This qualitative study investigates knowledge transfer in college students whose high school Advanced Placement (AP) or dual credit (DC) English courses enabled them to opt out of at least one freshman composition course at Iowa State University (ISU). Although the college writing performance of early college credit (ECC) students has been studied, writing transfer has not been adequately studied in this population before. In particular, the influence of these students’ lived experiences on their ability to transfer writing skills and knowledge in advanced courses requires more consideration from scholars because of the growing number of students who enter advanced university classes because of credits earned in high school. The following are the research questions this study sought to answer:
- What writing skills, knowledge, and attitudes developed in AP and dual credit enrollment classes do students report as facilitating transfer to more advanced writing assignments in the university?
- What writing skills, knowledge, and attitudes developed in AP and dual credit enrollment classes do students report as impeding transfer to more advanced writing assignments in the university?
- What critical incidents in an advanced university writing experience require students to call upon prior knowledge and skills?
From a variety of backgrounds, majors, and years at ISU, thirteen students participated in this study. Discourse-based interviews encouraged participants to reflect upon high school writing experiences, university writing experiences, and moments of crisis and confidence they encountered in writing “for the university” (Bartholomae). Data were analyzed inductively with a constant comparative method using both disposition and threshold concept as lenses since, as scholars assert, transfer is heavily influenced by attitudinal and environmental influences, especially those encouraged by educational practices. Writing threshold concepts (Adler-Kassner and Wardle) offer a way to identify specific skills and knowledge in students’ learning. The combination of disposition and threshold concept codes has not been used as a research method in writing studies before, but this project answers the call of writing studies scholars to examine simultaneous influences on students’ abilities to transfer (Driscoll and Wells).
Participant perceptions revealed evidence of positive transfer closely connected with generative dispositions. Generative dispositions allowed some participants to take responsibility, regulate themselves, and face challenges. They adapted prior experiences, demonstrated flexibility with unfamiliar genres, used resources available to them, or simply had the self-efficacy to use trial and error. Instances of negative transfer revealed inability to access prior knowledge and paralytically anxious attitudes about needing to know the “right” way to proceed with assignments, revealing the tendency of some threshold concepts (such as “Assessment is Essential”) to work in concert with disruptive dispositions and create barriers to transfer. There was a correlation between threshold concepts and critical incidents in writing experiences. The combination of disposition and threshold concepts allowed a more nuanced look at student experiences.
Students seemed confident that they did not necessarily need freshman level composition courses, and many of their writing practices and products confirmed that opinion. Most had effective writing instruction in high school that facilitated different types of positive transfer. However, the results show the need for guidance in academic writing in general and for discipline-specific writing instruction. This project illuminates the need for teachers and administrators in both secondary and post-secondary settings to better understand transfer and support all students to become more successful in their college writing experiences through such practices as assigning reflection, developing rubrics, and giving feedback. Ultimately it suggests that the field of writing studies is at a point where attention must be paid to the experiences of ECC students, and that conversations and support need to occur across institutional divides.