Computers and writing is a sub-field of college English studies about how computers and digital technologies affect literacy and the writing process. The range of inquiry in this field is broad including discussions on ethics when using computers in writing programs,how discourse can be produced through technologies,software development,and computer-aided literacy instruction. Some topics include hypertext theory,visual rhetoric,multimedia authoring,distance learning,digital rhetoric,usability studies,the patterns of online communities,how various media change reading and writing practices,textual conventions,and genres. Other topics examine social or critical issues in computer technology and literacy,such as the issues of the "digital divide",equitable access to computer-writing resources,and critical technological literacies. Many studies by scientists have shown that writing on computer is better than writing in a book
The Conference on College Composition and Communication is a national professional association of college and university writing instructors in the United States. The CCCC formed in 1949 as an organization within the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). CCCC is the largest organization dedicated to writing research,theory,and teaching worldwide.
An interlanguage is an idiolect which has been developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1) and can overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics give an interlanguage its unique linguistic organization. It is idiosyncratically based on the learner's experiences with L2. An interlanguage can fossilize,or cease developing,in any of its developmental stages. It is claimed that several factors shape interlanguage rules,including L1 transfer,previous learning strategies,strategies of L2 acquisition,L2 communication strategies,and the overgeneralization of L2 language patterns.
Second language writing is the study of writing performed by non-native speakers/writers of a language as a second or foreign language. According to Oxford University,second language writing is the expression of one's actions and what one wants to say in writing in a language other than one's native language. The process of second language writing has been an area of research in applied linguistics and second language acquisition theory since the middle of the 20th century. The focus has been mainly on second-language writing in academic settings.
Composition studies is the professional field of writing,research,and instruction,focusing especially on writing at the college level in the United States.
Contrastive rhetoric is the study of how a person's first language and his or her culture influence writing in a second language or how a common language is used among different cultures. The term was first coined by the American applied linguist Robert Kaplan in 1966 to denote eclecticism and subsequent growth of collective knowledge in certain languages. It was widely expanded from 1996 to today by Finnish-born,US-based applied linguist Ulla Connor,among others. Since its inception the area of study has had a significant impact on the exploration of intercultural discourse structures that extend beyond the target language's native forms of discourse organization. The field brought attention to cultural and associated linguistic habits in expression of English language.
Keith Gilyard is a writer and American professor of English and African American Studies. He has passionately embraced African American expressive culture over the course of his career as a poet,scholar,and educator. Beyond his own literary output,he has pursued –and in some instances merged - two main lines of humanistic inquiry:literary studies,with its concern for beauty and significant form,and rhetorical studies,with its emphasis on the effect of trope and argument in culture. Moreover,his interests branch out into popular culture,civic discourse,and educational praxis. A critical perspective concerning these areas is,in his view,integral to the development of discerning and productive publics both on and beyond campuses and therefore crucial to the optimal practice of democracy.
Cognitive science and linguistic theory have played an important role in providing empirical research into the writing process and serving the teaching of composition. As for composition theories,there is some dispute concerning the appropriateness of tying these two schools of thought together into one theory of composition. However,their empirical basis for research and ties to the process theory of composition and cognitive science can be thought to warrant some connection.
The study and practice of visual rhetoric took a more prominent role in the field of composition studies towards the end of the twentieth century and onward. Proponents of its inclusion in composition typically point to the increasingly visual nature of society,and the increasing presence of visual texts. Literacy,they argue,can no longer be limited only to written text and must also include an understanding of the visual.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to second-language acquisition:
Translanguaging is a term that can refer to different aspects of multilingualism. It can describe the way bilinguals and multilinguals use their linguistic resources to make sense of and interact with the world around them. It can also refer to a pedagogical approach that utilizes more than one language within a classroom lesson. The term "translanguaging" was coined in the 1980s by Cen Williams in his unpublished thesis titled “An Evaluation of Teaching and Learning Methods in the Context of Bilingual Secondary Education.”Williams used the term to describe the practice of using two languages in the same lesson,which differed from many previous methods of bilingual education that tried to separate languages by class,time,or day. In addition,Vogel and Garcia argued that translanguaging theory posits that rather than possessing two or more autonomous language systems,as previously thought when scholars described bilingual or multilingual speakers,bilinguals and multilingual speakers select and deploy their languages from a unitary linguistic repertoire. However,the dissemination of the term,and of the related concept,gained traction decades later due in part to published research by Ofelia García,among others. In this context,translanguaging is an extension of the concept of languaging,the discursive practices of language speakers,but with the additional feature of using multiple languages,often simultaneously. It is a dynamic process in which multilingual speakers navigate complex social and cognitive demands through strategic employment of multiple languages.
Kathleen Blake Yancey is the Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English at Florida State University in the rhetoric and composition program. Her research interests include composition studies,writing knowledge,creative non-fiction,and writing assessment.
Marjolijn Verspoor is a Dutch linguist. She is a professor of English language and English as a second language at the University of Groningen,Netherlands. She is known for her work on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory and the application of dynamical systems theory to study second language development. Her interest is also in second language writing.
Rosa María Manchón Ruiz is a Spanish linguist. She is currently a professor of applied linguistics at the University of Murcia,Spain. Her research focuses on second language acquisition and second language writing. She was the editor of the Journal of Second Language Writing between 2008 and 2014.
Lourdes Ortega is a Spanish-born American linguist. She is currently a professor of applied linguistics at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on second language acquisition and second language writing. She is noted for her work on second language acquisition and for recommending that syntactic complexity needs to be measured multidimensionally.
Scott Andrew Crossley is an American linguist. He is a professor of applied linguistics at Vanderbilt University,United States. His research focuses on natural language processing and the application of computational tools and machine learning algorithms in learning analytics including second language acquisition,second language writing,and readability. His main interest area is the development and use of natural language processing tools in assessing writing quality and text difficulty.
Victor Villanueva is an American academic and scholar in rhetoric and composition studies,serving the role of Regents Professor Emeritus at Washington State University. Villanueva was awarded NCTE's David Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English for his groundbreaking book Bootstraps,From an American Academic of Color. In 2009,Villanueva was the recipient of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Exemplar's Award. Villanueva has written and edited a number of significant works on the topic of race,rhetoric,basic writing,and the social and political contexts of literacy education.
Asao B. Inoue is a Japanese American academic writer and professor of rhetoric and composition in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University whose research and teaching focus on anti-racist writing assessment. In 2019,Inoue was elected the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Chair. He delivered the keynote presentation for the 2019 CCCC Annual Convention,entitled "How Do We Language So People Stop Killing Each Other,Or What Do We Do About White Language Supremacy?" Inoue is the recipient of multiple disciplinary and institutional academic awards,including the 2017 CCCC Outstanding Book Award,the 2017 Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) Best Book Award,and the 2012 Provost's Award for Teaching Excellence at California State University,Fresno.
Janice M. Lauer Rice was an American scholar of composition,rhetoric,and linguistics. She was a founding member of the Rhetoric Society of America. She founded one of the first doctoral programs in rhetoric and composition at Purdue University in 1980. The Lauer Series in Rhetoric and Composition from Parlor Press is named in her honor,as well as the Rhetoric Society of America's Janice Lauer Fund for Graduate Student Support and the Purdue Foundation Janice M. Lauer Dissertation Award.
Carmen Kynard is the Lillian Radford Chair in Rhetoric and Composition and a Professor of English at Texas Christian University. Before that,she worked at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her research focuses on race,Black feminisms,AfroDigital/Black languages and cultures,and schooling dynamics,particularly in composition,rhetoric,and literacy studies. Carmen has taught in New York City's public schools,worked in writing program administration,and in teacher education. She has led initiatives for professional development in language,literacy,and learning. Her research appears in Harvard Educational Review,College Composition and Communication,and Literacy and Composition Studies. Kynard is the author of Vernacular Insurrections:Race,Black Protest,and the New Century in Composition-Literacy Studies,which won the 2015 James N. Britton Award presented by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). In 2023,Kynard was also honored with the Richard C. Ohmann Outstanding Article Award for scholarship published in the academic journal College English.
