Date of Award
May 2015
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
English
First Advisor
Rachel Spilka
Second Advisor
Alice Gillam
Committee Members
Jane Gallop, Dimitri Topitzes, William Keith
Keywords
Composition Pedagogy, Composition Studies, Discomfort and Writing, Emotion, Pedagogy of Discomfort, Teaching Discomfort
Abstract
“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 in our established modes of teaching.
Recommended Citation
Anastasia, Andrew G., "Teaching Discomfort: Students' and Teachers' Descriptions of Discomfort in First-year Writing Classes" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 853.
https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/853