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Teaching Discomfort: Students' And Teachers' Descriptions Of Discomfort In First-Year Writing Classes, Andrew G. Anastasia May 2015

Teaching Discomfort: Students' And Teachers' Descriptions Of Discomfort In First-Year Writing Classes, Andrew G. Anastasia

Theses and Dissertations

“Teaching Discomfort: Students’ and Teachers’ Descriptions of Discomfort in First-Year Writing Classes” uses qualitative research in first-year composition classes to argue that the experiences of first-year writing students and teachers complicate composition’s paradoxical reliance upon and avoidance of psychological discomfort in composition classrooms. Students’ and teachers’ values regarding critical inquiry evince a complex link between the potential for discomfort to generate knowledge and unintended emotional consequences that are further complicated by long histories of the value of reason over emotion. Students’ perspectives, in particular, and the challenges they pose, can help the field rethink the role and value of discomfort …


The Impact Of Performance-Based Assessment On University Esl Learners' Motivation, Kadidja Koné Jan 2015

The Impact Of Performance-Based Assessment On University Esl Learners' Motivation, Kadidja Koné

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the impact of performance-based assessment on university ESL learners' motivation. To reach this aim, data were collected from 21 international ESL students taking an intensive oracy course for non-native speakers. Online motivation questionnaires were used in order to find out how these learners responded emotionally and motivationally to performance-based assessment, specifically an oral presentation project both before and after the project. The results revealed that the students responded positively to this type of project. However, their motivational and emotional states varied across time depending on their experience with the oral presentation, their performance, and the cohesion of …