Diane R Ransdell

Interests

Research

second-language writing, intercultural competence, second-language acquisition, composition studies, travel writing, motivation theory

Teaching

Composition, second-language writing, creative non-fiction, advanced composition

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Presentations

• Ransdell, D. R. (2018, March 16). “The Desired Outcomes of SLOs: Love’s Labor Found.”. Conference on College Composition and Communication.. Kansas City MO: College Composition and Communication.
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  I gave a talk at the national conference on composition about the evolution of student learning outcomes and how they helped our program evolve.
• Ransdell, D. R. (2017, 23 September). “Bilbo as Motivational Director". Oxonmoot. Oxford, England: The Tolkien Society.
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  I gave two talks on the topic of motivation. The first was in September at the Oxonmoot, the Oxford-based annual conference for readers of Tolkien. There I argued that Bilbo himself is a motivational director of sorts: he falls into the kinds of patterns common to students. First their motivation may be weak, then they are pushed by their peers, then they are scared and back off, then they find strength in their own backgrounds. (See attachment.)
• Ransdell, D. R. (2017, Oct. 13). “Assessing and Stimulating Student Motivation.”. TYCA-WEST. Glendate AZ: TYCA-WEST.
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  In October I gave a presentation at the regional TETYC conference in Phoenix. I argued for a curriculum that would ask students to consider their own motivation directly through a series of scaffolded assignments. Although the students would have the experience of writing formal, academic papers, the higher goal would be for students to understand, embrace, or learn to tweak the biggest motivations that impact their lives as students. (See enclosed.)
• Ransdell, D. R. (2016, 21 Oct). “Writing into Flow”. Symposium for Second-Language Writing.. Tempe, AZ: SSLW.
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  This conference gave me a chance to put together some of my ideas about "flow." I had a very enthusiastic audience for this presentation, but I was preaching to the choir for the most part. Several people in the room had actually been to Dornyei's presentation (the one I found so helpful). Others were already convinced that motivation is the key to their students' success. They came to my presentation because they wanted to have the chance to reflect on that aspect of their teaching. I was so honored because I had several former students there, including Laurel Harvey. Gail Shuck came, a former colleague and now the L2 person at University of Idaho. Chris Tardy came as well--she had used many ideas from Csikszentmihalyi's FLOW long ago. Kara Reed also came; this was a special compliment because there were many competing talks at that time.
• Ransdell, D. R. (2016, 23 Jan). “Studying Abroad with Edward T. Hall.” Tucson, AZ. 23 Jan. 2016.. Fifth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence.. Tucson AZ: CERCLL.
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  Poster presentation given at an international conference. I love the work of Edward T. Hall; I think studying him helps us understand a good deal about how cultures work--sometimes with one another and sometimes in conflict. In terms of learning about writing, Hall is particularly useful.
• Ransdell, D. R. (2015, 20 March). “International Balancing Act: Considerations for L2 Writing Placement”. Conference on College Composition and Communication. Tampa, FL: NCTE.
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  Practical discussion for figuring adequate ways to place ESL students.
• Ransdell, D. R. (2015, 27 March). “Blogging Towards Competence: Interactive Classroom Practices,” ,. TESOL Conference. Toronto Canada: TESOL.
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  Talk on ways of using blogging in the ESL classroom.