EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF

FIRST-YEAR WRITING COURSE

GRADES ON COLLEGE-
STUDENT
PERSISTENCE
NUR CAHYANI
175110501111017
SEMINAL ELT (B)
 A. Introduction
■ The research is entitled “ Evaluating the impact of first-year writing course grades on
college-student Persistence ”. The writers of this study are Justin Nicholes and Cody
Reimerb . They are from University of Wisconsin Stout, Department of English and
Philosophy. This research was received on 9 May 2019 and was published on 17
January 2020 on journal home page Elzevier.
A. Introduction
1. There’s no Bibliographic. Please add it
2. It is better when u just provide based on the strucyure review

This research is about the power of writing

course in the first year of study. The experts
believe that writing course grades in the
beginning of the semester can determine the
students’ success.
Why the experts believe that it can
determine the students’ successes ?
1. Reichert Powell’s point that first-year composition (FYC) and composition instructors
occupy favorable positioning in the U.S.
2. They recruited into institutional retention initiatives
3. They get higher GPA
4. The students who received a C or below in FYC had a 17 % likelihood of graduating
compared to the 53 % likelihood of students who received an A or a B.
5. students receiving a C or below being significantly less likely to persist than those who
received an A or a B
From what they determine the
students’writing ability ?
■ Accuplacer scores
■ and first-week diagnostic writing scores (predictor variables)
■ final grades (the outcome variable)
1. Gender identity
2. Ethnic identity
3. First- and continuing-generation college
students
■ To address the researchers’ question, they adopted regression analysis that would allow
them to evaluate the impact of grades in relation to other variables (genderidentity,
ethnic identity, first-generation status).
Method

■ This study was reviewed and issued exempt status by the Institutional Review Board of
University of Wisconsin-Stout. Data took the form of anonymized records of more than
14,000 students who had taken a first-year writing course between Fall 2011 and Fall
2018. For the present analysis, we included only the records of students who started
their writing sequence with Composition 1, excluding students who started the sequence
with basic writing, a non-credit developmental writing course. In cases when students
repeated Composition 1 or 2, we referred to grades from students’ first attempts.
The information about the subject

the university is a predominantly white university, with 86 % of students institutionally

categorized as “White/Caucasian,” and with 53 % of its students designated as “male.” The
university reports an overall graduation rate of 55.5 % for its White/Caucasian students, and
42 % for its students of color and students categorized as “Two or More Races.”
Results

■ RQ 1: do grades received in Composition 1 predict students’ persistence to Composition

2?
■ Table presents the odds ratios, which suggest that the odds of persisting to Composition
2 are increasingly greater for students who received an A or B in Composition 1.
Results

■ RQ2: do grades received in Composition 1 predict students’ taking Composition 2 the

next semester?
■ The table presents the odds ratios, which suggest that the odds of taking Composition 2
one semester after taking Composition 1 are increasingly greater for students
institutionally categorized as White or Caucasian, for students who took Composition 1
in a fall semester, and for students who received an A or B in Composition 1.