research report Carter

TITLE: Living inside the Bible (Belt)

AUTHOR: Shannon Carter

SOURCE: College English, 69.6 (Jul., 2007) 572-595

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:  

Can the pedagogical method of rhetorical dexterity help students use literacies that characterize their community of practice to achieve literacy in the Academy?

ANSWER TO RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

The method of rhetorical dexterity helps students to use literacies familiar to them  become literate in the university setting.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Teacher Research/Case study

KEY RELATED STUDIES: 

Amy Goodburn, Priscilla Perkins, and Lizabeth Rand on similarities between criticial positions of academia and evangelical Christians

James Paul Gee, Brian V. Street research  on the New Literacies and the nature of literacy

Lave and Wenger’s work on situated learning

Kintz’s work regarding conservative Christians

Vander Lei’s work on Religious faith in composition classrooms.

UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS: 

1) There are different varieties of literacies.

2) Literacy is a situational, social phenomenon.

3) One type of literacy is no better than another.

SUBJECTS (including how selected):

Kenishia, a Pentecostal student in Carter’s basic writing class.

METHOD OF RESEARCH (including key variables):  Teacher feedback given on the student's draft and face to face conferences.

MEASUREMENT OR ANALYTIC METHODS: Teacher comments on the subject's written drafts and face to face conferences with the student.

RESULTS: The student was able to write papers that helped her to examine the literacy of her Pentecostal community and communicate the norms of that community of practice effectively in an academic setting.

CONCLUSIONS: The method of rhetorical dexterity helped the student use the literacy of her community of practice to better master the literacy expectations of the academy.

IMPLICATIONS:

Teachers should use the pedagogy of rhetorical dexterity to help students who belong to communities of practice unrelated to the academy to use literacies familiar to them to develop literacy that is expected by the academy.

STRENGTHS OF THE STUDY:

1) Study provides extensive data about the subject.

2) The researcher is forthcoming about her own biases.

CRITIQUE OR LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY: 

Researcher only does a case study of one student. Categories for measurement or analysis lack definition and precision.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STUDY: Could this methodology be applied to other Christian groups, other religious groups? Could this work for groups not based on religion? (i.e. cultural or political groups)