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Purpose: This study draws on genre theory to analyze the linguistic and discursive presentation of the self in successful US college application essays. Research Methods: We used qualitative discourse analysis informed by the systemic functional linguistic concepts of field, tenor, and mode to analyze 20 sample application essays identified as exemplary by college admissions staff from 4 US colleges, along with essay-writing advice obtained from websites of 12 US universities. Our analysis aimed to specify (1) the characteristics of the self that are represented in successful essays and (2) how the writers linguistically and discursively construct these characteristics. Findings: Successful essays portrayed a unique and authentic self through distinctive, patterned features that spanned the three categories of field, tenor, and mode. Features related to "field" included extended metaphors representing insights gained from learning and experience, language representing niche interests, verbs suggesting learning or change, and appraisal language positioning the writer as charitable and optimistic; features related to "tenor" did not include direct address or questions but rather implicit persuasion through descriptive representation of the writer's character; and features related to "mode" included micronarratives, extended metaphors that supported cohesion, and syntactic structures that facilitated contrast of the writer's self before and after a significant moment of learning. Implications: As colleges move away from requiring standardized tests for admission, the importance of college application essays has increased. Our findings contribute to efforts to make successful performance of this high-stakes genre more attainable, particularly for first-generation and underrepresented students applying to college.

This article demonstrates how literacy practices in an 11th grade, urban, English classroom in the United States worked to delineate and patrol gender borders between acceptable masculine and feminine social practices. Drawing upon Blackburn's (2005) and Thorne's (1993) studies of the gendered boundaries that are created and questioned in literacy events and classrooms, this ethnographic study explores how the students and teacher of the class actively constructed parameters of acceptable feminine and masculine social practices and policed each others' performances and representations of these practices through the classroom discourse surrounding literacy activities. I argue that heterosexuality was a primary characteristic of acceptable forms of masculinity in the class and that laughter was a primary discursive mechanism through which students marked gendered border crossings, particularly when boys' behaviour was interpreted as feminine. I also examine the social and literacy practices of those students who were successful at challenging and crossing the gendered borders that were constructed during classroom discourse. (Contains 1 footnote.)

This article describes the perspectives of bidialectal African American adolescents--adolescents who speak both African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Standard English--on spoken language expectations in their English classes. Previous research has demonstrated that many teachers hold negative views of AAVE, but existing scholarship has not considered the perspectives of students themselves. For this study, 51 African American adolescents were asked to write about the dialects they thought students should speak in their English classes. Most students noted that speaking Standard English in professional situations was important, but they expressed diverse opinions about dialect use in their English classes. Students' opinions centered on four themes: (1) fear of external judgment, (2) desire for clear communication, (3) maintenance of identity, and (4) demonstration of respect. The article concludes with suggestions for productive instructional approaches to spoken language and dialect use during literacy activities.

The field of literacy studies has seen decades of calls for scholarship and instruction that address issues of dialect diversity, identity, and power but few empirical studies that document students' engagement in classroom activities designed to address these issues. The goal of this article is to describe how three bidialectal African American high school students learned about language variation, identity, and power through their participation in a small-group, inquiry-based discussion. The authors' description analyzes both the learning opportunities and limitations provided by the design of the inquiry-based discussion and also the content learning about the English language that was evidenced by the students' talk. The findings suggest that inquiry-based discussions, when driven by carefully worded questions, can lead to robust student learning about language variation and can engage students in authentic disciplinary problem posing. (Contains 4 tables and 5 figures.)

The purpose of this study was to examine how classroom conversations about diverse dialects of English can provide a useful foundation for critical language and literacy instruction for students who speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and other stigmatized dialects. This article describes a weeklong unit on language variety that implemented what we call "critical language pedagogy" in three predominantly African American, 10th-grade English classes. Analyses of class discussions, interviews, and pre- and post-questionnaires demonstrate that the unit helped students critique dominant language ideologies, become more conscious of their own code-switching, and view dialect variation as natural and desirable.

Drawing from a six-month ethnographic study, this article explores the negotiation of gendered identities through classroom literacy practices in an urban high school, paying particular attention to how gendered identities are interwoven with those of race, class, and other social identities during literary discussions. I draw upon the notion that identity is multifaceted, shaped through language, and deeply context-dependent to show how students were able to hold multiple, gendered subject positions--like debater, athlete, and smart student--simultaneously. At the same time, however, the gendered identity work that students engaged in through textual and oral discourse was constrained by the other subject positions they held outside of class and by the people with whom they were interacting. Findings suggest that educators must recognize that literacy learning, as a form of interpersonal communication, is not only an academic endeavor but also a negotiation of social identities and thus a social practice that can delimit or offer new possibilities for students' self images and life choices.

The article announces the Alan C. Purves Award given to Denise Dávila for her article "#WhoNeedsDiverseBooks?: Preservice Teachers and Religious Neutrality with Children's Literature," which appeared in the journal "Research in the Teaching of English" (RTE).