Writing about Writing (WAW) as a pedagogy officially emerged from composition studies in 2007 with Doug Downs’ and Elizabeth Wardle’s publication the first edition of Writing about Writing, a course textbook, and “Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions.” In their article, Downs and Wardle propose “Introduction to Writing Studies” as a type of first-year composition (FYC) course, which they had been teaching at the University of Utah and the University of Dayton, respectively. However, though WAW was initially conceived as a pedagogical approach to the composition classroom, it has evolved into a site of research for composition scholars who seek to continue the work of those such as Lucille McCarthy, Nancy Sommers, and Mike Rose. Downs and Wardle themselves refute the notion that WAW is simply a pedagogy, arguing that “[d]espite the progress our field has made over the years at erasing theory/practice oppositions, it is still too easy to imagine pedagogy as ‘practice,’ removed from the realm of serious theory or research about the work or direction of writing studies as a discipline” (554).
Hence, several exigencies for WAW’s emergence exist. First, there’s an ongoing desire and need to prepare students to write across the university. This need has inspired many scholars to investigate curriculum and methods that promote a student’s ability to transfer writing skills across contexts (Ackerman; Berkenkotter and Huckin; Carter, Diller, and Oates; Kaufer and Young; MacDonald, Petraglia, and Russell “Activity Theory”; Yancey, Robertson, and Taczak). Downs and Wardle hold that WAW promotes transfer because it prompts students to make writing choices based upon the writing situation rather than utilizing writing as a universal skill that is the same across contexts.
Second, student writing is done subconsciously, without reflection on or an awareness of their choices. Scholars have demonstrated the importance of awareness in effective writing, such as Irene Clark and Andrea Hernandez, who have researched methods to promote genre awareness as a means to achieve transfer. In contrast, WAW moves students to consider their own writing experiences—their literacy development, for example—and question how they have used (and have not used) writing (Downs and Wardle, Writing about Writing). Metacognitive exercises are included following every reading in the Writing about Writing textbook to encourage reflection and awareness.
Third, public misconceptions of the discipline of writing exist among faculty of other disciplines and students. The majority of the academy assumes that academic writing can be taught in one to two introductory writing courses, and instructors of English who teach these introductory courses subsequently support this assumption. Downs’ and Wardle’s proposal to reenvision FYC as a content-based course challenges this assumption. Writing studies is a discipline, and if it “is to have any authority of its own courses. . . perhaps the most significant which would be that writing is neither basic nor universal but content—and context contingent and irreducibly complex” (“Teaching” 557-58). For Downs and Wardle, guiding students to read and interact with scholarly conversations about writing causes students to learn more about writing as well as be more engaged with the goals of the course (Writing about Writing).
The Writing about Writing approach has not come without criticism from the field, of course—particularly regarding the third exigency discussed above. Many scholars have argued against trying to justify the field of writing studies by teaching writing studies to students. In other words, writing instructors should be able to teach writing to students and help them cultivate an ability to transfer skills without sharing the studies that were conducted and written for a field of scholars. In their 2013 response to this criticism in “Reflecting Back and Looking Forward: Revisiting ‘Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions’ Five Years On,” Downs and Wardle acknowledge their 2007 misconceptions and misjudgments and work to “use language [they] did not then possess.” With regards to their initial understanding of public misconceptions of the discipline of writing studies, they note, “we see our field as having both declarative and procedural knowledge about writing that can and should be conveyed directly to students, so that they are empowered by knowing about the nature and workings of the activity itself and can act from their knowledge instead of having writing done to them” (“Reflecting Back”).
Additionally, in their 2013 reflection and response, Downs and Wardle draw on Jan Meyer and Ray Land’s work with threshold concepts. Doing so has allowed then to frame their own knowledge of the writing about writing curriculum and therefore affirm that our field has knowledge of writing that needs to be shared with students.
Downs and Wardle are anticipating the release of the third edition of their text Writing about Writing in the near future.
Bibliography
Clark, I.L. & Hernandez, A. (2011). Genre awareness, academic argument, and transferability. The WAC Journal 22.
Downs, D., & Wardle, E. (2013). Reflecting back and looking forward: Revisiting ‘Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions’ five years on. Composition Forum 27. N.p.
—. (2007). Teaching about writing, righting misconceptions: (Re)envisioning ‘First-Year Composition’ as ‘Introduction to Writing Studies.’ CCC 58(4), 552-584.
Moore, J. (2012). Mapping the questions: The state of writing-related transfer research. Composition Forum 26. N.p.
Wardle, E., & Downs D., Writing about Writing. 2nd ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013.
Yancey, K. B., Robertson, L., & Taczak, K. (2014). Writing across contexts: Transfer, composition, and sites of writing. Boulder, CO: Utah State UP.
Hi Elise,
this is such an interesting post, as I, like many other FYC instructors, have my background in Literature, and my first couple of years teaching post-secondary was a community college that taught mode writing. My new university uses Downs and Wardle, WAW, and it was a huge learning curve for me. I am still learning so much, but I do agree that “WAW moves students to consider their own writing experiences—their literacy development, for example—and question how they have used (and have not used) writing” as you note above. Great piece =)
This is really interesting! I did a little bit of research this summer on WAC and WID, so I’m curious how this overlaps, or does it with these other movements. Is WAW more a FYC approach or can it be a pedagogical tool within WAC and WID?
Both, Sarah! In fact, East Carolina University recently rolled out a FYC approach they call Writing Across the Disciplines. They use their own version of a writing about writing approach without using Downs’ and Wardle’s WAW text. They are working to encourage more vertical alignment in their curriculum, or consistency across disciplines, in order to encourage transfer.
Very interesting, Elise. I think using writing about writing with students is a very practical way to get them involved in the discipline while, in some ways, giving them an active role in shaping it. By ushering them into the practice of writing about writing (while analyzing and reading), they have the opportunity to contribute their own observations and discoveries.
I enjoyed reading this very much. It gave me much to think about regarding my own teaching and my own education. The idea to “reenvision FYC as a content-based course” and that “writing is neither basic nor universal but content–and context contingent and irreducibly complex” rang true for me. Both for the courses I’ve taught and those I’d taken.
Sarah, I am totally on board with WaW and feel it should be used as a model for teaching FYCs. I feel that it addresses many of the issues other disciplines have about what students are taught in FYCs. Although it may be much to include scholarly studies into FYCs, it is helpful for students to understand that what they’re doing isn’t in a bubble, but part of an ongoing process intrinsic in the university/college experience. Writing is everywhere and the threshold concepts could help them better understand the purpose and complexity of writing, that there is no formula or worksheet to fill out.