David Bleich
University of Rochester

Call for Participation and Response

Doctoral programs in R/C usually offer a rich curriculum covering many sources from classical, medieval, modern, and contemporary periods. New doctorates come to their appointments with a sense of how, as a matter of historical record, writing, language, and rhetoric were understood and taught in the West. Many of these doctorates go on to supervise or direct college and university writing programs, becoming responsible for hiring part-timers and other non-tenured teachers. However, the curriculum of most writing programs remains remedial: teach the students how to write an argumentative essay, with overwhelming emphasis on technical competence.

My call is for information about programs and courses that seek to base first-year writing courses and curricula on the different subject matters broached in graduate programs in R/C. Are there any programs or courses that approach the subject of writing as a species of language use? Are there courses/programs that stress the connections between oral and written language uses? Are there courses/programs that try to include, but not depend on, literature as part of a curriculum that uses many genres and that uses recent reflections on genre theory to contextualize the subject matter? Are there courses/programs that presuppose the whole-language pedagogy advocated in some primary and secondary school curricula, trying to adapt this philosophy to postsecondary language study? Are there courses/programs that are in position to revoke the remedial presuppositions of writing pedagogy?

If there are courses and teachers/administrators who advocate such a movement, can we perhaps meet at the next NCTE, MLA, and/or CCCC conference?

Those interested in pursuing this discussion please respond to and to david.bleich@rochester.edu. Also, please indicate if you will be attending NCTE, MLA, and CCCC national meetings. Proposals for meetings at other conferences are welcome.

Response submissions to this call to be considered for potential publication in the expanded edition of Enculturation 5.1, due by 15 February 2004.

Please send submissions to:

Lisa Coleman, lcoleman@sosu.edu

Contact Information:

David Bleich, University of Rochester
Email: david.bleich@rochester.edu
Home Page: http://www.rochester.edu/college/eng/faculty/bleich.html