Introducing the Composition Student to the Writer He or She Already Is

Oct 15, 2026

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The paper argues that first-year college composition students often feel anxious and intimidated about writing, forgetting that they are already communicating through everyday non-academic writing. It proposes teaching the writing process by leveraging students’ existing secondary writing—text messages, social media posts, chats, and emails—so they recognize themselves as writers. By reframing resistance as a potential “denial of membership” in the academic writing community, the text advocates for identity-based inclusion to strengthen confidence, participation, and the ability to write purposeful, well-supported essays.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Origins of the Assignment

Everyday Writing as a Foundation

Resistance and Belonging in Writing Communities

Identity-Based Pedagogy

Introducing the Composition Student to the Writer He or She Already Is STACY KASTNER Bowling Green State University Origins ofthe Assignment My experience working with first year writers in courses designed to teach critical thinking and composition has introduced me to a mass of young adults who are anxious when it comes to effective written communication in a college classroom. Not only are they troubled about how to write to an audience of college professors, but they are also intimidated by having to do so. Selfconscious of themselves as writers, they often forget that they are indeed writing, and communicating effectively through that writing, all the time. I believe that it is not only possible, but also highly effective, to begin teaching the writing process by directing students to their secondary, non-academic, writing. When it is easier to send a friend, a family member, a coworker a text message than it is to call him or her on the phone, our students are writers, and they are conditioned to perform in a world that communicates through writing. This writing is constantly in public spaces where student writing constructs representations; our students‟ characters, very carefully designed, communicate via Facebook, text message, instant messenger, blogs, and so on. Those character constructions form writers who are concise, ironic, humorous, clever—all characteristics that often define good writing in any setting, the college classroom being no exception. Recognition of this by the composition teacher and student alike is an enlightening concept; it interests the student and rejuvenates the teacher. Recognizing students as writers and encouraging student recognition of themselves as writers creates a unique classroom experience and also structures personal writing goals for students that engage, challenge, and interest. The student who walks into a composition classroom today is an effective written communicator without the resistance that many students entering a college classroom before him or her held. Yet, many students don‟t consider themselves writers, even though according to The New York Times “18-to-24-year-olds average 790 [text] messages” in just one month (Mindlin 4). While these text messages aren‟t properly punctuated let alone complete sentences, they are words, or representations of words, and if the intended purpose failed to be effectively communicated, it is doubtful that text messaging would be able to boast the popularity it currently holds. In 2005, Jenn Fishman et al. noted in their results from the first two years of The Stanford Study of writing that current students “are rhetors in both a classical and a distinctly modern—even postmodern—sense: individuals who, singly and in groups, participate in numerous communication situations that involve a dazzling, sometimes staggering, array of literate practices”(245). The informal writing that students are doing all of the time can be a foundation for those students, a foundation that can help bring about the end of struggling with student resistance to writing assignments, a foundation that can offer students confidence in their abilities to argue, to explain, to question, and to reflect in a written form, and it is a foundation that also has practical classroom application. The most basic aim of a teacher of composition is to present his or her students with the skills to communicate effectively in a written form in a college setting. Students who choose to reject those skills are often viewed as obstinate, dispassionate, immature, even ungrateful. Yet, their rejection comes with a consequence, and Douglas Hesse discusses that consequence as a“denial of membership” into a community (229) . This deserves serious consideration. For college composition instructors, not addressing resistance in students is to allow them to deny themselves a place in the academic writing community, setting most of them up for failure at the undergraduate

FAQs

Why does the author believe students resist composition writing assignments?

The author notes that many students feel self-conscious and intimidated about writing for college professors, forgetting they communicate through writing constantly in everyday settings.

How does the paper suggest teaching writing to reduce student resistance?

It recommends beginning with students’ secondary, non-academic writing—like texting and social media—because it helps students recognize themselves as writers.

What consequence does the author connect to instructors not addressing writing resistance?

The author, citing Douglas Hesse, describes resistance as a “denial of membership” in the academic writing community, which can lead to failure and later professional challenges.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by SANS