Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

In this qualitative study, the researcher sought to understand what factors impact the transfer of lower division academic writing abilities (Yancy, Robertson, & Tarzak , 2014) to upper division discipline specific course work. Learning to write academically requires learning to use rhetorical genres (accepted practices of organizing and presenting knowledge) and discourse (language used to convey knowledge within a community) of a new discipline (Hyland, 2006). Moreover, as future teachers, these students must adapt their discourse practices to a wide range of social contexts. As students learned about and engaged in the process of writing in a new genre, what resources aid students in their writing development? Data collected for this longitudinal study of 5 classes over 3 semesters includes: 5 post-draft metacognitive reflections written over the course of each semester. Following Negretti’s (2012) analytical schema for evaluating metacognition in written communication, preliminary findings of this on-going research reveal that the quality of the learning community may facilitate access to transfer of writing skills.