Graduate Program

English

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

Fall 2024

Thesis Director

Elizabeth Tacke

Thesis Committee Member

Terri A. Fredrick

Thesis Committee Member

Rachael Ryerson

Abstract

The author addresses several questions across three chapters in relation to linguistic identity and standard language ideology in academic writing, particularly as it pertains to the First Year Writing classroom. Firstly, what is standard language ideology, and what are the detriments of its effects on students in the writing classroom? This answer is considered with an emphasis on the implications for students whose home languages are not in close proximity to Standard English (SE) and boils down to a homogenous language that is deemed ideal and is imposed upon others by dominant institutions, such as academic institutions. Within a literature review, the author presents feelings of internalized inferiority, forced assimilation and a loss of one’s culture, and ostracization from one’s culture as the primary negative effects of standard language ideology on students.

From there, primary texts are examined from a rhetorical perspective with consideration for their pedagogical use within a unit in the FYW classroom centered around linguistic justice, and within a larger course framework of identity. Since academic writing is traditionally logocentric and devoid of the writer’s personal voice, the author encourages the incorporation of narrative elements into academic argument as well as—and to encourage the inclusion of—code-meshed language in students’ writing. Elements of a unit that emphasizes the theoretical underpinnings of critical pedagogy and the liberatory classroom are centered around a final writing project that is a narrative-based argument, in which the use of code-meshing home languages into the work is highly encouraged.

The author makes the argument that by enacting a writing curriculum with the exploration of linguistic justice at the forefront, within the framework of traditional writing objectives, such as rhetorical analysis, argumentation, revision, and communicative effectiveness, FYW teachers can provide their students with a solid foundation as writers in higher education, while at the same time, chipping away at the oppressive language systems and academic genre constraints that have stifled individual—often marginalized—voices within academia.

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