UROP Proposal/ Summer Job

My job this summer is as a writing tutor/TA for a class of "at risk" students taking a transition course from High School to the U of U. And the second part of my job is that I am receiving research funding to look at this class. Since I am miserable at explaining what I am doing, I decided just to upload the beginning of the research proposal I wrote (it's six pages in total, but who wants to read the whole thing? Not even me lol). Read it if you want to, the introduction is probably the most interesting part, so you might just want to stop there :)

Whitney Wallace
University Writing Center
20 April 2009
In the Writing Center: Peer-to-Peer Interaction and Multimodality
Introduction and Background
Usually, the word “literacy” centers on the idea of language and means the ability to read and write. However, recent developments in composition and New Literacy studies suggest that the meaning of “literacy” encompasses more than just the written word. This alternate definition of literacy aligns the word with a broader idea of communication; it stipulates that information can be shared, modified, and created through several “modes” of communication including visual image, sound, architecture, and artifact. All these different modes of creating meaning are interconnected. As Kress writes, “Nearly every text that I look at uses two modes of communication: (a) language as writing and (b) image” (337). What’s more, literacy signifies not only linguistic skills but also mastering the social practices that accompany them. Many scholars suggest “social, political and economic power is closely associated with access to and knowledge of certain literacies” (Archer 450). Literacies are therefore understood as socially situated, contested and multiple (Gee; Hull and Nelson; New London Group).
The intellectual culture that dominates America today nevertheless still privileges the written mode of communication. Unfortunately by privileging one mode over another, a power structure is created (Street; Smitherman & Villanueva). Since mainstream American education normally does not utilize a variety of composition modes, some students-- usually students of color-- are left behind because their community cultures privilege other modes and pedagogies (Kress and Jewitt). Because of this hierarchy, some students have trouble identifying what constitutes literate action in academic settings. This inhibits equal access to education.
As a consultant at the Writing Center on campus, I see the lack of educational equality as a problem when I work with students who struggle with academic writing. Multimodality, or the use of several modes of communication in composition, may be a way to alleviate this problem and establish a more equal educational system. By recognizing the interconnectedness of modes and showing them in the development of academic composition, students may better understand and access academic writing. With this research project, I intend to investigate the ways multimodal composition pedagogies might be applied within writing center contexts. I am especially interested in how they might limit or facilitate peer-to-peer interactions and how this might be applied within writing center contexts.
Research Description and Timeline
I will conduct my research during the summer of 2009, specifically from June 25 through August 5 by observing and tutoring a class of Upward Bound students at the University of Utah. The Writing Program provides curriculum for the Upward Bound program in the form of a bridge course for “low-income, first-generation” college students entering the University from high school. Sundy Watanabe, the University Writing Center Director, will teach this course (Academic Writing and Thinking 1005) employing the practice of multimodality by assigning the students to create films as part of their composition course assignments. My research methods will be ethnographic in the sense that I will be an observant participant at the site; I will observe the class twice weekly at the regular class times, and I will also spend at least two hours in interactive, peer-to-peer consultation with the students.
Within the writing lab time, I will examine how my tutoring strategies adapt to working with the visual mode of film in addition to working with the mode of writing. Also, I will pay attention to the changes in behavior and communication on the part of the students and myself while working with these two modes. Within the class observations, I intend to examine how the students’ relationships develop with their peers in relation to working with multimodality. Does either mode of film or writing encourage students to interact more readily with each other or with me as a tutor? How do students explain writing concepts to each other when working in specific modes? Are composition strategies explained differently in the two modes? Does one explanation make more sense to the students than another? And how can this data be applied to tutoring strategies used in a Writing Center consultation?
I anticipate that I will tutor students’ writings and films using the same techniques and vocabulary despite the different modes. In most cases when I tutor academic writing, I currently discuss prewriting strategies such as outlining and thesis forming, and, depending on what I perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the writing, I emphasize the importance of well-supported arguments, word choice, and transitions. In the students’ films I expect to talk about evidence, argument, imagery, and thesis in the same manner. I expect that students will become accustomed to literary jargon, but the abstract ideas will be connected to visual concepts; for example the idea of transition. In writing, transition words are used to relate paragraphs and arguments, in film the transitions are between scenes, such as fading from one and into another. This I believe sets a visual to the idea of what transition in writing means thereby demystifying the idea for the students. If my supposition is correct, I believe the Upward Bound students will be more successful writers in this class and will be better prepared for their university careers.
Also, if these multimodal tutoring strategies work, I believe they may be employed in the Writing Center for the benefit of other students. Most of my colleagues at the Writing Center, like myself, rely on concepts we have learned in mainstream English and writing classes to explain writing strategies. But, as I mentioned above, we aren’t able to help adequately all students while using these same old tricks. If we can apply better visual metaphors to explain concepts like transition, or if we can actually use film clips to show these ideas, I believe we can better serve university students of all backgrounds.