Puzzling About Audience Awareness and Blogs

I've perused four more articles that focus on "audience awareness" and how online writing "may" help students push towards becoming better writers. I'm finding studies that parallel my thinking, yet focus on elementary or middle school writers with a specific audience designated before they post their written work onto the web for anyone to find and read. This post will move from a broad conversation addressing the insight of Starr Lewis at the Kentucky Department of Education, and move towards three qualitative studies. Looking at Starr Lewis's thinking is close to home; Kentucky's writing program fostered over twelve years of growth within me as a teacher of writing in Kentucky.

The State of Kentucky is celebrated for its portfolio assessment. In Kentucky, students are expected to be writers, K - 12, and teachers are responsible for keeping writing folders for students every year. In 4th grade, 7th grade and 12th grade, students produce a writing portfolio to be assessed as part of a school's accountability. Starr Lewis, a leader in portfolio assessment in Kentucky and now the associate commissioner for the Office of Academic and Professional Development at the Kentucky Department of Education, reflected on Audience Awareness (2001), as it pertains to Kentucky's advanced writing curriculum. Since 1990, Kentucky has drawn much attention to its portfolio assessment and this attention continues today.

Lewis (2001) states four beliefs about Kentucky's Writing portfolios that should always be on the table: 1. Assessment does affect instruction, 2. All students deserve the opportunity to learn to express their thoughts and beliefs in writing, 3. Education should prepare students for the types of writing they will do throughout their lives and 4. Education should open doors for all students. A classroom that sets goals for writing assessment will be a classroom that fosters better writing instruction. Before the educational reform in Kentucky, students were expected to write for various audiences in the State's program of studies, but they did so very little because it wasn't assessed. She notes that students wrote seldom and when they did, it was always in forms for their teachers to assess. The writing portfolio process introduced students to writing for a variety of purposes and for a variety of audiences, and writing occurs more often in Kentucky, now, because it is factored into the way the State assesses its students.

Even so, understanding "authentic audience" remains a struggle (Lewis, 2001). More specifically, Lewis writes, "Without a connection to the world outside the classroom, there is no audience other than the teacher or classmates. Because the outside connection has not really been established in most classrooms, the best a student can do is to write as if he or she were addressing an audience for a particular purpose." (retrieved: http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/results_ single_ftPES.jhtml). Her point, however, is that a contrived audience is superficial and makes for unauthentic student writing. Teachers should teach writing, then, as a means for real-world experience.

In 2008, using the Internet, especially Blogs, can be one way to push teachers and students to think about ways for writing to transcend classrooms. When teachers and students probe who might read a student's piece of work, why they might want to read it, what criticisms the work may bring, etc., teachers and students enter the irreplaceable conversations of what real writers wrestle with -- conversations that are "remarkable" (Lewis, 2001). In summary, audience awareness is a key factor in developing students as writers. The Internet is a place to initiate conversations about audience awareness and online publishing.

Henderson & Joyce (2005) looked to pre-school and elementary classrooms to determine that students often find an audience for their thinking and writing in teachers, peers and/or other adults in the room. They determined that developing a sense of audience begins with signing an artist's name. Through school sharing and participation, audience construction is started. Understanding what is expected and valued by audience members helps young students to develop an awareness of the types of information, explanations, visual aides, and content audiences expected. The conversations around these relationships is where the teaching occurrs. (There may be a parallel here to Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development in that as students become writers, they must grow comfortable, at their own pace, to how their ideas and words are received by those who read their work. Therefore audience-awareness is a developed process).

Karchmer-Klein (2007) looked specifically at 4th graders as they moved their writing towards Internet publishing and noticed that ability did not factor in how students used electronic features for designing how their writing looked online (with images, font choice and spacing) and that offering literacy instruction with the goal of online publications increased students' audience awareness. When writers are more able to understand their readers, they are more able to design more effective writing. Through reading and analyzing online texts, a young writer becomes more equipped with what their writing should look like. What is new with online writing, though, is that now a writer must understand how to use online features to create meaning for their readers: audio, font, video, graphics, color, hyperlinks, etc.. Her findings suggest that their is a relationship between literacy instruction and the development of audience awareness while writing for online publication. Her study also notes that further work is still needed, especially when reconceptualizing a global audience who may find written work online. Technology is changing the way educators should be teaching writing and requires innovative thinking that researchers are only beginning to understand.

Garthwait (2007) studied the use of online composition with 7th grade students. Interestingly, she discovered that students were receiving useful instruction in a computer lab class about audience awareness and online writing that was untapped by the language arts teachers who shared the same students with the computer instructor. There is potential for collaborative learning and integration, especially because the computer teacher offered much insight on how posting to the web requires an awareness of what individuals desire to see. Recognizing a multimodal reality of today's student learner, Garthwait (2007) discusses how employing tools that appeal to a wired generation makes sense. Although words are one tool used by writers, the online writer is allowed graphics, video, audio, etc. that also help convey meaning and understanding. Audience awareness shapes composition, and the new space for writing -- the Internet -- opens new conversations about audience.
Perhaps teachers have been lacking with their instruction and guidance on how audience awareness creates good writers (Garthwait, 2007): "Digital writing becomes powerful because it has the potential to meld easily verbal, visual and auditory communication: a see-saw between abstract (lingual modes) and intuitive (graphic arts modes" (retrieved http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/results_single _fulltext.jhtml;hwwilsonid=CE). The computer lab teachers helped students gain electronic literacy skills that other educators need to promote, as well. In the computer lab, students were able to focus on specific audiences with knowledge of strategies used by online writers. There are new semiotic tools used by today's writers that are used to recognize who the audiences are. Students learned a great deal about significant writing skills while learning about computer skills. In many ways, the processes go hand in hand, but at this school being studied, the connection was not yet made.

Garthwait, A. (2007). Middle school hypermedia composition: A qualitative case study. In Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 16, no. 4, p. 357 - 375. retrieved 3/24/08,
Wilson Web.

Henderson, S.D. (2005). Developing a sense of audience: An examination of one school's instructional contexts, in Reading Horizons,, 45, no.4, pp. 321-348, March/April, retrieved 3/24/08, Wilson Web.

Karchmer-Klein, R. (2007). Audience awareness and Internet publishing: A qualitative analysis of factors influencing how fourth graders write electronic text. In Action in Teacher Education, 29, no. 2, pp. 39 - 50, Summer, retrieved 3/24/08, Wilson Web.

Lewis, S. (2001). Ten years of puzzling about audience awarenss. In The Clearing House, 74, no.4, pp.191-196, March/April, retrieved 3/24/08, Wilson Web.

PEW, It doesn't smell that bad; actually it's interesting.

Given the the vast majority, 87%, of American youth are now online (Lenhart, Madden & Hitlin, 2005), educators can assume that access for in class, technological conversation should occur. Youth today are likely to be savvy with online work and this work should be addressed, especially in relation to traditional, text-based literacy practices often found in American schools. Since 2000, more adolescents are using the technological boon in their everyday practice, and most of these work from their homes, 74% (Lenhart, Madden & Hitlin, 2005). A smaller percentage, 13%, do not use the internet and this population tends to be African-American (Lenhart, Madden & Hitlin, 2005). With this noted, 77% of African American students DO go online, they note.

Today's teenagers "enveloped in a wired world" (Lenhart, Madden & Hitlin, 2005, p. 11), but they also live active offline lives, as well.

Working with writers, a writing teacher encourages the individuality of his/her students and would tap into the offline lives of their students through encouraging personal narratives from experience and personal essays. Blogs, an online tool, might be a place for teaching audience awareness and the importance of idea development because they are a genuine community where written words can be read by many. With this said, Blogs are a great place to study the offline/online world of teenagers.

Lenhart, A, Madden, M. & Hitlin, P. (2005). Teens and technology; Youth are leading the transition to a fully wired and mobile
nation. From PEW/INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT. Washington, D.C.

A Weekend of Adding Blog Literature - a mini-review

6 more resources (5 worthwhile):

1. Using blogs for English Language Learning at the University level has been documented (Bloch, 2007). Because of its low cost, easy accessibility, and the ability to distribute work to larger audiences, students are more likely to see themselves as authors. Bloch (2007) notes that there have been only two types of blogs: those that deal with issues of social and political importance and those that revolve around identity and more personal issues (p.4). In particular, online discourses foster a social community for bloggers and such community unite disparate backgrounds of English Language Learners (Bloch, 2007). Blogs united readers to writers and writers to readers. Of greater importance, Bloch (2007) reverses the questions teachers often ask when wondering about the uses of blogs. He turns it around and asks, “What problem do we have that blogging might be a solution for? (p.11). In conclusion, blogging is a form of literacy itself (Bloch, 2007).

2. Blog burnout occurs (Nardi, Schiano, Gumbrecht & Swartz, 2004), even if most blogges are aware of their readers(audience awareness). Nardi, et al (2004) acknowledge the five, major motivations for blogging: documenting one’s life; providing commentary and opinions; expressing deeply felt emotions; articulating ideas through writing; and forming and maintaining community (p. 43).

3. Blogging began to emerge in 1997 (Martindale & Wiley, 2006). Martindale & Wiley (2006) discuss that it is a tool that that has advantage over discussion forums (p.59). Because of post-course inaccessibility, course management systems alter the way students post. Blogging is more permanent and students are more motivated to write (59). Martindale discusses his multiple audiences when it comes to content. For him, there are six: himself, students in various courses, students in his degree programs, friends and coworkers, colleagues around the world and unknown readers of the world (p. 59).

4. For girls, weblogs address a dual nature of interpersonal communication and mass communication (Bortree, 2006). Content for girls tends to be talk about the day and what occurred over the weekend (p 30). They write for friends, but also recognize they are aware of the general public who may read their posts (p. 34). Because of the dual audiences, writers must be aware of how their words are presented. For the most part, blogs are used by teens to maintain relationships (Bortree, 2006), but more research is needed, especially with in-depth interviews with teenage bloggers for their insights.

5. In 1999, the total estimated # of blogs was 50 (Drezner & Farrell, 2004). There is currently no official organization to govern the blogossphere, so capturing “ideological consensus” doesn’t occur (p.33). Blogs are influential because they do affect international media coverage (p.34) and both journalists and pundits find what matters from weblogs. Because the Internet allows everyone access to information, those who blog can become instant fact checkers to challenge journalists and what is being reported (p. 37). They are a forum for citizens whose country may not allow political expression (p.38).

Bloch, J. (2007). Abdullah's blogging: a generation 1.5 student enters the blogosphere. In Language, Learning and Technology, 11.2. June, pp.128-142.

Bortree, D.S. (2005). Presentation of self on the web; an ethnographic study of teenage girl weblogs. In Education, Communication and Information, vol. 5, No. 1, March. pp.25-39.

Drezner, D.W. & Farrell, H. (2004). Web of influence. In Foreign Policy, December,
pp.32 - 40.

MacKinnon, R. & Zuckerman, E.. (2006). Gathering voices to share with a worldwide online audience. In Neiman Reports, v. 7, Winter, pp.45-47.

Martindale, T. & Wiley, D.A. (2008). Using weblogs in scholarship and teaching. In Tech Trends, Volume 49, Number 2, pp.55-61.

Nardi, B.A., Shiano, D.J., Gumbrecht, M. & Swartz, L. (2004). Why we blog. In Communication of the ACH, December, Vol. 47, No. 12, pp.41-46.

Stoked

One of the things I love about reading to find out what I didn't already know is when I come across an article that discusses what I haven't been able to find. Tonight, I found such an article:

Grabill, J.T & Hicks, T. (2005). Multiliteracies meet methods: The Case for digital writing in english education. In English Education, V37, n4, July, pp 301-311.

Grabill & Hicks (2005) discuss the why and how of digital literacy importance. Recognizing the call for multiliteracies framework (New London Group, 1996), the authors call on Zhao & Frank (2003) to address the invasive species of technology, but also how English educators need to embrace this tool (p.303). Writing is restored as an immediate need for communication in a technological age. They continue with "audiences and writers are related to each other more interactively in time and space" (p.305). Technology challenges traditional principals and practices of composition because it transcends the teacher as the only reader of possible text. They write, "Writing instruction must equip students with the tools, skills, and strategies not just to produce traditional texts using computer technology, but also to produce documents appropriate to the global and dispersed reach of the web. This shift requires a large-scale shift in the rhetorical situations that we ask students to write within, the audiences we ask them to write for, the products that they produce, and the purposes of their writing" (p.305).

Boom. That's what I write when I find something that resonates with me. Boom Boom Boom.

Grabil & Hicks (2005) continue with the recognition that it isn't the English teachers place to teach writing with computers but to understand how computers as technology are being used as outlets for writing. Students still need to be taught about the traditional modes of writing and why writing matters. Teachers engage students through lessons on audience awareness, conventions, voice, etc. to prepare them for the world they will inherit as working individuals.

Finally, they state literacy should not be considered any longer without addressing technology, too (p.306).

I didn't have this source for my first draft of a literature review, but it offers many links to the points I was trying to make.

"Are Teachers Ready for 21st Century Learning?"

John Norton (2008) has done something new. Instead of creating an article for Teacher Magazine, he cut and pasted reader's responses to the Karl Fisch's "Is it Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?" blog posting. Through this "editing" Norton carries a reader through the trials and tribulations that teachers have with technology.

Norton (2008) feels conversations on the Internet, Web 2.0 tolls, and though instant communication, coupled with lobbying groups wanting newer skills are changing teaching and learning in profound ways.

I am not the only one perusing the questions I have.