| This study investigated the context for writing in two college chemical engineering classes: a laboratory class and a process design class intended to simulate the design problems and writing demands of industry. Consistent with the rhetorical and social theory that informed this study, each class was viewed as a community for reasoning and writing. While the study focused on these two classes, it had a broader aim: to contribute to our understanding of the purposes writing might serve for learning in any discipline and the ways teachers create classroom contexts for realizing those purposes.; The following questions were explored: (1) How do students and teachers perceive the contexts for writing in these classes, specifically, what issues are addressed? what writer and reader roles are assumed? and what pragmatic purposes does writing serve? (2) What lines of reasoning are used in the reports written for each class, specifically, what claims and warrants are used?; The study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods: a survey of all students and teachers participating in these classes, open-ended and discourse-based interviews with ten students and two teachers, observation of these classes, and text analysis of claims and warrants.; The findings indicate that students and teachers do perceive these two classes to represent two different communities: issues, writer and reader roles, and purposes vary. Further, lines of reasoning used in the texts vary. The findings also indicate problems that arise within a particular class when students do not perceive a real issue for reasoning and writing and when students and teachers do not share the same perception of roles and purposes.; The study gives us some insight into the diversity of contexts for writing in college classes. Further, it illustrates two quite different educational purposes that writing might serve in introducing students to a given disciplinary community: one, to teach students basic concepts and lines of reasoning of that discipline, and two, to prepare them for professional roles associated with that discipline. Finally, the findings suggest ways teachers might go about creating classroom contexts conducive to realizing those purposes. |
