Teaching Composition

Nine commissioned essays introduce the non-specialist to the rapidly evolving field of composition studies, discussing the nature of the field, the relationship between composition and rhetoric and between theory and practice, the history of the discipline, its bibliogrphic sources and problems, its methods of research, teaching writing, and the politics of the profession. A concluding personal essay describes a life in the profession. Written by prominent authorities, these essays describe current developments in the field, outline the major issues, and suggest needed research. Most essays provide a brief bibliography of further readings. This important book gives students and teachers an invaluable overview of composition studies, a vital field of English and literacy education.

Contents and Contributors"Introduction: Challenges and Invitations for Composition Studies in the New Millennium" by Donald A. Daiker"Three Mysteries at the Heart of Writing" by Peter Elbow"The Great Paradigm Shift and its Legacy for the Twenty-First Century" by Lynn Z. Bloom"Why Composition Studies Disappeared and What Happened Then" by Susan Miller"No Discipline? Composition's Professional Identity Crisis" by Christine Farris"Because Teaching Composition Is (Still) Mostly about Teaching Composition" by Wendy Bishop"Education for Irrelevance? Or, Joining Our Colleagues in Lit Crit on the Sidelines of the Information Age" by Kurt Spellmeyer"The Juggler" by Brenda Jo Brueggemann"Reimagining the Landscape of Composition in the Twenty-First Century: Contingent Faculty and the Profession" by Art Young"Twenty-First-Century Composition: The Two-Year College Perspective" by Mark Reynolds"Vertical Writing Programs in Departments of Rhetoric and Writing" by Ellen Cushman"Ethics and the Future of Composition Research" by Gesa E. Kirsch"A Methodology of Our Own" by Todd Taylor"Celebrating Diversity in Methodology" by Susan H. McLeod"Under the Radar of Composition Programs: Glimpsing the Future Through Case Studies of Literacy in Electronic Contexts" by Danielle Nicole DeVoss, Joseph Johansen, Cynthia L. Selfe, and John C. Williams Jr."The Challenge of the Multimedia Essay" by Lester Faigley"Multimedia Literacy: Confessions of a Nonmajor" by Christine M. Neuwirth"Composition's Word Work: Deliberating How to Do Language" by Min-Zahn Lu"Working with Difference: Critical Race Studies and the Teaching of Composition" by Gary A. Olson"From Classroom to Program" by Joseph Harris"Composition and theCritical Moment" by Keith Gilyard"The Uses of Literacy in a Globalized, Post--September 11 World" by Harriet Malinowitz"Teaching after September 11" by Richard E. Miller"Conclusion: Everything Has Changed; Nothing Has Changed" by

Although psychology is steeped in writing, as a discipline it has developed little explicit understanding of writing. This is the first book to examine writing (and the teaching of writing) in psychology from the standpoint of composition studies, the scholarly field that specializes in the study and teaching of writing. The book's purpose is to develop a different, richer, more explicit understanding of writing than psychology presently has. Three major aspects of writing are discussed: audience, genre, and style. After examining these, the author draws implications for the teaching of writing in psychology. The work does not aim to tell psychologists how to write better; rather, it suggests how they might think differently about writing.

Goleman investigates the relationship between critical theory and composition pedagogy in extensive and methodical ways. The philosophical insights of Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, and Mikhail Bakhtin are transformed into methodologies for critical work in composition. The book rests on the premise that critical approaches to the relationship between language and ideology should not be the preserve of teachers alone, but should be seen as ways of writing and analyzing language that students can master. Critical theory provides students with an understanding of language and self, truth and knowledge that allows for intellectual insight and fluency among the discourses of their multileveled, often complex and conflict-ridden lives.

Focused on scholarship in rhetoric and composition over the past quarter-century, Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing is designed to foster reflection on how theory impacts practice, enabling prospective teachers to develop their own comprehensive and coherent conception of what writing is or should be and to consider how people learn to write. This approach allows readers to assume the dual role of both teacher and student as they enter the conversation of the discipline and become familiar with some of the critical issues. Each chapter addresses a particular theoretical concept relevant to classroom teaching and includes activities to help readers establish the connection between theoretical concepts and classroom lessons. A major premise is that only when prospective writing teachers understand this relationship will they be able to teach effectively. The chapters, designed to facilitate this understanding, include: an overview of a significant concept in composition that has generated scholarly attention, and in some instances, critical controversy over the past 25 years; writing assignments and discussion prompts to foster further exploration of the concept; thought-provoking articles; bibliographies for further research; and suggestions for classroom activities to apply the concept in a pedagogical context. The text is enriched by seven chapters authored by invited scholars with expertise in particular concepts of composition. Two appendixes-"Developing Effective Writing Assignments" and "Developing a Syllabus" enhance the pedagogical usefulness of the text.

No two writing situations are exactly the same and skilled writers, like skilled painters, must develop the know-how to represent the objects of their writing as part of a flexible art. This special art of writing lies hidden between grammar--the well-formedness of sentences--and genre--the capacity of texts to perform culturally holistic communicative functions (e.g., the memo, the strategic report, the letter to the editor). Concealed between grammar and genre, this less visible art of writing is what Kaufer and Butler call "representational composition." Texts within this hidden art are best viewed not primarily as grammatical units or as genre functions, but as bearers of design elements stimulating imagistic, narrative, and information-rich worlds, and as an invitation to readers to explore and interact with them. This volume presents a systematic study of the principles that underlie writing as representational composition. Drawing from student models derived from a studio method, the authors use each chapter to present a different aspect of what unfolds--across the course of the book--into a cumulative, interactive, and unified body of representational principles underlying the design of texts. They reveal what makes the textual representations achieved by expert writers worthwhile, and, at the same time, difficult for novice writers to reproduce. Extending the framework of their 1996 volume, Rhetoric and the Arts of Design, into a realm of textual design, this volume will interest students and instructors of writing, rhetoric, and information design.

Preparing to Teach Writing: Research, Theory, and Practice, Third Edition is a comprehensive survey of theories, research, and methods associated with teaching composition successfully. The primary goal is to provide practicing and prospective teachers with the knowledge they need to be effective teachers of writing and to prepare them for the many challenges they will face in the classroom. Overall, the third edition of Preparing to Teach Writing is clearer and more comprehensive than the previous editions. It combines the best of the old with new information and features. The discussions and references to foundational studies that helped define the field of rhetoric and composition are preserved in this edition. Also preserved is most of the pedagogical apparatus that characterized the first two editions; research and theory are examined with the aim of informing teaching.

As colleges and universities have responded to the demand of businesses and industries for graduates who can write effectively, Composition Studies has gained significance. However, in spite of the growing importance attached to writing, many composition courses do not satisfactorily educate their students. This volume includes essays by writing specialists who are concerned with their own failure to improve their students' writing skills. In addition to exploring the shortcomings of Composition Studies, the contributors discuss needed reforms for the teaching of writing.