First-Year Composition: From Theory to Practice

by Deborah Coxwell-Teague (Editor), Ronald F. Lunsford (Editor)

Responding to a widespread belief that the field of composition studies is less unified than it was in the late twentieth century, editors Deborah Coxwell-Teague and Ronald F. Lunsford ask twelve well-known composition theorists to create detailed syllabi for a first-year composition course and then to explain their theoretical foundations. Each contributor to FIRST-YEAR FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE, discusses the major goals and objectives for their course, its major assignments, their use of outside texts, the role of reading and responding to these texts, the nature of classroom discussion, their methods of responding to student writing, and their assessment methods. The contributors to FIRST-YEAR FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE include Chris Anson, Suresh Canagarajah, Douglas Hesse, Asao Inoue, Paula Mathieu, Teresa Redd, Alexander Reid, Jody, Shipka, Howard Tinberg, Victor Villanueva, Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, and Kathleen Blake Yancey. Their twelve essays provide a window into these teachers' classrooms that will help readers, teachers, and writing program administrators appreciate the strengths of unity and diversity in rhetoric and composition as a field. The examples will empower new and experienced teachers and administrators. The editors frame the twelve essays with an introductory chapter that identifies key moments in composition's history and a concluding chapter that highlights the varied and useful ways the contributors approach the common challenges of the first-year composition course.

Genres: Teaching, Writing

422 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2014

Reviews

[Sophie Cornwell]

Golly gee the field of rhetoric is so complicated and multifaceted and broad and the more I dive into it the more excited I get to be a part of this conversation with all these amazing scholars omg

[Joe]

A series of twelve essays by leading teachers/scholars of writing, in which each author first outlines a general approach to teaching academic writing and then shows how that approach might be enacted in an actual course syllabus. A strong and appealing attempt to bridge theory and practice. I plan to use this book in my Seminar on Teaching Composition in the fall.

[Elizabeth]

I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. Having instructors of various types of first-year comp classes explain how they design their courses and include their syllabi was illuminating, inspiring, and interesting. The editors did a great job soliciting chapters from people who work at very different types of institutions and who foreground very different things when teaching writing. Overall, the book contained loads of practical advice without being prescriptive.

[Leah Brooks]

I use this when I teach a graduate-level teaching of writing seminar. My students love this book. It's a very good resource for understanding the practical application of theory and for bridging theory and the daily workings of the classroom.

[Christa Maurice]

Interesting if you're trying to set up a composition course. The chapters were all written by different authors so some are going to be more interesting than others. Most chapters have some value even if it's not what you were looking for.

[Janet]

These were the most beneficial for me right now (although great for reference):

Setting the Table: Composition in the Last Half of the Twentieth Century | Deborah Coxwell-Teague and Ronald F. Lunsford

Occasions, Sources, and Strategies | Douglas Hesse

A Grade-Less Writing Course That Focuses on Labor and Assessing | Asao B. Inoue

Beyond Text and Talk: A Multimodal Approach to First-Year Composition | Jody Shipka

For the Love of Language: A Curriculum | Victor Villanueva

Attempting the Impossible: Designing a First-Year Composition Course | Kathleen Blake Yancey

A Cornucopia of Composition Theories: What These Teachers Tell Us About Our Discipline | Deborah Coxwell-Teague and Ronald F. Lunsford

[Stacey]

A great collection of articles on teaching composition. Most are an effective blend of theory and practice (especially those by Doug Hesse, Paula Mathieu, Jody Shipka, Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs). There are only a few dudes that read more like freewriting than thoughtful analysis at times, yet even those have some value. A great resource.

[Suzanne]

Helpful for different approaches to comp theory

[Catherine Siemann]

Very useful -- I have years of teaching experience, but my background is in literary studies and I'm playing catchup with comp/rhet theory. This nicely pairs the practical with the theoretical.

[Bellatuscana Bellatuscana]

I didn't find this book very helpful when it talked about definitions. I liked the rubrics and projects though.