Dissertation
Class discussions: the intersection of rurality, social class and literacy performances at one rural high school
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2020
DOI: 10.17077/etd.005520
Abstract
As income inequality is at an all-time high in the United States, many researchers write about social class and its role in schools. Most studies are situated in urban schools or high-poverty schools. There is a persistent need to explore and document how social class shapes rural teachers and students. I examine how and in what ways social class is at play in high school language arts classrooms when elements evident in research concerning characteristics of social class differences come together on a micro level. Specifically, I explore how students construct issues of social class, and for what purposes students and one teacher use language in class discussions and document their relations to social class.
Research questions focused on how students’ classroom identities are shaped by socio-economic status as evidenced by classroom observations and literacy performances. Findings reveal insights on how students and teachers use language to position themselves and others, to enact agency, to create access to learning, and how peers make learning accessible to others. I explore how teachers might benefit from more extensive, research-based conceptual understandings of poverty, equity, and opportunity to make learning more accessible and meaningful for students.
To address these questions, I collected data between January and June 2014 in a 10th grade English language arts classroom of a rural, Midwest public high school. Data sources include classroom observations, surveys, school data, classroom audio-recordings, field notes, and interviews with a group of students and a classroom teacher. I analyzed data using a combination of qualitative methods including narrative inquiry and discourse analysis. I employed methods of discourse analysis to examine how students and the teacher use language in a classroom and for what purposes. I used an equity literacy framework to help understand how dialogic discussion strategies teachers use might disrupt poverty or poverty mindsets in a classroom. Lastly, I argue that school districts, teachers, and pre-service teachers need to prepare themselves to go into classrooms where issues of poverty are becoming increasingly prevalent.
My findings complicate the idea of social class and how it shapes classroom interactions. My findings suggest that the teacher can be a mitigating force for disrupting poverty by employing specific discussion strategies as well as subscribing to equity literacy practices. My study is potentially significant because of the local focus I adopted to understand how differences in socio-economic backgrounds might shape how students interact with one another, form relationships with each other and with the teacher. My findings suggest how teachers can balance different abilities, histories, and voices and use specific strategies to create an equitable learning environment.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Class discussions: the intersection of rurality, social class and literacy performances at one rural high school
- Creators
- Stacy R. Peterson
- Contributors
- Carolyn Colvin (Advisor)Brian An (Committee Member)Sheila Barron (Committee Member)Laura Graham (Committee Member)Amy K.E. Shoultz (Committee Member)Amanda Haertling Thein (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Teaching and Learning (Language, Literacy, and Culture)
- Date degree season
- Summer 2020
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.005520
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- xiv, 327 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2020 Stacy Renee Peterson
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- color illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-295).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
As income inequality is at an all-time high in the United States, it is critical for school districts, teachers, and administrators to understand how issues of social class might impact students and teachers in the classroom. This dissertation examined a rural 10th grade English/Language Arts classroom in a Midwest public high school. Much research has been conducted that investigates how social class impacts students, teachers, and schools, but very little research has been conducted in a rural school setting that is not high poverty. Rural school enrollment is out-pacing all other enrollment; therefore, it is critical to study this phenomenon on a local and micro level.
This study focuses specifically on classroom discussion in a rural school and how students and teachers use language. The study explores how and in what ways students’ classroom identities might be shaped by their socio-economic status. It discusses how teachers can disrupt poverty through particular discussions strategies and by enacting the tenets of equity literacy. Finally, the study recommends additions to teacher education programs and school district professional development.
- Academic Unit
- Teaching and Learning
- Record Identifier
- 9983988098302771
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