Embracing an Empathic-Thou Lens: Re-minding English Language Arts Writing Assessment

Abstract

This theoretical dissertation asks: “How might an empathic-Thou lens inform ELA teachers’ values, decisions, and practices surrounding writing assessment?” Using a framework informed by Martin Buber’s I-Thou philosophy—and an approach informed by hermeneutics, autoethnography, and writing as inquiry—this study engages textual research and personal experiences to explore the powerful forces of three major concepts—writing, assessment, and empathy. This study documents the resulting disruption and re-minding.Asserting an understanding of the history, theoretical underpinnings, and coinciding values as necessary starting points, the study first individually examines each concept that roots the inquiry question. I first explore empathy and develop an empathic-Thou lens for inquiry that encourages readers to engage 3 R’s: relationality, rupture, and re-minding. Then, an empathic- Thou exploration of writing and assessment suggests that both can be connected to Cartesian separation—reinforcing objectivity and binary thinking, influencing how English Language Arts teachers approach, respond to, and evaluate student writing—enculturement that establishes separations between student and teacher, mind and body, head and heart, and work from context.The study suggests that engaging an empathic-Thou lens could shift these educational tendencies, bringing an awareness to our separatist inclinations that, by default, distance us from students and their work. Furthermore, an empathic-Thou lens has the potential to motivate educators to make substantial change to our educational-doing through a greater awareness of our way of being in action. This dissertation suggests that exploring these concerns through a framework informed by Martin Buber’s I-Thou dialogical philosophy—while building a deeper understanding of empathy—might differently inform ELA teachers’ values, decisions, and practices surrounding writing assessment.