Rudolph Arnheim, Visual Thinking
"visual perception is visual thinking." Vision is selective. Need and opportunities to select a target.
"Most noteworthy is the awesome complexity of the cognitive processes that must be performed in order to make adequate perception possible."
"To see an object in space means to see it in context." "the sense of vision establishes the size, shape, location, color, brightness, and movement of an object. To see the object means to tell its own properties from those imposed upon it by its setting and by the observer."
"If a visual item is extricated from its context it becomes a different object. Similarly, complex situations arise in other areas of perception whenever "two and two" are put together, that is, when several items are seen as a unitary pattern."
Understand what it is by resemblance and contrasts. (Reminiscent of Burke here.) Resemblance and contrast never so simple as theories of association would make them seem. "Perception shifts from similarity to distinction."
"To lift something out of its context means to neglect an important aspect of its nature."
"perception cannot be confined to what the eyes record of the outer world. A perceptual act is never isolated: it is only the most recent phase of a stream of innumerable similar acts, performed in the past and surviving in memory." Part of dialogism.
influence of memory is powerful. "Distinguishing characteristics will also be preserved and exaggerated when they arouse reactions of awe, wonder, contempt, amusement, admiration."
2 important points for the psychology of recognition: 1. "what is recognized in daily life is not necessarily accepted in pictorial representation." 2. One must distinguish b/t a "percept that can be merely understoodseen as such." Difference here b/t understanding what is shown and what is seen in reality. Based on memory.
Memory contributes to mental imagery.
"many processes [...] are now known to occur below the threshold of awareness." "Sensory experience [...] is not necessarily conscious. Most certainly it is not consciously remembered."
Mental images not complete replicas.
Kenneth Burke's A Grammar of Motives
"grammar"--system for understanding how humans use motive and are motivated by motives to act
Dramatism
- Act--What was done?
- Scene--Where and when was it done?
- Agent--Who did it?
- Agency--How was it done?
- Purpose--Why was it done?
Intersection of these elements--"Human Barnyard." All of these overlap and intersect. Emphasis on pragmatism.
Dramatism: A key metaphor as an account for motives such that language and thought are treated as modes of action.
- Communication actions are motivated.
- Motives are the factors which give meaning to motion--actions arise from motives.
- Systems of motives serve as terministic screens: they are linguistic products which provide patterns for interpreting life's activities.
- Why? Because of the logologic of man's symbolic resources
- If order, then guilt; if guilt, then the need for redemption; but any such 'payment' is victimage, feeding back into the cycle.
- If action, then drama, then conflict; if conflict then victimage, and feeding back.
- Why? Because of the definition of man
Definition of human: symbol using (making, misusing) animal who invented the negative (morals) and is separated from the natural condition by instrument of own making. Humans are goaded by the spirit of order and hierarchy and are rotten w/ perfection.
(Bulleted list and definition of human from "Introduction to Kenneth Burke")
Intrinsic/extrinsic--know what something is by knowing what it is not. Know what is something is intrinsically within (substance, core of it) by knowing what is extrinsically outside of it. Burke refers to Locke's "substances" as an example (know the substance of ideas by knowing their outside, external features). Intrinsic/Extrinsic contained w/in context. Define or determine boundaries thru contextual reference.
Also, know what it is through "familial" "unambiguity."
"All gods are 'substances,' and as such are names for motives or combinations of motives."
"The ambiguity of substance affords, as one might expect, a major resource of rhetoric." (Reminded here of Richard's definition of rhetoric as the study of misunderstandings and their remedies.)
"Men seek for vocabularies that will be faithful reflections of reality. To this end, they must develop vocabularies that are selections of reality. And any selection of reality must, in certain circumstances, function as a deflection of reality."
Reduction of the world into words.
Intersubjectivity replaces subjectivity and objectivity.
symbolic construction of social reality.
Booth might agree w/ this statement: "At a time when the liars, the stupid, and the greedy seem too greatly in control of a society's policies, philosophies of materialistic reduction may bring us much solace in reminding us that the very nature of the materials out of which a civilization is constructed, or in which it is grounded, will not permit such perfection of lies, stupidity, and greed to prevail as some men might cause to prevail if they could have their way."
Universe is structure of ideas--interrelated by reason of their common grounding in the mind of God.
Money as substitute for God. Money--not a mere agency. But, motivation for act.
Dialectic of the Scapegoat.
Humanism--able to understand and cognition therefore have knowledge of universe however our knowledge is limited to the capacity of human understanding.
A Rhetoric of Motives
book centers on identification and persuasion.
Burke--persuasion based on Identification. More broad than rhetoric as just persuasion. Audience centered.
Identification and "Consubstantiality"
"A is not identical with his colleague, B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A is identified w/ B."
"Identification is [...] to confront the implications of division." "Disease of cooperation: war."
"Identification is compensatory to division." "Pure identification there would be no strife." "body of identifications." Identification relies on the symbolic. "Belonging" is rhetorical.
"autonomy of science" --similar to Vico's theories on perceived dominance of science. Science to justify suffering. Technology neutral-- however, humans deem it good or bad based on pragmatics and productivity--which in turn is used to justify morality. cunning identification (politician).
Rhetoric as socializing and moralizing. rhetorical language is inducement to action. induce action in people. function of $ and religion--to move the masses.
Def of rhetoric: "rhetoric is rooted in the essential function of language itself [...]: the use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols."
Rhetoric based on pragmatics and function. identification contributes to social cohesion.
2 main aspects of rhetoric: "use of identification and its nature as addressed. Since identification implies division, we found rhetoric involving us in matters of socialization and faction."
Use of rhetoric to gain advantage. Q. rhetoric useful and a virtue. Rhetoric pragmatic and moral.
Similar to Bakhtin's chronotope: "an act of persuasion is affected by the character of the scene in which it takes place and of the agents to whom it is addressed."
"'persuasion' in turn involves communication by the signs of consubstantiality, the appeal of identification."
brings together ideology and identification. identification through symbolic (film as ultimate in symbolic imagery).
Beginning of human. Economics make distinctions b/t classes. rhetoric serves to affirm identifications and divisions. back to economics again. Symbolic (literature, art, film) means of reinforcing divisions and identification.
Mythic ground and context of situation: "order to which images transcend sensory images." "mythic images would in turn transcend ideas." "moral and intellectual development" [similar to Vico's stages of human civilization and development]
Genre Theory
- Bakhtin, "Speech Genres." Genre as response to situation. "utterance," "addressivity."
- Carolyn Miller, "Genre as Social Action"
- Anne Freadman, "Anyone for Tennis?"
- Aviva Freedman, "Situating 'Genre' and Situated Genres: Understanding Student Writing from a Genre Perspective"
- Anis Bawarshi, Genre and the Invention of the Writer
- Clark "Genre" in Concepts in Composition
Post-Process/Dialogic
- Plato, The Phaedrus
- Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination
- Lee-Ann Breuch, "Post-Process 'Pedagogy'"
From the 4C's CFP:
Representing Identities: The first emerging trend is the consideration of electronic media, the way they enhance, hinder, or silence a writer's identities and accomplishments. The second trend is one of equity: who has (had) access to public space, public discourse, educational and workplace opportunities--and why... What do we (teachers and students) do? Why do we do it? Why is it important?
I would probably have to examine these statements from the position of "accessibility"--in the sense of constraints based on economic, social, and political factors that can enhance, hinder, and silence writer's identities and accomplishments. Considering experiences teaching for UB during the summer and my observations in working w/ lower income students and their writing abilities coming from places where accessibility is an issue.
- Begin w/ Ong and discussion on from Orality and Literacy on using technology in the classroom w/out completely understanding the intended pedagogical purposes.
- David Bartholomae's "Inventing the University": Member of university discourse community through appropriating discourse of that community. Writer has to locate him or herself within an unfamiliar discourse community(ies). Part of locating onself in that community in an electronic media is through discourse--inaccessibility to electronic technologies as means of writing and communication. Difficulties in that area can lead to difficulties expressing self and establishing persona or ethos in regard to own writing.
- Ellen Barton's article "Interpreting the Discourses of Technology" in Cynthia Selfe and Susan Hilligoss's Literacy and Computers. dominant/anti-dominant discourses.
- Ann Hill Duin and Craig Hansen's article "Reading and Writing on Computer Networks as Social Construction and Social Interaction" in Cynthia Selfe and Susan Hilligoss's Computers and Literacy. social construction (concern for the community of writers and readers) and social interaction (concern for the individual interaction). Social construction--build meaning thru ongoing process of communication, interpretation, and negotiation in larger context. Dialogic nature of social construction. Readings reflect social constructive nature of reality. Social interaction--exchange of ideas and interaction of individual w/ others for specific purpose. Communication is active, deliberate, ongoing, dialogic. Shapes larger social constructions. Concerns raised in regard to distribution of power and accessibility. LAN's promoted interaction and collaboration. Students still recognized instructor as possessing power w/in the class. Preserves social and political status quo. Networks encouraged students to exchange ideas and collaborate. Not quite as successful for Basic Writing students.
- Janis Forman's article "Literacy, Collaboration, and Technology: New Connections and Challenges" in Cynthia Selfe and Susan Hilligoss's book notes the social, political, and economic differences amongst students that shaped their experiences w/ technology in the classroom.
How do I reconcile issues concerning accessibility and enable students to reflect their identities in the classroom?
- I try to avoid approaching composition instruction from a belletristic position, where "good," effective writing is something one can't "formally" teach and that only learn through reading "good" writing. Such approaches seem to hinder personal identity by encouraging a style of writing that is typically representative of those of privilege and by assuming that those who "don't get it," never will. Identity is pluralistic; therefore, I try to be dialogic in my instruction by applying different styles and approach to writing and instruction to meet the needs of individual students.
- Genre theory helps meet the goals of the first objective and post-process theory, the goals of the second.
- Incorporate technology into the classroom as a means of encouraging those disenfranchised students from further disenfrachisement. Different writing styles necessary for asynchronous and synchronous discussion boards. Also means not limiting students to only electronic media. Variety of learning media available that allows students to work in media that fits w/ their needs.
Renaissance and Enlightenment Scholars
Major influence w/ Renaissance and Enlightenment Rhetorical theory--Scientific Revolution
Scientific Revolution--Challenges to Aristotle's theory of the Earth as the center of the universe beginning, in theory, around 1536 when rumors of Copernicus' heliocentric model of the universe spread around Europe and 1543 with the first publication of Copernicus' theory. Also during this time:
1536--Copernicus' theories began spreading around Europe
1543--Copernicus' theories published
1549--Ramus publishes Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian
1605--Bacon publishes The Advancement of Learning
1610--Galileo publishes theory on astronomical observations on Jupiter and Venus
1620--Bacon publishes Novum Organum
1637--Descartes publishes Discourse on Method
1671-1707--Newton publishes works on optics, gravity, and physics
1689--Locke publishes An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
*Deductive reasoning--to which Aristotle was associated w/--considered to flawed means for knowledge. Instead, need new system to learn about the universe--inductive reasoning. Previous theories passed down were wrong and people accepted as truth. Need new theories to find "real" truth. Truths that can only be observed by human senses are only trustworthy as legitimate. Complete rejection of Aristotle in every possible way--astronomical, mathematical, physiological, logical, rhetorical.
Ramus--Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian (1549). Attacked Scholasticism. Attacked classical scholars. Advocated study in vernacular. Removed invention, arrangement, and memory from Rhetoric and designated as within the realm of dialectic or logic. Invention addressing probable knowledge within any sphere of knowledge. Testing received wisdoms also. Arrangement should follow format of syllogism. General to specific. Organize by structured division. Tree diagrams. Ramus method--simplifies information into smaller, teachable bits of information. Universalities can then apply to any situation. Rhetoric reduced to simply style and delivery (and delivery wasn't that important since most texts were written). Reduced trope to four--synecdoche, metonymy, irony, and metaphor. Decontexutalization of knowledge--dire consequences for rhetoric.
Quintilian's discussions on invention and arrangement were useless. Morality irrespective of rhetorical ability. Virtue belonged to dialectic, not rhetoric. Aristotle and Cicero make similar mistakes but Quintilian compiles all of their errors into single work. Q. claiming too much for rhetoric. Rhetoric own art--not spread among many arts. Virtue can be apart of art, but art is not a moral virtue. Rhetoric loses epistemic function.
Bacon--The Advancement of Learning (1605). Novum Organum (1620). Rejection of classical "truths" handed down in response to Scientific Revolution. Rejected Scholasticism. should use scientific method and logic for knowledge. Rejected deductive reasoning and syllogism for inductive reasoning applying observation, experimentation, and classification to advance learning. Does not subscribe to Ramist method based on syllogism or division of rhetoric from dialectic. Warned against narrow empiricism--positivism.
Faculties of mind to base rhetorical theory: reason, memory, imagination. separate: appetite and will. reason--philosophy. memory--history. imagination--poesy. Skeptical of sense perceptions. Subjective--hence discussion of idols in Novum Organum. "Idols of Tribe"--humanity's perceptual limitations. man cannot be the measure of all things, contrary to Protagoras' claim. "Idols of Cave"--individual human's faulty perceptions. "Idols of Marketplace"--faulty perceptions of other's words and perceptions. "Idols of Theatre"--faulty perceptions of commonly-held knowledge. Keen awareness of limitations of human knowledge. Rejection of syllogism. Advocate of perpiscuity. Apply reason to the imagination to move the will.
The Advancement of Learning. Invention--apply knowledge of what already known to situation at hand. How: Common places of knowledge: 1. Colors of Good and Evil. 2. de augmentis (stock arguments, debate briefs). 3. formulae (stock phrases). 4. pointed speeches. Observe, converse, study. In regard to rhetoric, rejected syllogism and inductive reasoning in favor of axioms. Should use logic and sense perceptions but not necessarily "trust" them as "reality."
Locke--An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. 1690. addresses the notion of language as a signifier of ideas. Specifically in Book III, Chapter IX of Locke’s essay, he argues that language is the means by which people “communicat[e] thoughts to others” (355). Locke also explores the role of language as a tool for “communicating by words either for civil or philosophical purposes” and the complexity and inadequacy of signifying abstract, intangible ideas through language (355).
According to Locke’s essay, “ideas” are “some immediate object of the mind, which it perceives and has before it […] thus determined, i.e. which the mind has in itself, and knows, and sees there, be determined without any change to that name, and that name determined to that precise idea” (Locke 13). In other words, ideas are the mental representations as acquired from the senses of entities (i.e. horses, milk) and notions (i.e. murder, sacrilege). Furthermore, language is only useful as long as it is mutually intelligible. Locke continues by exploring how, as an insufficient tool, language will often give-way to misunderstandings (703), and to circumvent these problems, it is the responsibility of individuals to speak and write as clearly as possible (355).
Ideas were separate from language; however, language was the means by which primary and secondary ideas were conveyed. Primary--general. Secondary--culture bound. Ideas--identical. Words--ambigious. Rhetoric increases ambiguity. Emphasis on perpescuity to remedy that. Understanding and will.
Theory of Ideas--
Sensory Experience--> Reflection on that experience--> produces ideas--> mind holds together and makes connections and traces relationships b/t ideas--> Ideas united together by laws of association and by reason. --> add pathetic appeals and you get *action.*
Vico--On the Study Methods of Our Time. 1709. Rejection of Descartes’ “True Knowledge”: Descartes argues for “true knowledge” there can be no doubt—Human reason is capable of critiquing received wisdom but received wisdom should also be challenged by newly discovered universals and absolutes. However, because of this focus on universal and absolute truths, culture-bound knowledge was not considered significant or relevant. In other words, the only knowledge of use to human beings is that which can be proven absolutely through observation or experimentation. Rhetoric better suited for human knowledge. knowledge cannot be separated from language. knowledge bound in human reason. humans limited to historical circumstances. Concern for ethos. "Common Sense." matters of probability and belief. Imagination.
Vico’s Rejection of Cartesian Philosophy. Vico opposes in Opere this method of inquiry because there is no subject that is not grounded in some doubt. Specifically, human beings only assume that the foundations of mathematics and geometry are scientifically proven because they have been told to believe so; however, only God, as the creator of the universe, knows for certain the laws that govern it. Vico’s first axiom in The New Science reiterates this claim: “Because of the indefinite nature of the human mind, wherever it is lost in ignorance, man makes himself the measure of all things” (54) because “[w]hen men are ignorant of the natural causes producing things, and cannot even explain them by analogy with similar things, they attribute their own nature to them. The vulgar, for example, say the magnet loves the iron” (63).
Epistemic Importance of Imagination and Common Sense. Vico again privileges invention and imagination over scientific investigation in On the Study Methods of Our Time when he argues that “the invention of arguments is by nature prior to the judgment of their validity, so that, in teaching, that invention should be given priority over philosophical criticism” (14). Vico reiterates the importance of imagination and invention in The New Science when he writes, “Imagination is more robust in proportion as reasoning power is weak” (66).
Importance of Human Affairs and Subjects Concerned with Human Affairs. Vico also challenges Cartesian disregard for subjects such as ethics, politics, logic, history, and medicine, which are not considered subjects worthy of study they are matters of human affairs with multiple circumstances and relative casualty (Bizzell and Herzberg 711). From this, Vico’s asserts in The New Science that since all knowledge is based on an understanding of human epistemology, rhetoric and philosophy can provide the universal truths that empiricists seek: “To be useful to the human race, philosophy must raise and direct weak and fallen man, not rend his nature or abandon him in his corruption” (55) since “[p]hilosophy contemplates reason, whence comes knowledge of the true; philology observes the authority of human choice, whence comes consciousness of the certain” (56).
Pedagogical Implications of Cartesian Theory. Vico argues in On the Study Methods of Our Time that “the greatest drawback of our educational methods is that we pay an excessive amount of attention to the natural sciences and not enough to ethics” (33). Vico continues, “Our chief fault is that we disregard that part of ethics which treats of human character, of its dispositions, its passions, and of the manner of adjusting these factors to public life and eloquence” (On the Study Methods of Our Time 33). Vico argues that subjects such as ethics, rhetoric, and language are more useful to scholars: “Abstract, or general truths are eternal; concrete or specific ones change momentarily from truths to untruths” (On the Study Methods of Our Time 34-5).
Balance in Education. Vico recommends that studies should reflect a balance. Students should study both human affairs and scientific truths since understanding one helps students to understand the other. In other words, language has an epistemic function that facilitates a complexity of human understanding of concepts; such complexities of understanding lead to complexities in the social order.
Campbell--Philosophy of Rhetoric. 1776. Psychological rhetoric. Ground rhetoric in human nature. Different faculties used for understanding different experiences. Involve the faculties in discourse. Forms of discourse. Emphasizes induction—use of faculties for direct observation. Invention no longer w/in realm of rhetoric. Instead, methodology and genius were necessary. Adapting message to audience’s faculties.
New rhetoric as counterpart of new logic. Scottish Common Sense Realism, communication grounded in philosophy consciously opposed to Scholasticism. Reality is not a rational construct revealed through syllogistic logic. Deductive logic can never discover the truth in science and ethics. Induction could. Allowed individuals to communicate w/ language to act on the audiences’ faculties, attempting to reproduce original experience. Knowledge—extralinguistic. Rhetoric becomes elaboration of what was already observed or discovered. Invention not about discovery but about managing discoveries already uncovered. Importance of eloquence. Managing discoveries requires knowing how to “enlighten,” “please,” “move,” and “influence.” Psychological effects of rhetoric. Rhetoric becomes study of how discourse achieves its effects. Rhetoric primarily concerned w/ emotion. No motives are possible w/out emotion. Sensation. Memory. Imagination. Book 2 concerned w/ usage. Reputable, national, present usage. (Context). Campbell’s concern w/ usage becomes central to American textbooks at the end of the 19th century. Book 2, chapter 5 also concerned w/ style—perspicuity, vivacity, elegance, animation, music. Shift from Aristotle’s concern for “truth” to concern w/ effects.
Blair--Lectures on Rhetoric and Belle Lettres. 1783. Belle-tristic rhetoric. Emphasizes style. Reading inevitably leads to good writing. Metaphor important. Rhetoric study of all discourses. Deals only w/ stylistic principles—see literary works. Invention no longer part of rhetoric. Arrangement not really considered at all. Emphasis on written rather than oral discourse. 18th century rhetoric paradigm for 20th century composition studies. Persuasive discourses—appeals to emotions and will, as well—delegated to oral discourses. Writing courses concerned w/ reason and understanding, with little emotional content. Positivist in spirit and method.
While Campbell had the treatise on rhetoric, Blair provided the treatment of rhetoric until after the Civil War. Blair intended work to be practical guide, not theoretical text. Focuses on literary taste. Literary analysis. Effective writing learned through reading examples of effective writing. Rhetoric almost exclusively stylistic. Emphasis on written rather than oral. Important b/c he provided a model for using literature to teach writing. Effects of art on audience. Source of invention: genius. Importance of the sublime for discovering meaning. Poet does not create forms of reality—copies them.
Genius is key to invention. Rules and instruction cannot “inspire genius” but can direct and assist it.
“taste” “manners” “grace” “slovenly and incorrect” “of polishing style” “than of storing it with thought” “manly beauties of good writing” “distinguishing false ornament from true” “good sense and refined taste” “grandeur” “eloquence” “fancy”
Whately--Elements of Rhetoric. 1828. Not necessarily compatible w/ Campbell and Blair. Attempt to return to Aristotelian deductive model in rhetoric. Wed an “adumbrated deductive logic” with an empirical epistemology (Berlin 29). New scheme of invention to suit the new psychological rhetoric. Foremost contribution is practical nature of work. Intended to be a guide for students at Oxford. Offers a two-part scheme for replacing inventio of discovery (removed from rhetoric by Campbell) w/ inventio of management of material appropriated elsewhere. Description of how composing process should be taught is most pervasive feature of his scheme in later writing textbooks. Assist students to find topic or subject for a theme. Should be engaging to the student and should focus on something student already knows about. Selected from students’ studies, from stimulating conversations w/ elders, or from everyday occurrences of interest. Discovery isn’t domain of instructor—style and correctness is and should be emphasized. Encourages revision of student work by student following feedback from instructor.
Outline to a response on technology in comp classroom:
Of course, need to define "technology," first. In Selfe and Hilligoss's Literacy and Computers, Ellen Barton discusses how technology is an instrument that enables writers to commence writing, such as pen, paper, book, pencil, computer program, keyboard, voice-recognition software... Important distinction I believe b/c we typically only think of technology and composition as it relates to computers. But...
Discussions of technology venture into accessibility--some Barton discusses in Literacy and Computers. Dominant (popular media typically most vocal advocates), anti-dominant discourses (Rose and Lundsford to name two scholars interested in.)
In Irene Clark's book, electronic technology is very broad. Word processing, invention software (like those Burns worked on), grammar tutorials, grammar and spell checkers (what so many often think of in regard to technology in the composition classroom), OWL's, hypertext, hypermedia, LAN (local area network) systems, WWW, course-management software (BB), student webpages, MOO's, and plagiarism detection websites and software.
Chris Anson points out and is noted in Clark's book that composition instructors often feel pressured to incorporate technology into their pedagogy without knowing why or how because of university pressures.
What do I do:
Discussion Board and chat on BB--
Discussion board as a "brainstorming" or "pre-writing" on the subject of the papers. Don't evaluate the writing--more for the experience of writing on topic than for writing academic prose.
Chat--to discuss the readings once or twice a paper cycle (sometimes 2 or 3 times a semester) w/ everyone together in room. Clark notes how synchronous learning environments like chat can take the focus off of the teacher to give the "right" answer and can encourage students to speak up. Also, students seem more engaged b/c it's more "fun" it seems.
Emig discussing in "Writing as a Mode of Learning" the difference b/t talking and writing and I think chat helps to bridge those gaps. learning to communicate effectively and productively in a mode that might not be as familiar w/ students as academic "writing" but can...
Outline to a response on grammar pedagogical approach:
How do I approach grammar instruction in my class? Considering the differing opinions on grammar instruction... Hartwell's article, "Grammar, Grammars, and Teaching Grammar" addresses some of these different viewpoints. Particular interest: teaching grammar doesn't necessarily mean students' writing is more effective or doesn't have those very grammar issues in them.
So, I need to define "grammar," first, I suppose. Hartwell id's three "grammars": formal patterns arranged that conveys meaning. formalization of those patterns. linguistic etiquette.
Irene Clark defines "grammar" in Concepts in Composition as the internalized systems of representation that correspond to language. and pedagogical grammar--appropriating that system that corresponds with language usage conventions.
Most often, concerns are for students learning "rules" of grammar etiquette or pedagogical grammar.
Concerns are that teaching grammar takes away from "higher order" rhetorical abilities, like invention and arrangement. Micciche "A Case for Rhetorical Grammar" addresses these concerns in her article. Other concerns: setting students up to "fail" b/c so much of "good" writing is determined by "good grammar." Shaughnessy addresses this concern in Errors and Expectations. Can't learn the "rules" for the game if instructors aren't willing to teach students them.
And, there's the concern I have for "style" being appropriated w/ grammar instruction. Lundsford and Ede address this concern for style as connected to grammar and audience in their article, "Audience Addressed/Audience Invoked." Style connected w/ grammar so often in books like Strunk and White's Elements of Style. Arguing for grammar rules account for "style." Connecting style w/ grammar seems unethical in Lundsford and Ede's article b/c assuming singular appropriate or likeminded audience. not the case. audiences, style, and grammars change w/ rhetorical situation.
I approach grammar from a descriptive perspective. Micciche argues that grammar should be taught as part of rhetorical situation or context. I agree w/ that, especially considering my interests in genre-theory and social construction/transaction theories. Meaningful writing instruction has to happen in a meaningful writing environment, the same applies to grammar writing instruction. Can't teach, as Anne Freadman notes in "Anyone for Tennis?" rhetorical genres and rhetorical moves absent of rhetorical situations. Same applies to grammar instruction. Drill-and-kill just doesn't seem to work.
So, I let the students write their papers will little interference in regard to grammar and usage (influence of post-process here, too). Then, in evaluating their papers--sometimes in the margin, sometimes in the terminal comments, I encourage them to look more carefully at subject/verb agreement. Fragment sentences. Run-ons in their papers and look at the discussions in the handbook. I, then, encourage the students to work on these issues (in addition to the others noted) for their resubmissions. Sometimes, I'll identify a possessive noun by noting "possessive." Other times, I'll edit it for the student, "Tom's." Depends on the student and paper. But, I don't mark every single instance and if the problem is a significant one, I note in the terminal comments.
Hartwell encourages to have students read papers aloud to each other or to *just* make notes in the margin. I tend to agree w/ Shaughnessy in the regard that students need instruction in the grammar and mechanics usage sometimes. They don't always know the usage so find them on their own. Have students read aloud first, catching as many as they can on their own. Then help them to understand the rule if they still need that additional instruction. Typically do this more one-on-one in conferences or office hours. Here's where it gets descriptive. Trying to describe "why" the "linguistic etiquette" exists rather than just saying it does. Knowing when and why and how to apply the rule makes it easier to remember and appropriate into own discourse. Also, goes back to rhetorical situation. Not all rules apply to all situations. Again, back to ethical approach to grammar. See such controversies w/ AAVE and Spanglish. One appropriate grammar. One appropriate linguistic system.
Comp Theory 1860's--1980's
(part of discussion from James J. Murphy's A Short History of Writing Instruction, particularly Catherine Hobbs' and James Berlin's chapter "A Century of Writing Instruction in School and College English.")
- 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act.
- 1860's-1900's--everything organized and professionalized. Elective courses. Specialized.
- Science incorporated into many disciplines.
- Vocational training.
- 19th cent. emphasis on "American": new courses, new subjects.
- Belle Lettres--but concern for American writing (Emerson). Not interpretation but appreciation.
- Introduction of women into classroom.
- Writing primary means of evaluation over declamatio.
- Harvard's "English A"--comp moved from 2nd year to 1st. Writing separated from other disciplines.
- New comprehensive university modeled after German universities.
Old University New University
Classics Land Grant Universities
Tutorial System Lectures
Teachers taught every course Specialization
Recitation Writing Assignments
Public Speaking Specific Composition Courses.
Declamatio Other courses do not have to "teach" writing.
Male, Literary Fraternity Women in courses
Movements in American Comp Teaching
- Liberal Culture. Literature based. Write good writing leads to being able to write well. reacting against scientific approach to comp and lit. Teaching connected w/ morality. little to do w/ kairos, public discourse, invention. Concerned w/ lit crit. self-development. spiritual quality. Yale. Connections to the "Sublime" and Blair. Literary text expression of human potential. Literature--truth, goodness, and beauty. C-R--too democratic. Sublime writing cannot be taught. Literature connected to culture. Aristocratic.
- Alternative Social Rhetoric. Scott. Buck.continuation of some classical--kairos, Cicero. public discourse for public good. paragraph writing. important but not very influential at time. invention. originality. discourse for specific purposes. Neither completely sensory or subjective. Both private and public setting. Rhetoric of public service. Rhetoric of public good. Writing as social act of complex interaction between writer, audience, subject, and language.
- Current Traditional Rhetoric. skills emphasis. mechanics. product over process. modes of discourse. non-heuristic. non-kairos. conflict w/ l-c b/c c-t writing is a teachable skill. l-c writing for self. Began at Harvard in response to report. Based on scientific method. Reliable knowledge is sense impression. Use inductive methods to derive data. Language stands in for experience. Mind is a set of faculties. Faculties correspond to expression and discourse. Modes of discourse. Exposition and argumentation--reason. Description and Persuasion--emotion and will. Knowledge exists prior to discourse. Emphasis on arrangement and style (correctness). Objective, mechanical, disinterested rhetoric. Scientific pedagogy.
Major Figures
A. S. Hill. Harvard. English A. Why Johnny Can't Write.
F. N. Scott. taught at Michigan. Founded MLA. developed own program apart from lit.
Gertrude Buck. 1st woman w/ PhD in Rhetoric.
Edwin Hopkins.
Movements of 20's and 30's--
- "Efficiency." WWI. productivity and efficiency. schools take business model. more students to fewer teachers. Psychological development for planning pedagogy.
- Expressionism. Opposite of efficiency. extreme l-c. more democratic. influenced by Freud. marginalized groups find expressionism appealing. cultural implications other than discourse. Concern for unique individual. Creative potential of student (coming out of optimism for education following WWI). Dehumanizing effects of industrialized capitalism. Process beginning.
- Current Traditional Rhetoric. Connected w/ Behaviorism and concern for measurement through testing.
40's and 50's--development of 4C's in '49 (Revival of interest in composition)
- "Comp Lit." humanist. literature-based. quality of writing and thinking primary focus.
- Social Rhetoric. similar to transactional theory.
- Communication Skills. part of general education. remedial. reaction to influx of G.I. Bill Veterans w/ limited educational background. combined speech and composition. ultimately failed b/c conflict b/t faculty. logistical problems. became communication courses.
- Current Traditional Rhetoric.
60's and 70's--
- Neo-Classicism. Corbitt, Classical Rhetoric for Modern Student. Course in content. more about logic. argumentation. little interaction w/ current discourse.
- Linguistics (Structuralism, structural grammar). language as a science. words' function.
- Neo-expressionism. K. Macrorie, P. Elbow. Vietnam changed pedagogy. Themes writing. Journalistic writing about self to learn "voice." free writing. writing for self-development rather than part of social discourse. anti-product. anti c-r. composing process. some backlash b/c no concern for product.
- Current Traditional Rhetoric.
late 70's and 80's--
- Cognitivism. Flower, J. Emig, Mike Rose. cognitive process of writing. students wrote while talking about writing choices. composing process became part of writing programs' pedagogy. Rose--interest in Writer's Block. Most stuck in c-t model. stuck on grammar. encouraged free writing.
- Current Traditional Rhetoric.
- Linguistics (sentence combining). Christianson. sentence types as methods of construction. generative rhetoric of sentence. no kairos. no context. no theme/ rhyme. Kellogg-Hunt model. T-units. Kernel sentences. improve syntactic maturity. school of education. classes on combining sentences. no reading. no contexts. no invention. anti-process pedagogy. no theoretical background.
- Open admissions: two year colleges.
- "Basic Writing." culturally marginized. problems w/ print code conventions and syntax. problems w/ discourse features--pragmatic and semantic. Cognitivism. Linguistic perspective. error analysis. dialect interference. (Shaughnessy and Bolin). Culturalism. "membership" model. discourse and acculturaltion. worldview clashes (Bizzell). marginalization. rejection of acculturation (hooks).
1980's and after--
- Social Constructionism. Zhan-Lu. discourse deeply involved w/ culture. anti-skill approach. cultural studies. feminism. political mvmt.
- Post Modernism. meaning is entirely contextual. cannot pin down language.
- Abolition Movements.combined w/ lit-comp theories and efficiency models at many two year colleges.
John Swales, Genre Analysis
Culture --> Situation --> Communicative Purpose --> Genres
taxonomies by communicative purpose
commitment to community--part of discourse community
no internal communication--not a discourse community
Shared communicative purpose
James Kinneavy, A Theory of Discourse
Discourse and the Field of English
Difference b/t Greek and Romans: Romans insisted on the more practical, whereas the Greek moved sometimes to the rhetoric that practicing sophists sarcastically called poetry.
Isocrates won over Plato.
Aims of discourse during Antiquity: literary, persuasive (dialectical), and pursuit of truth (rhetorical)
---- during the Middle Ages: literary, rhetorical, dialectical--Trivium of seven liberal arts.
shifted from Isocrates to Plato. Concern for divine "truth." Dialectical debate.
Big jump from Renaissance to 19th century. Emphasis on grammar, progymnasmata, and ars...
19th century: important--clear classification system, Bain's modes of discourse: narration, exposition, description, argumentation, persuasion. Coincided w/ narrowing of English studies to literature.
The Aims of Discourse
Reference Discourse
Scientific
Informative
Exploratory
Persuasive Discourse
Ethical argument
Pathetic argument
Logical argument
Literary Discourse
Mimetic
Expressive
Pragmatic
Expressive Discourse
Quotes to keep in mind...
"From Plato to Levi-Strauss, the spoken word has held a privileged position in the Western worldview, being regarded as intimately involved in our sense of self and constituting a sign of truth and authenticity" (Chandler 51).
"Symbols resist individualistic interpretation because they are overdetermined by customary usage, embedded so frequently in conventional discourse that they rarely take on a reflective, individual meaning" (Hill and Helmers 4).
"The positive outcome of this interdisciplinarity is that 'visual culture ... is a site of convergence and conversation across disciplinary lines'" (qtd in Hill and Helmers 18).
"Pictorial Turn"--"a growing recognition of the ubiquity of images and of their importance in the dissemination and reception of information, ideas, and opinions--processes that lie at the heart of all rhetorical practices, social movements, and cultural institutions" (Hill and Helmers 19).
The image came to be used to "prompt an immediate, visceral response, to develop cognitive (though largely unconscious) connections over a sustained period of time, or to prompt conscious analytical thought" (Hill 37).
Alright, in regard to my first question, I was thinking about over the holiday the bigger, "So what?" of visual rhetoric. I've touched upon this before in my blog, but after reading the different "rhetorics" presented by Kennedy, Booth, and Berlin in the past couple days, I wondered where visual rhetoric "fit" into the discussion. So, just to blog some different ideas I had on the topic...
While Foss defines rhetoric in Rhetorical Criticism as "the action humans perform when they use symbols for the purpose of communicating with one another" based on "action," "symbolic action," and "human action" for the purposes of "enabling communication" and does not specifically limit her definition to print or oral discourses, it seems throughout the rhetorical tradition that the distinction is there. Quintilian defines rhetoric as the "science of speaking well." Augustine defines it as the "art of expressing clearly, ornately, persuasively, and fully the truths in which thought has discovered acutely." George Campbell defines rhetoric as the "art or talent by which discourse is adapted to its end." Kenneth Burke defines rhetoric as "the use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation," and Lloyd Bitzer defines rhetoric as "a mode of altering reality [...] through the creation of discourse which changes reality." Andrea Lundsford defines rhetoric as "the study, art, and practice of all human communication." These definitions emphasize language and discourse and do not mention specifically other means of "inducing cooperation."
So, where does visual rhetoric "fit" within the rhetorical tradition? I argued in a posting online in a Visual Rhetoric class that printed, textual discourses rely on visual rhetoric in the sense that letters are graphemes strung together and interpreted as meaning something. Semiotics, as the study of signs, relies on the interpretation of images--visual images being just one of them.
I was also thinking about the previous definitions of rhetoric I mentioned as something one uses and something one studies. Visual rhetoric seems to fit here in that we use images to convey messages that might be more persuasive than texts. Perhaps, one needs to 'transport' his or her audience into the scene and the limitations of ekphrasis (visualizing a scene through words) just doesn't cut it.
Of course, I would also need to set up my response chronologically of sorts. Connect visual rhetoric to rhetorical tradition. I need to review an article I have on that... Move from Classical through Middle Ages (church window, for instance) to contemporary concerns. Semiotics (Richards, Peirce, Saussure). [Post]Structuralism (Barthes). Visual design. Visual grammar (Kress). Visual literacy.
Of course, any discussion on future research and scholarship in visual rhetoric would have to include a discussion on new media and electronic and interactive literature. And, a discussion on availability of images (perhaps, going back to visual literacy) on internet and television (Welch's book would work well here on "electric rhetoric").
I could even "connect" visual rhetoric throughout the rhetorical tradition through the canon of arrangement, delivery, and memory... [thinking] Modern concerns for visual rhetoric address arrangement in the placement of images and texts on the page (a relationship referred to as paragonal, fyi) for comprehension, especially as it relates to marketing, advertising, and web design. Ooooh, that might be for an "original" approach to a discussion on visual rhetoric.
Interestingly, on the CCCC's website blog, several researchers from Kent State are examining the form and function of instant messaging as literate practice. I could see this taking visual rhetoric in new areas since instant messaging "changes" the text as a sign for the needs of the user. Instant messaging relies on the "visualization" of the word so that users have to acquire almost another kind of literacy to understand shortened words, phrases, and emoticons.
Okay, so to outline a possible response:
- Definitions of rhetoric typically privilege spoken and printed texts. (Q., Augustine, Campbell, Burke, Bizter--need to work on memorizing those definitions for good measure)
- Visual rhetoric connected to "rhetorical tradition" though b/c images persuade like texts--just differently, according to Donis A. Dondis
- Chronological discussion of visual rhetoric from Classical to contemporary times.
- Contemporary visual rhetorical theory connected to rhetorical tradition in the canon of arrangement, delivery, and memory.
- Future of visual rhetorical scholarship... "electronic citizenry"... every aspect of culture determined and mitigated by images. Images of Katrina still haunted voters this past November. Images of 9/11 towers so powerful prompted America to go to war in Iraq.
Maybe I would just need to focus on one aspect to carry the discussion through? Visual rhetoric as relates to canon of delivery and memory throughout rhetorical tradition? That might work better...
Dr. T wanted me to write two questions for my third area, so here is what I submitted:
1.In the J. Anthony Blair’s essay, “The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments,” Blair argues, “Arguments in the traditional sense consists of supplying grounds for beliefs, attitudes or actions, and […] that pictures can equally be the medium for such communication. Argument, in the traditional sense, can readily be visual” (Hill and Helmers 59). However, as Blair notes, “The concept of rhetoric as essentially about speech has remained with us to this day” and rhetorical criticism has largely been concerned with oral and print discourses.
Therefore, considering the persuasive appeal and pervasiveness of visual images in our culture, where does visual rhetoric fit within the rhetorical tradition? In other words, how does the study of images and symbols fit within a tradition that has overwhelmingly privileged spoken or written discourses? What similarities does visual rhetoric share with other “rhetorics”?
2. In his book A Primer for Visual Literacy, Donis A. Dondis states, “Most of what we know and learn, what we buy and believe, what we recognize and desire, is determined by the domination of the human psyche by the photograph. And it will be more so in the future” (6-7). While images, like photographs, will continue to play an important role in communication in our 21st century society, Dondis is concerned with the “mindless, custodial-playtime function the visual arts serve in the curriculum and the similar state that exists in the use of the media, cameras, film, and television” (11). Dondis advocates “visual literacy” so that individuals can understand the ways that images persuade and manipulate.
Why should 21st century scholars be concerned with visual literacy? Besides, “where” and “how” might one go about teaching visual literacy? What place does visual literacy have in an English or Rhetoric program? Should and can visual literacy be taught in the first-year composition classroom?
Now to answer them myself...
If you'd like to know when I hit my wall... What it's like to live in my house for just a moment... What it's like to raise an autistic child while studying for the most important exams of my life...
I take my comps Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I have 1 week to go. I'm exhausted from studying 6-7 hours a day for the past 2 weeks. And, several hours a day since July. I can't see the floor in the living room, and I've been wearing the same clothes all week. I have piles and piles of clothes that need to be folded and put away. I think I have friends, but I haven't seen or spoken to them in weeks. I feel like a hermit.
So, today, in the midst of studying visual rhetoric (after running to Kroger to buy Day-Quil for my cold), Tobey decided to help me out and "clean" my bathroom. The only reason he was in my room to begin with is that I put a movie on in my room so that he'd stay in there and I could study in the living room. Back to Tobey: Tobey got some Spongebob Squarepants bath "paint" for Christmas yesterday. Three good-sized bottles of red, blue, and yellow dishwashing soap, primarily. And, to which he poured the entire contents of all over my bathroom floor and sink. Tobey, then, decided to slid around on his hands and knees and stomach and back to make sure the bathroom was completely "clean."
So, Tobey (with blue and red paint all over him) came to tell me "don't fall in the bathroom, Momma." "Don't fall, Momma." "Don't fall, Momma." So, in "autism-speak" or "Tobey-speak" means, "I poured something all over the floor in the bathroom, so don't go in there. And, if you do, don't fall." And, what did I do: walked into the bathroom to see what was going on and fell on my ass on the marble floor. Hard. Right on my ass. And, what did I do: I just sat on the floor, in the middle of blue and red soap/paint, in all of my ridiculousness, and cried my eyes out.
And, if you've ever tired to "mop up" dishwashing soap, it's like trying to mop up Vaseline. Because the more you try, the messier it gets. My house is a trainwreck and I'm tired. I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of saying I'm tired.
Back to the bathroom...
Literacy and Computers, Eds. Cynthia Selfe and Susan Hilligoss
Definition of literacy is laden w/ political, economic, and educational agendas.
Literacy education--learn from looking, listening, talking, and taking part in authentic tasks we understand [like this blog, hopefully]
Sharing what we know helps bring the group to higher performance than private reflections do.
To make computer-based education work: understand the model of literacy used and apply a critical perspective of technology and its theoretical implications for classroom use.
"Walter Ong, in Orality and Literacy, calls the 'noetic economy' of the culture, educational discussions of technology's impact have too often ignored these larger issues [of policy, influence, politics], addressing instead more pragmatic pedagogical concerns."
2 prevailing discourses on technology:
1. "a dominant discourse characterized by an optimistic interpretation of technology's progress in American culture and by traditional views of the relations between technology, literacy, and education"
2. "an antidominant discourse characterized by a skeptical interpretation of technology's integration in contemporary culture and education." [I can see such criticisms w/ the students at UB and their limited access to education.--work into response?]
Dominant discourse: optimistic interpretation one found in popular media and culture. optimistic interpretation based on 2 assumptions: 1. technology here to stay and 2. technology benefits most everyone (boon to productivity for instance)
American educational system will produce technologically literate (and productive) workforce. Connections made b/t technology, literacy, and education. To enable this--add computer courses. Add computers to all the classrooms.
technology connected w/ productivity and progress throughout industrial revolution to digital revolution--dynamic and cumulative process w/ economic benefits and continuous student achievement and educational improvement. Technology connected to social values. While may help community as a whole, may not help individuals.
technology and automation lead to more profit for employers and better psychological well-being of employees.
"rhetoric of enthusiasm" appears w/ describing benefits of integrating technology into the writing classroom. antidominant discourse typically refers to integration into English studies. beneficial relation b/t technology and education assumed.
Going back to Porter and Sullivan's criticisms of composition methodologies, Barton's discussion on dominant discourses illustrates how the motivations of the researcher can bias the findings of the research. As Barton notes, the dominant discourses typically favor technological innovation in the classroom irrespective of socio-economic and pedagogical concerns. It seems like the positives inherently out-weigh the negatives without any serious considerations of those negatives.
(Jane Zeni responds to similar concerns in her essay "Literacy, Technology, and Teacher Education" arguing that scholars should engage in "action research" employing feminist research methods that encourage open relationships b/t researcher and researched, knowledge drawn from human reflection, not objectivism.)
in the classroom, technology can shift the existing social structures and visions. anonymity can allow for more interaction b/t students and instructor. competition based, not on personality, but on ideas. (Ellen Barton, still)
Antidominant discourse: less desirable consequences. Revenue will remain w/ small and powerful caste that is linguistically and ethnically unified. Critics--Terry Eagleton, Mike Rose, James Berlin, Patricia Bizzell
oppressive nature and safeguard the status quo. maintenance of unequal relations of power and authority. unequal distribution of technology. benefits of technology not extended equally amongst wealthier and poorer school districts.
computer networks based on social construction theory that "groups of people, bound by shared experiences or interests, build meaning through an ongoing process of communication, interpretation, and negotiation" (from Ann Hill Duin and Craig Hansen's "Reading and Writing on Computer Networks")
dialogic nature of social construction. Bakhtin "articulated a theory of dialogue grounded in a social context. A speaker gives voice to a thought, an utterance."
social interaction--mechanism by which social construction takes place.
Bakhtin's theory as it is useful for literacy (based on theories of social construction and social interaction) "communication is active, deliberative process, where listeners and readers are fully engaged in meaning as are speakers and writers and where ongoing dialogue shapes and reshapes the larger social context" (Duin and Hansen).
grounded in interaction among students and instructors and discourse community and larger community (Swales here).
Social interaction and social construction in regard to technology:
- students have chance to participate in meaning making, in the development of situated literacy(ies).
- change relationship amongst instructors and students
- form interactive discourse communities that can ease cultural tensions and situate literacy in a specific social context.
Janis Forman in "Literacy, Collaboration, and Technology: New Connections and Challenges" argues that broad cultural, political, and socioeconomic forces influence the way students learn to read and write and what constitutes learning."
Collaborative learning classroom--complex and problematic, especially when combined w/ technological concerns.
"Computer-Supported Literacy"--"consists of a complex set of competencies--the ability to work in groups effectively, to learn collaboratively, to create a high quality written product, and to make intelligent choices and uses of technology that assist in collaborative composing."
Access becomes issue of enfranchisement. But, political, social, and economic forces are constantly at play. inefficiencies and unproductive conflict.
Questions to consider for future research:
- "Effects of broad societal forces, school cultures, group functions and processes, and individual preferences on such literacy practices?"
- "Technology introduced and diffused w/in a community?"
- "Instructors' and institutions' definitions of literacy influence the ways that technology is introduced and used?"
"Writing the Technology that Writes Us: Research on Literacy and the Shape of Technology," Chistina Haas and Christine M. Neuwirth
literacy technologies are not value-neutral, straightforward, or unproblematic. Views on computers and on literacy are value-laden. Such views influence "the construction of our individual and collective selves in relation to technology."
Assumptions regarding technology:
- "transparent."--ignore how processes and products influenced by various media. See as transparent then ignore the effects of technology.
- "all-powerful"--studies become justification for computers rather than about them.
- "not our job"--produce division of labor
Erika Lindemann's A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers
book discusses how writing teachers can teach writing. offers a theoretical framework.
Why teach writing?
- economic power
- social necessity
- way of knowing and solve problems
What is writing?
- process of communication
- a conventional graphic system
- something that conveys a message
Addresser
Addressee. Audience addressed v. audience invoked.
Context.
Message.
Contact. Pen. Paper. Computer.
Code.
What does process involve? Not always sequential.
Prewriting. Karen Burke LeFevre notes in Invention as a Social Act that there are 4 perspectives on invention:
1. Platonic (invention is a private act of an individual writer drawing upon inner resources),
2. Internal dialogic (writer involved in dialog w/ other "self"),
3. Collaborative (actual people interact w/ us to create a constructive environment for prewriting),
4. Collective (invention constrained and encouraged by social collectives reflected in institutions, societal prohibitions, and cultural expectations).
1. helps develop the discourse based on what we already know and 2. helps assess our feelings about the message.
Writing.
Hayes and Flowers--translating.
"knowledge problem"--"language problem"--"rhetorical problem"
Rewriting.
Emig--reformulation
Revising. Editing. Reviewing.
External and internal revision.
Writing as Social Act. "Ecological model for writing" by Marilyn Cooper: ideas, purposes, interpersonal interactions, cultural norms, textual forms.
- Know about linguistics. Grammar and usage. assumptions about what language should and shouldn't be reflect personal and cultural values. Arbitrary rules. Not good or bad. Simply exist.
Grammar--"a capacity for language." Traditional grammar. Structural grammar. Generative-transformational grammar.
Usage--"linguistic etiquette, socially sanctioned styles of language appropriate to given situations and audiences."
Grammar is a knowledge about language. 18th century rules to correct, improve, and fix English language.
Traditional grammar--Prescriptive.
Structural--Descriptive. (Identifies what changes have occurred, not whether right or wrong.)
George Campbell--advanced the theory that contemporary usage must determine what's appropriate or standard in English.
Generative-Transformational--Constructive (how sentences are constructed in language usage)
Cognition. Creativity. Perception. Conception. teachers should be aware that they employ different strategies for thinking than their students do. learning depends on relationships w/ others. respect each other's cognitive spaces. intellectual growth occurs b/c of appropriate "higher-level" stimuli.
Prewriting Techniques.
- Brainstorming and clustering.
- Freewriting.
- Journaling.
- Heuristics (topoi--or questions prompted based on definition, comparison, relationship, circumstance, testimony--dramatism--analyzing, interpreting, evaluating).
- Models (although Lindemann discourages--but I disagree)
Must teach prewriting b/c Lindemann believes that students start drafting too early.
A beginning to a practice question on my personal compositional pedagogical approach...
My personal pedagogical philosophy is based on social construction and process-orientated theories on composition. Therefore, just as Bakhtin discusses, I believe that students should be aware of how their writing is dialogically connected to that which they have read and to those who will read their works. To show this intersection between their experiences, their writing, and their audience, I incorporate rhetorical analyses of various media sources into my composition courses. Specifically, I feel that students should be able to understand how our various experiences (discursive experiences one of them) influence the construction of texts, images, music, television, films, and so forth. As Mike Rose, Mina Shaughnessey, and Maxine Hairston discuss in their respected works, this awareness also enables students to see how language and discourse can be a source of empowerment. This empowerment comes from being able to understand the ways that language and discourse function in society.
Since I believe that an awareness of the function of discourse can empower students, I also approach the class from the perspective of genre theory. Carolyn Miller and Aviva Freedman discuss how our discourses are shaped by the expectations of our audience; therefore, I believe that students should be aware of the expectations that their audience will have when reading their discourses. Students should be aware of the various issues related to genre and should be
