In his book, "Inventions: Writing, Textuality, and Understanding," Gerald L. Bruns interprets the hermeneutics of Hans Georg Gadamer. Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation. One principle of hermeneutics is that understanding always proceeds from an initializing moment of confusion, strangeness, darkness, or concealment. Concealment's…

A study explored the process of ethnic identity formation and the role of language in the ethnic identity of five language-minority adults, and any changes in language's role over time. In-depth interviews were conducted with five U.S.-born ethnic and language minority adults with diverse backgrounds. Brief profiles of the three men and two women…

The issue of agency bedevils contemporary composition theorists and practitioners. In theory, scholars such as Lester Faigley, James Berlin, and Patricia Bizzell have critiqued the foundation priority of thought to language, yet their emphasis on language has cast disturbing doubts on the origins of an individual's thoughts. In practice, the…

One composition instructor's purpose is to address, or perhaps, re-dress, the balance of the relationship between teacher and student using a dialogic framework that provides for reciprocity. Her aim is to provoke, to seduce (persuade through passion), and to awaken their incipient sense of wonder at the world and the language that creates this…

Three professors at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, reflected about a course they taught together on the use of metaphor in language, art and literature. In examining a wide range of art works with their students, including prose by E. A. Poe, Nancy Mairs, Henry James, and Woody Allen and movies such as "Dr.…

A case study examines a nontraditional African-American student enrolled in English 90 at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. The first person in her family to attend college, she is attractive, personal, outspoken and speaks not only the dialect of her family, which shows the influence of French, but also standard English. When asked how…

Several specific maxims of English conversation that suggest interpersonal cooperation in the process of communication are applied to conversation in Japanese. The maxims concern implicature, a proposition implied in an utterance in a particular context but not expressly stated. It is proposed that: (1) while it is easy to overstate or exaggerate…

The double entry journal, first suggested by Ann Berthoff in "Forming/thinking/writing," offers a way to break out of the one-way discourse and single-voiced thinking that predominates in traditional rhetoric and academic writing. Typically, double-entry journals are set up so that students quote from a source in the left-hand margin and…

This guide to adjustment to other cultures is intended for individuals going abroad to live, work, or study or who have contact with expatriates in their own countries. It is written from the perspective that adaptation to the local (foreign) culture is desirable and enhances the experience abroad. The book first looks briefly at some of the…

The history of the movement to establish English as the single official language of the United States (official English or English-only movement) is chronicled from the drafting of the Constitutions to the present, with emphasis on developments since the 1980s. Increasing interest in the early 1980s is attributed to political factors and…

This paper contends that former Secretary of Education William Bennett's "war on drugs" (he now directs the government's campaign against drugs) is not being waged against those who sell and use drugs, but against the civil liberties of everyone. The paper maintains that under the guise of ridding society of what President Bush called…

The belief that writing can best be understood by understanding the mental processes that govern the production of discourse is questioned in this paper. Plato and Aristotle can form a theoretical base for rhetoric praxis that is democratic, diverse, and empowering. A reexamination of Plato's language underscores his belief that a person must know…

A study of 15 fathers and their 16 sons in an italophone community in Montreal (Canada) focused on the usage of Italian, French, and English in communication between generations and in a variety of activities. Data were drawn from 45 hours of taped conversation in home and work settings, which included 4,848 instances of language contact. Of the…

The educational use of computers is changing the way people think and steering culture toward a more functional and self-conscious form of literacy. This supposition is based in Walter Ong's theory of orality and literacy (maintaining that literacy caused a removal from immediate, everyday existence and enabled the development of an analytical…

Written for those who want to write poems but are not sure how to start, this book presents 20 short exercises plus short pieces ("written talk") about poetry. The exercises in the book are designed to be completed in about 10 weeks. The types of poems in the 20 exercises include "found" and "headline" poems (which…