My year-long independent research project aimed to understand how multilingual international students at the UW experience tacit remedial language policies, and more specifically, how these policies affect students' learning strategies and long-term goals. With an ethnographic approach, I conducted interviews, administered surveys, and performed background research to situate student experiences within UW admissions and language proficiency policies, contextualizing it within larger issues in composition studies and U.S. higher education.
This research project was an extremely valuable aspect of my undergraduate education because it gave me the opportunity to apply various classroom theories from rhetoric and composition, globalization studies, and cultural anthropology in a hands-on and personally relevant way. The chance to try my hand at academic research, work with some amazing advisors, Sareeta Amrute, Jennifer Halpin, and John Webster, and present at conferences has confirmed my love of the research process and furthered my interest in pursuing an advanced degree.
As the starting point of my research, The Odegaard Writing & Research Center deserves a mention here. The OWRC granted me amazing opportunities to establish rapport with my study participants and provided me with a supportive community of willing and thoughtful readers and listeners. Many thanks to the OWRC and its tutors!
BA in English: Language and Literature; BA in Anthropology: Globalization, 2011
Awards:
- Tia Vall Spinoza Scholarship, 2009-2010
- Undergraduate Research Program Conference Travel Award, 2011
Conferences:
- “Tutors as Participant Researchers: How ELLs Taught Us Better Ways for Supporting Writing and Learning,“ Undergraduate Research Symposium, UW, May 2011
- “Facilitating the International Flow of Ideas: Exporting Writing Center Findings on ELLs Across the Institution,“ International Writing Centers Association Collaborative, Atlanta, GA, April 2011
- “Risky Business: Improvising Models for Institutional Collaboration,“ Pacific Northwest Writing Centers Association, Monmouth, OR, May 2010