Transcription of the radio podcast 

<A Bit More About Composition>

 Host: Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of <A Bit More About Composition>! 
This is a podcast dedicated to learning about how to effectively study composition. Last
episode we talked about some famous writing styles from well-known authors like
Shakespeare and Stephen King.
Today we invited some scholars from different fields of composition to talk a bit about how
to construct an effective classroom environment for students to learn writing. We are going to
discuss some common obstacles students usually encounter during the learning process, and
what aspects are important in a classroom structure.

(Transition music)

Host: Oky doky! Let's first introduce our guest scholars!

First, we have Ann Dobie and Gail Poirrier, authors and scholars working in the
undergraduate nursing program at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, welcome!

(Everyone applause)

Next, we have Alice Horning from the University of Oakland, she’s a scholar in the fields of
writing studies and rhetoric, welcome!

(Everyone applause)

Ok, coming up we have Isabel Baca and Elaine Frederickson, educators in the field of
compositions, these are very experienced classroom educators, can’t wait to hear from them!

(Everyone applause)

Now let's welcome Lisa Clughen and Matt Connell, both amazing scholars working in
education!

(Everyone applause)

We have a special guest representing a group of scholars from the University of Purdue here
to share with us their innovative curriculum design, which had remarkable input in the
university-level class structure. Round of applause for Amelia Chelsey!

(Everyone applause)

Finally, Amanda Athon from the English department at Governors State University!

(Everyone applause)

Host: Oh my god! It's such a pleasure seeing you all! So today our topic will be focusing on
the structure of a writing classroom. I'm sure you all have many experiences with this setting.
What are some of the most common issues you see in students that fail to complete a writing
class?
Ann Dobie: Thank you for having us! Hmm, I believe that I’ve seen some students failing a
writing class because of a passive attitude. Just like doing everything else, having a positive
attitude is important in achieving success in writing. If you hate it from the very beginning,
you might not be able to devote as much to this class. 

Lisa Clughen: Yes, and the fact that the attitude of the students determines their performance
in this class, the writing tutors’ ability to guide and inspire students is very important. How
should they use their power in the classroom and not let students form dependence should be
noticed?

Gail Poirrier: We realized that there isn’t an entirely satisfactory method of determining the
effectiveness of instructions, so identifying the causes of improved student attitudes and
performance is equally difficult.

Matt Conell: You have 

made a good point there, what can we as instructors do to improve students’ attitudes, a big
question.

Lisa Clughen: Yea, me and Matt were talking about this just then. I would always have my
students come to me and ask me to be their editor instead of giving advice. They tend to give
me the authority of a critic, but that’s not how you learn writing.

Matt Conell: Because when your tutors edit your work, it’s like saying that they think you did
it wrong. 

Host: Wow sounds like a tough job, never thought of it this way. I might have once asked my
tutor to tell me what to do, I just thought they were grading my work so automatically they
are the judge in this situation.

Lisa Clughen: I get that, the classroom setting conveyed that atmosphere. However,
instructors should not position themselves to be the authority, that would destroy students’
confidence and passion.

Gail Poirrier: We can all agree that the instructor’s attitude directly affects students’ attitudes,
and most importantly, how they set up their classrooms. Like what we are discussing today,
what strategies we can implement in classes so that they can positively impact students’
performances.

Ann Dobie: I and Gail conducted an experiment about this. We had our colleagues work
together and design in-class activities deemed likely to have a positive effect on students’
personal involvement in subject matter, data comprehension, and critical thinking.

Host: That sounds like a big project!

Gail Poirrier: It was, but we all think it was worth the try since we got some good feedback.
The evaluation at the end showed significant improvement in students’ performances and
grades overall, also they are more positive about writing.

Host: Impressive! So, focusing on enhancing students’ learning experience would make great
improvements in their performance and attitude.
Matt Conell: The instructors' strategies for guiding students to write are crucial, too. Some
things they can do include giving up power and admitting the same struggles, always
positioning themselves equally with the students.

Host: Wow this is some good advice for building an effective classroom, the instructors
should definitely be thoughtful since they have so much responsibility.

Alice Horning: I wanna jump in here and talk about the importance of students’ ability to
read.

Host: OMG yes, I hate reading those academic texts so much, no offense everyone, but
reading a long one can be dreary. 

(Everyone laughs)

Alice Horning: None taken haha! My point is that students can’t read or don’t read, they tend
to skim through the readings and focus on the conclusion part. Once this becomes a habit, it’s
hard for them to come up with their own understanding of the texts.

Lisa Clughen: Right, for them to compose their own work, they need to develop critical
thinking, and understanding text is like the basics.

Alice Horning: Correct, but kids nowadays don’t realize the importance of it, especially with
everything becoming digital, they face games and media every day, these things summarize
and simplify information for them. 

Host: I played some games about Greek mythology, the stories they displayed seemed very
sophisticated though.

Alice Horning: Yes, many games did a very good job of telling these stories, but it’s very
different from reading the original story. Because students lack motivation and excitement for
literature, they usually lack fundamental skills for their success in writing.

Matt Conell: Agree.

Lisa Clughen: Agree.

Alice Horning: We’ve all been in touch with reading from like what, first grade? But we’ve
not been taught any skills on how to read, or how to understand. It has become a consensus
that we all can read, but that does not mean we can reflect on our readings.

Host: Then what are some ways to help students improve their reading ability?

Alice Horning: Well, I propose reading in different subjects, and see if you understand that
reading through exercises, teachers could provide more in-class activities to promote and
ensure that students are understanding the topic and critically thinking about them.

Host: I will note that down and try that on my little sister！

Ann Dobie: Tell us how that goes!

Host: I sure will. Ok now let’s hear from the other side of the room, anything to add to this
discussion so far.

Isabel Baca: I think another important factor in a writing classroom is to make every student
feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves. Many writing classes would enforce
standard English writing, but this is a neglect to students with diverse ethnic backgrounds,
they should know how to integrate their culture into the writing instead of eliminating it
completely.

Amanda Athon: I agree, and the fact that there should be a diverse way of writing should be
incorporated into the grading rubrics for a class. Designing a rubric that fits different
standards but is also fair enough to every student is an interesting thing to think about.

Host: These are some wonderful ideas! As an international student myself I struggled with
academic English for a long time. I always had to check the guidelines for standard English
writing and that really strained my creativity.

Elaine Fredericksen: We realized that there are not enough programs and instructor training
for teaching composition to students who have learned, or are learning, English as a second
language. Although some teachers may use effective strategies for minority language learners
in their composition classes, there are no standard practices developed to address the special
needs of this linguistically rich group.

Amanda Athon: Same with the grading rubrics for composition classes, assessment practices
should foster students’ diverse languages instead of inhibiting them.

Isabel Baca: Strategies like prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and editing can
benefit bilingual learners as they venture into college composition. We should stop treating
any textual difference as an unconscious error and instead consider it as a strategic and
creative choice by the author to attain his or her rhetorical objectives.
Amanda Athon: I once read about Laura Greenfield, she said that standard English is an
abstraction and difficult to define as a language variety because it tends to borrow from other
varieties. Using it as a euphemism for “white English” leads to the assumption that white
students who are not proficient writers are merely sloppy proofreaders, while students of
color who make similar errors are considered deficient writers.

Elaine Fredericksen: To build a safe and effective learning environment for students, we need
to consider their diversity. We encourage students to think in their mother tongue first since
that helps their critical thinking skills, form an idea first and draft them down, read them
through, and reorganize them in English. In the meantime, teachers should give up strict
grammatical rules, and try to understand the writers’ theme and the reflections made in the
writing.

Amanda Athon: Writing programs should consider adapting rubrics to more fully value the
process-based nature of writing instruction and change from “pass,” “almost pass,” and “no
pass” to categories such as “beginning,” “intermediate,” and “advanced”—with no one single
category passing or failing an essay.
Host: Wow I can’t believe there are so many things to think about when constructing a
classroom! We should pay attention to the curriculums we are at right now and think about
these discussions! Speaking of curriculums, it’s time to hear about the innovative design from
scholars of the University of Purdue! Let’s hear it, Professor Chelsey!

Amelia Chelsey: I’m so honored to share this collective work with my colleagues. We
worked hard to construct this brand-new way of helping students expand their knowledge by
pairing Design Thinking in Technology (Tech 120), English Composition (English 106), and
Fundamentals of Speech Communication (Com 114) together, in hopes of improving
students’ engagement and performance in these subjects overall. We conducted this new
curriculum for three years, on three different groups of students, and so far, we are still
analyzing data collected from the first year.

Alice Horning: Sounds like a long project to be monitoring.

Amelia Chelsey: Indeed, and because we only analyzed the data from the first year, the
results show no significant difference in students’ performance in general, but we did notice
some changes in students’ presentation skills, and teachers reflected that students are more
engaged in classes and participating. The drop rate of this new curriculum is lower as well.
With some positive outcomes we are excited to keep pushing this new form of learning and
modifying it along the way. We believe that this new idea would be more and more helpful.

Host: Wow after this episode I believe the teachers in our audience might go and try these
methods in their classrooms! 
I’ll summarize a bit for our audience. So, we talked about the importance of students’
attitudes about studying in the classroom and how that affects their overall performance and
grades in classes. Then we discussed the neglect of students with multicultural backgrounds,
and we should have different grading criteria to accommodate their needs in the classroom.
Lastly, we listened to an interesting project conducted by the University of Purdue on a new
form of curriculum design that was deemed to enhance students’ performance in several
courses at the same time.
Hopefully, we brought you some insights on building a writing classroom. If you have any
questions or comments, please let us know by emailing or texting us, we are very much
looking forward to your feedback! That’s it for today, again thanks to all the scholars that
came here today, you’ve all shared so many meaningful opinions! Bye bye~

Works Cited
 Athon, Amanda. “Designing Rubrics to Foster Students’ Diverse Language

Backgrounds.” Journal of Basic Writing, vol. 38, no. 1, 2019, pp. 78–104,

https://doi.org/10.37514/jbw-j.2019.38.1.05.

Baca, Isabel and Fredericksen, Elaine. “Bilingual Students in the Composition

Classroom: Paving the Way to Biliteracy.” Open Words: Access and English

Studies 2.2 (2008): 24-42.

Clughen, Lisa, and Matt Connell. “Working with Power: A Dialogue about Writing

Support Using Insights from Psychotherapy.” Working With Academic Literacies: Case

Studies Towards Transformative Practice, 2015, pp. 45–53,

https://doi.org/10.37514/per-b.2015.0674.2.02.

Chesley, A., Parupudi, T., Holtan, A., Farrington, S., Eden, C., Baniya, S., … Laux,

D. (2018). Interdisciplinary Pedagogy, Integrated Curriculum, and Professional

Development. In ASEE IL-IN Section Conference.

Dobie, Ann, and Gail Poirrier. “When Nursing Students Write: Changing Attitudes.”

Language and Learning Across the Disciplines, vol. 1, no. 3, Aug. 1996, pp.

23–33, https://doi.org/10.37514/lld-j.1996.1.3.03.

Horning, Alice. “Reading across the Curriculum as the Key to Student

Success.”  Across the Disciplines, vol. 4, no. 1, 2007, pp. 1–17,

https://doi.org/10.37514/atd-j.2007.4.1.08