1 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship

Literacy Sponsorship in Upward Bound: The Impact of (De)segregation and Social Trust
Shauna Wight
Uniersity of !ew "ampshire
#uthor !ote
Shauna Wight$ %nglish Department$ Uniersity of !ew "ampshire
This research was supported &y a grant from the !orthern !ew %ngland Teachers of
%nglish to Spea'ers of (ther Languages and a dissertation)year fellowship from the Uniersity
(f !ew "ampshire* I would li'e to than' Laura Smith and +hristina (rtmeier)
"ooper for their assistance in analy,ing the data and reiewing the manuscript* I would also li'e
to than' the study participants and UB directors for their assistance*
Literacy Sponsorship in Upward Bound: The Impact of (De)segregation and Social Trust
2 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
My English classes at UB [Upward Bound] are much better than
high school. I guess its the students, the attitude in the class. The
people in UB are pretty much ready to wor and help people wor,
and my schools lie, they cant wait until they get out, until the bell
rings and they go somewhere else. !"ared, a bilingual UB
participant, personal communication, #ugust $%, $&'%(
UB in)luenced me my )irst year a lot, because lie these ids are
pretty smart, lie I want to be up there, so my )irst year I went o))
and I did e*erything+ I got lie #s !#riel, a bilingual UB
participant, )ocus group, May '%, $&',(.
Inaugurated in -./0 as a result of the +iil 1ights 2oement$ the federally)funded
Upward Bound (UB) 3rogram helps underrepresented students succeed in their pre)college
performance and higher education pursuits* With a num&er of other pre)college outreach
programs spreading across the country$ UB remains the largest$ sering appro4imately /5$555
students each year (+urtain 6 +urtain$ 755-)* While not represented in demographic profiles of
UB$ many linguistic minorities (L2s) come from families with low leels of income and
parental education$ the two main eligi&ility re8uirements for the program* (9anno 6 "ar'lau$
75-7)* +urrently une4plored in multilingual writing research$ UB:s long history of offering
college preparatory writing instruction to undersered students could proide insights into
supporting L2:s transitions* The study presented here addresses this gap &y e4amining how
Upward Bound (UB) impacted resident L2s: access to academic writing during their senior year
of high school and the college admissions process*
#s the epigraphs opening this chapter contend$ &eing surrounded &y a cohort of
academically)drien peers in UB had a powerful influence on students: writing* Specifically$ I
argue here that peer groups in the participants: high schools and UB acted as sponsors of literacy$
;any agents$ local or distant$ concrete or a&stract$ who ena&le support$ teach$ and model as well
as regulate$ suppress$ or withhold literacy< (Brandt$ 755-)* "oweer$ the degree to which peers
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ena&led or suppressed writing was often determined &y trac'ing$ a form of a&ility grouping in
which students are placed within different classrooms and courses of study* To support this
claim$ I first proide an oeriew of the scholarship on trac'ing and pre)college outreach
programs to highlight structural ine8uities and possi&le interentions* =inally$ drawing on
Wegner:s (-..>) +ommunities of 3ractice framewor'$ I analy,e peer interactions in &oth
Upward Bound and the participants: high schools$ illustrating how participation in these
communities shaped possi&ilities for sponsorship*
Tracking and Ls !ccess to !cademic "riting
!umerous studies on linguistically and racially dierse students hae documented the
deleterious effects of trac'ing* "ar'lau (-..0) found that L2s were disproportionately placed
within lower leels due to a conflation &etween academic a&ility and language proficiency*
Despite gradual increases in %nglish proficiency and multiple incenties for adancing$ students
were often una&le to ;?ump the trac's< due to institutional inertia and their own acceptance of
these la&els (p* @A>)* In addition to noting these trends$ Daidson (-../) and (a'es (755/)
reealed the many ways in which trac'ing led to social diision among peers$ creating distrust
and stereotyping among students of different racial$ linguistic$ and economic &ac'grounds*
Trac'ing has also restricted multilingual students: access to academic writing$ which is
ine4trica&ly lin'ed to their academic tra?ectories (=u -..AB %nright 6 Cilland$ 75--)* This
limited access to writing is compounded &y peer relationships within these courses* (rtmeier)
"ooper (75-7)$ for instance$ discoered that %nglish Language Learners aoided more rigorous
writing assignments in order to &lend in with the disengaged peers in their low)leel classes*
%en &ilingual students in general and honors courses hae suffered from this system due to the
e4pectation that students at these leels already 'now how to write in academic genres (%nright$
75-@)* !oting this policy:s threat to L2s: educational tra?ectories$ (rtmeier)"ooper 6 %nright
(75--) hae coined the term ;cycle)of)inopportunity< to refer to these reciprocal influences
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&etween trac'ing$ identity$ peer interactions$ and access to academic writing (p* -DA)* In order to
improe college access for L2s$ interentions must &rea' this cycle*
Breaking the #ycle: The $otentials and Limitations of $re%college &utreach $rograms
#lthough there are a wide ariety of pre)college outreach programs$ the ast ma?ority are
funded &y goernment agencies$ held on college campuses$ and offered year round to
undersered high school students (+ollege Board$ 755-)* 3rogram components typically include
college preparatory coursewor'$ mentoring$ tutoring$ cultural enrichment actiities$ and
wor'shops on the college admissions and financial aid process* The limited data on these
programs: outcomes hae generally &een positie$ showing that their participants enroll in
college at higher rates than control groups (#1%T%$ 755-B +urtain 6 +urtain$ 755-B %ngle$
755DB Candara$ 7557)* Studies hae also associated attitudinal and &ehaioral changes with
participation in these programs$ including higher educational aspirations$ an a&ility to resist peer
pressure$ and greater resiliency (#1%T%$ 755-B 9ahne 6 Bailey$ -...)*
The minimal literacy)&ased research that has &een conducted on pre)college outreach
programs typically focuses on 3uente$ which proides undersered students in +alifornia with
the writing instruction$ mentoring$ and counseling they need in order to get into college and
complete a degree* +a,den (7557)$ for instance$ found that the pro?ect:s literacy curriculum gae
participants opportunities to deelop hy&rid identities and &icultural competencies &y &lending
instrumental culture$ the s'ills necessary for social adancement$ with e4pressie culture$ their
own alues and interpersonal connections* 3radhl (7557) has also tied the program:s success to
its model of professional deelopment$ which emphasi,es teacher research$ ongoing
colla&oration$ and writing alongside students*
Despite the potential of these programs$ &roader structural ine8uities can attenuate their
effectieness* 1esearch has often reeled negligi&le improement in students: C*3*#*s and test
scores since most programs target high school students with less time for academic preparation
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(+urtain 6 +urtain$ 755-B Candara$ 7557)* #dditionally$ these programs cannot reach all the
undersered students who need their serices* T1I($ for instance$ only seres -5E of the eligi&le
student population$ a num&er that will li'ely decrease due to &udget cuts (%ngle$ 755DB Swail$
7555)* +apitali,ing on the promise of pre)college outreach programs re8uires an e4ploration of
how their practices might inform &roader structural changes within educational institutions* This
chapter &egins to address this need* Specifically$ the study presented here proides rich portraits
of two participants in order to e4amine how UB sponsored their writing within and &eyond the
program*
!pplying a #ommunities of $ractice 'ramework to the (igh Schools and UB
This pro?ect uses +ommunities of 3ractice (+o3) as a framewor' to e4amine how these
L2s: participation in UB and high school classes impacted social interactions with peers$
writerly identities$ and participation in academic writing* In this section$ I highlight 'ey terms
and concepts from this theory in order to e4plain how it informed my analysis* While originally
focusing on professional apprenticeships$ +o3:s releance to other learning enironments has
made it useful for e4amining second)language writing in classrooms ("aneda$ 755/B 2orita$
7550B Toohey$ -../) and online spaces (Fi$ 75-5)* Lae 6 Wegner (-..-) first articulated this
concept as part of their situated)learning theory to &alance social and cognitie perspecties on
learning* In this theory$ learning emerges through Legitimate 3eripheral 3articipation$ a process
through which noices ac8uire the re8uisite s'ills needed to display mastery and &ecome full
mem&ers of the community* %4tending this wor'$ Wegner (-..>) has defined +o3s as groups of
people who negotiate meaning through mutual engagement$ a ?oint enterprise$ and a shared
repertoire* This negotiation of meaning emerges from participation$ ongoing social
interpretations of the world$ and reification$ fossili,ed understandings* 1ather than em&racing
6 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
glo&al or local constructions of meaning$ Wegner suggests that these negotiations occur at &oth
the micro leel of indiidual communities and macro leel of larger constellations*
In this framewor'$ learning is tied to identity* Specifically$ Wegner (-..>) argues that
learning transforms ;who we are and what we can do * * * it is a process of &ecomingGto &ecome
a certain person or$ conersely$ to aoid &ecoming a certain person< (p* 7-A)* Identity formation
within +o3s is an ongoing process of identificationGassociation and differentiationGand
negotiation$ a&ility to control or contri&ute meanings within the community* In addition to these
ongoing formations$ howeer$ certain identities can &ecome fossili,ed into social la&els*
Indiiduals: sense of self)hood emerges from associating themseles with communities
through participation and differentiating themseles through non)participation* Sometimes$
howeer$ participation is marginali,ed among some mem&ers of the community whose
contri&utions are re?ected or ignored* =or this reason$ one:s place within the community is as
important as mem&ership itself* Beyond any particular community$ indiiduals hae to reconcile
their identity across a ;ne4us of multi)mem&erships< that may carry conflicting forms of
participation (p* -0.)* =or this reason$ indiiduals follow uni8ue tra?ectories of participation
within and &etween communities* #s a data analysis tool$ this framewor' proided me with the
terminology and concepts necessary to e4plain how (de)trac'ing policies impacted tra?ectories of
participation and writerly identities in the high schools and UB*
The Study
=or this chapter$ I draw on transcri&ed interiew data$ field o&serations$ and writing
samples from two L2 case study participants: Hared and #riel* 2uch of the data presented here
come from a series of fie case studies that I conducted as part of a year)long pro?ect on how
participation in UB impacted potential first)generation college students: academic writing and
educational tra?ectories* +hosen for their clarity and ro&ustness$ these e4emplar cases illustrate
themes that emerged across the data as students: writerly identities were shaped &y institutional
7 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
policies and the social interactions they entailed* #s their demographic profiles (see =igure -*-)
show$ these participants receied most of their education in the United States*
'igure )*)* Demographic $rofiles of L $articipants
+ame ,ace Birthplace L) - of .ears
in UB
/SL Ser0ices
Hared #sianILatino United States Spanish @ -
st
)D
th
grade
#riel #sian United States Jietnamese 7 !one
The first participant$ Hared$ returned with his mother to their natie country of 3eru shortly after
his &irth in the !ortheastern U*S* Wanting Hared to start school in the U*S*$ his mother moed
them &ac' at the start of first grade* Hared was placed in an %SL program from that time until the
end of his seenth grade year* The second participant$ #riel$ was &orn and raised within the
United States* #riel:s parents were Jietnamese refugees$ and Jietnamese was the primary
language used within her home* Unli'e Hared$ #riel neer receied %SL serices* Both
participants indicated greater proficiency in %nglish and found it difficult to read and write in
their first language* %en with higher leels of proficiency$ they reported difficulty writing in
academic %nglish*
The research too' place in two locations: (-) UB:s si4 wee' summer residential program
on the campus of a pu&lic !ortheastern uniersity and (7) two different ur&an high schools in the
1ieriew School District* #s a participant o&serer$ I recruited students from the UB summer
program with the help of its administrators* The program sered --0 students from si4 different
high schools$ three of which were in 1ieriew* #fter the summer program$ I followed the case
study participants through their senior year of high school* To &etter conte4tuali,e the
participant:s school e4periences$ it is important to understand the district:s demographics$
educational outcomes$ and funding* The 1ieriew school district had the second lowest per
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pupil spending and highest dropout rates in the state* =ifty)si4 percent of its -A$A@/ students
didn:t meet the state mandated writing proficiency leels$ 0D percent 8ualified for the =ree or
1educed Lunch (=1L) program$ -5 percent were identified as haing Limited %nglish
3roficiency (L%3)$ and @0 percent were racial minorities*
3rimary data sources for the study included (a) nine semi)structured student interiews$
which lasted thirty to si4ty minutes$ (&) students: academic writing from UB$ high school$ and
the college admissions process$ (c) student:s maps of their social influences$ and (d) a semi)
structured ninety minute student focus group* These data sources were triangulated with hour)
long semi)structured interiews of UB teachers and administrators$ high school and UB policy
statements and hand&oo's$ and fifty hours of o&serations from UB classes and eents* I was
also a&le to interiew #riel:s HuniorISenior year %nglish teachers and conduct hour)long
o&serations in her %nglish classes on four occasions* I used summary ignettes of emerging
themes to conduct mem&er chec'ing during interiews and consulted colleagues during data
analysis to enhance the alidity of my interpretations*
In what follows$ I use three main concepts from the +o3 framewor' to discuss findings
from this study: tra?ectories of participation$ identification$ and multi)mem&ership* In particular$
I show how tra?ectories of participation within these communities and the ne4us of
multimem&erships &etween them impacted students: identifications with peers and their writerly
identities*
#ontrasting Tra1ectories of $articipation in UB and the (igh Schools
I) students are )ear)ul o) being humiliated, either by a teacher or
)ellow students, they will not o))er opinions or tae riss, will not
engage in discussion, and will do their best to be in*isible.
-owe*er, i) students are not )ear)ul, are instead rela.ed, aware,
and interested, they will begin to )ind their *oices. !/o 0iscount
1olicy, UB 2ta)) Manual(.
#ccording to the +o3 perspectie$ identity formation is an ongoing process that ta'es
place across temporal tra?ectories of participation within and &etween communities* UB and the
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high schools offered contrasting forms of participation that had significant outcomes for
participants: writerly identities* UB gae all participants access to a college preparatory
curriculum and mi4ed a&ility leels in its classes to communicate high academic e4pectations* In
Hared and #riel:s %nglish course$ Senior Seminar$ this curriculum included a college admissions
essay and compareIcontrast essay in which the students researched different colleges and
ealuated their options* 2ultiple opportunities for peer feed&ac'$ small class si,es$ and one)on)
one attention from the teacher and a tutor proided opportunities for Legitimate 3eripheral
3articipation as students reised their essays to gain and demonstrate increasing competence* The
curriculum and instructional methods$ then$ used authentic writing assignments and support from
more esta&lished writers to facilitate participation in academic writing and higher education*
UB policies emphasi,ed integration &oth inside and outside the classroom* In order to
gie student:s a place within the community$ UB assigned students to smaller groups that
engaged in communication e4ercises and team &uilding actiities* Croup construction was
centered on diersity: ;We design the groups so that they are dierse as possi&le* #ll the high
schools we sere are represented$ and students from the same school are often in different grades
and programs* 1acial$ ethnic$ and gender diersity are all part of the mi4< (UB Staff 2anual)
+lasses were comprised of multiple groups$ and staff assigned ta&les during meals to help
students across the program get to 'now one another*
To address ;unhealthy disagreements< and social comparisons that might emerge from
these dierse groupings$ UB had initiated a !o Discount 3olicy and +eremony (UB Staff
2anual)* In an initiation ritual held at the start of the program$ administrators$ staff$ and then
each of the fie student groups stood in concentric circles and lit each others: candles as sym&ols
of support &efore affirming their ;full respect for the inherent worth of each person and for that
person:s feelings$ opinions$ ideas and well &eing*< They then pledged to ;not put one another
1 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
down$ put ourseles down$ or disregard our own needs< (fieldnotes$ Hune 7/$ 75-@)* Within this
ceremony$ the sym&olic gestures of lighting one another:s flames and configuring themseles
into circles were intended to create an em&odied response to the words of the pledge and
proided concrete to'ens to sym&oli,e the group:s communal alues* #fterwards$ participants
were inited to share what the policy meant to them* In often tearful testimonials$ returning
students e4pressed how the policy helped them &e themseles and e4plore new possi&ilities*
#fter hearing these prototypical e4periences$ newcomers ?oined in &y sharing what they hoped to
achiee in the program* #t the end of the ceremony students were as'ed to state$ ;!o D$< any
time they heard community mem&ers discounting themseles or anyone else*
In contrast to UB$ high schools in the 1ieriew school district were trac'ed into four
courses of study$ which had &ecome reified into institutional la&els* #riel:s %nglish teacher
descri&ed the students in Leel (ne (L-) as remedialB Leel Two (L7) as aerageB Leel Three
(L@) as college &ound$ &ut still pretty aerageB and Leel =our (L0) as adanced* 3ointing to
differing forms of participation aaila&le in each$ she noted that L@ and L0 %nglish courses
proided more opportunities for writing$ in8uiry$ and colla&oration* While the teachers$
participants$ and the district:s 3rogram of Studies all agreed that students could choose their
leels in each su&?ect$ this policy still marginali,ed certain mem&ers: tra?ectories of participation*
In #pril 75-0$ a ciil rights inestigation conducted &y the U*S* Department of %ducation found
that ethnically and linguistically dierse students were underrepresented in the district:s college
preparatory courses* The report cited information &arriers$ the use of standardi,ed tests to direct
placement$ and the policy of failing students who dropped to a lower leel as factors contri&uting
to this achieement gap* #riel and Hared were an e4ception to this trend as &oth were primarily
enrolled within L@ courses at the time of the study*
11 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
Trac'ing created diisions among students within and &eyond the classroom* Both
participants indicated that white$ natie %nglish spea'ers predominantly filled their college
preparatory classes* #s a result$ there was a clear ran'ing system and minimal opportunities for
dierse groups to interact* =or instance$ when I as'ed #riel how she felt a&out &eing in
predominantly white classes$ she offered this response:
I feel normal* I consider myself as white &ecause I act more li'e a white person than I do
an #sian person* If you see other 'ids at my school$ the #sian 'ids usually hangout with
the #sian 'ids$ the Spanish 'ids with the Spanish 'ids$ the white 'ids with the white 'ids
and whatnot* I find myself hanging out more with the white 'ids than the #sian 'ids*
(personal communication$ Hune -D$ 75-0)
She went on to e4plain that$ while she had preiously affiliated with other Jietnamese peers
from church$ this group shifted once they started leaing for college and she &egan ma'ing
friends with white students in her class$ whom she characteri,ed as the ;popular 'ids*< In many
ways$ then$ #riel:s identifications reflected her desire to associate herself with mem&ers of the
high school community who held academically and socially prestigious positions*
Li'e #riel$ Hared did not mind &eing one of few minority students in his L@ classes* While
affiliating with a more dierse peer group than her$ he li'ewise noted that students in his school
were diided into different cli8ues* "oweer$ he saw these diisions as primarily &ased on
different interests rather than race or nationality* Still$ he seemed to hae accepted academic
la&els assigned to dierse peers in his school$ attri&uting their placement in lower trac' classes to
la,iness: ;I 'now a lot of minorities Kat my schoolL really donMt want to learn* Some people ?ust
use the %SL thing as a way to pass a test< (personal communication$ Hune 70$ 75-0)* =or &oth
participants$ rigid categories inside and outside the classroom cast linguistically and racially
dierse students as marginali,ed mem&ers* Despite these shared practices within the
communities$ each student negotiated them differently* Because learning in +o3s is &oth
12 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
indiidual and social$ the ne4t sections analy,e each participant:s tra?ectories of participation and
writerly identities to show how they reconciled these contrasting mem&erships*
2ared: In3ound Tra1ectories and ,econciled em3erships in UB and (igh School
These policies: effects on the participants: participation and identifications with peers
reflected the degree to which they could negotiate meanings and reconcile identities across these
two communities* =or Hared$ participation and peer identifications at UB shifted his writerly
identity in high school* =ollowing the recommendations of teachers and counselors$ Hared started
high school ta'ing L7 courses where he e4perienced a marginali,ed tra?ectory of participation in
academic writing* =or instance$ he compared his ?unior year %nglish class to listening to sermons
in church$ e4plaining that the teacher primarily read and summari,ed course materials in class
lectures* "e noted that$ within his L7 courses$ teacher e4pectations and student motiation had a
reciprocal influence on each other$ with disruptie &ehaiors often causing teachers to gie up on
writing assignments* While options for peer)feed&ac' or colla&oration in the class were limited$
he &elieed that none of his classmates would care if he discussed his writing with them* Hared
conformed to this enironment$ and admitted to putting minimal effort in his own learning*
Hared:s participation in UB interrupted this cycle$ and he attri&uted his increased
motiation and confidence with academic writing to its mi4ed a&ility grouping:
In UB$ highest leels$ lowest leels$ it:s li'e a mi4* I guess they choose people with good
attitudes Ncause they 'now that in the future they:re going to change to &ecome a &etter
student$ a &etter writer$ li'e me* 2y freshman year$ I was a really &ad writerB I didn:t
care* I was ?ust li'e the 'ids in my school* Then I went to UB* (personal communication$
#ugust 70$ 75-@)
The policy of mi4ing a&ility leels sent Hared the message that he could improe his writing* "e
also indicated that &eing in classes with academically)drien peers$ whom he considered strong
writers$ made him want to associate himself with these &ehaiors* %8ually important$ this peer
cohort contri&uted to a classroom enironment that was conducie to writing* In contrast to his
13 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
L7 %nglish class$ Hared noted$ ;%eryone did well in Senior Seminar &ecause students are in a
good mood to wor'$ so the teacher:s in a good mood to teach< (personal communication$ #ugust
77$ 75-@)* In a process he compared to ;cran'ing the gears$< he indicated that participating in a
community with high e4pectations and leels of engagement gradually changed the way he saw
himself as a writer*
The leel of trust he e4perienced at UB also influenced his writerly identity* Hared
&elieed he could negotiate meanings within the UB community and found social interactions
there authentic* =or instance$ he felt the !o Discount policy challenged cli8ues$ ena&ling him to
&e himself and share his writing:
Upward Bound unleashed the &est side of me that I didn:t see &efore* I was shy then not
shy$ I was a really &ad writer that had potential$ and now I:m a decent writer* I guess
when I used to write papers I was scared* I always wanted to fit in with my friends$ &ut
now I ?ust want to &e myself* I guess it:s li'e the ;!o D< policy and stuff li'e that*
(personal communication$ (cto&er @$ 75-0)
Specifically$ Hared worried that in high school$ other students might laugh at what he wrote or the
amount of time it too' him to complete a paper* #t UB$ he reported that he ?ust focused on
e4pressing his idea$ confident his peers would help him to ma'e it &etter* "e found peer feed&ac'
on his college admissions essay$ a piece a&out his father:s open heart surgery$ incredi&ly useful*
=or instance$ 8uestions oer the outcome of the surgery helped him identify where he needed
more e4planation and increased his audience awareness* By creating a safe space to write and
get feed&ac'$ UB policies proided opportunities for L33 that increased Hared:s competence*
In many ways$ he was a&le to reconcile this writerly identity and redirect his tra?ectory of
participation in his school* #ccording to Hared$ participation in UB caused him to enroll in L@
%nglish and science courses$ which gae him more opportunities to write and colla&orate with
peers* =or instance$ struggling to come up with topics for a research paper on the noel 3old
14 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
Mountain in +ollege +omposition$ he felt comforta&le enough to as' his classmates for
suggestions* Similarly$ in 2ythology$ he colla&orated with peers to plan and delier a
presentation on Cree' heroes and &elieed he would not hae had the confidence to do this
&efore UB*
"oweer$ in other situations$ reconciliation &ecame more complicated* Due to cli8ues
within his science class$ he was uncomforta&le as'ing 8uestions and refused to as' his partner for
help on the la& reports he struggled to write* While he generally indicated a greater willingness to
see' feed&ac' from peers in his L@ classes$ he still did not trust them as much as friends from
UB* =or instance$ reising his college admissions essay during the school year$ he continued
turning to UB peers for guidance* "e e4plained$ ;2ostly I as'ed people from UB &ecause I trust
them more than regular persons from high school* They are in the same playing field as me$ go
into a program$ changing yourself$ and then going to college< (personal communication$
Decem&er 0$ 75-@)* In some ways$ then$ Hared disassociated himself from peers in &oth his L7
and L@ classes* While participation in UB had positie impacts on Hared:s academic writing$ his
identifications with high school classmates sometimes made it difficult to transfer these
practices*
!riel: #onflicting em3erships and Tra1ectories
=or #riel$ this process of negotiation and reconciliation created more conflicts* During
her first year in UB$ #riel tried to associate herself with academically)drien peers in the
program &y wor'ing hard to maintain good grades in all her classes* "oweer$ #riel:s
identifications shifted as a desire to associate with popular students in high school caused her to
disassociate from UB peers* #s a result$ the emphasis on social integration within UB made her
uncomforta&le* =or instance$ when as'ed if her friends at high school would li'e the students at
UB$ she indicated:
15 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
#t UB they hae 'ids from different categories$ different races and at school itMs ?ust one
category that stays together* ThereMs the popular 'ids$ the not popular 'ids$ the weird 'ids$
the gee' 'ids$ the game 'ids* #t UB theyMre all mi4ed together* I feel li'e when IMm at UB$
I hae to tal' to eeryone$ een if I donMt want to* (personal communication$ Hune -D$
75-0)
=or #riel$ this emphasis on integration conflicted with forms of participation in high school$ and
she found it difficult to reconcile identities across these communities* Indicating that these
interactions with dierse peers were forced upon her &y program policies and staff$ she did not
perceie opportunities to negotiate meanings within the UB community* With little control oer
her participation$ she characteri,ed its social interactions as inauthentic$ complaining$ ;3eople in
UB are too nice$ and when people are too nice$ they want something from you (personal
communication$ 2arch 7D$ 75-0)*
This general sense of distrust shaped #riel:s interactions with UB peers during writing
wor'shops for the college admissions essay$ a piece in which she wrote a&out her father:s
suicide* #fter the first wor'shop$ #riel told me that the peer feed&ac' she receied ;pissed me
off< (personal communication$ Huly 7$ 75-@)* Specifically$ she was angry &ecause a classmate
from another high school had indicated that the essay included unnecessary details and suggested
a stylistic edit: ;I wo'e up one night to find my 2om sitting on the front porch steps crying
harder than me crying KI didL during a stupid romance moie*< While #riel felt the adice was
wrong$ she also 8uestioned this peer:s credi&ility: ;She:s not li'e a great student$ and I:m not
;D<ing her or anything< (personal communication$ Huly 7$ 75-@)* #s indicated &y this rather
superficial reference to the !o Discount policy$ #riel:s did not &uy into UB practices and
reinscri&ed intuitional la&els that delegitimi,ed her peer* In offering her own feed&ac'$ #riel felt
the !o Discount policy preented her from &eing honest*
16 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
While this was the most emotionally charged incident$ #riel also re?ected help or
feed&ac' from other UB peers* (ut of the four case study participants$ she was the only one who
did not ma'e any reisions to her essay &ased on peer feed&ac'* "oweer$ when teachers and
adisors offered similar suggestions$ she reised her essay accordingly* =or instance$ seeral
peers noted that the end of her original essay did not e4plain how her father:s death impacted her*
Successie drafts reealed that she did not change her ending until her teacher made the same
comment* When I pointed this out to her during a mem&er chec'$ she noted that she decided not
to ma'e changes &ecause she didn:t trust the feed&ac' and was ?ust too la,y* In many ways$ then$
her dissociation with peers corresponded with a disinterest in the writing process* Similarly
during the second wor'shop$ #riel e4clusiely wor'ed with the tutor to edit her partners: paper*
In contrast$ the rest of the students discussed editing decisions with their partners (fieldnotes$
Huly --$ 75-@)* While interactions with staff still proided L33$ her negatie identifications with
peers undermined additional sources of support*
Fet$ her interactions with high school peers did not reflect this distrust* When she
decided to moe up to a L0 economics class where the teacher offered less scaffolding on writing
assignments$ she actiely sought out peer feed&ac' to meet these new literacy demands* She also
complained that her +reatie Writing class neer included peer wor'shops* When I pointed out
that she typically ignored peer feed&ac' in UB$ she responded$ ;I trust the 'ids in my class more
than I did at UB &ecause I:m closer to them$ and they don:t act li'e they are 'now)it)alls<
(personal communication$ Decem&er -.$ 75-@)* #lthough #riel initially wanted to associate
herself with UB peers$ changing identifications undermined their legitimacy and created
resentment* Difficulties reconciling the popular identity she was forming in high school and
limited opportunities for negotiation compounded these pro&lems$ leading to non)participation
17 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
within the UB community* By the end of her second summer$ #riel indicated$ ;I was li'e$ N=)it$ I
?ust want to go home:< (personal communication$ Hune -D$ 75-0)*
Wegner (-..>)$ has noted that tra?ectories of participation and the identities they entail
constantly shift within and &etween communities* #riel and Hared:s e4periences reflected this
fluidity$ as alternating identifications with peers ena&led or constrained their participation in
writing* Despite these ongoing negotiations of participatory e4perience$ the +o3 perspectie has
also ac'nowledged how certain meanings and identities can &ecome reified$ a process reflected
in #riel and Hared:s moes to distance themseles from students carrying negatie institutional
la&els* =or #riel$ this moe meant aoiding interactions with socially marginali,ed students*
Hared preferred to associate with other UB peers to re?ect the marginali,ed identities he had
e4perienced* 1eflecting this ongoing process of participation and reification$ #riel and Hared:s
accounts highlight the opportunities that emerge when students cross institutional +o3s and the
structural constraints that limit these possi&ilities*
#onclusion
Within this chapter$ I hae attempted to show how a +o3 perspectie can enhance
understandings of L2s: tra?ectories of participation in different learning communities and the
nature of literacy sponsorship they receie* =or #riel and Hared$ sponsorship was largely
determined &y their identifications with peers$ suggesting a need to e4plore how educational
institutions shape these social dynamics* While the accounts presented here cannot offer
generali,ations a&out L2s: e4periences in other educational settings$ they can proide insights
into intersections &etween institutional policies and social interactions surrounding writing*
(ne 'ey insight from this study is that policies that segregate students can limit L2s
social support for academic writing* Trac'ing in the high schools created a cycle of low teacher
e4pectations and student motiation that constrained writing in Hared:s L7 classes* It also
contri&uted to a sense of distrust among peers that compromised possi&ilities for colla&oration
18 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
and feed&ac'* #t the postsecondary leel$ course placement procedures that siphon certain
students into deelopmental or %SL composition courses can create similar patterns of
segregation* Indeed$ &ased on placement tests he too' at the end of his senior year$ Hared was
enrolled in an %SL section of first)year composition* While this study cannot predict how such
placements might affect L2s: peer interactions at the college leel$ this issue &ears further
consideration among teachers$ administrators$ and researchers*
%8ually significant$ these findings call for practices that challenge the deficit perspecties
L2 students may hae encountered among teachers$ peers$ and een themseles* =or Hared$ the
!o Discount 3olicy and ceremony gae him the confidence he needed to change his writerly
identity* Fet$ #riel:s s'epticism also offers a powerful reminder that students need control and a
sense of ownership oer these practices* Ta'ing these factors into consideration$ this study
suggests a need for future research on how or een i) these practices and rituals can &e
successfully enacted in the high school or college composition classroom* By using these
insights to desegregate classrooms and challenge institutional la&els$ composition teachers and
administrators can design inclusie enironments that support the L2s transitions to college*
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19 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
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2 Running Head: Peer Literacy Sponsorship
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