Postcolonial readings of resistance and negotiation in selected contemporary African writing

Cette dissertation traite des (re)configurations postcoloniales de la résistance et de la négociation comme concepts permettant d’aborder les représentations des conflits nationaux dans les littératures Africaines contemporaines. Ensemble, ces concepts ouvrent de nouvelles voix et possibilités de se remémorer, de raconter, et de lire la violence en problématisant non seulement les discours sur la guerre civile en Afrique, mais aussi les conceptions d’histoire nationale, de la mémoire, et de leur représentation. Si cette étude cherche à reconfigurer la négociation et la résistance au-delà des définitions qui tendent à les opposer, elle se consacre surtout à développer la notion de négociation comme stratégie de dépassement, de lecture, et d’écriture, qui, néanmoins, ne vise pas de résolution. La négociation implique ainsi une conception pluraliste d’un pouvoir d’action sociale, politique, et culturelle. Cette dissertation avance que la négociation est un concept d’écriture et de lecture qui intervient dans les événements, discours, et pratiques de remémoration en prenant compte de leurs multiplicités et définitions instables. Cette étude explore les manières selon lesquelles Nuruddin Farah, Chenjerai Hove, Yvonne Vera, Chimamanda Adichie, et Sefi Atta déploient la négociation et la résistance comme outils d’engagement esthétique et sociopolitique dans la narration de la violence en Somalie, au Zimbabwe, et au Nigeria. En outre, la négociation marque mon analyse de l’intervention des textes dans les discours d’historiographie et de représentation. Si ces romans mettent en exergue la généalogie complexe du conflit postcolonial, ils négocient aussi les implications multiples, incluant la leur, dans les questions problématiques de la responsabilité et de la représentation. La vii négociation représente un acte conscient à travers lequel nous reconnaissons l’instabilité de toute bataille politique, morale, ou éthique sans pour autant céder à un cynisme paralysant. De par son approche négociée et interdisciplinaire, cette dissertation ne fait pas qu’entrer en débat avec des discours multiples des études postcoloniales, Africaines, et littéraires. Elle intervient aussi dans les conceptions de la nation, la violence, la mémoire, la responsabilité, et la justice selon les études philosophiques, politiques, et culturelles. Outre les critiques littéraires, les chapitres interrogent les théories de penseurs tels Ngugi wa Thiong’o, David Jefferess, Pheng Cheah, et Wole Soyinka. Cette approche éclectique reflète l’attention des romans à la complexité irréductible des responsabilités individuelles et collectives dans les récits d’histoire et d’appartenance nationales. Cet engagement négocié avec les questions entourant la postcolonialité, malgré la dominance actuelle des discours de la globalisation, permet de reconceptualiser l’approche postcoloniale pour contrer les analyses déhistorisées et décontextualisées des conflits sociopolitiques en Afrique. Le chapitre 1 élabore les concepts clés de la dissertation. Le chapitre 2 explore la résistance et la négociation dans le langage figuré métonymique dans les représentations de la guerre en Somalie. Le chapitre 3 se consacre à l’analyse de la figure de la spectralité dans la narration de l’histoire et de la violence nationales au Zimbabwe. Finalement, le chapitre 4 négocie les concepts de représentation et de responsabilité dans les récits du trauma postcolonial au Nigeria. viii Mots-clés : négociation, résistance, littératures africaines, violence, responsabilité, nation, représentation

The doing and undoing of global literature : myth, microcosm and atopia in triestine writing

La présente étude conduit les traditions fragmentées de la culture littéraire de Trieste vers les préoccupations contemporaines de la littérature mondiale à l’époque actuelle où la mondialisation est largement perçue comme le paradigme historique prédominant de la modernité. Ce que j’appelle la « littérature globalisée » renvoie à la refonte de la Weltliteratur – envisagée par Goethe et traduite comme « world literature » ou la « littérature universelle » – par des discours sur la culture mondiale et le post-nationalisme. Cependant, lorsque les études littéraires posent les questions de la « littérature globalisée », elles sont confrontées à un problème : le passage de l’idée universelle inhérente au paradigme de Goethe entre le Scylla d’un internationalisme relativiste et occidental, et le Charybde d’un mondialisme atopique et déshumanisé. Les spécialistes de la littérature mondiale qui tendent vers la première position acquièrent un fondement institutionnel en travaillant avec l’hypothèse implicite selon laquelle les nations sont fondées sur les langues nationales, ce qui souscrit à la relation entre la littérature mondiale et les littératures nationales. L’universalité de cette hypothèse implicite est réfutée par l’écriture triestine. Dans cette étude, je soutiens que l’écriture triestine du début du XXe siècle agit comme un précurseur de la réflexion sur la culture littéraire globalisée du XXIe siècle. Elle dispose de sa propre économie de sens, de sorte qu’elle n’entre pas dans les nationalismes littéraires, mais elle ne tombe pas non plus dans le mondialisme atopique. Elle n’est pas catégoriquement opposée à la littérature nationale; mais elle ne permet pas aux traditions nationales de prendre racine. Les écrivains de Triestine exprimaient le désir d’un sentiment d’unité et d’appartenance, ainsi que celui d’une conscience critique qui dissout ce désir. Ils résistaient à l’idéalisation de ces particularismes et n’ont jamais réussi à réaliser la coalescence de ses écrits dans une tradition littéraire unifiée. Par conséquent, Trieste a souvent été considérée comme un non-lieu et sa littérature comme une anti-littérature. En contournant les impératifs territoriaux de la tradition nationale italienne – comme il est illustré par le cas de Italo Svevo – l’écriture triestine a été ultérieurement incluse dans les paramètres littéraires et culturels de la Mitteleuropa, où son expression a été imaginée comme un microcosme de la pluralité supranationale de l’ancien Empire des Habsbourg. Toutefois, le macrocosme projeté de Trieste n’est pas une image unifiée, comme le serait un globe; mais il est plutôt une nébuleuse planétaire – selon l’image de Svevo – où aucune idéalisation universalisante ne peut se réaliser. Cette étude interroge l’image de la ville comme un microcosme et comme un non-lieu, comme cela se rapporte au macrocosme des atopies de la mondialisation, afin de démontrer que l’écriture de Trieste est la littérature globalisée avant la lettre. La dialectique non résolue entre faire et défaire la langue littéraire et l’identité à travers l’écriture anime la culture littéraire de Trieste, et son dynamisme contribue aux débats sur la mondialisation et les questions de la culture en découlant. Cette étude de l’écriture triestine offre des perspectives critiques sur l’état des littératures canoniques dans un monde où les frontières disparaissent et les non-lieux se multiplient. L’image de la nébuleuse planétaire devient possiblement celle d’un archétype pour le monde globalisé d’aujourd’hui.

What it means to stay: reterritorialising the Black Atlantic in Erna Brodber's writing of the local

The emphasis on migratory subjectivities within postcolonial studies has come from many directions—Bhabha, Gilroy, Appadurai, Boyce Davies—and their convergence has created a critical practice in which diaspora studies takes centre stage. More specifically the way in which the Caribbean person is given emblematic status as the metropolitan migrant is made clear in James Clifford's declaration that ‘We are all Caribbeans now…in our urban archipelagos'. This paper examines the serious impact on the critical reception of Caribbean writings that has been made as a result of the fact that metropolitan diasporas are now the privileged places in which to be properly ‘postcolonial’. It is my aim to show how Erna Brodber's culturally specific studies have enormous value in the face of the more general and flattened enunciations of diaspora and creolisation which are being circulated at a theoretical level. I shall look at two fairly recent pieces of writing by Brodber: a pamphlet entitled ‘The people of my Jamaican village (1817 – 1948)’ and an essay entitled ‘Where are all the others?’ in the book Caribbean Creolisation1

The effects of strategy instruction on writing strategy use for students of different proficiency levels

Learners’ strategy use has been widely researched over the past few decades. However, studies which focus on the impact of strategy instruction on strategy use, and how far learners of different proficiency levels are able to use the strategies taught in an effective manner, are somewhat rare. The focus of this paper is the impact of writing strategy instruction on writing strategy use of a group of 12 second language learners learning to write in English for Academic Purposes classes. Stimulated recall was used to explore whether this impact differed according to the proficiency level of the students, and revealed that for both high and low proficiency learners’ strategy use developed as a result of the instruction. The implications of these findings for strategy instruction design are discussed

The Acting in Group of Teachers as Possibility of Resignification of the Interpretation about the Writing Language

Front of the possibility of acting with the teachers who teach in schools of Early Childhood Education for children aged six years, about the re-siginification of the understanding of writing language and of the importance of the child in this age group establish a positive relationship with this mode of language, was developed in 2011, a project linked to the Teaching of UNESP titled “Depathologization learning of the writing and inclusive education: reflections and actions of the teacher of Early Childhood Education”. This project aims to identification of the actions, in the classroom, of the patologization and subsequent implementation of actions depathologization writing by teachers’ actions, considering the increasingly early systematization of formal education of this kind of language in kindergarten. To this end, procedures that characterize the collaborative methodology are adopted. Throughout the methodological course, the engagement of the teachers, of the coordination and of the direction was valued, which seemed to favor both the formation, as the maintenance of the group, were very important aspects to ensure the interaction between its members and the common interest in the reflection about the topic in question. This paper focuses attention on whether thematic axes highlight during the initial survey of the expectations of teachers subsequently addressed in theoretical and reflective meetings leading up to identification of actions the patologization and/or of the proposition of the actions despatologizadoras of the learning of the writing, and in what refers to the way they are addressed.

Multimembership and Identity in Writing Centers and in Industry: Examining the Work of Reconciliation in the Michigan Tech Multiliteracies Center and at Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Writing center scholarship and practice have approached how issues of identity influence communication but have not fully considered ways of making identity a key feature of writing center research or practice. This dissertation suggests a new way to view identity -- through an experience of "multimembership" or the consideration that each identity is constructed based on the numerous community memberships that make up that identity. Etienne Wenger (1998) proposes that a fully formed identity is ultimately impossible, but it is through the work of reconciling memberships that important individual and community transformations can occur. Since Wenger also argues that reconciliation "is the most significant challenge" for those moving into new communities of practice (or, "engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor" (4)), yet this challenge often remains tacit, this dissertation examines and makes explicit how this important work is done at two different research sites - a university writing center (the Michigan Tech Multiliteracies Center) and at a multinational corporation (Kimberly-Clark Corporation). Drawing extensively on qualitative ethnographic methods including interview transcriptions, observations, and case studies, as well as work from scholars in writing center studies (Grimm, Denney, Severino), literacy studies (New London Group, Street, Gee), composition (Horner and Trimbur, Canagarajah, Lu), rhetoric (Crowley), and identity studies (Anzaldua, Pratt), I argue that, based on evidence from the two sites, writing centers need to educate tutors to not only take identity into consideration, but to also make individuals' reconciliation work more visible, as it will continue once students and tutors leave the university. Further, as my research at the Michigan Tech Multiliteracies Center and Kimberly-Clark will show, communities can (and should) change their practices in ways that account for reconciliation work as identity, communication, and learning are inextricably bound up with one another.

Teaching College Writing in a High School Setting: The Impact of Concurrent Enrollment on Teacher Learning and Practice

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

By writers for writers: developing a writer-centred model of the writing process

This thesis, set within an Action Research framework, details the development and validation of a writer-centred model of the writing process. The model was synthesised within the boundaries of a writers’ group for MA students. The initial data collected, and analysed using the principles of grounded theory, were retrospective descriptions of group members’ writing processes. After initial analysis, additional data, from group members’ writing, and from audio recordings, were used for further analysis, and to form a model of the writing process. To ascertain whether the model had value outside the specific context in which it was made, it was validated from three different perspectives. Firstly, the retrospective descriptions of other writers were collected and analysed, using the model as a framework. Secondly, the model was presented at academic conferences; comments about the model, made by members of the audience, were collected and analysed. Finally, the model was used in writing courses for PhD students. Comments from these students, along with questionnaire responses, were collected and the content analysed. Upon examination of all data sources, the model was updated to reflect additional insights arising from the analysis. Analysis of the data also indicated that the model is useable outside its original context. Potential uses for the model are 1) raising awareness of the process of writing, 2) putting writers at ease, 3) serving as a starting point for individuals or groups to design their own models of the writing process, and 4) as a tool to help writers take control of their writing processes.

The impact of increased writing time allotment on the developmental writing skills of intermediate elementary school students

The purpose of this study is to determine which of several treatment groups and/or grades have shown growth when increased writing time allotment has occurred. Third, fourth and fifth grade students identified as Gifted, Learning Disabled, and Limited English Proficient enrolled in ESOL classes were the 69 subjects.^ All students were allotted at least one hour of writing time, four days a week for the school year of 1994-1995. Writing activities conducted during the school year involved the full writing process, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Pretests and posttests were administered across the grade levels at a designated period of time using the same administration procedures as the Florida Writing Assessment Program. Three teachers rated each sample on a scale of zero to three.^ The results of the oneway ANOVA indicated that the three raters did not score the pretests and posttests significantly different from each other. A single group pretest-posttest experimental design was used on the three groups. The results of the Gifted group revealed that the Gifted C subgroup (Gifted Behavioral) appeared to have averaged a higher gain score than both the Gifted A and Gifted B subgroups. For the four subgroups of the LD group, no distinct pattern was evident. The Group C subgroup (ADD) appeared to have scored lower than the other three subgroup although their mean IQ score was higher than the others LD subgroups. Comparisons were difficult to make among the four ESOL subgroups due to low subjects and/or scores. Qualitative analyses were also conducted using semi-structured interviews with the Gifted, Learning Disabled, and ESOL teachers. All believed the additional instructional time spent on writing made the difference in the increased writing scores.^ The study indicated that time alone is not a significant factor in developing accomplished writers. Direct instruction perhaps in a specific strategy or skill may lead to significant results. ^

An analysis of student and instructor perceptions of students' writing skills at the university level

This study examined university students' writing skills as perceived by university students and their English instructors. The goal of the study was to provide English instructors with objective, quantified information about writing perceptions from both the students' and instructors' viewpoints. ^ A survey instrument was developed based on a survey instrument created by Newkirk, Cameron, and Selfe (1977) to identify instructors' perceived knowledge of student writing skills. The present study used a descriptive statistical design. It examined five writing skill areas: attitude, content, grammar and mechanics, literary considerations, and the writing process through a questionnaire completed by a convenience sample of summer and fall admitted freshmen who were enrolled in Essay Writing and Freshman Composition courses and English Department instructors at a large South Florida public university. ^ The study consisted of five phases. The first phase was modifying of the Newkirk, Cameron, and Selfe (1977) questionnaire. Two versions of the revised survey were developed - one for instructors and one for students. The second phase was pilot testing the questionnaire for evaluation of administration and scoring. The third phase was administering the questionnaire to 1,280 students and 48 instructors. The fourth phase was analyzing the data. The study found a significant difference in the perceptions of students and instructors in all areas of writing skills examined by the survey. Responses to 29 of 30 questions showed that students felt they had better attitudes toward writing and better writing skills than instructors thought. ^ The final phase was developing recommendations for practice. Based on findings and theory and empirical evidence drawn from the fields of adult education and composition research, learner-centered, self-directed curriculum guidelines are offered. ^ By objectively quantifying student and instructor perceptions of students' writing skills, this study contributes to a growing body of literature that: (a) encourages instructors to acknowledge the perception disparities between instructors and students; (b) gives instructors a better understanding of how to communicate with students; and (c) recommends the development of new curriculum, placement tests, and courses that meet the needs of students and enables English instructors to provide meaningful instruction. ^

The effects of word prediction and text-to-speech technologies on the narrative writing skills of students with specific learning disabilities

This study investigated the effects of word prediction and text-to-speech on the narrative composition writing skills of 6, fifth-grade Hispanic boys with specific learning disabilities (SLD). A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to explore the efficacy of word prediction and text-to-speech alone and in combination on four dependent variables: writing fluency (words per minute), syntax (T-units), spelling accuracy, and overall organization (holistic scoring rubric). Data were collected and analyzed during baseline, assistive technology interventions, and at 2-, 4-, and 6-week maintenance probes. ^ Participants were equally divided into Cohorts A and B, and two separate but related studies were conducted. Throughout all phases of the study, participants wrote narrative compositions for 15-minute sessions. During baseline, participants used word processing only. During the assistive technology intervention condition, Cohort A participants used word prediction followed by word prediction with text-to-speech. Concurrently, Cohort B participants used text-to-speech followed by text-to-speech with word prediction. ^ The results of this study indicate that word prediction alone or in combination with text-to-speech has a positive effect on the narrative writing compositions of students with SLD. Overall, participants in Cohorts A and B wrote more words, more T-units, and spelled more words correctly. A sign test indicated that these perceived effects were not likely due to chance. Additionally, the quality of writing improved as measured by holistic rubric scores. When participants in Cohort B used text-to-speech alone, with the exception of spelling accuracy, inconsequential results were observed on all dependent variables. ^ This study demonstrated that word prediction alone or in combination assists students with SLD to write longer, improved-quality, narrative compositions. These results suggest that word prediction or word prediction with text-to-speech be considered as a writing support to facilitate the production of a first draft of a narrative composition. However, caution should be given to the use of text-to-speech alone as its effectiveness has not been established. Recommendations for future research include investigating the use of these technologies in other phases of the writing process, with other student populations, and with other writing styles. Further, these technologies should be investigated while integrated into classroom composition instruction. ^

The use of computer graphic organizers for narrative writing by elementary school students with Specific Learning Disabilities

Writing is an academic skill critical to students in today's schools as it serves as a predominant means for demonstrating knowledge during school years (Graham, 2008). However, for many students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), learning to write is a challenging, complex process (Lane, Graham, Harris, & Weisenbach, 2006). Students SLD have substantial writing challenges related to the nature of their disability (Mayes & Calhoun, 2005). ^ This study investigated the effects of computer graphic organizer software on the narrative writing compositions of four, fourth- and fifth-grade, elementary-level boys with SLD. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to explore the effects of the computer graphic organizer software on four dependent variables: total number of words, total planning time, number of common story elements, and overall organization. ^ Prior to baseline, participants were taught the fundamentals of narrative writing. Throughout baseline and intervention, participants were read a narrative writing prompt and were allowed up to 10 minutes to plan their writing, followed by 15 minutes for writing, and 5 minutes of editing. During baseline, all planning was done using paper and pencil. During intervention, planning was done on the computer using a graphic organizer developed from the software program Kidspiration 3.0 (2011). All compositions were written and editing was done using paper and pencil during baseline and intervention. ^ The results of this study indicated that to varying degrees computer graphic organizers had a positive effect on the narrative writing abilities of elementary aged students with SLD. Participants wrote more words (from 54.74 to 96.60 more), planned for longer periods of time (from 4.50 to 9.50 more minutes), and included more story elements in their compositions (from 2.00 to 5.10 more out of a possible 6). There were nominal to no improvements in overall organization across the 4 participants. ^ The results suggest that teachers of students with SLD should considering use computer graphic organizers in their narrative writing instruction, perhaps in conjunction with remedial writing strategies. Future investigations can include other types of writing genres, other stages of writing, participants with varied demographics and their use combined with remedial writing instruction. ^

The effects of goal setting and attributional feedback on self -efficacy for writing and writing achievement

This study investigated the effectiveness of goal setting and attributional feedback on self-efficacy for writing and writing achievement of students who are gifted underachievers. Students in grades 3, 4 and 5 participated. Five dependent measures were investigated: fluency, syntax, range, diversity and organization. The results indicated that a systematic writing instruction program increased self-efficacy for writing. In addition the self-efficacy strategies of goal setting and attributional feedback improve self-efficacy and increased some areas of writing achievement. The dependent measures most affected were fluency, syntax and organization. The students in this study did not improve their levels of vocabulary. This study included many practical applications for teachers to use in a classroom setting. ^

Running on Rooftops: a novel and critical reflection on writing from an identity of expatriation with an examination of West-meets-East encounters and attitudes depicted in literature

This thesis is in two parts: a creative work of fiction and a critical reflection on writing from an identity of expatriation. The creative work, a novel entitled Running on Rooftops, revolves around a fictitious community of expatriates living and working in China. As a new college graduate, Anne Henry, the novel’s protagonist and narrator, decides to spend a year teaching English in China. Twelve years later, though still unsure of how to make sense of the chain of events and encounters that left her with an X-shaped scar on her knee, she nevertheless tells the story, revealing how “just a year” can be anything but. The critical reflection, entitled Writing on Rooftops, explores the nature of expatriation as it relates to identity and writing, specifically in how West-meets-East encounters and attitudes are depicted in literature. In it, I examine the challenges and benefits of writing from an identity and mindset of expatriation as illustrated in the works of Western writers who themselves experienced and wrote from viewpoints of expatriation, particularly those Western writers who wrote of expatriation in China and Southeast Asia. The primary question addressed is how expatriation influences perception and how those perceptions among Western foreigners in China and Southeast Asia have been and can be reflected in literature. In the end, I argue that expatriation can be a valuable viewpoint to write from, offering new ways of seeing and describing our world, ourselves and the connections between the two.

The role of information literacy competence and higher order thinking skills to develop academic writing in science and engineering students

This article discusses a study organized to develop academic writing skills in undergraduate students pursuing engineering courses. The target group consisted of 30 students pursuing a Bachelor of Technology in their third year. The classroom observations regarding teaching writing revealed that writing proficiency for most of the students was at a very low level. Followed by this, an intervention program was organized in one college, where the researcher taught academic writing to the students. Units comprising tasks that focused on raising awareness of the academic texts and involving the students in the cognitive processes of writing were designed. The study focused on raising student awareness regarding the nature and characteristics of academic texts in order to develop academic writing skills. The study also emphasized that involving the students in the cognitive processes of writing (e.g., defining the rhetorical problem, identifying the rhetorical situation, determining the audience, setting goals for writing, planning for the text by generating, and organizing ideas) is necessary. The study further suggests that discussions between students and teachers regarding the construction of a text and the way language works in various text types facilitates better writing.