Listening to 21st century literacies: Prehistory of writing in an academic discipline

•The prehistory of writing events is examined as a context for developing 21st century literacies.•Patterns in content of student speech reveal process of sharing and refinement of rhetorical goals.•Teacher catalyzes peer instruction.•Problem-posing activates affordances of disciplinary knowledge and literacies.

Prehistories of collaborative composition are vital to 21st century literacies research and instruction. The processes by which writing and other 21st century literacies become necessary to students continues to be neglected, however, so that while 21st century literacies are easily observed outside school, the significance and feasibility of 21st century literacies as formal educational goals remain unproven. By examining communicative choices in a problem-oriented curriculum in a university-based human geography class, this study chronicles the prehistory of writing to relate participants’ argument-based interactions with their composition choices. Analysis of interactional patterns in transcripts, observational notes, and written products reveals an important link between 21st century literacies and student talk: Students used disciplinary concepts to give shape to ill-defined problems, which led to tasks requiring many elements of 21st century literacies; the use of 21st century literacies to solve problems, in turn, mediated qualitative changes in subsequent problem posing, tasks, and use of 21st century literacies.