Cultural models in the U.S. writing classroom: matches and mismatches.

Author: Curry, Mary Jane
Published: University of Leicester, UK, 2002
Source: http://www.rochester.edu [2004-08-02]

Abstract

This paper presents a theory of cultural models and uses the theory to analyse data from a study of a writing course for English language learners at a U.S. community college. It examines cultural models of teachers and learners held by the students, the course tutor and administrators, then discusses the matches and mismatches between informants’ cultural models and actual demographic information about students and the events of the semester. It considers the effects of these mismatches on institutional policies and teaching practice. In the course under study, learners were neither sufficiently challenged based on their educational backgrounds and aspirations, nor successfully scaffolded into academic writing. The paper suggests ways for tutors to increase knowledge about students’ backgrounds and goals, and thus challenge potentially inaccurate models in order to design instructional approaches that meet students’ needs.

Curry, Mary Jane

Mary Jane Curry, Ph.D., is Research Fellow in Academic Literacy at the Centre for Language and Communications, Faculty of Education and Language Studies, The Open University, Milton Keynes.