Taking into consideration both Cognitive and Social rhetorics, I think some factors would depend on what a student is looking to get from a course. Is it to become an expert writer and when would one reach that stage in such an evolving skill. Both cognitive though and social thought are also evolving with different analyzing, studies, facts, content that so many avenues can be discovered or pursued that one may not ever decide to write about and the other is passionate about and devote his entire writing on it thus becoming an expert in the eyes of his audience since he might provide insight that they would never have known or been exposed to. In the idea of a processing system being able to duplicate or understand the commonalities of man when there are so many different cultural competencies and ways of thinking involved is absurd and being inclusive. I don’t think there can be a universal description of thought either and there should not be one established or followed as long as we remain ethical and exclusive.
Local Knowledge loosely carries with it the ability to write universally with one’s surroundings and with community based on ideas or life experience that is restrained by proper cognitive thought and structure compared to represented instead of the cognitive theories of writing were it seems the writing is inspected for its expertise and development for it to gain any attention to it as being well written or properly done by someone who has followed certain precedents of writing. Feedback would seem more involved and accepted in the Local knowledge aspect of writing thus the social theorist definition of what an expert writer consists of being well exposed to a well-versed pronounced community of members who can have moments of discussions on topics and a recognizable linguistic tone or theme that they are familiar with. The knowledge they obtain amongst such groups or a community whether it be academic or social or like-minded from those structured interactions may assist in refining and defining them as one with expertise in writing and could become stuck in those communities once finding acceptance.
Richard Young remarks “a teachable theory of writing demands a generic conception of writing so that writers can be taught general heuristics that can be transferred from one writing task to another (“Arts” 345, as cited in Carter, 266). The heuristics that are spoken of I feel can only become tools for a writer as long as they remain open minded in the beginning so they dont disregard certain ideas and structure that will benefit them as they become more skilled and exposed to the community or communities to where they can receive feedback or understanding being able to contribute to a task or rhetoric.
Carter, Michael. “The Idea of Expertise: An Exploration of Cognitive and Social Dimensions of Writing. College Composition and Communication. Vol. 41, No. 3 (Oct., 1990), pp. 265-286 (22 pages). Published By: National Council of Teachers of English
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