Drawing primarily on theories of situated learning, this study compares novices learning written genres in two different institutional settings within similar disciplines: university students in public administration courses and graduate student interns placed in government agencies. Observational and textual analyses of novices learning to write the genres necessary for these settings point to differences in writing goals, guide-learner roles, text evaluations, and learning sites. The results show that when students move from the university to the workplace, they not only have to learn new genres but they need to learn new ways to learn these new genres.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anson, Chris M.
, and Lee L. Forsberg. “Moving Beyond the Academic Community: Transitional Stages in Professional Writing.”Written Communication7 (1990):200-231.
2.
Bakhtin, Mikhail M.“The Problem of Speech Genres.”Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Ed. C. Emerson and Michael Holquist. Trans. V. W. McGee. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986. 60-102.
3.
Bereiter, Carl
, and Marlene Scardamalia. The Psychology of Writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1987.
4.
Berkenkotter, Carol
, and Thomas Huckin. “Rethinking Genre from a Socio-Cognitive Perspective.”Written Communication10 (1993): 475-509.
5.
Elbow, Peter
. Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
6.
Freedman, Aviva
. “Argument as Genre and Genres of Argument.”Perspectives on Written Argumentation. Ed. Deborah Berrill. Norfolk, NJ: Hampton, Forthcoming.
7.
Freedman, Aviva
. “Learning to Write Again.”Carleton Papers in Applied Language Studies4 (1987): 95-116.
Freedman, Aviva
. “Show and Tell? The Role of Explicit Teaching in Learning New Genres.”Research in the Teaching of English27 (1993): 222-251.
10.
Freedman, Aviva
, and Christine Adam. “Learning and Teaching New Genres: New Literacies, New Responsibilities.”Conference of College Composition and Communication. Washington, DC.23-25 Mar. 1995.
11.
Freedman, Aviva
, and Christine Adam. “Proving the Rule: Situating Workplace Writing in a University Context.” Unpublished manuscript.
12.
Freedman, Aviva
, Christine Adam, and Graham Smart. “Wearing Suits to Class: Simulating Genres and Simulations as Genre.”Written Communication11 (1994): 193-226.
13.
Freedman, Aviva
, and Peter Medway. “New Views of Genre and Their Implications for Education.”Learning and Teaching Genre. Ed. Aviva Freedman and Peter Medway. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook HEINEMANN, 1994. 1-22.
14.
Goetz, Judith
, and Margaret LeCompte. Ethnography and Qualitative Design in Educational Research. New York: Academic Press, 1984.
15.
Gutierrez, Kris
. “Laws of Possibility: Reconstituting Classroom Activity for Latino Children.”American Educational Research Association Conference. New Orleans. 4-8 Apr. 1994.
16.
Hanks, William F. Foreword
. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Ed. Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 11-21.
17.
Heath, Shirley Brice
. Ways with Words: Language, Life, and Work in Communities and Classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
18.
Herrington, Ann.“Writing in Academic Settings: A Study of the Contexts for Writing in Two College Chemical Engineering Courses.”Research in the Teaching of English19 (1985): 331-361.
19.
Hubboch, Susan
. “Confronting the Power in Empowering Students.”The Writing Instructor9.2-3 (1989-90): 35-44.
20.
Lave, Jean
. “Situating Learning in Communities of Practice.”Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition. Ed. Lauren Resnick, J. Levine, and S. Teasley. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1991. 63-83.
21.
Lave, Jean
, and Etienne Wenger. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
22.
Mackinnon, James
. “Becoming a Rhetor: Developing Writing Ability in a Mature, Writing Intensive Organization.”Writing in the Workplace: New Research Perspectives. Ed. Rachel Spilka. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993. 41-55.
23.
McCarthy, Lucille P.“A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing across the Curriculum.”Research in the Teaching of English21 (1987): 233-265.
24.
Miller, Carolyn
. “Genre as Social Action.”Quarterly Journal of Speech70 (1984): 151-176.
25.
Paradis, James
, David Dobrin, and Richard Miller. “Writing at Exxon ITD: Notes on the Writing Environment of an R&D Organization.”Writing in Nonacademic Settings. Ed. Lee Odell and Dixie Goswami. New York: Guilford, 1985. 281-308.
26.
Petraglia, Joseph
. “Spinning Like a Kite: A Closer Look at the Pseudotransactional Function of Writing.”Journal of Advanced Composition14 (Forthcoming).
27.
Popken, Ronald
. “Genre Transfer in Developing Adult Writers.”Focuses5 (1992): 3-17.
28.
Rogoff, Barbara
. Apprenticeship in Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
29.
Rogoff, Barbara
. “Guided Participation of Children and their Families.”American Educational Research Association Conference. Atlanta. 12-16 Apr. 1993.
30.
Rogoff, Barbara
. “Models of Teaching and Learning: Development Through Participation.”American Educational Research Association Conference. New Orleans. 4-8 Apr. 1994.
31.
Rogoff, Barbara
. “Social Interaction as Apprenticeship in Thinking: Guided Participation in Spatial Planning.”Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition. Ed. Lauren Resnick, J. Levine, and S. Teasley. Washington: American Psychological Association, 1991. 349-364.
32.
Smart, Graham
. “Genre as Community Invention: A Central Bank's Response to Its Executives' Expectations as Readers.”Writing in the Workplace: New Research Perspectives. Ed. Rachel Spilka. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993. 124-140.
33.
Vygotsky, Lev.Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.
34.
Vygotsky, Lev.Thought and Language. Trans. E. Hanfmann and G. Vakar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1962.
35.
Walvoord, Barbara
, and Lucille McCarthy. Thinking and Writing in College: A Naturalistic Study of Students in Four Disciplines. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1993.
36.
Wertsch, James
. “A Sociocultural Approach to Socially Shared Cognition.'' Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition. Ed. Lauren Resnick, J. Levine, and S. Teasley. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1991. 85-99.
37.
Wertsch, James
. Voices of the Mind: A Sociocultural Approach to Mediated Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
