Reiff and Bawarshi's study of knowledge transfer or transformation in FYC provided insight to what genre knowledge students draw on and different approaches they might take in doing so. This is particularly important information for me since I will teach first year writing. When reading this, I thought back to my experience in English 102, my first writing course at Boise State, and tried to remember what my understanding of genre was and how (and if) I adapted to a novice role. I couldn't remember anything valuable, though, since we did not experiment with genre in that class (everything was a five paragraph research paper).
I hope I have room to experiment with genre in my class. The biggest thing I learned from the study is to engage students in metacognitive reflection. By asking students what they think an assignment is asking and what previous writing assignments it reminds them of, I could disrupt "the maintenance of strict domain boundaries" the article states FYC is the perfect situation for (331). Students in FYC are reflecting on their previous writing experience while adapting to new ones, whether as boundary crossers or guarders.
I believe I started as a boundary guarder because I was very confident in my five paragraph argumentative essay and resorted to that until exposed to different genres. Honestly, I think I first became aware of genre in Engl 329, Grammar, Style and Writing. By that time, I had worked with different genres--creative nonfiction, brevity, blog, flash fiction, newsletters, memos, etc. Engl 329 was the first time I began to conceptualize myself as a multifaceted writer skilled in multiple genres.
I like the Devitt quote on page 331,
"...even after writers learn to perform within a genre, they can use the genre awareness they have learned to understand what they are doing more deeply, more purposefully, and more rhetorically."
It stood out to me because it highlights the significance of not only understanding different genres, but also the abstract process of transferring or transforming that knowledge from one genre to the next. That kind of metacognitive reflection is valuable as a writing specialist or expert communicator who has a message for many different audiences in different situations, and it points out we are always learning.
I like the definition of genre as an orienting framework that helps develop "awareness of how rhetorical conventions are meaningfully connected to social practices." (314). Genre inevitably has a social component because it is so audience centered. Because it is social, it is highly situational since social norms change. This could be a reason why even writers themselves don't always have a firm grip on genre and are always learning new ones. Like the quote mentions above, a good writer will engage in metacognitive reflection and harness the abstract and difficult process of knowledge transformation.
Hi Addie,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really thoughtful response to the article. When you get trained as a first year writing instructor, I think you'll find this as relevant as you suspect. The literature really does point to the importance of metacognitive reflection, but one of the things that has always struck me about this is how much students struggle with it. The "reflection essay" is a genre in itself, and I don't think we really know how to teach it. What I was wondering was when you have been prompted to do some metacognitive writing what was your experience? Did you know what you needed to do? Did it seem meaningful?
Dr. B,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to think about the complexity of the reflection essay because students don't always know when and how they engage in true metacognitive reflection. Writing the reflection essay for this class was even a struggle for me when thinking about how I used prior knowledge in the regenre project. I usually don't know what I need to do for metacognitive writing, but I now know to reflect on how I came to understand the assignment and what strategies and knowledge I used to complete it. I think this type of reflection is meaningful because I can incorporate the same or similar strategies for future assignments.