Much research shows that students do not transfer learning well from one class to the next. This study was designed to investigate if students were transferring rhetorical strategies from their disciplinary courses to advanced writing courses. The findings suggest that business majors not only transferred rhetorical knowledge from their other courses, but they did so in a way that is invisible to both themselves and their own writing instructors.
This study describes how reflections allowed students to express their audience awareness as they wrote a multiaudience messages packet. We present an analysis of 27 reflections in which students described their experience when responding to the various audiences. Students’ reflective depth varied, though deeper reflections demonstrate sophistication in considering audience constraints and values. Students reported difficulty with negative and persuasive messages and indicated concern about their credibility. Reflections can help instructors understand how students are considering audiences for business documents, which instructors can use to improve their instruction and assess how well students consider business audiences.
This dissertation is a longitudinal study, following business majors from a business communication class to their new workplaces to see if they are able to transfer learning from one context to the next. While many studies have analyzed possible instances of transfer, few studies have followed students from the classroom to the workplace, and very few have specifically worked with the population of business majors. This study analyzed participants' writing and reflective work using a case study qualitative methodology, informed by Grounded Theory, Legitimate Peripheral Participation, and Activity Theory. A significant finding of this study is that one of the participants was able to directly transfer some rhetorical skills and genre knowledge from the business communication classroom to his new workplace, and use it effectively. He showed that high road transfer can be achieved if the participant is highly motivated to do so. In some cases, participants showed a developmental trajectory of learning, where they practiced and developed these rhetorical strategies during the semester, and were then able to use them effectively later in their jobs/internships. Specifically, participants were able to develop audience awareness, specific genre knowledge, and professional writing styles even further in their new contexts. One of the key findings in this research study is the importance of three factors that may help promote an environment that is conducive to transfer of learning: knowledge of how a community of practice works, participants' self-identity, and gradual fuller participation within the community. However, participants who did not have access **A long term goal would be to eventually sell enough tickets to have the entire coliseum opened up for seating. Annualize Beauty & the Beast • In our surveys, a lot of people talked about how this was an event that they looked forward to, but it only occurs every three years • This event attracts gymnastics fans and wrestling fans • Historically, this event always draws a significantly larger crowd than usual
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.