Finding “Sponsorship” in the Academy: Three Case Studies of First-Year Writing Students

Abstract

Herrington & Curtis (2000), building on Goldblatt's (1995) idea of the “sponsoring institution,” (p. 48) showed students' need for a personal sense of connection with a sponsoring discourse when writing in the academy. As Herrington and Curtis, as well as Goldblatt point out, these sponsoring discourses often come from outside the academy. Students may find other discourses in or outside the curriculum more compelling than the social constructivist discourses introduced in the class. This study of three first-year basic writing students suggests that students' previous identities, which make up what Ivanic calls the “autobiographical self,” (p. 24), seem to impact how they reacted to the social constructivist elements of the curriculum.

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Pam Hollander

Dr. Pamela W. Hollander is an Assistant Professor of English at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts. Her research interests are in literacy inside and outside the classroom and the language and culture of Hip Hop.