James Berlin
In the article, Berlin argues that writing instruction is not neutral and that teachers should be aware of the ideological forces that are in the classroom. He emphasizes how writing instruction is influenced by underlying ideological assumptions, both within educational systems and in broader cultural contexts. Berlin also engages with different rhetorical theories and how these influence writing instruction. He also discusses the importance of understanding how language and communication are not just tools for conveying ideas, but they are also ways of shaping and influencing thoughts. By doing all of this, writing educators can help students navigate and challenge those structures in their own writing practices.
Richard Fulkerson: Four Philosophies
The four philosophies that Richard Fulkerson examines in this article are: expressivist, cognitive, rhetorical, and social epistemic. So to make this easier, I will just name the approach and give a brief description of what I interpreted it as.
Expressivist Philosophy: Writing is a form of self-expression and the expression of feelings no matter what emotion. In this philosophy, creativity is valued and encouraged. This reminds me of someone who journals and writes for fun, not so much academically. It also reminds me of free writing and just taking self-reflection notes.
Rhetorical Philosophy: In this philosophy, there is an emphasis on how writing is persuasive and used to influence (or maybe deinfluence) readers. There is also a focus on the writer and the audience and paying attention to who your audience is.
Cognitive Philosophy: Within this philosophy, the emphasis is on the writing process as a whole. They focus on how the writing process takes time and the different strategies writers use (prewrite, draft, revise, edit). They take in account the writing as a whole and try to build a strong structure.
Social-Epistemic Philosophy: This philosophy is pretty much broken down for us just by looking at the name. It focuses on writing about societal issues and incorporates critical thinking and social awareness into their writing.
Composition Theory in the Eighties:
Within Fulkerson’s article about composition theory, he goes back to talking more deeply about his different philosophies and the diversity within the pedagogies. One type of pedagogy that really spoke to me that Fulkerson mentioned was critical pedagogy. Within the critical pedagogy, Fulkerson tried to push this forward as it encouraged the teachers to think outside of the box. Which this pedagogy is more related to culture and society which I think is very relevant to all schools. Adding to my “think outside the box” comment, it also allows teachers, and students as well, to read and analyze different texts and reshape them. Which, now that I know more about revisions and how revising means to reshape and kind of think/redesign your piece it makes me connect that to the critical pedagogy.
Looking at the 20th century now…
Fulkerson points out the shift that took place in composition theories and the main shift from rhetoric to composition. He does a good job of explaining the difference and the changes from the 19th century to the 20th and how it is now an “academic discipline”. So although this is aimed for more of a higher level education composition I find myself trying to connect it to elementary ed because that’s what I am familiar with and it’s technically “all I know”. While Fulkerson explains about higher ed composition, his initial view on this was that it was a basic skill more for people who needed extra support with writing. Then, they realized that at times it may have been too easy for some other students so they decided to make it more rigorous in both high school and college classes. People were not again “looking outside of the box” and viewing writing as something much more than what it actually was. Which I agree, writing to me is your voice, writing to me is powerful. So within this, they elevated their composition classes and began to incorporate communication aspects and critical thinking processes, and civic participation. Writing is such a necessary skill and tool that everyone needs no matter what your dream job is or what your career is. Writing is a necessity (so is reading but that’s a whole other conversation), and people literally need this in order to succeed anywhere. So I agree with them elevating the composition curriculum, but it left me thinking about one thing. What about the ELL or people who needed that remedial support? Do they receive any special services? Are there any accommodations within the new curriculum that they shifted to designed specifically for the ELL community? Maybe I’ve taken a whole different shift on this and taken this in a whole different direction but through my teaching experience/education experience there has to be some type of differentiation and accommodation.
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