Waking Dormant Researchers: Student Co-Research as Writing Research Methodology and Pedagogy

Abstract

This thesis explores the ways that students took up writing researcher skills, knowledges, and identities through a teacher-student co-research investigation of writing in an online writing research course. The following questions guided this study:• How did literate activity occur in an online Composition as Critical Inquiry Course?• What writing research skills, knowledges, and identities did the students take up and demonstrate as they participated in a co-research project?The study also examined the efficacy of co-research as a methodology and pedagogy.Chapter 1 reviews literature from the relevant English studies fields. Central topics include the rationale for writing research pedagogies, an exploration of co-research (the primary methodology for this project), and an overview of online writing courses (OWCs).Chapter 2 describes the methods and methodologies used in this study. It begins with a rationale and description of the course that served as the site of the co-research investigation followed by a description of the methods used in the study. For the first research question, the students were invited to investigate literate activity in our OWC and report their findings in journal articles. For the second research question, four students participated in a focus group where they were asked to describe the writing research skills, knowledges, and identities they developed during the course.Chapter 3 presents results and discussion related to the first research question.Findings from six student co-research projects are presented along with a discussion of the affordances and limitations of each co-researchers' work.Chapter 4 presents results and discussion related to the second research question.Students took up an awareness of genres/contexts, research methods, and self-knowledge.This chapter also examines the extent to which the students took up conscious writing researcher identities. The thesis concludes with recommendations about co-research as methodology and pedagogy. WAKING DORMANT RESEARCHERS: STUDENT CO-RESEARCH AS WRITING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY ANGELA R. SHEETS WAKING DORMANT RESEARCHERS: STUDENT CO-RESEARCH AS WRITING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY ANGELA R. SHEETS COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Joyce R. Walker, Chair Bob Broad i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As my co-researcher Wes points out in his study, writing is never a solo sport.With that in mind, I would like to acknowledge the support and help of several people who helped make this thesis project possible.First, I owe a great deal of gratitude to Dr. Joyce Walker for both her scholarship and her support as a mentor on this project. Thank you for equipping me with both the framework and opportunity I needed to set this project in motion. I don't think I can ever un-be the person I became when I crossed the CHAT threshold.I am also deeply indebted to Dr. Bob Broad. Thank you for assigning the readings that got me started thinking about co-research in the first place and for your calming assistance through the IRB process.A few colleagues that I c...