Over the past 20 years, claims about how and why student writing can serve learning have changed markedly. This has been partly due to new technologies displacing writing as a predominant resource for learning, prompting new sense-making practices and shifts in how these changes are theorized. Learners now routinely collaborate to generate,…

Focusing specifically on the theories offered by language development theorist L. S. Vygotsky and evolutionary theorist Terrence Deacon, this paper examines the ways in which theories of language in composition studies coincide and differ with the theories currently being researched in neurobiology and physical anthropology. This examination…

Discusses the writing process as it is represented in recent research and practice, with emphasis on (1) rhetorical concerns; (2) the arts of invention, style, and arrangement; and (3) efforts to expand writing instruction beyond traditional courses and disciplines. Recognizes a shift that characterizes writing as rhetorical problem solving.…

Considers how the concept of psychology of composition suggests a different interpretation of what it means for composition to be an interdisciplinary field. Explores the character and significance for composition of "syntopical studies" and draws on syntopical reading of the psychological literature to lay the foundations for a possible…

Identifies recent research findings in disciplines related to business communication, such as reading instruction, composition research, linguistics, and educational psychology. Analyzes subject matter of seven leading business communication texts. Suggests that business communication courses and textbooks incorporate the results of research from…

Teaching about reading and writing should be flip sides of the same coin. Writing reinforces and develops skills traditionally thought of as reading skills. (PP)

Surveys research on role of audience in discourse in a series of related disciplines, including cognitive psychology, composition, speech communication, rhetoric, and philosophy. Concludes that writing teachers can achieve a sophisticated, complex understanding of nature and role of audience in written discourse only if they are aware of both…

Identifies context variables in written composition from theoretical perspectives in cognitive psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Considers how multiple views of context from across the disciplines can build toward a broader definition of writing. (JD)

The key ideas developed by the Writing across the Curriculum Project begun at the University of London in 1965 center on the ways in which discourse is acquired by children in a psycholinguistic sense. Among those ideas are (1) knowledge is socially determined through the interweaving of individual consciousnesses, each of which is busy construing…

Research shows that writing can be used across the curriculum to help students come to grips with their understanding (or lack of understanding) of information presented in each day's lessons. Teachers of all subjects and at all grade levels should be trained to understand the writing process and its importance for learning. (PP)

A review of dozens of journal articles and books on the subject of writing across the curriculum reveals the following basic assumptions that seem to characterize most college writing across the curriculum programs: (1) writing is a complex and developmental process; (2) writing should be used to promote learning; (3) the teaching of writing is…

The 19 conference papers in this collection deal with the relationship of various rhetorical theories and their practical applications to the rhetorical traditions that they are superseding. The papers deal with many topics, including the following: (1) a multidisciplinary approach to writing instruction; (2) the importance of writing as a human…

The 42 papers in this volume discuss a variety of technical writing topics. The following are some of these topics: (1) industry's views on new directions in technical communication, and the technical writing skills that industry needs; (2) an interdisciplinary approach to teaching technical report writing in the community college; (3) designing…

College freshman composition courses are often taught on the assumption that students need little or no help in reading, with the result that reading materials are only used as models of writing. However, research such as a 1978 study at the University of Minnesota wherein freshmen scored significantly lower in reading skills than did freshmen 50…