Constructing a Community of Practice: Started by faculty—Owned by students

Authors

Chyllis E. Scott, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Editors

Robin D. Johnson, Juan J. Araujo, & Nedra Cossa (Eds.)

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

12-1-2017

Publication Title

Literacy: The Critical Role of Teacher Knowledge

Publisher

Association of Literacy Educators & Researchers

Volume

39

First page number:

299

Last page number:

314

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the experiences of an informal research and writing group of faculty and doctoral-level graduate students at a large university in the southwest United States. Semi-structured interviews and personal narratives were used to illustrate the group members’ perceptions and experiences. Interviews, observations, and reflections were gathered from both the viewpoints of the graduate students as well as from the participation and perspective of the facilitating professor. It was found that informal writing groups provide opportunities to increase writing productivity, while developing a Community of Practice for camaraderie and accountability. Findings suggest that writing groups are valuable resources for doctoral-level graduate students and faculty as a place to further hone their writing practices and academic writing while developing valuable connections with others within the setting.

Keywords

Academic writing, Informal writing groups, Doctoral graduate students, Higher education

Language

eng

Repository Citation

Scott, C. E. (2017). Constructing a Community of Practice: Started by faculty—Owned by students. In Robin D. Johnson, Juan J. Araujo, & Nedra Cossa (Eds.), Literacy: The Critical Role of Teacher Knowledge, 39 299-314. Association of Literacy Educators & Researchers.