Composition Studies is no stranger to the concept of difference. Indeed, as many scholars have noted, writing scholars have been especially interested in attending to the contingent factors influencing writers and the writing classroom (Penrose 439). However, despite the attention given to the contingent cultural, political, and social forces that affect writers and writing, regionalism—particularly southern regionalism—and its influence on the composing process has been largely overlooked. The sparse research that does consider regionalism tends to focus on dialect, and, while dialect is an important marker of regional difference, modern rhetorical theory suggests that one’s regional identity influences far more than accent or sentence construction. Further, even in the face of National averages reporting that southern students occupy a space of educational disadvantage, writing research has failed to take the South’s cultural difference seriously. If contingency and difference are truly as impactful on the writing process as many composition scholars argue, then how has this critical oversight affected composition theory and the pedagogies it produces? Should compositionists approach the teaching of southern students differently? And, if so, how?
This paper aims to explore these questions and take seriously the influence that southern students’ regional affiliation has (or does not have) on their identification as a student writer. Since the scope of this topic is so vast, I plan to begin by drawing from and piecing together current scholarship and putting such research in deliberate, direct relationship to the writing processes of southern students. Put differently, this project will use already-established research to new ends in an effort to discover if a gap in research truly exists and, if so, help begin to bridge it.
Works Consulted:
Grego, Rhonda C. and Nancy S. Thompson. Teaching/Writing in Thirdspaces: The Studio Approach. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U Press, 2007.
Mitchell, Felicia. "Appalachian Dialects in the College Classroom: Linguistic Diversity and Sensitivity in the Classroom." Presentation for the Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, CA, 18 Mar. 2005.
Penrose, Anne M. "Academic Literacy Perceptions and Performance: Comparing First-generation and Continuing Generation Students." Research in the Teaching of English 36.4 (2002): 437-61.
Regional Rhetorics: Real and Imagined Spaces. Rhetorical Society Quarterly. Ed. Jenny Rice. London: Routledge, 2014.
Shepley, Nathan. "Places of Composition: Writing Contexts in Appalachian Ohio." Composition Studies 37.2 (2009): 75-90.
This paper aims to explore these questions and take seriously the influence that southern students’ regional affiliation has (or does not have) on their identification as a student writer. Since the scope of this topic is so vast, I plan to begin by drawing from and piecing together current scholarship and putting such research in deliberate, direct relationship to the writing processes of southern students. Put differently, this project will use already-established research to new ends in an effort to discover if a gap in research truly exists and, if so, help begin to bridge it.
Works Consulted:
Grego, Rhonda C. and Nancy S. Thompson. Teaching/Writing in Thirdspaces: The Studio Approach. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U Press, 2007.
Mitchell, Felicia. "Appalachian Dialects in the College Classroom: Linguistic Diversity and Sensitivity in the Classroom." Presentation for the Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, CA, 18 Mar. 2005.
Penrose, Anne M. "Academic Literacy Perceptions and Performance: Comparing First-generation and Continuing Generation Students." Research in the Teaching of English 36.4 (2002): 437-61.
Regional Rhetorics: Real and Imagined Spaces. Rhetorical Society Quarterly. Ed. Jenny Rice. London: Routledge, 2014.
Shepley, Nathan. "Places of Composition: Writing Contexts in Appalachian Ohio." Composition Studies 37.2 (2009): 75-90.