The formation of reluctant writer identities in academia: How writing experiences impact students’ self-schema

Over the past several decades, identity of the reluctant writer has not adequately evolved from the original conceptualizations in cognitive-based research. Reluctant writers are often depicted as limited, academically low-performing, and syntactically immature, while discussed from a deficit perspective. This research initiated a shift to explore reluctant writer identity through a social framework grounded in self-schema theory and expanded the definition of a reluctant writer to include students who consistently experience low motivation to write regardless of their grades. Self-schema theory offered significant insight into the ways generalizations about the self are processed in reluctant writers’ schemas based on past writing experiences, which organize and guide how they perceive themselves on a spectrum of reluctant writer identity. Through a blending of narrative inquiry and portraiture methodologies, this study investigated how interpersonal and intrapersonal factors impact identity development, which is useful for building empathy toward reluctant writers and reframing interactions to create more positive writing experiences. Existing literature frequently reflects the disadvantages reluctant writers face compared to their peers who identify as writers (or at least those who demonstrate writing inclination). Reluctant writers require more time to engage in the writing process and benefit from additional support, though suggestions for “support” tackle temporary issues in classroom writing and not long-term solutions to help students envision themselves as writers or to experience writing success over time. Recent literature starts to address the importance of social influences in the creation of reluctant writer identity, but older research focuses on prescriptive techniques to remedy writing reluctance as described in cognitive-based ideologies. Educational researchers often recognize problematic pedagogical methods, such as heavy-handed teacher criticisms and the absence of authentic audiences in academic writing tasks; however, remedial actions are not informed by reluctant writer perspectives. Their viewpoints are underrepresented in literature about the identity of reluctant writers, which is detrimental to understanding the extent of their struggles in writing experiences that come across as “typical” or “acceptable” interactions. In this study, four participants who self-identified as reluctant writers engaged in three rounds of semi-structured interviews to discuss critical writing experiences contributing to reluctant writer aspects of identity development. These interviews were coded using dramaturgical coding, which enabled the researcher to identify and group motives, conflicts, attitudes, feelings, and subtexts embedded in social interactions that were processed in (and actively forming) participants’ self-schemas. Using the groupings to pinpoint themes and subtexts in chronological order, the experiences were then conveyed as galleries of word portraits to reveal realistic examples of interactions that impacted how participants envision themselves as reluctant writers. Contrary to stereotypical ideals, the findings indicated that reluctant writers are not always limited in their writing abilities or subject to earning consistently low grades on written compositions. Despite being minimally motivated to write, they are invested in making adequate grades and will actively seek additional support in and outside of the classroom for assistance with their writing processes. However, their success with receiving appropriate support is mixed. Each participant experienced varying degrees of power struggles with authority figures, causing them to double down on their beliefs they attribute to reluctant writer identity while attempting to protect their own subjectivities. Additional research is necessary to explore meaningful feedback interventions for reluctant writers, as well as to identify new ways for educators of writing to build alliances with this group.

Embargo status: Restricted until 01/2027. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.