Transitional Writing and "Third Space" Learning: Professional Writing Students and the Work Experience

Abstract

This paper is based on a long-term study of professional writing students in an internship, "work experience" course. Building upon work theorizing the problematic gap between classroom instruction and workplace practice, this study extends analysis to explore the role of transitional pedagogy in the learning dynamics that populate the "space between" the classroom and the workplace. It shows how students use both their acquired strategic resourcefulness and tools such as transitionally located scaffolding structures to facilitate workplace participation. The analysis is framed largely by learning community theory and activity theory, with emphasis on the concepts of developmental transfer and consequential transition, which prove productive for elucidating the nature of transformative learning and for assessing the effects of transitional pedagogy. I examine both conventional on-site work placements and the additional challenges that off-site internships present. The evidence here suggests that an effective transitional writing pedagogy should aim to create a transitional community of practice, a "back region" or "third space" where students and mentors can problem-solve and share resources. Findings support recent elaborations of activity theory in contexts of transitional learning and educational reform, and reinforce the need to strengthen weak links in school-employer work experience collaborations.Key words: internship, learning community, activity theory, developmental transfer