Rhetoric and writing: self-efficacy, locus of control, technology and changing mindsets from extrinsic rewards to intrinsic drive

While many high school senior students can bridge some gaps when it comes to rhetoric and writing skills, they often fall short of producing work that would be considered on-par with the expectations of first-year college level writing. This thesis identifies two main problems as the root cause: a testing-centric academic climate that emphasizes test scores, grades, and graduation rates over authentic learning, creating students focused solely on extrinsic rewards; and students’ academic idleness and frustration with challenges not easily overcome with technology, unintentionally developed from being raised in a technology-driven culture. I argue that applying elements of the motivational model of expectancy theory, cultivating self-efficacy and locus of control through peer instruction/collaboration, and the use of technology (blogs and an interactive website), we can move students’ rhetoric and writing into a real-world settings that engages them more globally beyond the classroom. By doing this, we can change their mindsets from viewing writing as a “thing” they must do for a “grade” to seeing it as a “performance” that has real meaning beyond a classroom. My study shows that by modifying curriculum in an existing Expository Reading and Writing Course unit to incorporate more on these elements, I developed a more globally engaged individual driven by intrinsic motivation, who makes meaning in the larger ideological narrative with social purpose. Essentially, students change their mindset to see extrinsic rewards as the result of their engagement, instead of seeing extrinsic rewards as the reason for their engagement.