| This dissertation develops a “just” pedagogy for composition studies that is sensitive to non-native English students in international contexts. In the first two chapters, I discuss the limitations of U.S. American teachers' transferring Western writing pedagogies to English composition classrooms outside the United States. In the following three chapter-length case studies, I explore the challenges involved in applying such pedagogies in Chinese, Brazilian, and Spanish composition classrooms. As a teacher/researcher who is strongly committed to a progressive pedagogical philosophy, I have four objectives: (1) to synthesize the literature on various composition pedagogies, (2) to describe and analyze current composition pedagogy, (3) to critique the use of these pedagogies in teaching composition in three international sites, and (4) to develop a more relevant and “just” pedagogy that can empower students with applicability to similar programs. In conducting the research for this dissertation, I used a qualitative approach to inquiry. I interviewed students, teachers, and administrators in China, Brazil, and Spain, conducted focus groups, recorded field notes from classroom observations, facilitated reflection sessions, and compared my conclusions with other scholars' published reports. My dissertation serves as a theoretical argument, as a research study, and as professional praxis in that it offers me ways to combine knowledge, action, and reflection—consistent with the goals of what I term a “just” pedagogical approach to composition studies. |
