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Linguistics and Rhetoric
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Submitted by grabill.
on 2006-05-25 06:42 AM.
One of the issues that is important in terms of working toward a "global articulation" around the study of professional writing is the complexity of the disciplinary, intellectual, cultural, and institutional geography.But first, I suppose I should say what I mean by "global articulation." I made this up as I was writing, of course, but what I suppose I mean by this concept is the need and ability to have shared understandings about what we mean by the study (and practice and teaching) of writing as a type of globalized knowledge work. I do not mean one understanding; nor do I think that this understanding should be stable. But if we understand writing as a practice, currency, and (social and economic) form of capital that refuses boundaries in both its practice (production) and reception, then moving toward coherent conversations across boundaries seems important.
In any event, for the past few years one of the issues that has occupied my attention at international meetings and in conversation with colleagues outside a US context is the relationship between linguistics and writing studies. This was a feature of the Aarhus meeting as well (and I suspect will be visible in Toronto). In some European contexts, at least, what we in the US study through the lenses of composition or rhetoric is studied through the lenses of linguistics.
There have always been and continue to be methodological relationships between linguistics and writing studies in the US, but in a European context, the relationships are also deeply disciplinary. What was fun in Aarhus was the many conversations we had about the affordances of different ways of looking at more or less the same activity.
But here is the interesting disciplinary issue for me. Within many European institutions, it seems to me, linguistics is tied to languages. That is, there is a research area-pedagogical area link that is important. And so at Aarhus, the study and teaching of writing is connected to the study and teaching of languages.
We simply do not (often) have that connection within a US disciplinary and institutional context. In fact, the study and teaching of languages, at least at my institution, is much more closely tied to the study and teaching of literature than it is to writing.
Pictures soon, I promise.
My undergraduate work as an English major at Purdue--many,many,many years ago--required a study of linguistics, which made a lot of sense to me at the time because I thought (and still do) that there is a strong connection between linguistics and writing. As a teacher of writing--not so many years ago--the connection was even clearer to me. However, I've mentored many student teachers, and few--if any--of them had to study linguistics (and sometimes, sadly, even writing) in order to teach high school students. So what's the answer to the question/problem you pose in your last paragraph? Certainly something in teacher education must be done to address both linguistics and writing. By the time you and Bill see your students, they've already been exposed to twelve+ years of someone else's teaching. By the way--welcome home. Sounds like you had a great experience. Can't wait to hear more about it. Mom