Appalachian Language in the Two-Year College Composition Classroom

This dissertation discusses the intersection of first-year composition instructors and Appalachian language and culture at the two-year college level. Very little of the existing literature discusses pedagogy as it pertains to Appalachian students, and virtually none of the literature focuses on either instructors or the two-year college. This study attempts to address that gap and to explore the attitudes about Appalachia that accompany the teaching of writing in two-year colleges in agricultural (as opposed to coal) Appalachia. This study finds that professors express very negative ideas about Appalachian culture and language, and sometimes about Appalachian students themselves. These attitudes do not, however, contribute dramatically to differences in grades and pass/fail rates for the region as a whole. Appalachian students overall are slightly more likely to fail and less likely to make A grades. The more surprising finding, perhaps, is that students from certain either highly stigmatized or highly isolated communities are far less likely to pass the courses, with failure rates between 50-68%. These rates are far higher than non-Appalachian failure rates, and substantially higher than the rates for non-stigmatized communities and do, perhaps, stem from their instructors' inherent biases. The privileging of standard academic English above other Englishes informs the teaching of every respondent in this study and invites a consideration of how a more rhetorical approach to composition pedagogy might change outcomes for Appalachian students in writing classes and in college itself.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Rhetoric and Writing

Department dc:contributor.department

English

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Hanks, Janet

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Powell, Katrina M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Heilker, Paul V.
• Carter-Tod, Sheila L.
• Carmichael, Katie

• Appalachian culture
• Appalachian students
• first-year composition
• pedagogy
• two-year college

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:23003

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/95542