Summary of Composition Theories
First-Order Thinking
- relinquishing control
- careless, fast
- intuitive, creative
- does not strive for direction
- heightens intelligence
Second-Order Thinking
- imposing control
- careful
- conscious and directed
- scrutinize each part
- tough-mindedly critical
See this post for more on first and second order thinking: The Dangers of Thinking Carefully
Greek and Roman, Five Stages Process
- invention
- arrangement
- style
- memory
- delivery
Renaissance Ramist Rhetoricians
- sought a purely objective discourse
- redefined invention/arrangement as logical matters
- led to the recent focus solely on the style component
Rohman and Wlecke, Three Stages
- pre-writing
- writing
- editing
Britton and Emig, Three Writing Types
- poetic—produces literary artifacts
- expressive/reflexive—exploration of one’s feelings about a subject
- transactional/extensive—convey information
Writing Across the Curriculum
- began in Britain in the late 1960’s
- composing process is idiosyncratic
- two approaches: journal centered (personal-style) and academic discourse (prioritize academic writing and Standard English)
Revision
- impossible in speech, except as an after-thought
- cues initiate changes which occur continually throughout the writing of a composition
Flower and Hayes Model
- set of thinking processes which writers orchestrate
- processes have a hierarchical and embedded organization
- composing is a goal-directed thinking process
- goals are developed at the beginning, but can change
Recursion
- an entire process is embedded within a larger instance of itself
- like a fractal pattern
- not linear
Also check out How Students Navigate the Writing Process
Works Cited
Bizzel, Patricia. The Teaching of Writing: Composing Process. University of Chicago Press. 1986.
Elbow, Peter. Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Teaching and Learning. Oxford University Press. 1986.
Flower, Linda and Hayes, John. A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing. Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. National Council of Teachers of English. Urbana, Illinois. 2003.
Nelson, Kimberly. The Great Conversation (of the Dining Hall): One Student’s Experience of College Level Writing. University of Iowa.
Sommers, Nancy. Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers. Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. National Council of Teachers of English. Urbana, Illinois. 2003.