Abstract
This qualitative dissertation study investigated the following research question: How does Hip hop influence the literate lives, i.e., the connections of Hip hop to readings, writings and other communicative practices, of students who placed into transitional college English courses? The impetus for the study came from the importance that Hip hop has in the lives of young people (Smitherman, 1997). The participants in this study, Dionne and Mike, were students placed into a 1st year non-credit bearing English course, also known as a transitional course (Armstrong, 2007), at a 4-year university. The study employed tools of ethnography (Heath & Street, 2008), such as interviews, classroom observations and textual analysis of students’ language and literacy practices in spaces inside and outside of the classroom. This study is conceptually framed within cultural studies (Hicks, 2003, 2005, 2009; Nelson, Treichler, & Grossberg, 1992) and sociocultural studies (Dyson & Smitherman, 2009; Street, 2001). Data were analyzed using linguistic analysis (Alim, 2006) and textual analysis (Kellner, 2009). Findings suggest that Dionne and Mike, two students who disliked reading in the traditional sense, found rhetorical power (Hicks & Dolan, 2003) and humanistic understanding through participation in Hip hop culture. The historical moments, ideological stances, and language of Hip hop contributed to the social construction of these young people’s literate identities. These two cases provide evidence which might add to a more robust philosophy of \"remedial\", \"developmental\", or transitional education, with a renewed focus on affective issues involved in literacy learning.
","abstract_html":"<p>Abstract</p><p>This qualitative dissertation study investigated the following research question: How does Hip hop influence the literate lives, i.e., the connections of Hip hop to readings, writings and other communicative practices, of students who placed into transitional college English courses? The impetus for the study came from the importance that Hip hop has in the lives of young people (Smitherman, 1997). The participants in this study, Dionne and Mike, were students placed into a 1st year non-credit bearing English course, also known as a transitional course (Armstrong, 2007), at a 4-year university. The study employed tools of ethnography (Heath & Street, 2008), such as interviews, classroom observations and textual analysis of students’ language and literacy practices in spaces inside and outside of the classroom. This study is conceptually framed within cultural studies (Hicks, 2003, 2005, 2009; Nelson, Treichler, & Grossberg, 1992) and sociocultural studies (Dyson & Smitherman, 2009; Street, 2001). Data were analyzed using linguistic analysis (Alim, 2006) and textual analysis (Kellner, 2009). Findings suggest that Dionne and Mike, two students who disliked reading in the traditional sense, found rhetorical power (Hicks & Dolan, 2003) and humanistic understanding through participation in Hip hop culture. The historical moments, ideological stances, and language of Hip hop contributed to the social construction of these young people’s literate identities. These two cases provide evidence which might add to a more robust philosophy of "remedial", "developmental", or transitional education, with a renewed focus on affective issues involved in literacy learning.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sánchez, Deborah M."],"institution":"University of Cincinnati","degree_name":"EdD","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":"Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Literacy and Second Language Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Watts Taffe, Susan"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:36:39Z","subjects":["Higher Education","Postsecondary Literacy","Hip hop","Education","Cultural Studies","Sociocultural Theory of Language","Facebook"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1343052007","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Watts Taffe, Susan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sánchez, Deborah M."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Literacy and Second Language Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["EdD"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Cincinnati"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Higher Education","Postsecondary Literacy","Hip hop","Education","Cultural Studies","Sociocultural Theory of Language","Facebook"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1343052007"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Abstract
This qualitative dissertation study investigated the following research question: How does Hip hop influence the literate lives, i.e., the connections of Hip hop to readings, writings and other communicative practices, of students who placed into transitional college English courses? The impetus for the study came from the importance that Hip hop has in the lives of young people (Smitherman, 1997). The participants in this study, Dionne and Mike, were students placed into a 1st year non-credit bearing English course, also known as a transitional course (Armstrong, 2007), at a 4-year university. The study employed tools of ethnography (Heath & Street, 2008), such as interviews, classroom observations and textual analysis of students’ language and literacy practices in spaces inside and outside of the classroom. This study is conceptually framed within cultural studies (Hicks, 2003, 2005, 2009; Nelson, Treichler, & Grossberg, 1992) and sociocultural studies (Dyson & Smitherman, 2009; Street, 2001). Data were analyzed using linguistic analysis (Alim, 2006) and textual analysis (Kellner, 2009). Findings suggest that Dionne and Mike, two students who disliked reading in the traditional sense, found rhetorical power (Hicks & Dolan, 2003) and humanistic understanding through participation in Hip hop culture. The historical moments, ideological stances, and language of Hip hop contributed to the social construction of these young people’s literate identities. These two cases provide evidence which might add to a more robust philosophy of \"remedial\", \"developmental\", or transitional education, with a renewed focus on affective issues involved in literacy learning.
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This qualitative dissertation study investigated the following research question: How does Hip hop influence the literate lives, i.e., the connections of Hip hop to readings, writings and other communicative practices, of students who placed into transitional college English courses? The impetus for the study came from the importance that Hip hop has in the lives of young people (Smitherman, 1997). The participants in this study, Dionne and Mike, were students placed into a 1st year non-credit bearing English course, also known as a transitional course (Armstrong, 2007), at a 4-year university. The study employed tools of ethnography (Heath & Street, 2008), such as interviews, classroom observations and textual analysis of students’ language and literacy practices in spaces inside and outside of the classroom. This study is conceptually framed within cultural studies (Hicks, 2003, 2005, 2009; Nelson, Treichler, & Grossberg, 1992) and sociocultural studies (Dyson & Smitherman, 2009; Street, 2001). Data were analyzed using linguistic analysis (Alim, 2006) and textual analysis (Kellner, 2009). Findings suggest that Dionne and Mike, two students who disliked reading in the traditional sense, found rhetorical power (Hicks & Dolan, 2003) and humanistic understanding through participation in Hip hop culture. The historical moments, ideological stances, and language of Hip hop contributed to the social construction of these young people’s literate identities. These two cases provide evidence which might add to a more robust philosophy of \"remedial\", \"developmental\", or transitional education, with a renewed focus on affective issues involved in literacy learning.
"],"dc:format":["application/pdf","p.160","2. MB"],"dc:identifier":["http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1343052007"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:publisher":["University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK"],"dc:rights":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."],"dc:subject":["Higher Education","Postsecondary Literacy","Hip hop","Education","Cultural Studies","Sociocultural Theory of Language","Facebook"],"dc:title":["Hip hop and Literacy in the Lives of Two Students in a Transitional English Course"],"dc:type":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Literacy and Second Language Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["EdD"],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Cincinnati"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:36:39Z"}