Teaching Composition as a Social Process - Softcover

Mccomiskey, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0874212839 ISBN 13: 9780874212839

Publisher: Utah State University Press, 2000

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Bruce McComiskey, a Kinneavy Award-winning scholar and the author of "Teaching Composition as a Social Process," administers the advanced writing program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Edition details

• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0874212839
• ISBN 13: 9780874212839
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 159