Description
First-Generation College Students (FGCSs) experience various obstacles and tensions when learning to write in academic settings. Previous research has outlined that instructor feedback and discipline-specific writing practices play a crucial role in teaching students to write for academic audiences. Utilizing Anxiety/Uncertainty Management, this thesis sought to explore the phenomena of “Academic Voice” related to writing feedback, the FGCS experience, and the culture of academic disciplines. Data were collected from five universities and seventeen FGCSs pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in Communication Studies. Results emerged in the form of a series of tensions that FGCSs experienced that spoke to four themes: (a) alienated vs. acculturated, (b) self vs. other, (c) authentic vs. proper, and (d) unique vs. collective. Further, instructor feedback related to voice was found to have a significant role in acculturating FGCSs to academic writing within sub-disciplines and paradigms of Communication Studies. These results highlight the contextual and contingent aspects of communication while also inviting further consideration as to whether non-explicit norms in academic writing are inimical or integral to academic disciplines. The results point to the continued need to reflect on how academic disciplines transmit knowledge, determine credibility, and educate their constituents.
