Public rhetoric pedagogy can benefit from an ecological perspective that sees change as advocated not through a single document but through multiple mundane and monumental texts. This article summarizes various approaches to rhetorical ecology, offers an ecological read of the Montgomery bus boycotts, and concludes with pedagogical insights on a…

Examines the organization of discourse communities around the production and legitimization of particular forms of knowledge and social practices and the way students learn, or fail to learn, the conventions of a discourse community. Suggests writing teachers consider the pedagogical implications of teaching the conventions of any discourse…

Examines reasons for discourse communities becoming a subject of writing research. Provides a brief example of the kind of analysis possible, focusing on the composing environments of two similar organizations. (AEW)

Explores the culture of a summer writing course (at the University of Texas) for first-year ethnic minority students that is designed to help induct them gradually into the academic culture and improve retention rate. Observes and records behavior and discourses of the class's African American students. Focuses on learning strategies displayed in…