Space-People-Language: A Grounded Theory of Place-Based Writing Pedagogy

Space-People-Language is an in-depth qualitative study that uses grounded theory and teacher research to describe and analyze a place-based composition assignment experienced by a first year writing class. Results of this study suggest a grounded theory that accounts for participants using interconnecting spatial, social, and discursive techniques reflecting the relationships between spatial awareness, rhetorical strategies, and composing practices. This study of spatial, rhetorical, and pedagogical theories and methods explores these relationships using cultural geography, ecocomposition, material rhetoric, and spatial composition expressed through the use of maps, tables, photos, artifacts, and participant interviews and essays. What can students in a writing class gain from a more critical understanding of space and place? What can instructors gain from a spatial analysis of their own practices? This book addresses these questions and offers real life accounts of actual pedagogical and research practices for composition instructors interested in utilizing space, place, and materiality to teach writing.