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A Guide to Threshold Concepts
Concept One
Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity
Author: Kevin Roozen
01.
"Writers are engaged in the work of making meaning for particular audiences and purposes" (p. 17)
02.
"Writers are always connected to other people" (p. 17)
03.
Consider a father writing a birthday card: his message is directed to convey his affection towards the cards receiver (audience) while simultaneously drawing (consciously or subconsciously) on phrases that he may have encountered before.
Writing is a Knowledge Making Activity
Author: Heidi Estrem
01.
02.
03.
04.
Writing serves as a tool to uncover new thoughts or ideas
Often times we don't "think to write," "we write to think" (p. 19)
Employing different approaches to writing can yield different modes of creating knowledge
Connection Section: 1.5, 1.6, and 1.9
01.
02.
03.
Writing Addresses, Invokes, and/or Creates Audiences
Author: Andrea A. Lunsford
Writing is "relational" and "responsive" (pp. 20)
Writer/Speaker/Rhetor
The Rhetorical Triangle
Text/Message
Audience/Receiver/Listener/Reader
The effects of the digital age: unassumed audiences, going viral, and the blurring of the rhetorical triangle
Writing Expresses and Shares Meaning to be Reconstructed by the Reader
Author: Charles Bazerman
01.
02.
03.
04.
Meaning for the writer comes from internl thought
Readers attribute meaning to writing based on experiences and objects
Readers reconstruct meaning based on what they already know
Connection Section: 3.3, 4.1, 4.4, 5.2
Words Get Their Meanings From Other Words
Author: Dylan B. Dryer
01.
02.
03.
An Insightful Example: Deconstructing the Meaning of "Cup"
We might define cup as a "cermaic drinking vessel," but does the meaning of the word change depending on context? In the kitchen, couldn't 'cup' also refer to a measurement? In a pool, can't you 'cup' water in your hands? In other languages, isn't a "cermamic drinking vessel" called something else, like vaso in spanish?
Therefore, audiences can only infer meaning through the context of other words. For example, we know the precise meaning of cup in "I drink from a cup" versus "Maria uses her hands to cup the water" based on the other words in the sentence.
Writing Mediates Activity
Author: David R. Russell
01.
02.
03.
04.
Writing acts as an intermediary that people use to "coordinate activity" (p. 26)
Contradicts notions that writing is merely transcribing thoughts
Example: Notice the sign pictured, the exclamation point alerts drivers to use caution or slow down, thereby demonstrating how language (yes, punctuation too) impacts activity.
Connection Section: 1.0, 1.1, 1.3, 1.9
Writing is not Natural
Author: Dylan B. Dryer
01.
Speech is natural (interwoven with human physiology), while writing is not.
02.
Writing translates speech and sometimes communicative nuances can be lost
03.
Spelling and pronounciation inconsistencies.
Example: "choose" and "loose"
Assessing Writing Shapes Context and Instruction
Authors: Tony Scott
and Asao B. Inoue
01.
Writing assessment is defined as "the formulation of a judgement or decision based on the reading of student writing with a particular set of expectations or values in mind" (p. 29).
02.
Assessment is impacted by things like faculty writing goals, philosophies of literacy and learning, and institutional writing standards (p. 30)
03.
What is emphasized in assessment determines 'good writing' or reflects certain values of the teacher or instutution. If grammar is less emphasized than critical analysis, then we can assume that 'good writing' should focus more on critical thought as opposed to grammar.
Writing Involves Making Ethical Choices
Author: John Duffy
01.
02.
03.
04.
Writing propogates relationships with other humas
Therefore, writing requires (either implicitly or explicitly) writers to question what kinds of writers they want to be, consider how they want to communicate with their audience, and contemplate how their words will affect other people and communities
Since writing initiates relationships, we must make ethical choices so as to reflect the virtues and standards of ourselves and our audience
Connection Section: 1.2, 1.3
Writing is a Technology Through Which Writers Create and Recreate Meaning
Authors: Collin Brooke
and Jeffrey T. Grabill
01.
"A book is a machine to think with" - I. A. Richards (p. 32)
02.
03.
04.
Writing is a technology of thinking and communicating
Different tools include paper, pen/pencil, digital keyboard, screen, etc.
Connection Section: 1.1, 1.2
Concept Two
Writing Speaks to Situations Through Recognizable Forms
Author: Charles Bazerman
01.
02.
03.
04.
One of the main aspects of communication is the situation in which the communication is going to happen
While in person we can automatically perceive and make assumptions about our situation, in writing sometimes the situation is obscure, not intutive, or unknown.
Writing is mobile--sometimes writing meant for one situation is disseminated across a multitude of situations. (Think about news articles generated in one geographic location and then shared worldwide.)
Connection Section: 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 2.2, 2.3
Writing Represents the World, Events, Ideas, and Feelings
Author: Charles Bazerman
01.
02.
03.
04.
Writers must be deliberate in their language choices, so as to represent their subject matter in the most compelling and coherent way
There is a limit to language's ability to capture the truth of reality (Think of all those times you have said or heard 'you just had to be there')
The conglomerate of these textual representations creates knowledge
Connection Section: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
Genres are Enacted by Writers and Readers
Author: Bill Hart-Davidson
01.
Genre is defined as "a form of discourse recognizable as a common set of structural or thematic qualities" (p. 39)
02.
In writing, genres are recognized by what actions they elicit. Think of a commerical, for example, where the writing is geared towards making the audience go and buy their product.
03.
04.
Therefore genre is enacted by both the writer (the commerical writer) and the reader (the consumer who goes and buys the product). In this example, the relationship and expectations between writer and reader remain relatively consistent or habitual, constituting it as a genre.
Connection Section: 1.2
Writing is a Way of Enacting Disciplinarity
Author: Neal Lerner
01.
02.
03.
Disciplines shape and are shaped by writing
(Lerner, 2016, p. 40)
vs.
(Lerner 40)
Citations as an example: APA requires dates while MLA does not, illustrating how the two discipline's value time (MLA contends that citations are timeless while APA does not)
Connection Section: 1.9, 2.0
01.
02.
03.
04.
All Writing is Multimodal
Authors: Cheryl E. Bell and Colin Charlton
Multimodal = Multiple + Mode
The New London Group's Five Modes of Meaning Making
way of making meaning
Linguistic, Aural, Visual, Gestural, Spacial
Two Common Misconceptions: Multimodal means digital, and the opposite of multimodal is monomodal (p. 42)
Connection Section: 1.3, 1.5, 1.9, 2.0, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5
Writing is Performative
Author: Andrea A. Lunsford
01.
Writing has the ability to act or call to action
02.
03.
04.
Think about a student when they write an essay, aren't they "performing" for a grade?
Writing is performative when it helps to produce new insights or knowledge
Connection Section: 1.7, 2.6, 3.0
Texts Get Their Meaning From Other Texts
Author: Kevin Roozen
01.
When reading, we are not gleaning information strictly from the text at hand, but from other previously encountered texts as well (p. 44)
02.
Texts draw meaning from a network of other texts
03.
Texts can draw on nonwritten texts as well, like images or videos
Concept Three
Writing Enacts and Creates Identities and Ideologies
Author: Tony Scott
01.
02.
03.
04.
Vygotsky: "external speech becomes internalized and then comes to frame how we think, self-identify, and act in the world" (p. 49)
Problems for First Year Writing: The impossiblity of generalizing writing studies. Identity is a nuanced concept and cannot be approached with notions of hegemony
The future: interrogating practices that do not engage in critical understandings of pedagogical choices
Connection Section: 1.0
Writing is Linked to Identity
Author: Kevin Roozen
01.
02.
03.
04.
Writing facilitates the construction of self
Text helps to initiate individuals into a community, which will inform their identity
Writing serves as a way to advertise, display, and communicate our identities to others
Connection Section: 1.0, 3.1, 3.4
Writers' Histories, Processess, and Identities Vary
Author: Kathleen Blake Yancey
01.
02.
03.
04.
While we share many common identity traits, all writers are unique
Writer's identities are impacted by and differ depending on the time-period in which they live
Challenges notions that teaching writing should be uniform--how could it be if we are all so different?
Connection Section: 2.0, 4.1, 4.3, 5.1
Writing is Informed by Prior Experience
Author: Andrea A. Lunsford
01.
02.
03.
04.
All writing is a symbolic action or in conversation with other writing (p. 54)
Many writers have negative perceptions of writing because of prior experiences, like lefty's being punished for writing with their left hand. That negative perception often persists into adulthood
Specific genres that have informed prior writing can facilitate current writing
Connection Section: 2.2, 2.3, 2.6
Disciplinary and Professional Identities are Constructed Through Writing
Author: Heidi Estrem
01.
02.
03.
04.
Students encounter new disciplines or professions, usually when they reach college. Writing serves as a way to intitiate students into their specific discipline
Once initiated, students use writing (through the construction of essays and other assignments) to create their own professional identity
Through writing, we learn how to be and act in our new discipline (p. 56)
Connection Section: 1.0, 1.1, 2.3, 3.0, 3.1, 3.5
Writing Provides a Representation of Ideologies and Identities
Author: Victor Villanueva
01.
02.
03.
04.
Our identities are multifaceted--think intersectionality
Writers must be aware of how they are representing identity in their writing, make sure to pay attention to nuance and complexities inherent with language and identity
James Berlin's 3 conceptions of how writing can work (p. 58):
1. reflective, like a mirror
2. intentional, conveying what author wants
3. constructed, negotiations of meanings between writer and reader
Connection Section: 3.2
Concept Four
All Writers Have More to Learn
Author: Shirley Rose
01.
02.
03.
04.
Writing is not an innate human trait
Writing efficacy changes based on context, so as we encounter more contexts, we continue to learn different ways to write
As teachers, we cannot correctly judge a student's writing ability based off of one singular writing sample
Connection Section: 1.6, 1.7, 2.0, 2.2, 5.3
Text is an Object Outside of Oneself That Can be Improved and Developed
Authors: Charles Bazerman
and Howard Tinberg
01.
02.
03.
The act of writing involves writers putting symbols (letters, words) onto an external medium that can be edited, shared, and shaped by others
Externalization allows writers to review and revise the text they have written so far for clarity and messaging
Externalization also allows for collaboration and therefore new knowledge production
Failure Can be an Important Part of Writing Development
Authors: Collin Brooke and Allison Carr
01.
02.
03.
04.
Most good writing is the product of multiple revisions
Failure must be encouraged, therefore assessment should account for multiple drafts
Writing failures should not be tethered to feelings of inadequacy or stupity. Instead we should embrace failure as part of the writing process
Connection Section: 4.3, 4.4
Learning to Write Effectively Requires Different Kinds of Practice, Time, and Effort
Author: Kathleen Blake Yancey
01.
02.
03.
04.
Writing is like any other skill, it takes practice
Practice provides writers with opportunites to become more fluid and refine technique
Writing practice can involve different contexts and people
Connection Section: 1.6, 2.0, 4.0
Revision is Central to Developing Writing
Author: Doug Downs
01.
02.
03.
04.
In general, an unrevised first draft will rarely be as well-suited for its purpose compared to a revised draft
Writers who deliberately make revision part of their writing process will see more positive results
Teachers should try to dispell notions that revision = punishment
Connection Section: 3.0, 4.1, 4.3, 5.1
Assessment is an Essential Component of Learning to Write
Author: Peggy O'Neill
01.
02.
03.
04.
Assessment should not be focused only on grades, exams, or standardized tests but rather on the aspects of teaching and learning (p. 67)
Students should be assessing their peers writing as well as their own
Teachers should be assessing all phases of the writing process: pre-writing/outlining, drafts and revision, final essay
Connection Section: 2.2
Writing Involves the Negotiation of Writing Differences
Author: Paul Kei Matsuda
01.
02.
03.
04.
The Myth of Linguistic Homogeneity (p. 69): all writers share the same knowledge of language functions or structures.
Writers should be aware of multi-lingual audiences and contexts
All writers should understand diversity within language and how language shifts and changes
Connection Section: 1.0
Concept Five
Writing is (Also Always) a Cognitive Activity
Author: Dylan B. Dryer
01.
02.
03.
04.
Research in writing studies focuses heavily on what happens "outside the skull," but researchers are now looking what happens "inside the skull" when writers are composing (p. 71)
Anxiety (about assessment, time management, etc.) can overwhelm the composing process
Composing can influence other mental factors like attention span and recall abilities
Connection Section: 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.9, 2.1, 2.3, 3.2, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4
Writing is an Expression of Embodied Cognition
Authors: Charles Bazerman and Howard Tinberg
01.
02.
03.
Writing draws on all the resources of the nervous system
Embodied cognition draws on the physical aspects of composing (posture, grimmacing, laughing)
"Writing comes from full engagement of the entire writer, which is developed across many years of developing the self" (p. 75)
Metacognition is not Cognition
Author: Howard Tinberg
01.
Knowing what we know (cognition) versus knowing that we know (metacognition)
02.
Teachers should strive to develop students' consciousness of the writing process so they can reproduce success
03.
Metacognition allows writers to carefully choose which skills to employ when writing in unfamiliar contexts
Habituated Practice Can Lead to Entrenchment
Author: Chris M. Anson
01.
02.
03.
04.
The repetition of the same genres and writing processes will lead to entrenchment, which restricts a writer's ability to enter into new genres or communities
Repeated practice leads to processes or retrievals of information to occur with no conscious attention
Teachers should approach teaching writing by emphasizing "rhetorical dexterity," which allows writers to better understand the community they are writing for and thus compose work according to the standards of that community (pp. 78)
Connection Section: 2.1, 3.3
Reflection is Critical for Writers' Development
Author: Kara Taczak
01.
02.
03.
04.
Reflection allows for writers to understand what they are doing in a particular moment (cognition) and why they are making specific choices related to their writing and their process (metacognition)
Reflection should be continously happening during the writing process, not merely after it
Reflection does not strictly entail writers expressing how they feel about their writing, but also identifying what parts of their process are working and which parts can be improved
Connection Section: 2.0, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2
Further Connections
Visual Connections Web
Visual Connections Web