Recommended Resources Related to Pedagogy and Writing

Naming What We Know examines the core principles of knowledge in the discipline of writing studies using the lens of "threshold concepts"--concepts that are critical for epistemological participation in a discipline. The first part of the book defines and describes thirty-seven threshold concepts of the discipline in entries written by some of the field's most active researchers and teachers, all of whom participated in a collaborative wiki discussion guided by the editors. These entries are clear and accessible, written for an audience of writing scholars, students, and colleagues in other disciplines and policy makers outside the academy. Contributors describe the conceptual background of the field and the principles that run throughout practice, whether in research, teaching, assessment, or public work around writing. Chapters in the second part of the book describe the benefits and challenges of using threshold concepts in specific sites--first-year writing programs, WAC/WID programs, writing centers, writing majors--and for professional development to present this framework in action. Naming What We Know opens a dialogue about the concepts that writing scholars and teachers agree are critical and about why those concepts should and do matter to people outside the field.

Composition research consistently demonstrates that the social context of writing determines the majority of conventions any writer must observe. Still, most universities organize the required first-year composition course as if there were an intuitive set of general writing "skills" usable across academic and work-world settings. In College Writing and Beyond: A New Framework for University Writing Instruction, Anne Beaufort reports on a longitudinal study comparing one student's experience in FYC, in history, in engineering, and in his post-college writing. Her data illuminate the struggle of college students to transfer what they learn about "general writing" from one context to another. Her findings suggest ultimately not that we must abolish FYC, but that we must go beyond even genre theory in reconceiving it. Accordingly, Beaufort would argue that the FYC course should abandon its hope to teach a sort of general academic discourse, and instead should systematically teach strategies of responding to contextual elements that impinge on the writing situation. Her data urge attention to issues of learning transfer, and to developmentally sound linkages in writing instruction within and across disciplines. Beaufort advocates special attention to discourse community theory, for its power to help students perceive and understand the context of writing.

An indispensable resource for every scholar in the field--both as textbook and as professional reference.

This book demonstrates how to develop and engage in successful academic collaborations that are both practical and sustainable across campuses and within local communities. Authored by experienced writing program administrators, this edited collection includes a wide range of information addressing collaborative partnerships and projects, theoretical explorations of collaborative praxis, and strategies for sustaining collaborative initiatives. Contributors offer case studies of writing program collaborations and honestly address both the challenges of academic collaboration and the hallmarks of successful partnerships. 

Reflecting the rich complexity of contemporary college composition pedagogy, A Guide to Composition Pedagogies presents original essays on the most important approaches to teaching writing. Each essay is written by an experienced teacher/scholar and describes one of the major pedagogies employed today to familiarize newcomers with the topography of Composition Studies. An invaluable tool for graduate students and new teachers, this bibliographic resource provides an exceptional introduction to Composition Studies and the extensive range of available pedagogical approaches. Now in its second edition, this guide substantially updates all chapters from the previous edition--on basic, collaborative, community-engaged, critical, expressive, feminist, process, Writing Across the Curriculum, and writing center pedagogies. It also features new chapters--"What Is Composition Pedagogy: An Introduction," "Genre," "Second Language Writing," "Literature and Writing," "New Media ," "Online and Hybrid," and "Research Writing"--and also an expanded chapter, "Rhetoric and Argumentation". The essays within now contain an increased focus on issues raised by diversity, each pedagogy's approach to assessment, and technology's effect on composition.

Addressing how composers transfer both knowledge about and practices of writing,nbsp;Writing across Contextsnbsp;explores the grounding theory behind a specific composition curriculum called Teaching for Transfer (TFT) and analyzes the efficacy of the approach. Finding that TFT courses aid students in transfer in ways that other kinds of composition courses do not, the authors demonstrate that the content of this curriculum, including its reflective practice, provides a unique set of resources for students to call on and repurpose for new writing tasks. The authors provide a brief historical review, give attention to current curricular efforts designed to promote such transfer, and develop new insights into the role of prior knowledge in students' ability to transfer writing knowledge and practice, presenting three models of how students respond to and use new knowledge--assemblage, remix, and critical incident. A timely and significant contribution to the field,nbsp;Writing across Contextsnbsp;will be of interest to graduate students, composition scholars, WAC and writing-in-the-disciplines scholars, and writing program administrators. nbsp;