Accessing Academic Discourse: The
Influence of First-Year Composition
Students’ Prior Genre Knowledge
University of Tennessee
Mary Jo Reiff *
Bill Doyle
University of Washington
Anis Bawarshi *
Cathryn Cabral
Sergio Casillas
Rachel Goldberg
Jennifer Halpin
Megan Kelly
Melanie Kill
Shannon Mondor
Angela Rounsaville
* Indicates presenter
Main Research Questions
• What genres (written, oral, digital) do students already
know when they arrive in first-year composition
courses?
• How do students use their prior genre knowledge when
writing new genres for first-year composition courses?
• What factors contribute to how and why students
transform prior genre knowledge into new genre
knowledge?
• To what extent does this prior knowledge help or hinder
students’ ability to gain access to academic discourse?
Sub-Research Questions
• What genres do study students write most frequently?
• What genres do students write most in different
domains (school, work, other)?
• What genres overlap domains the most?
• What kinds of writing do students most/least enjoy,
and why?
• What do students consider their most/least successful
writing, and why?
• What prior writing experiences do students think will
most help them succeed in FYC?
Sub-Research Questions (con’t)
• What genres and/or strategies did students report being
reminded of for the Preliminary/Diagnostic essay?
• What genres and/or strategies did students report using
when writing the Preliminary/Diagnostic essay?
• What genres and/or strategies did students report being
reminded of for the first Major paper?
• What genres and/or strategies did students report using
when writing the first Major paper?
UT Student Sample
• Surveys distributed to 10% of all English 101: Composition I courses
(Fall 2006) or 12 randomly selected sections of 101 (N=276)
• Number of students responding to the survey: 52
• Follow-up interviews with 9 students
UW Student Sample
• Surveys distributed to all students enrolled in 33 sections English
131: Expository Writing (Fall 2006) (N=748)
• Number of students responding to the survey: 64
• Follow-up interviews with 18 students
UT Survey: What genres do students write most
frequently?
Email
1
Text Messaging
Reports
2
Email
Research Papers
3
Spoken Word
3
Text Messaging
4
Analytic Essays
4
Instant Messaging
5
Creative Writing
5
Summary
6
Research Paper
6
Personal Essay
7
Classroom Discussion
7
Notes on Reading
8
Personal Essay
Letters
9
Summary
10
Chat
Genre List
Chat
Student Self-Report
Tie in ranking
1
UW Survey: Genre Frequency
Genre
% of Respondents who
wrote genre in any
context
five-paragraph essay
95%
email
94%
lab write-up/report
92%
lecture notes
92%
compare/contrast paper 91%
argumentative essay
89%
informal presentation 89%
formal presention
89%
literary analysis
84%
instant messaging
84%
research paper
83%
book report
81%
opinion/position paper 81%
Powerpoint
80%
analysis of acad. essays 77%
reading notes
77%
social networking profile 77%
personal letter
75%
fiction
73%
creative nonfiction
72%
Genre
% of Respondents who
wrote genre in any
context
poetry
freewriting
resume
text messaging
summary
journal writing
description
evaluation paper
speech
personal narrative
blog or online journal
storytelling
business letter
online discussion board
newspaper article
blog or online journal
song lyrics
letter to the editor
web page text
web page design
72%
72%
72%
69%
69%
69%
66%
64%
64%
59%
52%
50%
50%
42%
41%
38%
34%
27%
27%
25%
Genre by Individual Domains
70
Number of Responses
60
50
40
work
school
other
30
20
10
0
Genre
Domain Overlap
70
Number of responses
60
50
Three Domains
40
Two Domains
30
One Domain
20
10
0
Genre types
Most/Least Favorite Kinds of Writing
UT
UW
Most:
Most:
Creative writing (16)
Personal writing/personal
essays/personal letters (6)
Freewriting (5)
Journaling (5)
Persuasive (4)
Research (4)
Creative writing (20)
Personal writing (11)
Freewriting (9)
Literary analysis (8)
Opinion paper (7)
Emerging technology (6)
Research papers (6)
Personal letter (5)
Argument paper (5)
Least:
Creative writing (16)
Research papers (14)
Analytical (6)
Reports (6)
Least:
Literary analysis (14)
Creative writing (12)
Five-paragraph essay (6)
Essays (6)
Compare/contrast (4)
Research papers (4)
Most/Least Successful Kinds of Writing
UT
UW
Most:
Most:
Research paper (19)
Analysis (6)
Creative writing (5)
Essays (4)
Speeches (3)
Don’t know (3)
Creative writing (12)
Research paper (8)
Exam-based writing (7)
Literary analysis (6)
Argument paper (3)
Personal writing (3)
Presentation (3)
Public writing (3)
Least:
Poetry (11)
Research papers (8)
Not sure (8)
Timed/in-class (6)
Analysis (4)
Papers-general (4)
Reports (3)
Freewrite (2)
Least:
Creative writing (9)
Exam-based writing (7)
Essays (6)
Research papers (4)
Literary analysis (4)
Personal writing (3)
Report (3)
Five-paragraph essay (2)
What high school writing experiences (if any) do you
think will help you to succeed in FYC?
UT
High school writing/Genres (16)
High school writing courses (9)
AP Courses (8)
Writing frequency in the past (7)
Influential writing teachers (5)
Exposure to diff. kinds of writing (4)
Not well-prepared (4)
Writing center help (2)
Over-prepared (1)
Writing tips (get point across, don’t
use fancy diction, start early,
develop ideas, be open-minded to
feedback)
UW
Experiences writing diff. genres (22)
Skills, strategies, & conventions (11)
Experience in AP & college prep (11)
Whole experience of H.S. (6)
Influence of teachers (5)
Experience with writing process (2)
Writing frequency in H.S. (2)
Genres Reminded of and Drawn on for
UW Preliminary Essay
Genres Reminded Of:
Genres Drawn On:
AP literature exam/essay (4)
Book review (3)
Opinion paper (2)
Personal essay/narrative (2)
School essays (2)
Analysis paper
Evaluation paper
Informal essays
Religion class essays
College admissions prompt
Scholarship essay
Research paper
Five-paragraph essay
Literary analysis
Book report
Timed essays
“Diagnostic” writing
AP History
SAT test/prep
Debate
AP literary analysis (2)
Letter writing (2)
Analysis
Argumentative essay
Opinion paper
Five-paragraph essay
Book review
Religion class essays
“Pointless” essays
Creative writing
Scholarship essay
Essay format
Non-fiction
Fiction
AP test
AP History
Genres and Strategies
• “Uhm, just like a general book review, uhm, like you do like in a typical
standard uhm, you know, literature class in high school, you know, like
in American literature class”
• “You read a book, analyze it, you know, write a five-paragraph essay
about, you know, a theme or a symbol or something specific about the
book and then you know. . . . uhm, so just, it seemed pretty standard.”
• “Uhm, it reminded me of a personal narrative, because the question in
the prompt was asking you to draw on your experience. Uhm, and I
have written, in high school I wrote a lot of personal narrative type
things for scholarships, I applied for a lot of scholarships….”
• “. . . . uhm, you know, like introductions, like I had never used like a
road map before…. Uhm, the objection and response, I had never
done that before.”
•“So I remember the second prompt, uhm, I just thought a lot of my AP
classes, especially the history ones where definitely they ask you to
come up with a stance and to defend it”
•“And one of the things that I always did when analyzing my quotes is, I
use a quote and then two sentences analysis, at least two sentences, if
not more. . . .”
From Genres to Strategies
Preliminary Essay
Genres Reminded
of:
28
Strategies Reminded
of:
Genres Used:
17
18
(6/14 students reported no
strategies)
Strategies used:
23
(3/14 students
reported no strategies)
Major Paper
Genres
Reminded of:
25
Strategies Reminded
of:
28
(6/18 students reported no
strategies)
Genres Used:
62
Strategies used:
101
“NOT” Genres
• “Just because the claim changed it and it is not a five paragraph essay
anymore, it is different, different style and so”
• “Yeah, it was not like literary analysis but uhm, like just how to make
my argument like clear and not like ambiguous or anything like that”
• “Uhm, well the prompt was kind of on the lines of, if you were writing a
review about a chosen topic, and I chose uhm, the man in my
basement by I think Mosley, Walter Mosley. So I wrote it kind of in a
new format so not particularly essay, but I put in like the kind of review
aspect for like, this author wrote these books before, you know, like
kind of giving a background of the author, but more then I would in an
essay.”
• “I never written a paper like this before really, uhm, I wrote a term
paper in my junior year, uhm, about a novel, but I mean that was a lot
different because she gave us a paper about what every paragraph
was supposed to be like…. I guess it made it a little harder just
because like my term paper was based on one work, one like a book,
and then this was based on four main things. So I kind of used the
same strategy a little bit, uhm, just when you are doing it on one book
it is easier to focus because you only, you are only drawing from one
thing, but uhm, here I had to kind of integrate it more”
From Genres to Not Genres
Preliminary Essay
Genres NOT
Reminded of:
7/14
Strategies Reminded
of:
Genres NOT Used:
Strategies used:
17
1/14
23
students reported
NOT genres
students reported
NOT genres
Major Paper
Genres NOT
Reminded of:
9/18
students reported
NOT genres
Strategies Reminded
of:
28
Genres NOT Used:
Strategies used:
5/18
101
students reported
NOT genres