Jialei Jiang (Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD alumna) and Matthew Vetter (faculty, Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD) recently published an article in the journal Composition Forum.
"Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of a Feminist Rhetorical Approach for Wikipedia-based Writing Instruction in First-Year Composition" examines the efficacy of the feminist rhetorical approach for understanding critical literacy learning through Wikipedia-based assignments in writing education.
Qualitative findings from student forum posts, surveys, and reflection essays suggest that, despite its benefits, the Wikipedia assignment has been met with challenges that hinder students from making contributions critically and effectively, especially as they struggle to assume agency and criticality as first-year students. By identifying and addressing these challenges, this article offers alternative approaches to teaching feminist rhetorical inquiries in first-year composition, and to expanding the current critical practices in Wikipedia-based writing instruction.