This document discusses using "contact zones" to enhance student writing. It defines a contact zone as a space where cultures meet and interact, often with power imbalances. The authors argue that frequent exposure to diverse input materials in a contact zone classroom allows students to notice language patterns and engage with complex topics. When planning lessons, teachers should provide balanced real-world materials from different perspectives to create discussions around bias. Through interacting with rich content and each other in a supportive community, students can improve their writing output.

1. +
Enhancing Student Writing with
Contact Zones
Alisha Fisher and Courtney King
Central Michigan University
English Language Institute

2. 2
+
We want…
Better writing from our students
More writing from our students
To improve their relationship with
writing

3. 3
+
Spoken Written Language
 Kenkel and Yates (2009) proposed that all
developing writers, both native and nonnative
speakers, must learn to process language in a new
way when they learn to write.
 Ways of handling information
 Topic Management
 When students learn how to write academically, the
representation of their language is reorganized and
restructured in their minds.
3

4. 4
+
Put Good In, Get Good Out
 Frequency
 Bybee (2002) and Gass and Mackey (2002), for example,
asserted that frequency of input is monumental in determining
linguistic representations.
 Ellis, O’Donnell, and Römer (2013), who claim “the greater the
token frequency of an exemplar, the more it contributes to
defining the category, and the greater the likelihood it will be
considered the prototype” (p. 31).
 Noticing
 Orgeta (2009) explained that noticing is more than what a
student does when causally learning; it is giving active
attention to certain aspects of the input.

5. 5
+
Optimal Learning Situation
 How can we use elements of input (noticing and
frequency) to enhance written student output?
 Engage with language in the input
 Notice elements of language in the input
 Interact with stimulating themes
 Contact Zones!
5

6. 6
+
Contact Zones
“I use this term to refer to social spaces
where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with
each other, often in contexts of highly
asymmetrical relations of power, such as
colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as
they are lived out in many parts of the world
today.”
- Mary Louise Pratt (1991)

7. 7
+
Contact Zones/Communities
Contact zone = multicultural classroom
Contact zone ≠ war zone
Contact zone = where we meet to
evaluate artifacts
Contact zone = community of time
travelers

8. 8
+
Contact Zone Example
Baseball cards
 Math (batting averages)
 Economics (use value v. market value)
 Phonics (pronouncing surnames)
 Geography (team names and locations)
 Ethics (making fair trades)
 History (changes throughout the years, including
racial shifts)

9. 9
+
Keeping the Contact Zone
community-based
Historical/cultural/literary contact zones give
power to the academy’s outsiders
Otherwise silenced students can often find a
voice on the issues the contact zone raises
The class is more likely to function as a
community, traveling together to decipher
texts and respond with their own readings

10. 10
+
Sample Contact Zone:
the Atomic Bomb
 Class: ELI 084 Dual (College-level) Writing
 Context: A semester-long course in which students learn
strategies for writing in the university
 Lesson Objective: Understand bias
 Materials: Realia [Photos, letters, news reports (with transcripts),
videos, and Truman’s speeches]
 Procedure:
 Read all materials
 Evaluate materials for bias
 Assess how bias was shown (word choices, images, headlines,
interview subjects, etc.)
 Write about it

11. 11
+
Using (Balanced) Realia to Create
the Contact Zone
 Photos
 News broadcasts (with scripts)
 Political speeches (with scripts)
 Letters
 Newspaper articles
 Propaganda (text or video)
 Pamphlets (distributed by governments or groups)

12. 12
+
Newspaper Headlines
Source:
NuclearSecrecy.com

13. 13
+
Newspaper Illustrations
Source:
NuclearSecrecy.com

14. 14
+
Photos
From different perspectives
To elicit emotions
To reveal injustice
Note: Images in an actual contact zone class
would likely be more graphic than the ones
we have chosen.

15. 15
+
Oppenheimer works on the bomb
Source: The
Atlantic

16. 16
+
Hiroshima: August 6, 1945
Source: The
Atlantic

17. 17
+
Survivors seek medical help in
Nagasaki
Source: The
Atlantic

18. 18
+
Japanese P.O.W. Hears Announcement
of Japanese Surrender
Source: The
Atlantic

19. 19
+
Sailors in Pearl Harbor Celebrate
Japanese Surrender
Source: The
Atlantic

20. 20
+
Rich Input and Quality Output in the
Contact Zone Classroom
 Frequent input in various forms
 Spoken language from small and large group discussion of materials
 Written language from novels or authentic nonfiction pieces
 Student-lead exploration of materials
 Engagement with classroom content
 Motivation to succeed!

21. 21
+
Your turn!
 Group yourselves!
 You will each be given a packet with planning prompts and
sample materials.
 Consider framing your lesson around bias and read with the
following questions in mind:
 Who created this?
 What was their purpose?
 How did they convince the reader of their opinion?
 Were they successful?
 Was their bias problematic to their message?
 How might a reader at the time interpret it differently?

22. 22
+
Conclusions
 Provide your students with more texts
 Provide your students with authentic texts
 Build worlds where your students feel free to explore their ideas
 Always encourage community, not competition

23. Contact information:
Courtney King
king2ce@cmich.edu
Alisha Fisher
longa1am@cmich.edu
23
+ 23

24. References 24

25. References cont.
25