Two-Year College Teacher-Scholar-Activism: Reconstructing the Disciplinary Matrix of Writing Studies

Abstract

Two-year college faculty have begun articulating a teacher-scholar-activist professional identity. After tracing the emergence of this concept and calls for solidarity in two-year college writing studies, we draw on two case studies to advocate for cross-sector disciplinary alliances that expand educational opportunity, improve professional equity, and advance social justice.

Institutional Thinking From Thirdspace: A Case Study of Interactional Inquiry into 2YC Student Learning Outcomes

“…If we apply Phelps and Ackerman's (2010) definitional lens for determining disciplinarity, then we can describe the profession of two-year college writing studies as aspirational and incomplete-well established enough to have decades of peer-reviewed scholarship and participation in scholarly activities, such as regional and national conferences, but missing from the sustained attention graduate education provides and, thus, the professionalization in institutional norms and methods of professional regulation (including but not limited to scholarly engagement, faculty collaborative mentoring, and professional service). In fact, we suspect the false dichotomy of "researcher versus teacher"-one teacher-scholar and teacher-scholar-activist movements have aimed to disrupt (Andelora 2005(Andelora , 2013Toth, Sullivan, and Calhoon-Dillahunt 2019)-reinforces the fallacy that two-year college writing instructors "just teach." In this way, "just teaching" most often means working outside of a research setting, regardless of what research, assessment, or advocacy the faculty member who "just teaches" does, thereby suppressing membership and ownership over disciplinary and professional conversations-both by ourselves and by our four-year colleagues.…”

“I've Never Been a Good Writer”: Disrupting Raciolinguistically Marginalized Students’ Negative Writerly Self-Image

“…If we apply Phelps and Ackerman's (2010) definitional lens for determining disciplinarity, then we can describe the profession of two-year college writing studies as aspirational and incomplete-well established enough to have decades of peer-reviewed scholarship and participation in scholarly activities, such as regional and national conferences, but missing from the sustained attention graduate education provides and, thus, the professionalization in institutional norms and methods of professional regulation (including but not limited to scholarly engagement, faculty collaborative mentoring, and professional service). In fact, we suspect the false dichotomy of "researcher versus teacher"-one teacher-scholar and teacher-scholar-activist movements have aimed to disrupt (Andelora 2005(Andelora , 2013Toth, Sullivan, and Calhoon-Dillahunt 2019)-reinforces the fallacy that two-year college writing instructors "just teach." In this way, "just teaching" most often means working outside of a research setting, regardless of what research, assessment, or advocacy the faculty member who "just teaches" does, thereby suppressing membership and ownership over disciplinary and professional conversations-both by ourselves and by our four-year colleagues.…”

Afterword: Considering the Conversation

“…If we apply Phelps and Ackerman's (2010) definitional lens for determining disciplinarity, then we can describe the profession of two-year college writing studies as aspirational and incomplete-well established enough to have decades of peer-reviewed scholarship and participation in scholarly activities, such as regional and national conferences, but missing from the sustained attention graduate education provides and, thus, the professionalization in institutional norms and methods of professional regulation (including but not limited to scholarly engagement, faculty collaborative mentoring, and professional service). In fact, we suspect the false dichotomy of "researcher versus teacher"-one teacher-scholar and teacher-scholar-activist movements have aimed to disrupt (Andelora 2005(Andelora , 2013Toth, Sullivan, and Calhoon-Dillahunt 2019)-reinforces the fallacy that two-year college writing instructors "just teach." In this way, "just teaching" most often means working outside of a research setting, regardless of what research, assessment, or advocacy the faculty member who "just teaches" does, thereby suppressing membership and ownership over disciplinary and professional conversations-both by ourselves and by our four-year colleagues.…”