Composition Theory

Composition Theory (spring 2023)

Course Description

Composition Theory introduces students to modern theories of writing. While many writing theories emerge from studies of teaching writing, the course will focus on conceptions of writing itself—its embodied and sociocultural functions; its effect on people and their world; its activities of ritual, routine, practice, process. Our goal will be to understand the variety of ways writing is theorized as well as the debates that exist among these theories, exploring questions such as: In what ways is writing a social and rhetorical activity and how does writing interact with social change? What is the relationship between writing and learning, both in and beyond school? What is the relationship between writing and identity, and how do everyday readers and writers adopt, negotiate, or reject writerly identities (and why)? By the end of the course, you should understand what is at stake in such theorizing and begin to consider how you position yourself within these debates as a teacher/scholar.

Required Texts

  • Adler-Kassner, Linda and Elizabeth Wardle. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. University Press of Colorado, 2015. (Available as an e-book through the DuBois library.)
  • All other articles and chapters will be posted on our course Moodle page.

Course Assignments

Book review (1000 words), 20%

Read a book of your choice from our course bibliography. Prepare an informal 10-minute presentation on how the book extends or complicates our course discussions. The review is due the day you present. For models and potential publication opportunities, see the journals Composition Studies or Composition Forum.

Facilitate class discussion (500-1000 words) 20%

During select weeks, class members will collaboratively facilitate a discussion related to that week’s inquiry. This will entail writing a synthesis of that week’s readings, situating those readings in our ongoing class discussions, and preparing 3-5 questions that help us make connections. Synthesis and questions are due posted to our Moodle page the Sunday eve before your discussion date.

Short assignment of your choice (500-1000 words), 20%

Choose one short genre to think through some early ideas, lay groundwork for your longer assignment, or take a creative opportunity for synthesis or reflection. Whichever you choose, I will help you locate models to share and follow.Proposal to a conference

Long assignment of your choice (5000 words), 40%

Choose one long genre to organize your semester-long ideas, pursue one topic or issue more deeply, or get feedback on a publication or presentation in process. Whichever you choose, I will help you locate models to share and follow.

  • Conference paper
  • Article, essay, chapter for a journal or edited collection
  • Argument- or question-driven seminar paper
  • A “Course Design”
  • A project or program profile; see Composition Forum

Reading, Participating, Attendance

Please attend seminar prepared to discuss readings, e.g., noting important assertions made with readings, noting points of connection and tension, asking questions. We will use writing to synthesize our reading in two ways:

Before class: Write 200–300 words responding to the week’s reading. This writing is informal and just for you. Bring it to class in whatever form suits you best. You will use it as a basis for your discussion contributions.

  • What interesting issues, complexities, or lines of inquiry does this reading raise for you?
  • What do you find yourself responding to most strongly? Where are your skepticisms or concerns?
  • What questions does this work pose in your mind?

At the beginning of discussion: Reread and synthesize your responses on your own or with a small group.

  • What are the commonalities or overlaps in your group’s responses? Where do they differ?
  • What take aways—questions, reactions—for discussion can you distill together?

In order for a small course like this one to work, you need to come to each class meeting prepared and be an active participant when you’re here. Speaking up during class isn’t natural or easy for everyone, but in this class there will be a variety of opportunities to participate in different modes and in differently sized groups. Research suggests that the instructor is not always the best responder for student ideas and writing, so writing for a variety of readers that aren’t me helps your thinking and writing grow. That means you need to cultivate good intellectual relations—respectful and open, adhering to UMass’ Code of Conduct—with your classmates, and you need to be present to do so. Being “present” may mean a variety of things as we continue to navigate tumultuous semesters, so know that I will always foreground well-being when considering the different ways we show up. 

Resources

Your success in this class is important to me. I invite you to come talk with me about any concerns or questions, especially as you prepare to facilitate a class discussion and plan your assignments. If you have a particular circumstance that may have an impact on your work, please contact me early in the semester so that we can work together to adapt the course to meet your needs. If you have thoughts on how particular class activities or assignments might more effectively foster your learning, I welcome your input. You can visit my office hours or email me with your question and availability in order to arrange a meeting.

Students at UMass Amherst also have many resources: Our wonderful Writing Center offers a space where you can get individualized feedback on your writing at any stage in your process. The Office of Disability Services can help make our course accessible for students with registered disabilities.

Commitment to Linguistic Inclusivity                                                 

The ability to communicate in multiple languages or varieties of English is a valuable asset. In this course, you are encouraged to draw on your varied linguistic and cultural resources to meet your own communication goals. Although we will generally employ English(es) in class discussion and writing, you may call on your other languages, dialects, and rhetorical practices at any point. Definitions of effective writing and communication differ depending on culture, experience, and background. Therefore, in this class, you’re invited to explore, reflect on, and use your full repertoire of personal, familial, professional, and academic language skills.

Course Calendar

Our calendar is subject to change and things may be altered to better facilitate your learning. Assignments listed on a given day should be completed for discussion on that day.

Writing: Activity

Week 12/7Introduction to course and to one another
Wardle & Adler-Kassner, “Metaconcept”  
Week 2
social practices		2/14NWWK Concept 1.0
Ong, “Writing Is a Technology that Restructures Thought”
Gee, “Chp 4: Literacy as Social” and “Chp 5: Orality and Literacy”
Gere, “Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms”
Brandt, “Accumulating Literacy”  
Week 3
process and collaboration		2/21RLL at WRAB; class asynchronous  
NWWK Concepts 1.1 – 1.9
Murray, “Process not Product”
Breuch, “Post Process ‘Pedagogy’: A Philosophical Exercise” Bruffee, “Collaborative Learning and the ‘Conversation of Mankind’”
Trimbur, “Consensus and Difference in Collaborative Learning”  

Writing: Context

Week 4 situation2/28Book Review Presentation
NWWK Concepts 2.0 – 2.3
Bitzer, “The Rhetorical Situation”
Cooper, “The Ecology of Writing”
Edbauer, “Unframing Models of Public Distribution”
Donahue, “The Lycee-to-University Progression of French Students”  
Week 5
mode		3/7Book Review Presentation
NWWK Concepts 2.4 – 2.6
George, “From Analysis to Design”
Cazden et al., “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies”
Boone & Mignolo, “Intro” and “Afterword”
Yergeau et al., “Multimodality in Motion”  
 3/14Spring Break  
Week 6
work  		3/21Book Review Presentation
Dush, “When Writing Becomes Content”
Brandt, “Writing for a Living”
Marotta, “Who Has the Right to Write”
Gonzalez, “How do Multilingual Professionals Translate?”

Writing: Subject

Week 7
ideologies  		3/28Book Review Presentation
NWWK Concepts 3.0 – 3.5
Berlin “Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class”
Clifford, “The Subject Is Discourse”
Sánchez, “Outside the Text: Retheorizing Empiricism and Identity”  
Week 8
identities  		4/4Book Review Presentation
Kerschbaum, “Avoiding the Difference Fixation”
Young, “Standard English and Student Bodies”
Hsu, “A Single Life Reinvented”
Do, “Knowing with Our Bodies”  
Due: Short Project Workshop  
Week 9
heritage and histories  		4/11Book Review Presentation
Robertson et al., “Theory of Prior Knowledge”
Royster, “When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own” Zavala, “Translanguaging and Power”
Kesler Rumsey, “Heritage Literacy”  
Due: Short Project  
 4/18No class for holiday  

Writing: Learning

Week 10 revision4/25Book Review Presentation  
NWWK Concepts 4.0 – 4.6
Emig, “Writing as a Mode of Learning”
Sommers, “Revision Strategies”
Murray “The Essential Delay”
Berthoff “Learning the Uses of Chaos”  
Week 11 error  5/2Book Review Presentation  
Bartholomae, “The Study of Error”
Hartwell, “Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammars”
Brodkey, “On the Subject of Class & Gender in ‘The Literacy Letters’”
Lu, “Professing Multiculturalism”
Pennycook, “Borrowing Others’ Words”  
Week 12 cognition5/9NWWK: Concepts 5.0 – 5.4
Flower & Hayes, “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing”
Bizzell, “Cognition, Convention, & Certainty”
Rose, “Remedial Writers and Cognitive Reductionism”
Brand “The Why of Cognition: Emotion and the Writing Process”
Berthoff, “Writing, Meaning, and Higher Order Reasoning”  
Due: Long Project Workshop  
Week 13 mapping5/16Yancey, “Intro: Coming to Terms”
Horner & Lu, “Working Rhetoric and Composition”
Dryer, “Tabling the Issues”
Gold, “Remapping Revisionist Historiography”  
 5/23Due: Long Project