Research in writing, postsecondary education, 1984-2003

Abstract

This review of research in college composition divides the field into research focused on the student writer, the teacher of college composition, and the contexts of writing. The period under review is characterized by the “social turn,” an effort to situate the writer within social, political, and other contexts in which teaching and writing take place. The author finds that, early in the 21st century, the field of college composition lacks the sort of monolith—such as the “current rhetorical” tradition that has now been largely abandoned—that galvanized teachers and researchers of college composition in the past. As a consequence, the field presently lacks a clear focus or direction.