To help gain insight and knowledge surrounding the writing experience of transfer students, Christie Toth is leading research on the topic.
“We focus a lot on first-year writing, but we haven’t learned very much about transfer students,” Toth said. “They kind of jump right over that first-year writing class.”
Toth, an associate professor in writing and rhetoric studies, is working with a team of seven transfer students. Research began last fall and found that today, almost half of all undergraduates enter as transfers from other institutions.
Justin Whitney, a fourth-year PhD student in education, culture and society as well as a research assistant on the project, said it doesn’t just impact “a small corner of a demographic.”
“We’re talking about half of the population, and if trends continue, this population will likely be the majority of college students,” Whitney said. “We’re trying to fill in a gap in the research so we have a better understanding of what is going on and we can better facilitate the experience of the transfer students.”
Toth and her team worked to develop questions for both surveys and interviews. Surveys were emailed to a total of 2,185 students, of all the transfer students in the writing and rhetoric program and a representative sample of all U transfer students with sophomore standing or above. Of the 269 respondents, 47 were selected for in-person interviews about their experiences as transfer students and writers.
Toth said there are not yet immediate conclusions, but she did see several apparent trends in the research.
First, Toth stressed, transfer students are doing fine.
“People assume that transfer students have problems and are somehow less prepared,” Toth said. “But not all, or even most, transfer students have challenges. Many, many transfer students adjust to writing here with little or no difficulty.”
In fact, her team has found plenty of evidence of “transitional literacy,” or an increased sense of rhetorical awareness.
“[It] suggests that the transfer process itself is a beneficial one and sort of adds to a certain ability to maneuver among locales that non-transfer students don’t have access to,” Whitney said.
When transfer students do struggle, the problem is often wrapped up in external issues, like work, family or financial conflicts, Toth said.
“They had figured out an equation that worked for them at the community college and when they got to the U, the price of everything went up, along with the time they needed to put into academics,” Toth said. “It requires adjusting the whole equation of how to live.”
Toth’s team are developing an upper division transfer writing course, WRITE 4 U, to be offered at the U starting in Fall 2016 and at Salt Lake Community College in Spring 2016. The course will help transfer students explore the specifics of writing within their chosen majors, while also fulfilling an upper division general education requirement.
@allisonoctober