Teaching Composition As A Social Process

• Main Author: Mccomiskey, Bruce
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago Utah State University Press 2000; University Press of Colorado
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Book Industry Communication; Composition & Creative Writing; Creative writing & creative writing guides; Creative writing and creative writing guides; Education; EDUCATION / General; EDUCATION / Teaching Methods & Materials / Arts & Humanities; English language; Language; Language & Literature; Language and Linguistics; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / General; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Writing / General; Language: reference & general; Language: reference and general; Report writing; Rhetoric; Rhetoric and psychology; Social aspects; Society & social sciences; Society and Social Sciences; Study and teaching; Teaching of a specific subject; Teaching of specific groups & persons with special educational needs; Teaching of students with English as a second language (TESOL)
• ISBN: 9780874212839; 0874212839; 9780874213522; 0874213525
• DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt46nx11

Bruce McComiskey is a strong advocate of social approaches to teaching writing. However, he opposes composition teaching that relies on cultural theory for content, because it too often prejudges the ethical character of institutions and reverts unnecessarily to product-centered practices in the classroom. He opposes what he calls the "read-this-essay-and-do-what-the-author-did method of writing instruction: read Roland Barthes's essay 'Toys' and write a similar essay; read John Fiske's essay on TV and critique a show." McComiskey argues for teaching writing as situated in discourse itself, in the constant flow of texts produced within social relationships and institutions. He urges writing teachers not to neglect the linguistic and rhetorical levels of composing, but rather to strengthen them with attention to the social contexts and ideological investments that pervade both the processes and products of writing. A work with a sophisticated theory base, and full of examples from McComiskey's own classrooms, Teaching Composition as a Social Process will be valued by experienced and beginning composition teachers alike.