A Teaching Subject: Composition since 1966

Harris, Joseph

doi:10.2307/358780

Cited by 40 publications

(30 citation statements)

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“…With foundational texts, such as those of Britton (1970), Corbett (1965), Elbow (1973), Emig (1971), Kinneavy (1973), Murray (1968), and Shaughnessy (1977), appearing mainly in the late 1960's and 1970's, the field of composition studies simply is not yet old and venerable enough to have inspired a well-developed interest in its history. However, some historically oriented discussions have appeared (e.g., Harris, 1997;Lindemann & Tate, 1991;Tobin & Newkirk, 1994) usually by way of introducing a particular study or a new line of inquiry, or in publications introducing the field to newcomers. These discussions tend to describe the field of composition studies since the early 1980's as moving its focus from a cognitive examination of process to a more social, ethnographic, and political examination of context.…”

Section: The Student Writermentioning

confidence: 99%

Research in writing, postsecondary education, 1984-2003

Durst¹

2006

L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature

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This review of research in college composition divides the field into research focused on the student writer, the teacher of college composition, and the contexts of writing. The period under review is characterized by the "social turn," an effort to situate the writer within social, political, and other contexts in which teaching and writing take place. The author finds that, early in the 21 st century, the field of college composition lacks the sort of monolith -such as the "current rhetorical" tradition that has now been largely abandoned -that galvanized teachers and researchers of college composition in the past. As a consequence, the field presently lacks a clear focus or direction. Key words: college composition, writing research DURSTFrench résumé Cette revue de question sur la composition à l'université comprend des recherches centrées sur l'étudiant-auteur, l'enseignant et les contextes d'écriture. La période examinée se caractérise par un " tournant social ", un effort pour situer l'auteur dans les contextes, social, politique ou autres, dans lesquels l'écriture et son enseignement prennent place. L'auteur constate que, au début du 21e siècle, la recherche sur la composition à l'université perd son caractère monolithique -comme la tradition de la " rhétorique classique " maintenant en grande partie abandonnée-qui a tant enthousiasmé les enseignants et les chercheurs dans le passé. En conséquence, ce domaine de recherche manque actuellement d'une centration, ou d'une orientation, claire. (Abstract translated into French by Laurence Pasa.) Mots clefs : composition à l'université, recherche en écriture Portuguese resumo. Este levantamento da investigação sobre composição no ensino secundário divide o campo de análise em investigação centrada no estudante escrevente, no professor de composição no secundário e nos contextos de escrita. O período em análise é caracterizado pela "viragem social", um esforço para situar o escrevente em contextos sociais, políticos e todos os outros em que o ensino e a escrita têm lugar. O autor considera que, no início do século XXI, o domínio da composição no secundário não tem o carácter sólido -como, por exemplo, na tradição "retórica contemporânea" que foi agora largamente abandonada -que galvanizou professores e investigadores no passado. Por isso, falta neste campo um rumo ou focalização claros. (Abstract translated into Portuguese by Paulo Feytor Pinto) Palavras-chave: composição no secundário; investigação sobre escrita

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Section: The Student Writermentioning

confidence: 99%

Research in writing, postsecondary education, 1984-2003

Durst¹

2006

L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature

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“…As a discipline with academic roots in pedagogy (Harris 1996), composition studies has fostered increasingly visible and structured programs to mentor new writing instructors. Several recent essay collections compile examples of programs, thoughtfully theorized approaches, and careful explorations of how to best support and nurture new instructors of first-year writing (see, for example, Pytlik and Liggett 2002;Ward and Perry 2002).…”

Section: Heidi Estrem and E Shelley Reidmentioning

confidence: 99%

What New Writing Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Teaching

Estrem¹,

Reid²

2012

Pedagogy

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This article explores findings from a multiyear, multisite study of new college writing instructors. First, the authors describe the principles that guide new instructors’ teaching and reveal the number of resources that new instructors draw on beyond the pedagogy seminar. Second, they delineate how the kinds of classroom narratives these instructors choose to tell points to a range of understandings about what it means to teach writing. Finally, they argue that learning to teach writing is a complex process requiring sustained mentoring and support throughout the early years of teaching.

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“…While North sought to recuperate the contributions of practitioners, his characterization of their knowledge as "lore" and their relationship to scholars as a power struggle has contributed to an anxious debate among compositionists. Joseph Harris (1994Harris ( , 1997, reflecting the view of many in the field, finds it necessary to declare that the composition classroom remains at the center of his concerns and that theory ("how knowledge gets made") only interests him insofar as it influences practice (x).On the other hand, Sidney Dobrin argues in his recent book, Constructing Knowledges, that "theory can exist without practical applications" (152). Our authors' reconsiderations, located all along this continuum, have enabled us to put together a collection that questions disciplinary hierarchies and values new practices as scholarship at the same time that it questions their capacity for building disciplinary knowledge and identity.…”

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confidence: 99%

Under Construction: Working at the Intersections of Composition Theory, Research, and Practice

Farris¹,

Anson²

1999

College Composition and Communication

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A s a field of professional inquiry intertwined with the practice and teaching of its own subject, composition studies has enjoyed the steady pace of its own recent evolution. Few composition scholars twenty years ago would have imagined the rate at which the field is now developing, exploding beyond its boundaries, creating new alliances, and locating new sites for inquiry and knowledge production. These current transformations owe in part to the inevitable burgeoning of a theoretically interdisciplinary field with a strong orientation toward self-reflection. They also owe to unprecedented changes underway in higher education, changes pressured by shifts in the politics and economics of university administration, the advent of new technologies, population changes that affect student demographics, and the creation of alternative structures and contexts for teaching and learning.Composition, in seeking a disciplinary identity, is questioning the ways it creates and mediates knowledge and the ways in which that knowledge informs and is informed by various contexts for research and practice. This collection focuses on the ways in which composition reconsiders established dichotomies, examines new connections among areas of inquiry, and suggests avenues for inquiry that have transformative consequences for the sites of theory, research, and teaching.When we first proposed this volume of essays, we sought submissions that reconsidered the relationship among theory, research and practice, expecting that our focus would primarily be on the changing face of composition research. Our open call and invitation to individual scholars, however, resulted in very few reports of research studies, but rather in contributions that reflect the extent to which the theory/research/practice relationship now occupies our disciplinary thinking.Since the publication of Stephen North's The Making of Knowledge in Composition: Portrait of an Emerging Field (1987), the past decade has seen attention to research methodology largely displaced by conflict between theory and practice. This conflict, still rooted, one might argue, in the desire for a unified theory, often centers on the extent to which any theory employed by compositionists must grow, if not from research, then from practice, or at leasthave direct pedagogical implications. While North sought to recuperate the contributions of practitioners, his characterization of their knowledge as "lore" and their relationship to scholars as a power struggle has contributed to an anxious debate among compositionists. Joseph Harris (1994Harris ( , 1997, reflecting the view of many in the field, finds it necessary to declare that the composition classroom remains at the center of his concerns and that theory ("how knowledge gets made") only interests him insofar as it influences practice (x).On the other hand, Sidney Dobrin argues in his recent book, Constructing Knowledges, that "theory can exist without practical applications" (152). Our authors' reconsiderations, located all along this cont...

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A Teaching Subject: Composition since 1966

Cited by 40 publications

References 0 publications

Research in writing, postsecondary education, 1984-2003

Research in writing, postsecondary education, 1984-2003

What New Writing Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Teaching

Under Construction: Working at the Intersections of Composition Theory, Research, and Practice

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