2. McCarthy analyzed Dave's experiences using Grice's "Cooperative Principle" Explain what this principle is and how it helped McCarthy understand Dave's struggles and successes.

LUCILLE. MCARTHY A Stranger in Strange Lands Questions for Discussion and Journaling Boronto What are McCarthy's research questions, and what methods did she used research answers to these questions? What other methods might she have used, and how might they have altered her findings? 2. McCarthy analyzed Dave's experiences using Grice's -Cooperative Principle Explain what this principle is and how it helped McCarthy understand Dave's struggles and successes 3. Why did Dave struggle in his poetry class? What might Dave and his teacher have done to improve Dave's chances of success in that class? 4. Earlier in this chapter, Ann M. Johns described the importance of discourse com munities for the ways that people do - and don't use language, and the dif- ficulties that can occur when students attempt to use academic language. How does the concept of discourse community shed light on Dave's experiences? 5. How do you see McCarthy's work related to the threshold concept emphasized in this chapter that texts and the language discourse communities they create mediate meaningful activities? Can you connect this research to the broader threshold concept that people collaborate to get things done with writing? 6. How does Dave's experience writing in college compare with your own? What aspects of writing in college frustrate or puzzle you? What has been hardest for you about writing in college? Why? 7. Do you find the same variance in expectations of your writing from class to class that Dave experiences, or are the expectations you encounter more consistent? What have been your strategies so far for handling any differing expectations you're finding? Does McCarthy's work give you any ideas for different strategies? Applying and Exploring Ideas 1. For several weeks, keep a writer's journal about your experiences writing in dif- ferent classrooms. What are you asked to write? What instructions are you given? What feedback are you given? Do you talk with others about the assignments? What genres are you asked to write? How well do you do? Do you understand the grades and comments your teachers give you? At the end of the weeks of journaling, write about your findings and share them with the class. 2. Write a plan for setting up a study like McCarthy's that examines your own expe- riences across classrooms. Draw on Johns to help you think about designing the study. What do you want to know, and why? What data will you collect and analyze? Write a two-page paper in which you outline the answers to these questions. Note that you aren't conducting a study. Just imagining how you would plan to do so. META MOMENT What have you learned from McCarthy that can help you in your own college classroom experiences? 623