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"In college, I'm the one people go to": lessons from successful developmental literacy students about the transition to college-level courses across disciplines
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"In college, I'm the one people go to": lessons from successful developmental literacy students about the transition to college-level courses across disciplines
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Darkenwald-DeCola
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Jessica A.
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Jessica A. Darkenwald-DeCola
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Alisa
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Alisa Belzer
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Morrow
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Lesley
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Lesley Morrow
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Erica Boling
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Bickerstaff
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Susan
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Susan Bickerstaff
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Rutgers University
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School of Graduate Studies
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theses
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ETD doctoral
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2021
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2021-01
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2021
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English
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This study focused on the institutional issue of alignment between developmental literacy courses and college-level coursework. Research suggests alignment between these courses is a key condition for successful transfer of learning (Grubb, 2013; Grubb & Cox, 2005; Roueche & Roueche, 1999; Tinberg, 2015). This collective case study aimed to understand the ways in which community college students who initially placed well below the cutoff score for college level English, but successfully passed developmental literacy coursework, experienced the alignment between their developmental literacy and college-level coursework.
This study was conducted at a community college in New Jersey. Participants were interviewed during and after the semester following their developmental literacy course. In these interviews, they described the strengths and challenges they experienced meeting the literacy demands and expectations of college-level courses in disciplines other than English. In addition, disciplinary faculty completed a survey about the reading and writing they assigned in their courses and course documents were collected. Data was analyzed through the lens of Lea and Street’s (1998/2006) academic literacies approach and Ivanic’s (2004) discourses for writing framework.
Findings suggest that participants were able to apply many reading and writing strategies learned in their developmental literacy courses to the reading and writing they did in college-level courses across disciplines. In addition, participants reported affective benefits from their developmental literacy course, such as increased confidence and motivation, that positively impacted their performance in college-level courses. Participants also reported important differences between the two courses and some challenges related to both meeting the disciplinary literacy expectations in their college-level courses and transitioning between a developmental literacy course to a discipline-specific college-level course.
The results of this study provide insight into what conditions and instructional approaches increase the likelihood of student success and learning transfer across contexts and have implications for both developmental literacy and disciplinary college-level educators. Implications for future research are also addressed.
This study was conducted at a community college in New Jersey. Participants were interviewed during and after the semester following their developmental literacy course. In these interviews, they described the strengths and challenges they experienced meeting the literacy demands and expectations of college-level courses in disciplines other than English. In addition, disciplinary faculty completed a survey about the reading and writing they assigned in their courses and course documents were collected. Data was analyzed through the lens of Lea and Street’s (1998/2006) academic literacies approach and Ivanic’s (2004) discourses for writing framework.
Findings suggest that participants were able to apply many reading and writing strategies learned in their developmental literacy courses to the reading and writing they did in college-level courses across disciplines. In addition, participants reported affective benefits from their developmental literacy course, such as increased confidence and motivation, that positively impacted their performance in college-level courses. Participants also reported important differences between the two courses and some challenges related to both meeting the disciplinary literacy expectations in their college-level courses and transitioning between a developmental literacy course to a discipline-specific college-level course.
The results of this study provide insight into what conditions and instructional approaches increase the likelihood of student success and learning transfer across contexts and have implications for both developmental literacy and disciplinary college-level educators. Implications for future research are also addressed.
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Community college
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Education
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Supplementary File: Faculty Survey
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1 online resource (ix, 271 pages)
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Ph.D.
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Includes bibliographical references
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Darkenwald-DeCola
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Jessica
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2021-01-06 16:15:57
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Jessica Darkenwald-DeCola
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Rutgers University. School of Graduate Studies
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I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
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Copyright protected
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Open
Reason
Permission or license
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