Research Project: The Embodied Literacies Project

Shared by Jenn Fishman on May 21, 2007. Last Updated on Oct 21, 2007.

Principal Investigator(s): Jenn Fishman, Stacey Pigg (part 1), and Mary Jo Reiff (part 2)

Co-Investigator(s): Bill Doyle and Casie Fedukovich with Miya Abbott, Devon Asdell, Nina Nell Haeckel, Jerod Hollyfield, Hiie Saumaa, and Amanda Watkins

For More Information: jfishman@utk.edu, piggstac@msu.edu, mreiff@utk.edu

Keywords: first-year composition, freshman writing, college writing, rhetoric, transfer, rhetorical knowledge, genre, genres, media, literacy, multiliteracies, academic writing, assigned writing, multimodal writing, academic literacy

Permission to Cite: Yes

Abstract/Summary: The Embodied Literacies Project is a 2-part college writing study conducted between 2005 and 2007 at the University of Tennessee. Part 1 focused on first-year writers and first-year writing, broadly defined. Part 2 examined students' transfer of rhetorical knowledge across genres, mediums, and writing situations; it involved 19% of the project's original participants.

Research Question or Hypothesis: Year 1: If/how do students benefit as academic writers and rhetors when they have opportunities to embody academic discourse through oral and digital assignments.

Year 2: How do emerging multimedia/multimodal/multidisciplinary FYC curricula inform the acquisition and transferability of academic literacy learning?

General Research Approach: Mixed / Multi-Modal

Participants and Setting: Part 1 participants were members of 1 of 12 specially designed sections of FYC; Part 2 participants were members of the original group.

Design Comments: Our primary source of information is students' writing portfolios, which consist of specific (and common) types of texts collected in FYC.

Funding: External Funding
2006 WPA Research Grant($2000)

Internal Funding (UTK):
Faculty First Innovative Technology Grant, which supplied hardware and technology support
Summer SARIF (Scholarly Activities Research Incentive Fund) Grant, which supplied $3000+ to support a graduate student research assistant for the summer prior to the project launch
The Writing Fund and the Department of English donated funds and resources to support everything from photocopying to hosting a day-long coding session with 25 volunteers (ea. paid a $75 honorarium)

Support: Year 1 Co-principal investigators: Jenn Fishman and Stacey Pigg
Year 2 Co-principal investigators: Jenn Fishman and Mary Jo Reiff
Year 1 Project co-ordinator: Casie Fedukovich
Year 2 Project co-ordinator: Bill Doyle

Additional co-teachers and researchers:
Miya Abbott (year 1)
Devon Asdell (year 1)
Bill Doyle (years 1 &2)
Casie Fedukovich (year 1)
Nina Nell Haeckel (year 1)
Stacey Pigg (year 2)
Mary Jo Reiff (year 1)
Hiie Saumaa (year 1)
Amanda Watkins (year 1)

Technical support: Kathy Bennett, Chris Hodge, and Alex Riedl

Follow-Up Studies or Implementation Plans: Data analysis continues. ,Some of our earliest findings inform the new FYC curriculum and related pedagogies at UTK. At this time, we do not plan to extend this research.

Related Publications: Pending