Wjstegemoller dissertation uiuc 2009

LATINO STUDENTS AND BILITERACY AT A UNIVERSITY: LITERACY HISTORIES, AGENCY, AND WRITING William Jason Stegemoller, Ph. College of Education University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009 Georgia García, Adviser This qualitative study examines the writing and writing experiences of six bilingual (Spanish-English), immigrant university students. Immigrant students are a growing segment of university populations, but explicit/implicit language policies often overlook their unique characteristics and needs. The study draws on the continua of biliteracy model (Hornberger, 1989; Hornberger & Sklton-Sylvester, 2000) as well as concepts of language as dialogic (Bakhtin, 1986) to understand and theorize participants’ writing and writing experiences.

It uses a constructivist paradigm (Mertens, 1998), combining narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) with aspects of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Data sources included 40 hours of interviews (18 literacy history and 12 text-based interviews), and over 100 pages of student writing (from high school, university freshman composition courses, courses from students’ majors, scholarship essays, creative writing, and Spanish writing), and documents including syllabi and assignment sheets. Following Ivanic’s framework, data analysis centered on the participants’ “autobiographical selves” (1998), with a focus on literacy histories, writing and writing experiences in the university, and the participants’ understandings of themselves. A constellation of factors in the students’ literacy histories informed their experiences with language and literacy: subtractive and additive educational environments, age of arrival to the United States, education in the home language, quality of high school experiences, and socioeconomic status.

The concept of mediated agency (Wertsch, Tulviste & Hagstrom, 1993) was used to conceptualize participants’ acts of “going against the grain” or accommodating the university context in their writing. The university context was often seen as challenging for some of the participants, but some contexts, Latina/Latino Studies courses and an African-American Studies course, were particularly inviting for three of the six participants. In such inviting contexts, the participants experimented more with expressing their cultural identities, or with using Spanish in their writing. The majority of the participants drew on rich social support networks as they engaged in academic writing, and chose not to utilize the university writing center.

The participants connected to writing politically (by referencing the Latino community and activism), safely (by avoiding sharing certain aspects of their identities, choosing neutral topics, and topics that met perceived expectations), and personally (by referencing personal experiences and stories). The participants developed stances toward writing that grew out of their literacy histories by: (a) seeking healing, (b) taking risks, and (c) overcoming obstacles. The participants showed ways in which their experiences developing as writers continued in the university. The participants’ writing developed in that they: (a) asserted identities in writing, (b) took risks to express previously withheld aspects of their identities, and (c) negotiated how to relate their identities to the university context.

Major implications of the study focus on the importance of understanding the complexity of immigrant students’ experiences and the nuances of bilingualism. Maintenance of the first language is important from a young age and may have lasting effects into college. Home literacy instruction in the first language may play a role in downplaying the negative effects of a subtractive environment at school. Furthermore, students’ home languages can be a resource that they draw on in the university as they develop their academic writing in English.

Immigrant students who have experienced racism and linguistic chauvinism can benefit from explicitly safe spaces to explore these issues and it may help them develop as writers. It is important to learn more about students’ use of social networks and build them into university support services. © 2009 William Jason Stegemoller LATINO STUDENTS AND BILITERACY AT A UNIVERSITY: LITERACY HISTORIES, AGENCY, AND WRITING BY WILLIAM JASON STEGEMOLLER B., Indiana University at Bloomington, 1993 M., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1999 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Secondary and Continuing Education in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Georgia E. García, Chair Professor Thomas A.

Schwandt Professor Frederick G. Davidson Associate Professor Paul A. Prior ABSTRACT This qualitative study examines the writing and writing experiences of six bilingual (Spanish-English), immigrant university students. Immigrant students are a growing segment of university populations, but explicit/implicit language policies often overlook their unique characteristics and needs.

The study draws on the continua of biliteracy model (Hornberger, 1989; Hornberger & Sklton-Sylvester, 2000) as well as concepts of language as dialogic (Bakhtin, 1986) to understand and theorize students’ writing and writing experiences. It uses a constructivist paradigm (Mertens, 1998), combining narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) with aspects of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Data sources included 40 hours of interviews (18 literacy history and 12 text-based interviews), more than 100 pages of student writing (from high school, university freshman composition courses, courses from participants’ majors, scholarship essays, creative writing, and Spanish writing), and documents including syllabi and assignment sheets. Following Ivanic’s framework, data analysis centered on the participants’ “autobiographical selves” (1998), with a focus on literacy histories, writing and writing experiences in the university, and the participants’ understandings of themselves.

A constellation of factors in the participants’ literacy histories informed their experiences with language and literacy: subtractive and additive educational environments, age of arrival to the United States, education in the home language, quality of high school experiences, and socioeconomic status. The concept of mediated agency (Wertsch, Tulviste & Hagstrom, 1993) was used to conceptualize participants’ acts of “going against the grain” or accommodating the university context in their writing. The ii university context was often seen as challenging for some of the participants, but some contexts, Latina/Latino Studies courses and an African-American Studies course, were particularly inviting for three of the six participants. In such inviting contexts, the participants experimented more with expressing their cultural identities, or with using Spanish in their writing.

The majority of the participants drew on rich social support networks as they engaged in academic writing, and chose not to utilize the university writing center. The participants connected to writing politically (by referencing the Latino community and activism), safely (by avoiding sharing certain aspects of their identities, choosing neutral topics, and topics that met perceived expectations), and personally (by referencing personal experiences and stories). The participants developed stances toward writing that grew out of their literacy histories by: (a) seeking healing, (b) taking risks, and (c) overcoming obstacles. The participants showed ways in which their experiences developing as writers continued in the university.

The participants’ writing developed in that they: (a) asserted identities in writing, (b) took risks to express previously withheld aspects of their identities, and (c) negotiated how to relate their identities to the university context. Major implications of the study focus on the importance of understanding the complexity of immigrant students’ experiences and the nuances of bilingualism. Maintenance of the first language is important from a young age and may have lasting effects into college. Home literacy instruction in the first language may play a role in downplaying the iii negative effects of a subtractive environment at school.

Furthermore, students’ home languages can be a resource that they draw on in the university as they develop their academic writing in English. Immigrant students who have experienced racism and linguistic chauvinism can benefit from explicitly safe spaces to explore these issues and it may help them develop as writers. It is important to learn more about students’ use of social networks and build them into university support services. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As I wrote this dissertation about bilingual, immigrant students developing as writers in the university, my aim was to explore their literacy histories and how they interrelate with their writing and writing experiences in the university context.

As I engaged in that process, I occasionally discerned parallels between the participants’ experiences and my own. Once such parallel was the importance of support networks. Like the students in my study, I benefited from the support of many people, and this study would not have been possible without them. Many thanks to my academic adviser and dissertation chair, Dr.

I am grateful for the time and energy that Dr. García invested in mentoring me, and in helping me shape my research. I deeply appreciate her guidance and support that always pushed me toward the highest standards in research. I also express my gratitude to my doctoral committee: Dr.

Prior, and Dr. I appreciate the unique perspectives that each of the members of my committee provided, and the important ways that each of them challenged me and encouraged me. I would also like to thank the students who participated in my study: Cristina, Diana, Diego, Jenny, Maria, and Nicolas. I was changed by the experience of knowing and working with each of my participants.

I was moved by the trust and honesty that characterized my participants’ interactions with me. I would also like to express my gratitude to the university offices and individuals I worked with at those offices who assisted me in recruiting participants for my study. v I also want to acknowledge the people I worked with in writing groups as I wrote this dissertation: Marcia Buell, Lara Handsfield, Holly Middleton, Young-Kyung Min, as well as Yu-Ming Cheng, and Debra Erickson. Everyone in these writing groups provided invaluable personal and professional support and inspiration.

I would also like to express my gratitude to fellow doctoral students with whom I shared many struggles and triumphs on our paths: Joyce Bezdizeck, Jolyn Blank, Gregory Cheatham, Helena Hall, Angela López-Velásquez, Teresa Mendez-Bray, Raúl Mora Velez, Claudia Petty. And also thanks to my family and many friends who always provided support, love, and encouragement throughout this long process. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.ix CHAPTER 1 PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.1 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 26 Summary of Literature Review.

94 Organization of Findings.110 Pre-university Experiences With Language, Literacy, and Education. 115 University Writing Experiences: Struggle, Boundaries, Blurred Boundaries.142 Academic Writing at the University: Identity and Transformation.177 Summary of Findings.219 CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, AND IMPLICATIONS. 228 Discussion of the Findings. 281 Limitations of the Study.

293 APPENDIX A CRISTINA’S WRITING.306 APPENDIX B DIANA’S WRITING.318 vii APPENDIX C DIEGO’S WRITING. 321 APPENDIX D JENNY’S WRITING.331 APPENDIX E MARIA’S WRITING.334 APPENDIX F NICOLAS’S WRITING.340 APPENDIX G QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENT PARTICIPANTS.344 APPENDIX H STUDENT INTERVIEWS.351 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Undergraduate Enrollment by Racial/Ethnic Category at the University and Percentage of State Population by Racial/Ethnic Category. 80 2 Percentage of University Undergraduates and State Populations That Is Foreign-Born in 2005. 87 4 Writing Discussed During Text-Based Interviews.

93 6 Coding Examples: Immigration Stories.101 7 Coding Examples: Pre-University Stories.102 8 Coding Examples: University Writing Stories.103 9 Example of Themes in Text-Based Interviews.105 10 Self-reported Spanish Abilities. 116 11 Self-reported English Abilities.116 12 High School Contexts.130 13 Transfer and Second Language Issues in Two of Cristina’s Course Papers.159 ix CHAPTER 1 PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The majority of research on English language learners (ELLs) and bilingual students in post-secondary contexts has focused on international students who usually have fairly limited exposure to life in the U., are generally well educated, and are relatively financially secure (Harklau, Losey, & Sigeal, 1999). For the most part, these students return to their home countries after they complete their studies in the U. However, according to Harklau, Losey, and Siegal (1999), large numbers of students in various stages of acquiring English are graduating from U.

high schools and continuing their education in U. colleges and universities. These students are immigrants, refugees, and children of immigrants who often have diverse educational histories. Harklau and Siegal (2009) note that it is extremely difficult to estimate the number of students who speak languages other than English in U.

higher education because colleges and universities do not routinely collect this type of information. A study by Caps, Fix, Murray, Ost, Passel, and Herwantoro (2005) estimated that 19% of secondary school students are immigrants or U.-born children of immigrants.