Rebecca Moore Howard
Office: 239A HB Crouse
Office hours: By appointment
Telephone: 443-1083
E-mail: rehoward@syr.edu
Home page http://wrt-howard.syr.edu

Schedule of Assignments and Activities
CCR 611
Development of Modern Composition Studies


Spring 2002
Time: Thursdays 10-12:50
Place: 020 HB Crouse





As you read the texts for this course, ask (a) what stories they tell you and what arguments they make about the history of composition studies; (b) what assumptions they hold about what is good and bad about composition studies or its cultural/institutional context; and (c) what approach(es) they take to the history of composition, e.g., progress narratives (Whig history), fall-from-grace narratives (Miltonic history), single-field narratives (atomistic history), reproduction narratives (deterministic history), cyclical analyses, single-lens analyses, genealogies, hortatory history.

January 17: Prehistories of contemporary composition studies

To prepare for class, read
  • As much of the recommended reading as you have time and inclination for.
    • and review
  • What you know about composition history prior to the 1960s.
    • In class,

  • Review and synthesize prehistory of contemporary composition studies.

    • January 24: An activity systems approach to the recent history of composition studies

    To prepare for class, read
  • Russell, David. "Activity Theory and Its Implications for Writing Instruction." Reconceiving Writing, Rethinking Writing Instruction. Ed. Joseph Petraglia. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995. 51-78.
  • Russell, David. "Activity Theory and Process Approaches: Writing (Power) in School and Society." Post-Process Theory: Beyond the Writing-Process Paradigm. Ed. Thomas Kent. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1999. 80-95.
  • Zebroski, James Thomas. "The Expressivist Menace." History, Reflection, and Narrative: The Professionalization of Composition 1963-1983. Eds. Mary Rosner, Beth Boehm, and Debra Journet. Greenwich, CT: Ablex, 1998. 99-114.

    • In class,

  • Discuss methods for an activity systems approach to recent composition history.

    • January 31: Histories of activity systems

    To prepare for class, read
  • Crowley, Sharon. "Linguistics and Composition Instruction: 1950-1980." Written Communication 6 (October 1989): 480-505.
  • Some or all of Hawisher, Gail E., Paul LeBlanc, Charles Moran, and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Computers and the Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education, 1979-1994: A History. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1996.
  • Yancey, Kathleen Blake. "Looking Back as We Look Forward: Historicizing Writing Assessment." College Composition and Communication 50.3 (February 1999): 483-503.

    These sources may provide models (or countermodels) for the type of work we'll do this semester.

    • In class,

  • Choose semester projects.
  • Consider the applicability of models provided in today's readings for the project you will do.

    • February 7: Historiographic methods

    To prepare for class, read
  • Brueggemann, Brenda Jo, Jan A. Detweiler, and Margaret M. Strain. "The Profession: Rhetoric and Composition, 1950-1992: A Selected Annotated Bibliography." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 22.4 (Fall 1992): 66-92.
  • Buchanan, Richard. "Design and the New Rhetoric: Productive Arts in the Philosophy of Culture." Philosophy and Rhetoric 34.3 (2001) 183-206.
  • Miller, Susan. "Composition as a Cultural Artifact: Rethinking History as Theory." Writing Theory and Critical Theory. Ed. John Clifford and John Schilb. New York: Modern Language Association, 1994. 1-18.

    • and prepare
  • A preliminary bibliography of sources for your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and preliminary bibliographies.

    • February 14: The journals' roles

    To prepare for class, read
  • Phillips, Donna Burns, Ruth Greenberg, and Sharon Gibson. "College Composition and Communication: Chronicling a Discipline's Genesis." College Composition and Communication 44.4 (December 1993): 443-65.
  • Goggin, Maureen Daly. "Composing a Discipline: The Role of Scholarly Journals in the Disciplinary Emergence of Rhetoric and Composition Since 1950." Rhetoric Review 15.2 (Spring 1997): 322-349.

    • and prepare
  • Selective summaries/analyses of three more sources for your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and summary/analyses.

    • February 21: Birth announcements

    To prepare for class, read
  • Berlin, James A. "Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class." College English 50 (1988): 477-494.
  • Hairston, Maxine. "The Winds of Change: Thomas Kuhn and the Revolution in the Teaching of Writing." College Composition and Communication 33 (1982): 76-88.
  • Park, Douglas B. "Theories and Expectations: On Conceiving Composition and Rhetoric as a Discipline." College English 41 (1979): 47-56.
  • Phelps, Louise Wetherbee. "Paths Not Taken: Recovering History as Alternative Future." History, Reflection, and Narrative: The Professionalization of Composition 1963-1983. Eds. Mary Rosner, Beth Boehm, and Debra Journet. Greenwich, CT: Ablex, 1998. 39-58.

    • and prepare
  • Selective summaries/analyses of three more sources for your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and summary/analyses.

    • February 28: Tracing trajectories I

    To prepare for class, read
  • Corbett, Edward P.J. "Teaching Composition: Where We've Been and Where We're Going." College Composition and Communication 38 (1987): 444-52.
  • Harris, Joseph. "After Dartmouth: Growth and Conflict in English." College English 53.6 (October 1991): 631-46.

    • and prepare
  • Selective summaries/analyses of three more sources for your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and summary/analyses.

    • March 7: Tracing trajectories II

    To prepare for class, read
  • Phelps, Louise Wetherbee. "Practical Wisdom and the Geography of Knowledge in Composition." College English 53.8 (December 1991): 863-85.
  • Lloyd-Jones, Richard. "Who We Were, Who We Should Become." College Composition and Communication 43.4 (December 1992): 486-96.

    • and prepare
  • Preliminary draft of your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and preliminary drafts.

    • March 28: Stories of inclusion

    To prepare for class, read
  • Gilyard, Keith. "African American Contributions to Composition Studies." College Composition and Communication 50.4 (June 1999): 626-644.
  • Royster, Jacqueline Jones, and Jean C. Williams. "History in the Spaces Left: African American Presence and Narratives of Composition Studies." College Composition and Communication 50.4 (June 1999): 563-585.
  • Lunsford, Andrea Abernethy. "Rhetoric, Feminism, and the Politics of Textual Ownership." College English 61.5 (May 1999): 529-44.
    • and prepare
  • Preliminary draft of your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and preliminary drafts.

    • April 4: A teaching history

    To prepare for class, read
  • Harris, Joseph. A Teaching Subject: Composition since 1966. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997.

    • and prepare
  • Interim draft of your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and interim drafts.

    • April 11: Textbooks as histories, agents, and artifacts

    To prepare for class, read
  • Hawhee, Debra. "Composition History and the Harbrace College Handbook." College Composition and Communication 50.3 (February 1999): 504-523.
  • Reynolds, Nedra. "Dusting Off Instructor's Manuals: The Teachers and Practices They Assume." WPA: Writing Program Administration 19.1-2 (Fall/Winter 1995): 7-23.
  • Zebroski, James Thomas. "Textbook Advertisements in the Formation of Composition: 1969-1990." (Re)Visioning Composition Textbooks: Conflicts of Culture, Ideology, and Pedagogy. Ed. Xin Liu Gale and Fredric G. Gale. Albany: SUNY UP, 1999. 231-248.
    • and prepare
  • Interim draft of your project. Distribute copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and interim drafts.

    • April 18: Stories of composition in and by English

    To prepare for class, read--DO NOT BLOW OFF
  • Scholes, Robert. The Rise and Fall of English: Reconstructing English as a Discipline. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1998.
  • Sproles, Karyn Z. "After Composition: Using Academic Program Review to Redefine Departmental Identity and Create Community." ADE Bulletin 127 (Winter 2001): 23-26.

    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings.

    • April 25: Stories of composition outside of English

    To prepare for class, read
  • Little, Sherry Burgus, and Shirley K. Rose. "A Home of Our Own: Establishing a Department of Rhetoric and Writing Studies at San Diego State University." WPA: Writing Program Administration 18.1-2 (Fall/Winter 1994): 16-28.
  • Chapman, David, Jeanette Harris, and Christine Hult. "Agents for Change: Undergraduate Writing Programs in Departments of English." Rhetoric Review 13.2 (Spring 1995): 421-34.
  • Kearns, Judith, and Brian Turner. "Negotiated Independence: How a Canadian Writing Program Became a Centre." WPA: Writing Program Administration 21.1 (Fall 1997): 31-45.
    • and prepare
  • Final draft of your project. Send copies to the class no later than Tuesday morning before class.
    • In class,

  • Discuss assigned readings and final drafts of projects.

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