In this article, the authors comment on Douglas Downs and Elizabeth Wardle's "Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions." As Downs and Wardle note, a one-year academic writing course will not prepare students to write in all fields, and evidence suggests limitations on the transfer of skills. The authors agree, in addition, that the study of…

In this article, the author offers his critiques on Downs and Wardle's course, Introduction to Writing Studies. Downs and Wardle use their course to alert students to the very misconceptions that prompt the shift from "teaching writing" to "teaching about writing"--namely the inability of first-year composition courses to make good on the pledge…

Explores the apparent conflict in writing instruction between an emphasis on general versus local (specific) knowledge. Explains that the general knowledge focus is based upon cognitive rhetoric, whereas the local knowledge perspective comes from social theories of knowledge. Argues for a pluralistic theory of expertise which incorporates both…

Presents six essays (resulting from a feminist pedagogy research group to pursue the relationship between feminism and composition teaching) which offer individual teaching narratives from the first-year composition classroom. Focuses on two key problematics: difference and authority. (SR)

Argues that students need to learn how to articulate their thinking in a public arena and that the English classroom is a useful place for such public interaction. Describes a "town meeting" method of including public speech into writing courses that provides help toward reaching these objectives. (HB)

Discusses past and present positions of the Conference on College Composition and Communication stating that it grew out of a teaching-related problem and the need for discussion and dialogue. States that developing a deeper understanding of the nature of teaching can lead not only to greater self-respect and confidence but also to new knowledge.…

Uses the critical perspectives of Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of language and Lev Vygotsky's theory of language learning to examine the polyphonic texture of writing workshops, the dialogic classroom, the teacher's role as writer and authority figure, and the student's search for voice and role. (RAE)

Presents an extended analogy between different styles of gardening (neat, even rows of vegetables versus scattering of flowers) and different styles of writing (academic versus personal essay). Shows that genre boundaries are as questionable as gender boundaries and that all writing is a means of creating self, not for expressing a self that…

Discusses and tries to define the basic differences between high school and college-level writing. Examines key assumptions of the Summer Writing Program at Carleton College along with the criteria used for determining whether students should receive writing course credit. Reveals contradictions in stated criteria and praxis. (HB)

This article offers a critical perspective on the default mode of freshman composition instruction, that is, its traditionally middle-class and white racial orientation. Although middle-classness and whiteness have been topics of critical interest among compositionists in recent years, perhaps the most effective challenge to this hegemony in…

Argues that the notions of need, requirement, and service are not simply pre-disciplinary formations, externally imposed on the work of teaching writing. Examines the dynamics of university, college, and departmental committees and task forces at Temple University in reforming the structure of first year writing courses, their structure,…

Challenges Donald C. Stewart's assertion that "a good number" of graduate school English majors teach freshman composition. Suggests that only a small minority of these students enter college teaching. Argues that college English departments should not limit student options by setting more specific course requirements within the major.…

Suggests that criticism of Donald C. Stewart's assertion that many English majors enter teaching stems from a misunderstanding. Argues that Stewart simply proposes making graduate students more aware of recent developments within the field. Questions critics' claim that few graduate-level English majors enter college teaching. (SG)

Addresses the question of what constitutes a writing course. Maintains that the main objective of a writing course is the development of the writer, and that the privileged text is students' writing. Takes issue with writing courses that emphasize reading, subject content, or investigation over the writing process. (TB)

Claims that two primary and mostly unacknowledged theories dominate writing textbooks: (1) a truncated version of the five classical canons, and (2) the modes of discourse--exposition, description, narration, and argumentation. (SKC)