Decisions, Agency, and Advising
168 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
Paperback
Release Date:01 Nov 2016
ISBN:9781607325406
Decisions, Agency, and Advising
Key Issues in the Placement of Multilingual Writers into First-Year Composition Courses
Utah State University Press
Decisions, Agency, and Advising considers the role of students’ own agency in the placement of multilingual writers—including international students and US residents or citizens who are nonnative users of English—in US college composition programs. Grounded in qualitative research and concerned equally with theory and practice, the book explores how multilingual students exercise agency in their placement decisions and how student agency can inform the overall programmatic placement of multilingual students into first-year composition courses.
Tanita Saenkhum follows eleven multilingual students who made their decisions about placement into first-year composition courses during one academic year at a large public university. She identifies the need for the process of making placement decisions to be understood more clearly, describes how to use that knowledge to improve placement practices for these students—particularly in advising—and offers hands-on recommendations for writing programs.
Decisions, Agency, and Advising is a significant contribution to the field and particularly valuable to writing program administrators, academic advisors, writing teachers, researchers investigating second language writing and writing program administration, composition and second language writing scholars, and graduate students.
Tanita Saenkhum follows eleven multilingual students who made their decisions about placement into first-year composition courses during one academic year at a large public university. She identifies the need for the process of making placement decisions to be understood more clearly, describes how to use that knowledge to improve placement practices for these students—particularly in advising—and offers hands-on recommendations for writing programs.
Decisions, Agency, and Advising is a significant contribution to the field and particularly valuable to writing program administrators, academic advisors, writing teachers, researchers investigating second language writing and writing program administration, composition and second language writing scholars, and graduate students.
‘I am sure other readers will have the same reaction I had: ‘My campus needs documents like this!’’
—Shanti Bruce, Nova Southeastern University
‘A comprehensive, well-thought-out study that provides rich pictures of individual students along with practical, concrete suggestions for WPAs.’
—Todd Ruecker, University of New Mexico
‘Graduate students and scholars with research interests focusing on the intersection between first-year composition and second-language writing scholarship will find that this book joins conversations already begun in other publications but also contributes something new—a set of practical suggestions for making the placement process an effective one primarily through encouraging student agency.’
—Journal of Second Language Writing
‘Writing teachers, FYC directors, writing program administrators, and professors alike in a variety of educational contexts and disciplines will benefit from having read this well-crafted, empirically informed book. . . .There will likely be substantial changes in program evaluation and place in coming years as a result of the nuanced findings presented in Saenkhum’s work.’
—WPA: Writing Program Administration‘An invaluable resource for all writing program administrators, educators, and advisors.’
—Assessing Writing‘Those looking to change their writing program’s placement process, or those who find themselves in situations like the one created by California State University’s decisions to change their placement procedures, can look to Decisions, Agency, Advising. . . . This book is a timely addition to conversations about writing placement for multilingual learners in US higher education’
—The Journal of Writing Assessment
Tanita Saenkhum is assistant professor of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she directs the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and teaches courses on second language writing and TESOL. She has published in Journal of Second Language Writing, WPA: Writing Program Administration, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and WPA-CompPile Research Bibliographies. Her writing has appeared in several edited collections.
