Identity: A Potential Key Factor in Knowledge Transfer Ed Jones Seton Hall University

Theoretical Basis for an Identity Approach to Knowledge Transfer Knowledge transfer and traditional cognitive psychology: focus on individuals doing tasks (James, 2008) Kain and Wardle’s (2006) application of activity theory (Engestrom & Tuomi-Grohn, 2003) Slomp’s (2012) application of bio-ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 2012)

Situated Learning Theory “Learning and a sense of identity are inseparable: They are aspects of the same phenomenon” (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 115). The writing choices that we make inside the university position us in relation to the “interests, values, beliefs and knowledge-making practices which are specific to higher education as an institution” (Ivanic, 1998, p. 256).

My super-initial hypotheses The level and type of a student’s writing identity should impact knowledge transfer potential and development of rhetorical constructs, as well as correlate with discoursal measures of writing identity.

An Exploratory Quantitative Case History Approach From the 7 students for whom I had a full dataset:  Reflections and interviews coded on a 1-4 scale for students’ level of writing identity coded for types of writing identity (creative writer, researcher, etc.) coded for Wenger’s participation and trajectory constructs adapted to writing coded for WAW concepts  Lexical density  Writing Knowledge Transfer Survey

Examples of Levels of General Writing Identity Think about you and writing being in a relationship. How would you describe it? 1I don’t really feel like I’m a writer but I am a writer in so far as I’m a student. And so in that way, I’m a writer If writing and I were in a relationship, it would be a serious and committed long-term relationship. Writing and I, like any other relationship, would allow room for us to grow and improve, that way our relationship would be both better and stronger. I absolutely love writing.

Codes for Kinds of Writing Identity No writing identity As a student As a journal or diary writer As a creative writer As a first-year colleague As a researcher As an emerging scholar

Writing Knowledge Transfer Survey 43 items, with overall construct validity, and reliability tested for three factors Factor 2: students’ strategies that should impact knowledge transfer (e.g. knowledge of how to write in their major, ability to analyze genres)

Application of Wenger’s Constructs for Coding Reflections and Interviews Participation: Student experiences him/herself as belonging in the writing classroom. The writing activities seem familiar; s/he finds ways to participate, to be/feel engaged. Trajectory: Experiences being in a place (classroom or less literal place) that supports one’s personal trajectory of development from one's past identity as a writer or past experience of writing classrooms through the present into the future. Involves fulfilling a role, seeing opportunities for self-hood, noting when writing will or might meaningfully occur in one's future.

Lexical Density Content words divided by number of nonembedded clauses Sample excerpt from Ivanic’s text // Another significant characteristic of these extracts is that / they are about relationships between abstract entities and about people’s mental activities,/ rather than about human actions.// // This positions the writers as being concerned with ideas and mental activities: the business of the academic community.// // It also positions them as believing that / intellectual activity involves explicit mention of relationships between ideas/ and of / who thinks or writes what, / rather than the understandings / which are implicit in accounts of actual experiences. / // This characteristic shows itself in the choices of verbs.// lexical density: 39/4 = 9 Single slash indicates embedded clauses. (Clause has a broader definition for Halliday than for classroom grammarians.)

Initial Analysis of Correlations Trajectory of writer’s ID Student strategies that impact transfer Procedural knowledge Writer’s ID level.847 (p =.070) Lexical density..872 (p =.011).718 (p =.069).755 (p =.083)

Chart Comparing Types of Writer Identification, by Student (late April)

Lori

Haley

Brenda

Next steps Expanding the database to the other institutions in the study Developing other ways of measuring discoursal identity through textual analysis Expand the factors correlated with identity to include knowledge transfer markers, dispositions, metacognition, declarative and procedural knowledge, and performance in future courses Explore causal relationships? Longitudinal case histories, as Roozen has studied, to understand better the way identity interacts with a variety of variables over time

References Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The Bioecological Model of Human Development. Gee, J. P. (2000). Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of Research in Education,, 99. doi: / Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York: Cambridge UP. Ivanic, R. (1998). Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Kain, D., & Wardle, E. (2005). Building context: Using activity theory to teach about genre in multi-major professional communication courses. Technical Communication Quarterly, 14(2), Lave, J., & Etienne Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning. legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. Slomp, D. H. (2012). Challenges in assessing the development of writing ability: Theories, constructs and methods. Assessing Writing, 17(2), Tuomi-Grohn, T., & Engestrom, Y. (2003). Conceptualizing transfer: From standard notions to developmental perspectives. In T. Tuomi-Grohn, & Y. Engestrom (Eds.), Between school and work: New perspectives on transfer and boundary-crossing (pp ). New York: Pergamon. Wenger, E. (1999). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York: Cambridge UP.