Research

This page provides information about my publications and other current research. For more information on my dissertation study on Graduate Instructor Training in standalone MA programs, please visit my study page.

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Publications

“Challenging assumptions about Basic Writers and Corequisites at Four-Year Institutions”

Margaret Weaver, Kailyn Shartel Hall, and Tracey Glaessgen

Cite as: Weaver, M. E., Hall, K. S., & Glaessgen, T. A. (2022). Challenging assumptions about basic writers and corequisites at four-year institutions. Journal of Basic Writing, 41(1-2), pp. 76–105. https://doi.org/10.37514/JBW-J.2022.41.1.04

Despite the push for all institutions of higher learning to embrace a corequisite model for writing instruction, there is limited evidence that suggests this model is desirable for all students. This study seeks to expand our understanding of the characteristics of students enrolled in basic writing at a 4-year comprehensive university, and the reasons why students enroll in either a prerequisite or corequisite writing course. After surveying both prerequisite and corequisite basic writing students, our findings reveal that many who enroll do not fit the description of basic writers in the literature and in Complete College America data, and their reasons for enrolling are diverse. Their responses challenged our assumptions about who our basic writers are, and it became clear that in our program a shift to offering only a corequisite course model would not fit our students’ needs.

Keywords: basic writer, corequisite, survey, student choice, mindset

“My ACT Score Did Not Let Me Take AP English as Dual Credit”: A Survey on High School Experiences of Basic Writers

Kailyn Shartel Hall

Cite as: Hall, K. S. (2020). “My ACT score did not let me take AP English as dual credit”: A survey on high school experiences of basic writers. Journal of Basic Writing, 39(2), pp. 60–84. https://doi.org/10.37514/JBW-J.2020.39.2.04

At a four-year public comprehensive university in 2017, a mandated attempt to implement a corequisite model for Basic Writing education challenged assumptions about the types of students enrolled in the existing program. Students, who by institutional placement measures (ACT scores) would be placed in First-Year Writing, were voluntarily enrolling in Basic Writing courses despite administrative assumptions that they did not need the course. Additionally, I found that students who took AP English and Dual-Credit in high school were also enrolled in Basic Writing. Findings from three years of survey data from students (enrolled in both prerequisite courses and corequisite courses) and institutional data indicate programs need to revise curriculum and placement practices to meet the needs of the students enrolled, rather than the needs of the hypothetical deficient writers institutions presume enroll.

Keywords: ACT; AP English; Basic Writing; basic writers; corequisite; placement

Selected Conference Presentations

A Detailed List of Conference Presentations can be found here. (Click Link)

Karen Kuralt, Kailyn Shartel Hall, Kathryn Lee Hunt, Benjamin Waldrum, Nicole Godfrey and Madison Ellis. (February 2023). Career Options for Master’s Program Graduates: Expanding Beyond Preparation for Ph.D. Work. MDCWSS Standing Group Sponsored Panel. Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, Illinois.
Hall, Kailyn Shartel, Marisa Yerace, Margaret Weaver, Ti Macklin, and Linda Haynes. (March 2022). “I’m Doing My Best” Practices: Challenges and Innovations in Graduate Teacher Training. Chaired Roundtable at Conference on College Composition and Communication, virtual.
English, Cathie, Hannah Haworth, Taylor Pinon, Grace Bowman, Lindsay Marsh, Mika Siebert, Rachel Kramer and Kailyn Shartel Hall. (November 2021) Framing a Critical Place Conscious Literacy: Writing to Know Our Communities. National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference, virtual.
Almjeld, Jen, Karen Kuralt, Andrew Fiss, Eric Leake, Kailyn Shartel Hall, and Matthew Moberly. (October 2021) Invitation Stories: Program profiles as recruitment tool. Council for Programs in Scientific and Technical Communication Annual Conference, virtual.

Master’s Thesis

Developing Perceptions: Piloting a Corequisite Writing Course

Cite as: Hall, K. S. (2019). Developing Perceptions: Piloting a Corequisite Writing Course [Missouri State University]. https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3389/

This thesis focuses on information gathered during Fall 2017 and Fall 2018, examining the students and the perceptions of the students in different developmental writing courses with regard to their own writing and their place in the academic community.

Chapter One, “Redefining Developmental Writing Demographics,” focuses on demographics obtained from a mass survey given to students in prerequisite and corequisite sections of ENG 100 in Fall 2017 and Fall 2018. Primarily, this analysis focuses on readjusting assumptions about the demographics of students who enroll in developmental writing and how the students in prerequisite courses differed, and did not, from those who chose to enroll in pilot classes of a corequisite model of developmental writing instruction. Within, I also analyze claims about developmental education made by Complete College America, and I present the program structure for our institution’s pilot corequisite program during the years of the study.

Chapter Two, “Student Perceptions of Academic Community in the Developmental Writing Classroom,” examines a single data point from my survey in more detail, focusing on how developmental writing students perceive their place in the “academic community.” My data revealed it is not that developmental writing students do not feel part of the “academic community” but rather that their definition differs from those of educators. I code qualitative responses from students to understand which factors are key in their understanding of the term.