IDENTITIES AND EXPERIENCES: INSIGHT INTO DEVELOPMENTAL WRITING STUDENTS

Abstract

A large portion of college students are required to take courses in math, reading, and/or English that are considered developmental or remedial before they can take traditional college level courses, and the matriculation rates and graduation rates of these students are much lower than the national average (Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, 2010; Jaggars & Stacey, 2014; NCES, 2017).; however, research has mostly focused on success and failure rates and how different formats like online, hybrid, and corequisite impact these rates. With lower than average graduation rates, finding ways to help students achieve success is of utmost importance, but too many studies are focusing on structural changes rather than acquiring a deeper understanding of the students themselves. This study responds to this gap. This embedded case study followed four developmental writing college students at a Midwestern community college and sought to answer the following questions: In what ways do the experiences of developmental writing students in the developmental writing classroom influence their identities? In what ways do developmental writing students display an academic, social, and virtual identity? In what ways does the virtual identity of students differ from or support their offline identities? During a one semester period, this study employed semi-structured interviews with the students and their instructors, classroom observations, and document review of students’ writing. The data is framed and presented within five conceptual strands: 1) the concept of academic identity, 2) the concept of social identity, 3) the concept of virtual identity, 4) the impact of writing on identity development, and 5) the impact of classroom experience on identity development. Findings shows students’ multiple identities, how identities work both symbiotically and conflictingly, and how the experiences in the classroom impact students’ identities and their successes, failures and persistence in the college setting.