Critiques various forms of modernism, traditional Marxism, and liberalism from a postmodern perspective. Identifies the politics of the intellectual projects undertaken by Frederic Jameson and Patricia Bizzell as modernist and reactionary. Argues that their academic appeal lies in their conservatism. (HB)

Constructs a language-centered perspective toward the social-rhetorical construction of knowledge by juxtaposing Kenneth Burke's philosophy of language with Thomas S. Kuhn's philosophy of science. Discusses rhetoric's epistemic status and the social constructionist account of discourse production. (HB)

Interviews Linda Flower, who discusses her beginnings as a researcher, her insights into the role of context in the composing process, her work with classroom teachers, her present involvement with community literacy projects, and how her ideas and research have changed through time. (MG)

Presents revised versions of four symposium papers examining the work of linguist, teacher, and educator of teachers James Britton. Includes "James Britton: An Impressionistic Sketch" (Mary Kay Tirrell); "Collaborating with Jimmy Britton" (Gordon M. Pradl); "Rejoicing in the Margins" (John Warnock); and "A…

Suggests that negotiation as a rhetorical strategy can help compositionists rethink the connections between the public sphere and students' writing, and that it can also be a productive way to think of classroom interaction. Brings critical pressure to bear on the concept of negotiation as it has been traditionally conceived and theorized,…

Explores the convergence between projects in ethnographic research and composition pedagogy that emphasize the critical power of experience. Argues that critical ethnography and pedagogy need to redefine "experience" and its function for research and teaching and that composition can help this redefinition by looking for ways to build…

Surveys 200 public relations practitioners and investigates whether the type of writing and over-all time spent writing vary with years of experience. Finds that higher levels of writing efficiency come with writing experience, and shows that female practitioners spend a higher percentage of their workday on writing tasks than do their male…

This article is concerned with characterizing literacy activity as it is practiced in professional workplaces. Its starting point is activity theory, which grew out of the work of Vygotsky and has been subsequently elaborated in Russia and elsewhere. First, the authors propose that existing versions of activity theory are unable to account…

In this article we report on a study in which verbal protocol data were used to explore English as a foreign language writers' planning behavior while engaged in academic writing tasks. The analysis was approached from a temporal perspective (i.e., time spent on planning operations) in relation to three independent variables: (a) the participants'…

A theoretical framework of written language use and development that emerged from a two-year case study of one child's writing at home and in school during kindergarten and first grade is presented. First, the paper describes three elements which are found throughout the framework: the social web of experience, writing as relationships, and…

This book describes and discusses the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) study of writing in Sweden. The chapters are as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) Content and Planning of the Study; (3) Schools, Teachers and Pupils in Sweden 1985; (4) The Teaching of Writing; (5) Compositions and Scoring; (6)…

A study examined attitudes toward writing that affect productivity and the extent of their influence. Subjects, 160 engineers practicing in the Chattanooga, Tennessee region, completed a questionnaire concerning writing attitudes, including anxiety and confidence, and levels of productivity. Findings show that confident engineers produce…

To develop a theory of invention that would include both generation and selection of material for written composition, the four major current theories of invention were considered. Since only one--prewriting--included a selection component and was limited in several ways, a psychotherapeutic theory--focusing--was adapted to the composing process…

A review of the literature concerning ethnographic studies of writing reveals a number of reasons for the writing that people do. Some studies of writing in the schools found that what is considered "writing" is not really writing at all and that the majority of students consider the teacher to be their sole audience. Other studies…

Composing is controlled by information feedback from prior behavior which serves to influence future behavior. This model posits movement toward a desired end product through a continual interchange of writing and examining and evaluating what has been written against internal standards. A study was conducted to determine the extent to which…