Reading the reader through raciolinguistic ideologies: An investigation of the evidence students present in self- placement

• Published in: Assessing writing Vol. 59; p. 100792
• Main Author: Burke Reifman, Jennifer
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Equity; Raciolinguistics; Writing placement; Equity; Writing placement; Raciolinguistics
• ISSN: 1075-2935; 1873-5916
• DOI: 10.1016/j.asw.2023.100792

This article examines a student-centered placement process where matriculating students could write a short, reflective paper to advocate for a new placement. While research describing student writing used in placement processes is often concerned with 1) a student’s ability to accurately articulate their abilities and 2) the perceived validity of a reader evaluating the work, this research applies a raciolinguistic lens (Flores & Rosa, 2015) to understand how students’ perceptions of language appropriateness mediate their self-assessments. Using the raciolinguistic framework to understand types of evidence, this article details how students create and write to a faculty reader during writing produced for placement, paying special attention to the ways in which white supremacist language ideologies are enacted for the benefit of the imagined listening subject/reader. •In writing for placement, students construct an imagined reader who holds particular values.•The imagined reader is concerned with features associated with White Mainstream English.•Analyzing the imagined reader reveals students’ orientations to power, race, and language.•Student writing is mediated through white supremacist conceptions of language and power.•Faculty readers should be attentive to the way students develop raciolinguistic appeals.