Brady Literature Review

Running Head: FOSTERING STUDENTS WRITERLY IDENTITIES IN THE SECONDARY ENGLISH CLASSROOM 1
Fostering Students Writerly Identities in the Secondary English Classroom

Randi Brady
Georgia College and State University


Introduction
As a high school English Language Arts teacher, I am all too familiar with the worry
creeping into the eyes and the mouth pulling back into a forced grimace: An English teacher,
huh? Ill be sure to watch my grammar around you, then. No subject area (with the exception of
math) has so menacingly dug itself into the subconscious adult population. We all have horror
stories we can pull up instantly from our high school English classes. I have them myself; it was
not an inspirational, Robin Williams type teacher who made me want to enter the profession, but
rather the never ending progression of teachers who made me hate writing and grammar. I knew
that I could be a teacher who did not make a new generation of students feel that way. Still, the
fact remains that many people leave the halls of their high school with a profound distaste for
reading and writing, perhaps instilled in them by the teacher who should have the opposite effect.
I already feel confident that I am helping my students love reading, but as I thought
about what I could want to improve in my instruction, I knew that I wanted to focus on writing.
Clearly, an English teacher is able to make whole swaths of students loathe writing, but was it
equally possible for a teacher to make them love it? The topic of quality writing instruction is a
wide one, which has been the subject of many a book and thesis. I knew that I had to narrow my
focus so as to more effectively measure my progress with my students. After some thought, I
decided that it was be nearly impossible to measure my students love for writing; I could,
however, measure their acceptance of a writerly identity. After all, I surmised, if students
willingly and eagerly adopt the label writer in lieu of student, then it would follow that they
feel confident and assured about their writing abilities. As I began my research, I noticed a

plethora of resources about identity formation in education, as well as resources about how to
teach writing well. The annual report conducted by the NAEP (2007) also revealed to me that the
vast majority of English classrooms area not implementing effective writing instruction
practices; indeed, the study claims that 80%-90% were rated at the basic writing level, and less
than 25% of 8
th
and 12
th
graders were marked as proficient (Applebee, 2009, p. 19). Clearly, the
current trends in writing instruction are not helping students improve their writing abilities. I
believe that the missing link is the students ongoing refusal to accept the identity of writer in
training instead of just a student attempting to get a high grade on a high stakes writing
assessment. The question remains: what can I as an instructor of writing do in order to help my
students accept the identities of writers?
Position Statement
In its purest, most diluted form, my research is essentially about students finding
confidence in their strengths as young academics. Adolescence is a time fraught with identity
crises and self-esteem issues, and I want to know how I can best help my students navigate these
years and emerge on the other side sure in their abilities to think and to communicate those
thoughts with the rest of the world. I am no stranger to feeling discomfort in one's own skin. As a
student, I was grandfathered into my high school because my mother worked at the neighboring
system. This meant that I, as a lower middle class student, attended school with classmates
whose parents fell squarely in the upper class bracket. As an adult, as I read about socioeconomic
injustice, I am fascinated in my former self. I maintained a constant feeling of shame in myself
because nothing I owned, or wore, or drove was ever good enough. Fortunately, though, I turned
this shame into a part time job at the age of fifteen. And though I had to work 40 hours a week
through college, I did so diligently. In college, I spoke with classmates who had never fit in in

their schools either due to social class (something I related to all too well) or race (something I
could not relate to at first, because of my 98% white high school). Not fitting in, however, can
transcend all kinds of differences and I found myself seeking out other college students who had
experienced my kind of isolation. I believe both my high school and college experiences have led
me naturally to wanting to study identity in high school students. I don't want them to feel
uncomfortable in their differences, but rather learn to embrace them and find a way to
communicate those feelings healthily. Though I do not always feel comfortable in my abilities to
teach writing (I was always drawn toward reading as a student myself), I felt that helping
students develop identity as writers would give them a platform to express not only the typical
problems with which everyone's adolescence is riddled, but the issues and fears unique to each
student as well. Writing can be a powerful, cathartic tool and I have found that many students do
not perceive it as an option. They believe they are "bad" at writing (as if such a thing could even
exist). In this research project, I hope to use my philosophical identities as both a constructivist
and social constructionist to explore the ways in which students can develop their identities as
writers in the hopes that they will have at least one identity with which they feel secure as they
move toward their college and workplace careers.
The Literature
Sociocultural Theories of Identity Development
My research into the construction of identities led me down several avenues of
epistemological study. The majority of articles focused on one of two theories: learning as an
identity process and positioning theory. A succinct explanation of the nature of identity is
provided in Skerretts (2012) article We Hatched in this Class": Repositioning of Identity In and

Beyond a Reading. Skerrett draws on a number of other theorists, including Holland, in her
explanation that, identities develop over time, are influenced by numerous social and cultural
experiences, and are expressed according to social and cultural norms (p. 63). As humans, we
all possess multiple identities which are ever-changing. This concept of changing identities is
echoed in Vetters Positioning students as readers and writers through talk in a high school
English classroom. Vetter discusses learning as an identity process, in which social interactions
help students construct their identities. Vetter pulls from the work of Bruner (1975) when she
argues that students acquire knowledge about what it means to be a reader or writer through
interactions within social, cultural, and historical contexts. (p. 36). In Vetters research, this
meant that she focused primarily on how teachers used talk to position students as readers or
writers in the English classroom. Bickerstaff (2012) also calls upon the importance of
communication and solid relationships in the formation of scholarly identities when she
concludes that, by inviting students to build on their existing literacy practices, teachers can
engage students more effectively, facilitate their adoption of competent scholarly identities, and
foster a more complete and complex understanding of academic literacies (p. 66). Clearly,
quality relationships between students and their teacher are of the utmost importance if the end
goal is for students to adopt writerly identities.
Positioning Theory in Relation to Writing Instruction
Positioning theory likewise touches upon the kind of work traditionally done in English
classrooms. Vetter (2010) introduces the concept as non-linear by arguing that, I am not
implying that the positioning of students as readers and writers is a linear event that occurs from
teacher to student. Instead, guiding students through the process of becoming a successful
literacy student is an interactive, fluid, ever-evolving event in which both students and teacher

are in constant negotiation. (p. 39). Skerrett (2012) more clearly defines positioning theory by
claiming that, each individual possesses a number of role identities or positional identities
positions that she understands herself to occupy in and across social worlds. (p. 63). Skerrett
goes on to mention the myriad ways in which teachers impact how students position their
identities in their classrooms; most of these revolve around the quality of the relationship
between the teacher and the student. Skerrett also claims that the cultural strengths students draw
on outside of the classroom are key when it comes to their positioning of themselves as readers
or writers. Regardless of where students are when they position themselves as readers or writers,
the work done by these authors and the social theorists such as Bruner (1975) stresses the
importance of students claiming identities as literacy learners if they are to see success in the
classroom, as well as in the world.
Writing and Identity
As mentioned previously, there is a dearth of research explicitly discussing the formation
of writerly identities in the English classroom. In order to form my own ideas, I instead looked
into the qualities of effective writing instruction. Before doing so, I wanted to examine the way
writing is currently taught in the average classroom. In their annual study, the NAEP (2007)
revealed that 62% of high school students revealed that their primary writing experience is done
in the essay genre. A remarkably smaller number of students reported writing in other genres,
such as poetry, fiction, and memoirs. The average length of these essays is less than three pages
(2007, p. 21). These same students also reported an overreliance on the traditional writing
process; they are infrequently asked to try alternative methods such as brainstorming or working
in groups (2007, p. 25). Though she is discussing drop outs who have returned to school, not
traditional high school students, Bickerstaff (2012) provides a detailed breakdown of what some

of these schools are doing wrong in I Am the Rock Goddess of Lyrics': Writerly Identities of
Adolescents Returning to School. She follows these students, who prided themselves on their
writing abilities post-drop out (the teenagers attempted genres such as lyrics and journals on a
daily basis) as they return to school and then heartbreakingly have their confidence extinguished
by their writing instructors. Bickerstaff gamely does not explicitly cite their teachers level of
performance as the primary reason for the students lack of inspiration after their return to
school, but I feel that the evidence is clearly there. The practices were similar to those revealed
in the NAEP study; students were asked to write essay after essay while using the traditional
writing process. More disappointingly, students were discouraged from incorporating their
personal opinions into their writing. I am hard pressed to figure out how students are supposed to
feel like writers in training if they are not allowed to be opinionated in their writing. These
students found that their confidence in their writing abilities decreased as the year wore on.
Norma Greco offers a refreshing counterpoint to this sort of writing pedagogy when she
discusses the type of writing behaviors she notices in her English classroom at an all-girls
secondary school. Greco notes that frequently students express an awareness of a conflict
between their feelings and the perceived demands of academic writing for objectivity and
distance, as well their frustration at the expectation that as readers and writers they should submit
to the opinions of teachers and scholarly authorities (p. 70). This statement indirectly speaks to
the idea that quality writing instruction should help students navigate such conflicts so they can
achieve success in their academic endeavors. My belief in the importance of helping students
feel confident in their writing is echoed by Bottomley (1997) in Assessing children's views
about themselves as writers using the Writer Self-Perception Scale. She claims that, In short,
the theory predicts that a child's self-perception of writing ability will affect his/her subsequent

writing growth. That is, individuals who hold positive writer self-perceptions will probably
pursue opportunities to write, expend more effort during writing engagements, and demonstrate
greater persistence in seeking writing competence (Bottomley, 1997, p. 286). Though it is true
that students will never perhaps enjoy writing essays, I believe that it is imperative that they
enjoy writing fiction and nonfiction; by doing so, they will feel like confident writers and will
hopefully seek out further opportunities to write after high school.
Bottomley (1997) identifies four factors writers consider when they are assessing their
abilities. I feel that these factors provide a succinct breakdown of the direction writing
instruction should follow if students are going to begin to adopt writerly identities. The first
factor, Performance, covers a wide range of sub-factors (that includes past success, amount of
effort necessary, the need for assistance, patterns of progress, task difficulty, task persistence,
and belief in the effectiveness of instruction) (p. 286). This is the category that most directly
relates to the kind of writing instruction delivered by the teacher. In Making Writing Instruction
Authentic, Kahn (2009) provides examples of times that she provided authentic writing tasks
for her students, meaning that they were asked to examine issues that were relevant to their daily
lives as teenagers. Kahn believes that authentic writing assignments is one of the most important
factors in motivating students to write. The authors (Whitney et. al.) of Beyond "Is This OK?":
High School Writers Building Understandings of Genre expand upon this idea of authentic
writing assignments. Not only must the assignments be authentic, but they should allow
students to experiment in depth with various genres. Though the authors were apparently
unlimited by financial parameters (at one point, they are able to take their students on an
extended camping trip so that they can practice the genre of nature writing), the pedagogical
points they raise are valid. Though practicing the classic essay repeatedly does indeed help

students boost writing test scores, it does little to help students experiment with genres they will
likely see after high school. Allowing students to explore nature writing and fairy stories before
they were allowed to choose a genre of their own (students chose everything from toasts to
obituaries to horror short stories) meant that students were much more motivated to try new
things; they saw themselves as writers.
Bottomleys (1997) second and third factors relate to the idea of positioning being a
mostly social practice; both factors involve social interaction. The second, Observational
Feedback, refers to how well the student feels he or she does compared to his or her peers. The
third, Social Feedback, refers to the kind of interaction the child receives from peer and his or
her teacher. In Never more crucial: Transforming young writers attitudes toward writing and
becoming writers, Brown et. al. (2011) discuss their success at a creative writing camp for a
wide age range of students. Though the students at this camp were all there willingly (or, at the
very least, signed up by their parents), the authors went a long way toward establishing a
professional and supportive writing community. The creation of a portfolio at the end of the
camp, as well as multiple opportunities for the students to share their work with peers, meant that
they perceived themselves as members of a writing community. Skerrett (2012) also cites the
importance of a supportive classroom environment through her case study of Molly, a teacher
who seriously positioned all of her students as readers and writers through her verbal and written
communication. Vetter (2010) likewise mentions the importance of quality verbal feedback in
the classroom, though I feel that her case study does not support her argument in the way that she
would wish (her teachers interactions seem fairly typical of any English classroom, and do not
seem to be indicative of an environment in which students perceive themselves as quality
writers). I was unfortunately unable to find many current articles about the effect written

feedback from the teacher has on students, though I was interested in an article (Writing
Assessment: Emotions, Feelings, and Teachers) by Caswell which examines the ways in which
teachers bring their own baggage to the feedback they provide. Caswell claims that whenever
teachers read student work, their preconceived ideas and emotions about each student affects the
quality of feedback that they give. This idea is implicitly link to the thought that feedback quality
has a direct impact on the way students feel about their future writing assignments. Caswell
(2011) look[s] at writing assessment as a complex act that links to teaching and learning, that
affects the educational environment and students, that acknowledges the consequences of the
assessment, and that reflects what the assessor values and how to get to that value (p. 57).
Clearly, feedback (both verbal and written) plays a large role in students acceptance of writerly
identities.
The final factor isolated by Bottomley (1997) is Physiological States, or the emotions that
students feel when they are writing. I feel that this factor has the most explicit connection to
writerly identities; after all, students should feel like writers if they are going to take on that
label. So the question becomes: what can a teacher do to make a student feel like a writer? Any
exploration of this question must consider also that many students who may enjoy writing may
have difficulties aligning that personal identity with their school identity; indeed, L.T. Parsons
articulates such a point in his article which documents the depictions of writers in childrens
books: Teachers cannot necessarily or accurately identify a students writerly consciousness by
outward appearances or in-school performance. The child who is disengaged at school may be a
prolific writer at home. (p. 50). Parsons urges teachers of writing to keep this idea in mind in
the writing classroom, and to respect students desires regarding the public and private nature of
their writing life. (p. 50). Brame (2011) takes a logical approach in, Follow Their Lead:

Writing Exercises Based on Successful Authors' Strategies, by arguing that students should be
presented with the writing strategies of professional writers. In her college course, Brame
provides students with a plethora of writing strategies (if an author claimed to use the strategy,
then Brame shows it to her students). These strategies encompass everything from brainstorming
from pictures, listening to music while brainstorming, free-writing, and carrying a notebook.
Brame concludes by claiming that, As far as I can tell, being a writer is, in many ways, a state
of mind (p. 51). If I can make my students feel like writers, then it follows that they will accept
the label. Brown (2011) makes a similar point when discussing his writing camp: By inhibiting
complex communicationwriting that "shows what they know" --such instruction denies
students their identities as writers and damages their belief in themselves as authors (p. 17). It is
imperative that students feel comfortable with writing internally before they can begin to
publicly declare themselves to be writers.
Method
I will conduct a case study (as defined by Savin-Baden and Major) of a single class for
one semester (2012). Because I want to delve into the identities regarding and attitudes toward
writing, it will be beneficial for me to be able to focus my attention on a limited number of
students. By so doing, I will be able to ensure that I triangulate sufficient, quality data (Falk &
Blumenreich, 2005). One classroom will also be extensive enough to ensure the participation of a
wide variety of students with a wide variety of thoughts about what constitutes a writer.
Participants
The class will consist of ninth grade students enrolled in an honors Literature course. The
class will likely be 80% white, 20% African-American, with an expected boy/girl ratio of 1:2.

The school is not a Title I school, though it is eligible, and has a high population of students of
lower socioeconomic status, so that demographic is also to be expected.
Duration
The case study will be conducted over the course of the fall semester (August 2014-December
2014). The class will meet five days a week for a 50-minute period.
Context
The school is located in a small town in middle Georgia. The school is fairly large, with a
population of approximately 1150 students. 68% of the students are white, 27% African-
American, and 2% Latino with a boy-girl ration of 1:1. However, the Honors Literature courses
at the school tend to be predominately white and female. All data regarding the school was
provided by the school registrar, D. Miller (personal communication, May 9, 2014).
Data Collection
As I engage in qualitative research throughout the semester, I will triangulate the
collected data (Falk & Blumenreich, 2005). As a constructionist, as defined by Savin-Baden &
Major, I tried to choose sources of data that will encourage the students to share the mental
models they have constructed, or the ways they interpret the world and their status as writers. I
have also included ways to assess my own perception of the world as the semester progresses. As
a social constructivist, I have also tried to include sources of data that will show how the class as
a whole has changed in its beliefs and perceptions over the semester (Savin-Baden & Major,
2012).
Teacher Journal
As the year progresses, I will record my own reflections in a teacher journal. Due to the
nature of the research, this journal will be a fluid creation; sometimes I will try to flesh out my

questions and reactions to the events that occur in my class. Other times my journal may take on
a more creative tone. I hope to try a wide range of genres along with my students in an attempt to
model writing behaviors as well as experience growth as a writer along with my students.
Observations of Classroom Discussions
Periodically throughout the semester I will conduct classroom discussions with my
chosen class. These discussions will feature questions such as What does it mean to be a
writer? How have you changed as a writer? What activities have most helped you in this
progress? What do you think professional writers have in common with your writing
practices? These discussions may also take the form of a chalk talk (a silent discussion on the
Active Board which can then be saved as an image). I will collect data from these discussions
through audio recordings which I will transcribe.
Student Work
The backbone of my research will consist of work samples from the students. Some of
this work will be classroom assignments (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and essays) whereas other
assignments will be more metacognitive sketches from the class about their identities as writers.
I envision a cooperative effort between me and my students; they will know the nature of my
research. Their involvement in the research will be most noticeable in the student work
collection, as it will reflect their personal opinions about writerly identities and writing
instruction as it currently is delivered in high schools.
Student Survey
In addition to samples of student work, I will also administer an informal survey
throughout the semester. In my review of the literature, I noticed a lack of data collection on this
subject. Bottomley (1997) was the only author to attempt to collect any data, in the form of the

Writer Self-Perception Scale. However, she did not implement the tool herself; she merely
reported the use of this tool in several classrooms. I think plan to implement this survey to my
students at the beginning and the end of the semester to measure any changes. The questions on
the assessment tool concern how the students perceive their own writing, how they perceive their
writing compares to their peers, and what they think is their teachers perception of their writing.
Data Analysis
My primary focus as I sift through my data throughout the semester will be to look for
emergent themes. I will keep a database of my students organized by work samples; I will then
use text analysis to look for underlying themes between the discussion transcriptions, student
work, and my teacher journal (Savin-Baden & Minor, 2012). As the semester progresses, I will
compare the student results with my own reflections in my teacher journal. The Writer Self-
Perception Scale will be administered on a Likert scale. Bottomley (2012) has already labeled
the fourteen questions as a measure of general progress, specific progress, observational
comparison, social feedback and physiological states. I will be able to use Bottomleys tool (and
score interpretation guide, also included) to measure various types of progress from my students.
I will analyze the text by comparing the survey results to their student work in order to see if
their self-perception of identity aligns with the evidence of their actual work (Savin-Baden &
Major, 2012).


References
. Writing Framework for the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (Pre-
Publication Edition). Washington: National Assessment Governing Board, 2007.
Applebee, A. N., & Langer, J. A. (2009). What Is Happening in the Teaching of Writing?.
English Journal, 98(5), 18-28.
Bickerstaff, S. (2012). 'I Am the Rock Goddess of Lyrics': Writerly Identities of Adolescents
Returning to School. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(1), 56-66.
doi:10.1002/JAAL.00102
Bottomley, D. M., & Henk, W. A. (1997). Assessing children's views about themselves as
writers using the Writer Self-Perception Scale. Reading Teacher, 51(4), 286.

Brame, V. (2011). Follow Their Lead: Writing Exercises Based on Successful Authors'
Strategies. Inquiry, 16(1), 41-52.

Brown, M., Morrell, J. & Rowlands, K. D. (2011). Never more crucial: Transforming young
writers attitudes toward writing and becoming writers. California English,
17(2), 15 17

Bruner, J. (1975). From communication to language: A psychological perspective. Cognition, 3,
255-280.

Caswell, N. (2011). Writing Assessment: Emotions, Feelings, and Teachers. CEA Forum, 40(1),
57-70.

Falk, B. & Blumenreich, M. (2005). The Power of Questions. New York: Heinemann.

Greco, N. (1999). Reinventing Portia: A Reading and Writing Pedagogy for Adolescent Women.
English Journal, 88(6), 70-76.

Kahn, E. (2009). Making Writing Instruction Authentic. English Journal, 98(5), 15-17.
Parsons, L. T., & Colabucci, L. (2008). To Be a Writer: Representations of Writers in Recent
Children's Novels. Reading Teacher, 62(1), 44-52.
Savin-Baden, M. & Major, C.H. (2012). Qualitative Research: The essential guide to theory and
practice. Oxon, UK: Routledge Chapman & Hall.
Skerrett, A. (2012). "We Hatched in this Class": Repositioning of Identity In and Beyond a
Reading Classroom. High School Journal, 95(3), 62-75.

Vetter, A. (2010). Positioning students as readers and writers through talk in a high school
english classroom. English Education, 43(1), 33-64.
Whitney, A., Ridgeman, M., & Masquelier, G. (2011). Beyond "Is This OK?": High School
Writers Building Understandings of Genre. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,
54(7), 525-533. doi:10.1598/JAAL.54.7.6

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Running Head: FOSTERING STUDENTS WRITERLY IDENTITIES IN THE SECONDARY ENGLISH CLASSROOM 1

Fostering Students Writerly Identities in the Secondary English Classroom

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