Composition and Communicative Intention [electronic resource] : Exploring the Dimensions of Purpose in College Writing / Chris M. Anson.
A case study examined purpose in the writing of four college freshmen enrolled in a basic composition course. Discourse based interviews were conducted with the subjects before and after they responded to each of three writing tasks designed to provide them with different choices for audience, mode,...
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Full Text (via ERIC) |
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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[S.l.] :
Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1984.
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| Summary: | A case study examined purpose in the writing of four college freshmen enrolled in a basic composition course. Discourse based interviews were conducted with the subjects before and after they responded to each of three writing tasks designed to provide them with different choices for audience, mode, and focus. The data revealed two central ways in which students conceptualize the purposes for their writing. They are either class-directed in the development of purpose, or rhetorically flexible--able to accommodate their writing to different kinds of tasks with different topics and audiences. The results suggest that, in contrast to the predictions of current functional discourse taxonomies, these conceptualizations are more apt to grow out of the students' models of writing and literacy than the specific features of the tasks to which they are responding. The results support a writing pedagogy in which a qualitative reformulation of students' discourse modes is more central to their continued learning than the quantitative acquisition or mastery of discourse-specific skills. (HTH) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED257076. Educational level discussed: Higher Education. |
| Physical Description: | 28 p. |