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Recognizing Student Emotion: Resistance and Pathos in the Composition Classroom

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2017, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English.
Scholars have neglected the topic of or pathos, or emotion, in the classroom particularly student emotion; usually it is only the emotional labor of instructors that is analyzed at length. It is my belief that student emotion is at the core of their resistance in the classroom; when a student resists a teacher’s instruction, it is not necessarily “something to be overcome.” According to critical pedagogical endoxa/values students must eventually accept the teacher’s critical goals, but this perspective does not consider the potential for emotion-based resistance. My thesis demonstrates that critical pedagogy neglects student emotion rather than addressing this resistance. I also consider how and why pathos is underutilized in the composition classroom and suggest it as a way to understand resistance. To these ends, I use Laura Micciche’s definition of emotion: “emotions are enacted and embodied in the social world [and] produced between people and between people and things. That is, we do emotions—they don’t simply happen to us” (Micciche 2007 1-2). According to Micciche, students must be able to explore the emotions of their fellow classmates and their instructor. Understanding student emotions and acknowledging the need to address them will benefit composition instructors (particularly the inexperienced) and add another dimension to emotion studies; furthermore, I believe acknowledging student emotion will assist instructors in developing effective pedagogies for their classrooms.
Sara Newman, Dr. (Committee Chair)
Keith Lloyd, Dr. (Committee Member)
Bill Kist, Dr. (Committee Member)
53 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lusher, K. J. (2017). Recognizing Student Emotion: Resistance and Pathos in the Composition Classroom [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1492017509722133

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lusher, Katelyn. Recognizing Student Emotion: Resistance and Pathos in the Composition Classroom. 2017. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1492017509722133.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lusher, Katelyn. "Recognizing Student Emotion: Resistance and Pathos in the Composition Classroom." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1492017509722133

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)