Eric J. Paulson

The Discourse of Retrospective Miscue Analysis: Links with Adult Learning Theory

This article discusses the appropriateness of retrospective miscue analysis (RMA) for post-secondary developmental readers through the perspective of adult learning theory. Through analyzing the process and effectiveness of two RMA sessions with a young adult college developmental reader, the suitability of RMA as an instructional strategy for college readers is emphasized. In addition, implicit ties between adult learning theory and college developmental reading strategies are strengthened.

Situating Reader Stance Within and Beyond the Efferent–Aesthetic Continuum

The purpose of this theoretical essay is to encourage critical reflection of the relationship of specific reading events to traditional conceptualizations of reader stance. While conventional models of reader stance are useful for considering many aspects of reading, there are reading events that engender stances that appear to lie outside of the parameters of these traditional conceptualizations. In this article, we identify one such reading event, termed reading-for-the-writer, and analyze the specific point it occupies on an efferent-aesthetic continuum, a continuum that we view as more three-dimensional than linear and that includes both reader stances and writer stances. Through such analyses of specific stances, we conclude with pedagogical implications and research directions that move toward continued discussion of the interconnectedness of reading and writing processes.

Locating agency in the classroom: A metaphor analysis of teacher talk in a college developmental reading class

This study employed a metaphor analysis approach to investigate instructor language as it relates to the positioning of agency within a college developmental reading course context. Agency, or the socioculturally mediated potential to act, is a crucial part of self-regulated, self-efficacious learning and contributes to identity formation and affirmation. Understanding where agency is being positioned via classroom discourse can have important implications for the teaching and learning transaction, including the construction of students’ implicit theories about their literacy practices and their roles as active learners. As a type of discourse analysis, metaphor analysis allows for an unobtrusive, highly ecologically valid method of determining the underlying conceptualisations about a given topic that are held by participants in discourse communities. The article concludes with pedagogical implications.

Student Experiences With Academic Services of Community Colleges in India

The purpose of this multisite case study was to understand students’ experiences of academic services and policies at community colleges (CCs) in India and how they perceived these experiences as impacting their success in college. Participants included 19 students from four CCs across diverse geographical locations in India who agreed to respond to a questionnaire and in-person interviews. Within-case and cross-case analyses of the four CCs were conducted using open coding and themes from Tinto’s attrition model. Four strategies emerged as being used by the CCs for retention and student success purposes: life skills coursework, financial resource support, faculty mentorship, and extracurricular activities. The findings demonstrated that participants perceive the colleges as designing and modifying elements of the college experience to support them in their academic goals.