Velazquez_Dissertation_FORMATTED.pdf (2.72 MB)
Download fileWhat's the 'Problem' Statement? An Investigation of Problem-based Writing in a First Year Engineering Program
Upon IRB approval, a corpus of 1,192 texts consisting of three assignments written by a total of 1,736 first year engineering students was compiled, and 117 pedagogical materials were collected. Using an iterative quantitative-qualitative approach to written discourse analysis, instances of formulaic language (4- and 6-word sequences) were identified in the corpus; formulaic language was then coded for the rhetorical functions expected in problem statements as qualitatively identified in the pedagogical materials. Additionally, three discourse-based interviews were conducted with First-year Engineering Faculty. Interview data was coded for themes of effective communication and used to triangulate the findings from the corpus analysis.
Funding
AAUW
History
Degree Type
Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment
EnglishCampus location
West LafayetteAdvisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair
Tony Silva, PhDAdditional Committee Member 2
Shelley Staples, PhDAdditional Committee Member 3
Bradley Dilger, PhDAdditional Committee Member 4
Isabel Jimenez-Useche, PhDAdditional Committee Member 5
Margie Berns, PhDUsage metrics
Categories
Keywords
Engineering education researchCorpus Linguistics & Language PedagogyGenre AnalysisEffective communicationwriting in engineeringEnglish for Specific Purposes (ESP)Genre StudiesWriting in the Disciplines (WID)formulaic languageScience, Technology and Engineering Curriculum and PedagogyEngineering PracticeEnglish as a Second LanguageCommunication StudiesApplied Linguistics and Educational LinguisticsProfessional WritingTechnical Writing