Journal of Basic Writing

 

Volume 22 Issue 2, Fall 2003

 

Table of Contents

 

 

 

Journal of Basic Writing

 

Abstracts, volume 22 Issue 2, fall 2003

 

Hannah Ashley and Katy Lynn

Ventriloquism 001:  How to Throw Your Voice in the Academy

This article sketches an operationalization of Bakhtinian voicing theory—a practical method of reading that we call "hearing voices."  It also connects this method to service learning and other pedagogies that invite "private" voices into the classroom.  Reported discourse is at the center of the technique, and we suggest that its significance relates to the types of speakers students are allowed to report and what they are reported as saying. Therefore, a taxonomy for categorizing reported discourse is offered—popular, scholarly and private reported voices.  A reading of one student paper is presented, where focusing on reported discourse allows us to hear the different discourses around racism which emerge and the ways that the student gives voice to them and to herself in relation to them.  We conclude by suggesting further ways to integrate "hearing voices" into the basic writing classroom.

 

Thomas Peele and Mary Ellen Ryder

Belief Spaces and the Resistant Writer:  Queer Space in the Contact Zone

In this essay we offer a method of textual analysis that we call the identification of belief spaces. The concept of belief spaces is adapted from work in linguistics on mental spaces.  Belief spaces are represented in a student’s text by phrases such as "I think that" or "for many people today." In the first example, the belief space represented is the writer’s; this is signaled by her inclusion of the pronoun "I." In the second example, the belief space represented is that of "many people"; whether the writer belongs to the belief space or not is unclear. We contend that one of the problems in student essays is ambiguity; the reader can’t be sure what the writer is trying to convey. Further, we argue that one way to reduce ambiguity in student essays is to teach students how to identify the belief spaces in their texts. We use the concept of belief spaces to discuss an ambiguous essay written by a student on the subject of gay men. We also provide a copy of the assignment that we use to teach the concept of belief spaces to basic writing students so that they can use this method as a tool for revision.

 

Laurel L. Bower

Student Reflection and Critical Thinking: A Rhetorical Analysis of 88 Portfolio Cover Letters

This research is an analysis of 88 first-year portfolio cover letters from the Spring 2000 English 102 Program Assessment at the University of Nevada, Reno.  This analysis focuses on what these students viewed as the rhetorical purposes of cover letters. The goal of this study was to apply the theories of Aristotle, Toulmin, and Burke to these letters to analyze their appellate, argumentative, and performative nature.  The results of the study suggest that, while a majority of the student writers reviewed what they had learned, offered support for portfolio choices, and supplied information about learning, they did not often reach a level that demonstrated metacognitive ability by examining assumptions about writing and thinking.  It is possible that the genre of the portfolio cover letter and its role in reflection need to be reexamined and redefined.

Paul Kei Matsuda     

Basic Writing and Second Language Writers: Toward an Inclusive Definition

Defining basic writers is becoming increasingly complex as the linguistic and cultural diversity of the college student population continues to intensify. Because the definition of basic writers influences whose needs are considered and whose needs are not, it is important to examine how basic writers are conceptualized in the disciplinary practices of basic writing. This historical article documents how the presence of second language writers has been reflected—or not reflected—in the definition of basic writers over the last four decades and highlights the importance of defining basic writers in ways that include all students who are subject to the disciplinary and instructional practices of basic writing.

 

Sugie Goen and Helen Gillotte-Tropp

Integrating Reading and Writing: A Response to the Basic Writing “Crisis”

This article describes a FIPSE-funded integrated reading/writing program developed at San Francisco State University in response to the latest basic writing “crisis.”  After noting the theoretical and practical necessity for integrating reading and writing, the authors provide a detailed account of the program and report on its first year of implementation. They conclude by offering some valuable lessons learned from this experience.