Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Ambanasom's Son Of The Native Soil And The Western Concept Of The Tragic Hero, Denis Fonge Tembong

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Ambanasom's Son of the Native Soil and the Western Concept of the Tragic Hero" Denis Fonge Tembong discusses the view that although African and Western literatures are fundamentally different as they exhibit or represent distinct cultural values, they nevertheless share some common notions. The concept of a tragic hero is one of those convergent loci where the two literatures meet. With this in mind, Tembong examines in Aristotle's and Shakespeare's concepts of the tragic hero and demonstrates how the ideas exploited in Macbeth are similarly used in Shadrach A. Ambanasom's Son of the Native Soil against the …

Racism And Identity In Onwueme's Riot In Heaven, Onyeka F. Iwuchukwu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Racism and Identity in Onwueme's Riot in Heaven" Onyeka Iwuchukwu explores Tess Osonye Onwueme's acclaimed play in the context of the Black diaspora in the U.S. Iwuchukwu posits that because of Onwueme's exploration of the theater of the absurd in the play, audience's attention is directed to the illogical presentation of dialogue and action. However, the technique with textual properties suggesting unmotivated and meaningless references in fact carries profound meaning. Further, the said "absurd" presentation and narration results in a strong ideological and political message akin to the practice of littérature engagée. Iwuchukwu's analysis of …

Call For Papers

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Collaboration: Talk. Trust. Write., Mark Letcher, Kristen Turner, Meredith Donovan, Leah Zuidema, Jim Fredricksen, Cathy Fleischer, Nicole Sieben, Laraine Wallowitz, Sarah Andrew-Vaughn

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This essay describes the professional collaborative writing process and activities of several pairs of prominent authors in English education.

All Hands On Deck: Bringing Together High School Teachers And Adjunct Instructors For Professional Development In The Teaching Of Writing, Jennifer S. Cook, Becky L. Caouette

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

in June of 2012, two Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) at Rhode Island College collaborated on a one-day professional development opportunity for adjunct instructors of First Year Writing. One of the WPAs was Director of the Rhode Island Writing Project; the other was the Director of Writing. Each saw an opportunity to further the reach of their program and better the quality of instruction in the K-16 landscape of Rhode Island. And, each program was facing real challenges institutionally, politically, and financially. In this article, the two authors outline the exegesis that led to their collaboration and the outcome of that …

What Are Preservice Teachers Taught About The Teaching Of Writing?: A Survey Of Ohio’S Undergraduate Writing Methods Courses, Christine E. Tulley

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Undergraduate “writing methods” courses, or courses training secondary teachers how to teach writing, have increased 42% over the past decade within college English departments. Whether in response to increasing accreditation standards or a reaction against alarmist rhetoric about the poor training of today’s secondary English teachers, the writing methods course is often categorized as a potential antidote to a lack of writing teacher training.

Though much has been written on the its graduate counterpart, the composition practicum, no similar in-depth studies have been conducted exploring the content of the undergraduate writing methods course, the credentials of those teaching the course, …

Positioning Preservice Teachers As Writers And Researchers, Jason H. Wirtz

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This essay illustrates three theoretical concepts for the pre-service writing classroom learned from Wendy Bishop and Diane Holt-Reynolds: teachers of writing should be writers themselves; testimonials from writers should shape pre-service writing curricula; and content knowledge and the ability to teach content knowledge are discreet skill sets. Three practical assignments are presented to articulate these theoretical concepts in the pre-service writing classroom: Digital Poetry, Qualitative Interview Study, and Embedded Research.

Content-Area Teachers As Teachers Of Writing, Angela Kohnen

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Drawing on work with high school science teachers as part of an NSF-funded grant, this article presents lessons learned for effectively incorporating writing across the curriculum. With many states preparing to implement the Common Core State Standards, teachers in all subject areas will be asked to require more writing in their classes. This article argues that most of these teachers are ill-prepared to assign writing beyond the most formulaic and superficial, yet with professional development training (including training that requires teachers to write themselves) and support tools, teachers can begin effectively using discipline-specific writing to achieve discipline-specific goals.

Becoming Peer Tutors Of Writing: Identity Development As A Mode Of Preparation, Alison Bright

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Primary and secondary teachers of English are typically the subjects of research centered on writing teacher education. However, at the college level writing teacher education also includes individuals who instruct and support undergraduate writing instruction, and who do not always identify as writing teachers, such as graduate teaching assistants and peer writing tutors writing. Writing program administrators responsible for preparing TAs and tutors can benefit from the results of relevant research from the K-12 discourse community to improve their preparation programs. For example, research in primary and secondary teacher education programs indicates that when preparatory sessions highlight the concept of …

Gatekeepers And Guides: Preparing Future Writing Teachers To Negotiate Standard Language Ideology, Melinda J. Mcbee Orzulak

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study of pre-service English teachers suggests benefits for exploring standard language ideology with new teachers of writing, such as increased awareness of the dilemmic positions occupied by teachers of writing and better understanding of the relationship between oral and written language. Implications include the need for writing teacher education to focus on the relationship between ideologies and enactment of specific methods, as pre-service teachers may face dilemmas related to beliefs about standard language and their positions as gatekeepers. Exploring additional subject positions for writing teachers, such as guide or language user, may help support stances that promote equitable writing …

Opening Editorial, Jonathan Bush, Erinn Bentley

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Negotiating Expectations: Preserving Theoretical Research-Based Writing Pedagogy In The Field, Margaret Finders, Virginia Crank, Erika Kramer

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

A collaborative research project examining the challenges facing preservice teachers when placed in settings that may run counter to their notions of theoretical-research-based practices of teaching writing.

Cover And Table Of Contents, Jonathan Bush

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Teaching/Writing -- Winter/Spring 2013 (Full Issue), Jonathan Bush

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Best Practices & Resources For Teaching Esl Written Communication, Linda S. Bergmann, Vicki Kennell

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Presentations

This presentation, given at the Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE) Series II: Expanding Your Teaching Toolkit, offers instructors information on understanding and accommodating the ESL writers in their classrooms. Material is presented on the language abilities of the writers, on the ways in which cultural differences may be manifested in the writing itself, and on the types of accommodations that can be made in writing assignments and assessments. The talk includes information on best practices in writing for all writers and a bibliography of resources about L2 writers.

Uncovering Fallacies In Documentary Film, Nicole Trackman

Rhetoric Unit

This is an introductory activity that will familiarize students with eight essential fallacies. Students will be given a specific fallacy and its definition along with examples. Student will search for their fallacy in a twenty minute screening of a documentary film. Through small group and whole class discussion, students will leave class with an expert understanding of their own fallacy as well as a solid foundation of understanding for the other seven fallacies presented.

Change One Thing, Change Everything: Understanding The Rhetorical Triangle, Tracy A. Townsend

Rhetoric Unit

This lesson exposes students to the most fundamental rhetorical concept, that of the “rhetorical triangle,” a device for understanding and articulating audience awareness in persuasion. Provided here are suggestions for a brief and engaging mini-lecture, followed by an exercise using two classic pieces of American rhetoric, speeches by the suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Students will be challenged to learn the principles of the rhetorical triangle, close-read a text for rhetorical clues and cues, and make sound judgments about the speaker’s rhetorical process based on evidence. This lesson and activity are suitable for students in grades 9-12, …

Wandering About: Analogy, Ambiguity And Humanistic Mathematics, William M. Priestley

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This article concerns the relationship between mathematics and language, emphasizing the role of analogy both as an expression of a mathematical property and as a source of productive ambiguity in mathematics. An historical discussion is given of the interplay between the notions of logos, litotes, and limit that has implications for our understanding and teaching of Dedekind cuts and, more generally, for a humanistic notion of the role of mathematics within liberal education.

The Effect Of Argumentative Task Goal On The Quality Of Argumentative Discourse, Merce Garcia-Mila, Sandra Gilabert, Sibel Erduran, Mark Felton

Faculty Publications

In argumentative discourse, there are two kinds of activity-dispute and deliberation-that depend on the argumentative task goal. In dispute the goal is to defend a conclusion by undermining alternatives, whereas in deliberation the goal is to arrive at a conclusion by contrasting alternatives. In this study, we examine the impact of these tasks goals on the quality of argumentative discourse. Sixty-five junior high school students were organized into dyads to discuss sources of energy. Dyads were formed by members who had differing viewpoints and were distributed to one of two conditions: 31 dyads were asked to discuss with the goal …

A Cognitively Enabling Approach: Cognitive Diversity In Composition Studies, Crystal June Starkey

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

A COGNITIVELY ENABLING APPROACH: COGNITIVE DIVERSITY IN COMPOSITION STUDIES.

by

CRYSTAL STARKEY

August 2013

Advisor: Dr. Jeff Pruchnic

Major: English (Composition Studies)

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

My dissertation project investigates the rhetoric of cognitive disability in relation to the theory and teaching of rhetoric and composition in entry-level writing courses. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who frequently struggle with generalizing as well as feeling and expressing emotions, are often perceived to have a decreased intellectual ability and thus not often considered part of the traditional student body of higher education classrooms. Yet, as ASD diagnostic criteria has changed …