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The 1970s: A Turn Toward Cognitive Conceptions of Writing
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James Britton, Language and Learning
In 1970, James Britton published the book Language and Learning, in which he treats language and composition in terms of poetic, transactional and expressive language. He critiqued "dummy run" composition exercises, which constrained students to pre-determined writing forms. -
Stanley Fish and Affective Stylistics
Fish required a "competent reader," arguing that texts are not objective objects, but experiential processes that "happen to" writers. -
Janet Emig, The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders
Emig also reacted against prescriptive composition formulas such as the five-paragraph essay, in which she calls "algorithmic" and "mechanical," instead proposing that composition should focus on the process rather than the text. -
Chomsky and the Importance of Linguistics
The individual mind's constructive operations are more important than formal language structures. Linguistics became a part of cognitive psychology here. -
Empirical Research: Call and Response
Some researchers who participated in this call and response research process include: Bracewell, Frederiksen & Frederiksen (1982); Diaute (1981); Faigley & Witte (1981); Kroll (1978); Flowers & Hayes (1970, 1981); Bereiter & Scardamalia (1987). Research about composition writing seems like a double-sided process, in which theorists must work with empirical researchers in order to work out a better composition process.
