First-year composition

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With the development of digital technologies, student writing has evolved in first-year composition courses to take on many forms beyond words on paper and include digital genres. Backlit keyboard.jpg
With the development of digital technologies, student writing has evolved in first-year composition courses to take on many forms beyond words on paper and include digital genres.

First-year composition (sometimes known as first-year writing, freshman composition or freshman writing) is an introductory core curriculum writing course in US colleges and universities. This course focuses on improving students' abilities to write in a university setting and introduces students to writing practices in the disciplines and professions. [2] These courses are traditionally required of incoming students, thus the previous name, "Freshman Composition." Scholars working within the field of composition studies often have teaching first-year composition (FYC) courses as the practical focus of their scholarly work. [3]

Contents

FYC courses are structured in a variety of ways. Some institutions of higher education require only one term of FYC, while others require two or three courses. There are a number of identifiable pedagogies associated with FYC, including: current-traditional, expressivist, social-epistemic, process, post-process and Writing about Writing (WAW). Each of these pedagogies can generate a multitude of curricula.

Composition professionals, including those with degrees in Writing Studies and Rhetoric and Composition, often focus on a rhetorical approach to help students learn how to apply an understanding of audience, purpose, context, invention, and style to their writing processes. This rhetorical approach has shown that real writing, rather than existing as isolated modes, has more to do with a writer choosing from among many approaches to perform rhetorical tasks. [4] In addition to a focus on rhetoric, many first year composition courses also emphasize the writing process, [5] and students are encouraged to interact with classmates and receive feedback to be used for revision. These practices can take the form of essay peer review or workshopping. Portfolios are a common way of assessing revised student work. [6]

History

Since the late nineteenth century, college courses on composition have become increasingly common in American higher education. [7] The German model of "rigorous 'scientific' philology and historical criticism" influenced instruction that caused the research paper to become a staple in first-year composition. [8] Although a longstanding course offering at many colleges, first-year composition remains controversial and marginalized. [9] [10]

First-year requirement debate

The requirement for a first-year composition course has been debated in composition studies. This debate centers around how effective the first-year composition course is and the changes that need to be made to develop the field of composition. While most schools do require some form of the first-year composition course, there are some schools that have decided to abolish the first-year composition requirement; on the other hand, some have suggested that the first-year composition course be replaced with a course that emphasizes writing within one's own discipline. [11] [12]

Some scholars, such as Sharon Crowley in Composition in the University: Historical and Polemical Essays, argue that this requirement should be abolished. Crowley does not suggest the course itself be removed, only the requirement that all freshmen take the course. She states that students would still be interested in the course if the requirement was abolished and that removing the requirement would strengthen the field of composition. She implies that composition studies is marginalized within the university because of the view of the first-year composition course as a skill course. Removing the requirement, she states, would remove the association of composition studies with introductory courses, giving more acknowledgement to the field. [13] Crowley's opinion initiated a debate in the composition field, but she is not the only critic who advocates for the removal of this requirement. Scholars Douglas Downs and Elizabeth Wardle also dislike the requirement and instead argue for a writing studies curriculum. [14]

Other scholars such as David Smit disagree, arguing that the first-year composition requirement be kept and that the course's curriculum and structure be altered for improvement. Smit explains that many of the developmental goals of those who favor abolishing the requirement can still be achieved by offering more writing experiences. He proposes more genre writing in composition courses with a "scaffolding" progression of discipline writing. If this was done, he suggests, the concerns over the status of composition studies in the university would still be solved, as the course would no longer be seen as skills based.

Some universities, such as Rowan University in a 2023 entry on the university's website, do believe that continuing to teach and utilize the first-year composition program holds several valuable benefits for students to learn such as the social aspects that come with both reading and writing and the discussions between students that arise from it, the overall importance critical analysis of text holds, how to use outside factors like audience and purpose to better understand their writing, learning how to create informed writing that includes all societal groups, not just one, and it helps students understand the ethical requirements that comes when researching and writing new information. [15]

There has been no consensus reached in composition studies regarding the status of the first-year composition course requirement. The benefits of the course, as well as the drawbacks, continue to be debated and the scholars noted above are only a few of the voices and perspectives involved in this discussion. Despite the debate about the requirement, it remains in effect at a majority of US colleges universities. [7] [14]

Structure of contemporary first-year composition

First-year composition is designed to meet the goals for successful completion set forth by the Council of Writing Program Administrators. [16] To reach these goals, students must learn rhetorical conventions, critical thinking skills, information literacy, and the process of writing an academic paper. There is no standard curriculum for first-year composition established at the national level. Curriculum is developed at other levels by individual states, institutions, departments, and writing programs.

First-year composition and rhetoric

With the publication of James Kinneavy's Theory of Discourse in 1971, English departments began incorporating rhetoric into their composition classrooms. [17] In doing this, composition instructors have placed more emphasis on teaching audience analysis, Aristotle's rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos), and teaching Kinneavy's modes of discourse.

According to Brian Sutton in "Writing in the Disciplines, First-Year Composition, and the Research Paper", since 1980, there has been an increasing debate in academic circles as to whether the "generic" approach to writing in first year composition is useful for students whose future writing will be discipline specific. [18]

Basic writing

First described by Mina Shaughnessy in the 1970s, basic writing is a division of composition studies that strives to bring disadvantaged students entering college to a more complete understanding of the rhetorical aspects of the writing process. [19] [20]

Approaches

There are a number of different composition theories and pedagogies that educators use to teach first-year composition. The second edition of A Guide to Composition Pedagogies [21] identifies 17 different composition pedagogies, a few of which that relate to first-year composition are summarized below:

Genre

Genre pedagogy is meant to focus the student's attention on the purpose of a given piece of text, through the lens of genre. Some perspectives favor instruction on the specific traits of a given established genre, particularly for those who are learning English as a second language. Others espouse the view that students should learn to identify elements of writing—style and conventions, for example—which denote its usefulness in a given setting as genre elements and know when to use them appropriately. Another form of genre pedagogy involves evaluating the characteristics of given genres, including the sensibilities they instantiate and which individuals or perspectives are excluded by them. [22]

Literature and composition

Literature and composition, as an approach to teaching, is premised upon the integration of literature as the content for a composition course. Literature is strategically threaded through the writing course providing learners with in-depth comprehensive information, empowering their contribution to a variety of literary conversations. In this approach, literature provides learners with a plethora of opportunities for the development of writing skills including topics for debates, arguments, discussions, and general exploration of humanity. Discourses for discovery with this methodology are inclusive of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, feminism, social issues, politics, and religion. [23]

Process

As the name suggests, process pedagogy utilizes classroom time by discussing the entire writing process. A class that implements process pedagogy aims to improve students' skills as writers by working in one or more groups on brainstorming, revising, proofreading, and "workshopping" students' work before they submit a final draft. After first-year composition students will have learned strategies for the skills. Before submitting a final successful draft students would complete multiple drafts. [24] Through the use of process pedagogy, the students' own writing acts as a text for the class which they use and learn from in order to become better writers. [25] Some critics suggest that students will have trouble applying the skills they learned to other contexts. [26]

Researched writing

The research method is a major factor of the research skills taught throughout the researched writing approach The Research Method.jpg
The research method is a major factor of the research skills taught throughout the researched writing approach

The original purpose of assigning research papers in first-year composition was to assist students in developing research skills. [21] Along with these skills came the emphasis of learning to incorporate sources to strengthen a paper's thesis. In recent years, a shift towards teaching information literacy skills and including multimedia has become more common in academia. [21] Traditional research papers assigned to students have been on a decline since the 2000s, a survey from 2009 shows that 6% of research writing in first-year composition were traditional research papers while 94% were an alternative take. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curriculum</span> Educational plan

In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experiences in terms of the educator's or school's instructional goals. A curriculum may incorporate the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives. Curricula are split into several categories: the explicit, the implicit, the excluded, and the extracurricular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Composition studies</span>

Composition studies is the professional field of writing, research, and instruction, focusing especially on writing at the college level in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contrastive rhetoric</span> Study of how common languages are used among different cultures

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.

The process theory of composition is a field of composition studies that focuses on writing as a process rather than a product. Based on Janet Emig's breakdown of the writing process, the process is centered on the idea that students determine the content of the course by exploring the craft of writing using their own interests, language, techniques, voice, and freedom, and where students learn what people respond to and what they don't. Classroom activities often include peer work where students themselves are teaching, reviewing, brainstorming, and editing.

Feminist theory in composition studies examines how gender, language, and cultural studies affect the teaching and practice of writing. It challenges the traditional assumptions and methods of composition studies and proposes alternative approaches that are informed by feminist perspectives. Feminist theory in composition studies covers a range of topics, such as the history and development of women’s writing, the role of gender in rhetorical situations, the representation and identity of writers, and the pedagogical implications of feminist theory for writing instruction. Feminist theory in composition studies also explores how writing can be used as a tool for empowerment, resistance, and social change. Feminist theory in composition studies emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a response to the male-dominated field of composition and rhetoric. It has been influenced by various feminist movements and disciplines, such as second-wave feminism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, critical race theory, and queer theory. Feminist theory in composition studies has contributed to the revision of traditional rhetorical concepts, the recognition of diverse voices and genres, the promotion of collaborative and ethical communication, and the integration of personal and political issues in writing.

English studies is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a distinct discipline. An Anglicist is someone who works in the field of English studies. The English studies discipline involves the study, analysis, and exploration of texts created in English literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Bazerman</span> American educator and scholar

Charles Bazerman is an American educator and scholar. He was born and raised in New York. He has contributed significantly to the establishment of writing as a research field, as evidenced by the collection of essays written by international scholars in Writing as A Human Activity: Implications and Applications of the Work of Charles Bazerman. Best known for his work on genre studies and the rhetoric of science, he is a Professor of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he also served as Chair of the Program in Education for eight years. He served as Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, delivering the 2009 CCCC Chair's Address, "The Wonders of Writing," in San Francisco, California. He is the author of over 18 books, including Shaping Written Knowledge, Constructing Experiences, The Languages of Edison’s Light, A Theory of Literate Action, and a Rhetoric of Literate Action. He also edited over 20 volumes, including Textual Dynamics of the Profession, Writing Selves/Writing Societies, What Writing Does and How it Does It, as well as the Handbook of Research on Writing and the two series Rhetoric, Knowledge and Society and Reference Guides to Rhetoric and Composition. He also wrote textbooks supporting the integration of reading and writing that have appeared in over 30 editions and versions including The informed writer: Using sources in the disciplines, The Informed Reader, and the English Skills Handbook.

Writing across the curriculum (WAC) is a movement within contemporary composition studies that concerns itself with writing in classes beyond composition, literature, and other English courses. According to a comprehensive survey performed in 2006–2007, approximately half of American institutes of higher learning have something that can be identified as a WAC program. In 2010, Thaiss and Porter defined WAC as "a program or initiative used to 'assist teachers across disciplines in using student writing as an instructional tool in their teaching'". WAC, then, is a programmatic effort to introduce multiple instructional uses of writing beyond assessment. WAC has also been part of the student-centered pedagogies movement seeking to replace teaching via one-way transmission of knowledge from teacher to student with more interactive strategies that enable students to interact with and participate in creating knowledge in the classroom.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhetorical situation</span> Context of a rhetorical event

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theories of rhetoric and composition pedagogy</span>

Theories of rhetoric and composition pedagogy encompass a wide range of interdisciplinary fields centered on the instruction of writing. Noteworthy to the discipline is the influence of classical Ancient Greece and its treatment of rhetoric as a persuasive tool. Derived from the Greek work for public speaking, rhetoric's original concern dealt primarily with the spoken word. In the treatise Rhetoric, Aristotle identifies five Canons of the field of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Since its inception in the spoken word, theories of rhetoric and composition have focused primarily on writing

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital studio</span>

A digital studio provides both a technology-equipped space and technological/rhetorical support to students working individually or in groups on a variety of digital projects, such as designing a website, developing an electronic portfolio for a class, creating a blog, making edits, selecting images for a visual essay, or writing a script for a podcast.

Writing about Writing (WAW) is a method or theory of teaching composition that emphasizes writing studies research. Writing about Writing approaches to first-year composition take a variety of forms, typically based on the rationale that students benefit when engaging the "declarative and procedural knowledge" associated with writing studies research.

Collaborative pedagogy stems from the process theory of rhetoric and composition. Collaborative pedagogy believes that students will better engage with writing, critical thinking, and revision if they engage with others. Collaborative pedagogy pushes back against the Current-Traditional model of writing, as well as other earlier theories explaining rhetoric and composition; earlier theories of writing, especially current-traditional, emphasizes writing as a final product. In contrast, collaborative pedagogy rejects the notion that students think, learn, and write in isolation. Collaborative pedagogy strives to maximize critical thinking, learning, and writing skills through interaction and interpersonal engagement. Collaborative pedagogy also connects to the broader theory of collaborative learning, which encompasses other disciplines including, but not limited to, education, psychology, and sociology.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist rhetoric</span> Practice of rhetoric

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl E. Ball</span> American educator and scholar (born 1948)

Cheryl Ball is an academic and scholar in rhetoric, composition, and publishing studies, and Director of the Digital Publishing Collaborative at Wayne State University. In the areas of scholarly and digital publishing, Ball is the executive director for the Council of Editors of Learned Journals and the Editor-in-Chief for the Library Publishing Curriculum. Ball also serves as co-editor of Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, an open access, online journal dedicated to multimodal academic publishing, which she has edited since 2006. Ball's awards include Best Article on Pedagogy or Curriculum in Technical or Science Communication from the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the Computers and Composition Charles Moran Award for Distinguished Service to the Field, and the Technology Innovator Award presented by the CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition and Communication (7Cs). Her book, The New Work of Composing was the winner of the 2012 Computers and Composition Distinguished Book Award. Her contributions to academic research span the areas of digital publishing, new media scholarship, and multimodal writing pedagogy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multimodal pedagogy</span>

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References

  1. ↑ Dieterle, Brandy & Vie, Stephanie. (2015). Digital First-Year Composition: Integrating Multimodality into a Writing about Writing Approach. Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies. 3. 276-289.
  2. ↑ Duffy, John. "Essay on the Value of First-year Writing Courses." Inside Higher Ed . 16 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Lauer, Janice. "Composition Studies: Dappled Discipline." Rhetoric Review 3.1 (1984): 20-28.
  4. ↑ Bunn, Mike. "How to Read Like a Writer". Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, vol. 2, Edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Parlor Press, 2011, pp. 71-86
  5. ↑ Donald M. Murray, "Teach Writing as a Process Not Product" The Leaflet (November 1972), rpt. in Cross-Talk in Comp Theory, 2nd ed., ed. Victor Villanueva, Urbana: NCTE, 2003.
  6. ↑ "Principles and Practices in Electronic Portfolios." Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2007.
  7. 1 2 Crowley, Sharon. Composition in the University: Historical and Polemical Essays. Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press: 1998.
  8. ↑ Farris, Christine; Russell, David (1992). "Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1870–1990: A Curricular History". Academe. 78 (5): 57. doi:10.2307/40250395. ISSN   0190-2946. JSTOR   40250395.
  9. ↑ Miller, Susan. Textual Carnivals: The Politics of Composition. Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991.
  10. ↑ Holbrook, Sue Ellen. "Women's Work: The Feminizing of Composition." Rhetoric Review 9(2) 1991: 201–229.
  11. ↑ Durba, Chattaraj (2020). "Anthropology and Writing Pedagogy : Why Anthropologists s hould Teach Writing". Teaching Anthropology. 9 (1): 35–43. doi: 10.22582/ta.v9i1.475 . S2CID   214249548.
  12. ↑ Spier, Troy E.; Pytleski, Patricia D. (2022). "Literacy, Curriculum, and Pedagogies: Considerations for Anthropologists Teaching First-Year Composition". Teaching Anthropology. 11 (2): 48–58. doi: 10.22582/ta.v11i2.659 . S2CID   247606151.
  13. ↑ Crowley, Sharon. Composition in the University: Historical and Polemical Essays. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. pg 241–43. Print.
  14. 1 2 Downs, Douglas and Elizabeth Wardle. Teaching About Writing, Righting Misconceptions: (Re)Envisioning 'First-Year Composition' as 'Introduction to Writing Studies'. College Composition and Communication. 58.4 (2007) 552–584. Web.
  15. ↑ Smit, David. The End of Composition Studies. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004. pg 183–85. Print.
  16. ↑ "WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition (3.0), Approved July 17, 2014 | Council of Writing Program Administrators". wpacouncil.org. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  17. ↑ Clark, Irene. Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. p 6.
  18. ↑ Sutton, Brian. "Writing in the Disciplines, First-Year Composition, and the Research Paper." Language and Learning Across the Disciplines 2.1 (1997) 46–57. Web.
  19. ↑ Otte, George, and Rebecca Mlynarczyk. "Brief: Basic Writing." National Council of Teachers of English. 2009.
  20. ↑ Spier, Troy E. (2021). "Basic/Developmental Writing Course Descriptions: A Study in Critical Corpus Stylistics". Language. Text. Society. 8 (2): 1–23.
  21. 1 2 3 Tate, Gary (2014). A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. v–vi.
  22. ↑ Devitt, Amy (2014). A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 146–162.
  23. ↑ Tate, Gary (2014). A Guide to Composition Pedagogies (Second ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 163–176. ISBN   978-0-19-992216-1.
  24. ↑ Harrington, Susanmarie; Malencyzk, Rita; Peckham, Irv; Rhodes, Keith; Yancey, Kathleen Blake (2001). "WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition". College English. 63 (3): 321. doi:10.2307/378996. ISSN   0010-0994. JSTOR   378996. S2CID   148736881.
  25. ↑ Anson, Chris (2014). A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 212–230.
  26. ↑ Reiff, Mary Jo; Bawarshi, Anis (2011). "Tracing Discursive Resources: How Students Use Prior Genre Knowledge to Negotiate New Writing Contexts in First-Year Composition". Written Communication. 28 (3): 312–337. doi:10.1177/0741088311410183. ISSN   0741-0883. S2CID   145329010.
  27. ↑ Schweitzer, Leah (2004). Writing in the crossroads : examining first-year composition and creative writing (Thesis). University of Louisville. doi: 10.18297/etd/1285 .

[1]

[2]

  1. ↑ "The Five Core Values of the First-Year Writing Program". ccca.rowan.edu. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  2. ↑ "design_research". openverse.org. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
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