concepts of the class from day one to the final day could illuminate the effectiveness of including a central text. In talking to David about this project, he brought us a method used in ESL courses where the students begin by creating a list of things that they are uncomfortable with or don’t understand, and, then, at the end of the course, they are given that same list and are able to see the progress in mechanics and understanding they have made through the program. I think that this tactic could be modified for the task at hand.

In its current state, I picture assigning this central text before the first day of class. Along with their writing practices letter to the instructor, the first day would also include a really brief quiz/response sheet that asks some basic questions about medium, literacy, and form that is in conversation with the required reading. From then on, as we approach each varied project, there would be a small worksheet and discussion that brings the class back to the static, more familiar piece before moving out into new forms of genre. These worksheets or quizzes (the terminology for them is still fluid) would be low stakes and stand in on some days as an easy way to take attendance, but they would also provide the data that I need to gather in order to see the efficacy of including a central text within this particular curriculum. Hopefully, this data will point to a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the core concepts of the curriculum at the end of the quarter. If anything, it will be interesting to see if this addition inspires engagement from students across different interest areas, or, if it functions more as an extra, disliked piece of work that they must suffer through.