First Year Composition
Encyclopedia
First Year Composition is an introductory core curriculum writing
course in North American colleges. This course focuses on improving students' abilities to write in a university setting and introduces students to writing practices in the disciplines and professions. These courses are traditionally required of incoming students, thus the previous name, "Freshman Composition". First-year composition is a discipline of Composition Studies
. Composition studies concerns itself as much with the making of meaning—learning how to marshal facts and opinion to support various points of view—as with the development of standard or "proper" grammar
.
skills, information literacy
, and the process of writing an academic paper. While there is no American standard curriculum for First-Year Composition, curriculum is developed at several levels, including the state, institution, department, and writing program
.
associated with FYC, including, but not limited to the following: current-traditional
, expressivist
, social-epistemic
, post-process and Writing about Writing (WaW). Each of these pedagogies can generate a multitude of curricula.
However, composition professionals, including those with degrees in Writing Studies and Rhetoric
and Composition, often focus on a rhetorical approach to help students learn how to apply an understanding of audience
, purpose, context
, invention, and style to their writing processes. This rhetorical approach has shown that real writing, rather than existing as isolated modes, has more to do with a writer choosing from among many approaches to perform rhetorical tasks.
In addition to a focus on rhetoric, many first year composition courses also emphasize writing process, where students are encouraged to interact with classmates and receive feedback to be used for revision. These practices can take the form of essay peer review or workshopping.
is a division of Composition Studies that strives to bring students entering college to a more complete understanding of the rhetorical aspects of the writing process.
into their composition classrooms. In doing this, composition instructors have placed more emphasis on teaching audience analysis
, Aristotle
's three appeals (ethos
, pathos
, and logos
), and teaching Kinneavy's modes of discourse.
According to Brian Sutton in "Writing in the Disciplines, First-Year Composition, and the Research Paper," since 1980, there has been an increasing debate in academic circles as to whether the "generic" approach to writing in first year composition is useful for students whose future writing will be discipline specific (46).
and graduate students
.
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
course in North American colleges. This course focuses on improving students' abilities to write in a university setting and introduces students to writing practices in the disciplines and professions. These courses are traditionally required of incoming students, thus the previous name, "Freshman Composition". First-year composition is a discipline of Composition Studies
Composition studies
Composition Studies is the professional field of writing research and instruction, focusing especially on writing at the college level in the United States...
. Composition studies concerns itself as much with the making of meaning—learning how to marshal facts and opinion to support various points of view—as with the development of standard or "proper" grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
.
Structure of Modern First-Year Composition
First-Year Composition is designed to meet the goals for successful completion set forth by the Council of Writing Program Administrators. To reach these goals, students must learn rhetorical conventions, critical thinkingCritical thinking
Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
skills, information literacy
Information literacy
The National Forum on Information Literacy defines information literacy as “...the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand.” This is the most common definition; however,...
, and the process of writing an academic paper. While there is no American standard curriculum for First-Year Composition, curriculum is developed at several levels, including the state, institution, department, and writing program
Writing Center
Many educational institutions maintain a writing center that provides students with free assistance on their papers, projects, reports, multimodal documents, web pages, et cetera from consultants. A key goal of any writing center is helping writers to learn...
.
First-Semester Composition
First-Year Composition (FYC) courses are structured in a variety of ways. Some institutions of higher education require only one term of FYC, while others require two or three courses. There are a number of identifiable pedagogiesPedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
associated with FYC, including, but not limited to the following: current-traditional
Formalist theory in composition studies
Formalism is the study of a text without taking into account any outside influence. Formalism rejects notions of culture or societal influence, authorship, and content, and instead focuses on modes, genres, discourse, and forms.-Beginnings:...
, expressivist
Theories of Rhetoric and Composition Pedagogy
THEORIES OF RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION PEDAGOGYINTRODUCTIONThe field of rhetoric has been a matter of considerable debate for millennia. Aristotle wrote a philosophical work that still has major scholarly impact, Rhetoric, in which he identifies five canons of the field of rhetoric: invention,...
, social-epistemic
Cognitive rhetoric
Cognitive Rhetoric refers to an approach to rhetoric, composition and pedagogy as well as a method for language and literary studies drawing from, or contributing to, cognitive science.-History:...
, post-process and Writing about Writing (WaW). Each of these pedagogies can generate a multitude of curricula.
However, composition professionals, including those with degrees in Writing Studies and Rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
and Composition, often focus on a rhetorical approach to help students learn how to apply an understanding of audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
, purpose, context
Context
Context may refer to:* Context , the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary...
, invention, and style to their writing processes. This rhetorical approach has shown that real writing, rather than existing as isolated modes, has more to do with a writer choosing from among many approaches to perform rhetorical tasks.
In addition to a focus on rhetoric, many first year composition courses also emphasize writing process, where students are encouraged to interact with classmates and receive feedback to be used for revision. These practices can take the form of essay peer review or workshopping.
Basic Writing
Basic WritingBasic writing
Basic writing, or developmental writing, is a discipline of composition studies which focuses on the writing of students sometimes otherwise called "remedial" or "underprepared", usually freshman college students.-Defining Basic Writing:...
is a division of Composition Studies that strives to bring students entering college to a more complete understanding of the rhetorical aspects of the writing process.
First-Year Composition and Rhetoric
With the publication of James Kinneavy's Theory of Discourse in 1971, English departments began incorporating rhetoricRhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
into their composition classrooms. In doing this, composition instructors have placed more emphasis on teaching audience analysis
Audience analysis
Audience analysis is a task that is often performed by technical writers in a project's early stages. It consists of assessing the audience to make sure the information provided to them is at the appropriate level. The audience is often referred to as the end-user, and all communications need to...
, Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's three appeals (ethos
Ethos
Ethos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of...
, pathos
Pathos
Pathos represents an appeal to the audience's emotions. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric , and in literature, film and other narrative art....
, and logos
Logos
' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...
), and teaching Kinneavy's modes of discourse.
According to Brian Sutton in "Writing in the Disciplines, First-Year Composition, and the Research Paper," since 1980, there has been an increasing debate in academic circles as to whether the "generic" approach to writing in first year composition is useful for students whose future writing will be discipline specific (46).
Labor Issues
Because of its problematic status and the number of students it serves, composition has a history of relying on underpaid adjunct instructorsProfessors in the United States
In the U.S., "Professors" commonly occupy any of several positions in academia, typically the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor....
and graduate students
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
.