The Power of Personal Connection for Undergraduate Student Writers

• Published in: Research in the teaching of English Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 320 - 339
• Main Authors: Eodice, Michele, Geller, Anne Ellen, Lerner, Neal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Urbana National Council of Teachers of English 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Academic discourse; Beliefs; College students; Communication; Curricula; Higher education; Learner Engagement; Learning; Literacy; Pedagogy; Researchers; Respondents; Student Surveys; Student writing; Studies; Teaching; Undergraduate Students; Writing Across the Curriculum; Writing instruction; Writing processes; New York; United States > US
• ISSN: 0034-527X; 1943-2348
• DOI: 10.58680/rte201930141

In our research study, the Meaningful Writing Project, over one third of our 707 respondents indicated that a writing project was meaningful when they were able to make what we describe as a personal connection. Based on analysis of this subset of responses, we offer a student-driven construct of what makes writing meaningful to undergraduates: Meaningful writing assignments allow students to make and extend personal connections to their experiences or histories, their social relationships, and/or subjects and topics for writing. We agree with other researchers that writing instruction in higher education has been dominated by assignment of transactional tasks in service to the mastery of academic discourse. We suggest embracing an orientation to student writing and the processes of writing that would truly capitalize on the experiences, beliefs, and aspirations students bring to their learning. By valuing the personal connections students make through writing, and designing instruction that makes such connections possible, we can engage an expansive frame for learning and writing that invites and sustains undergraduate students’ agency and identity in higher education.