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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor. Michigan 4B106 USA St John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR r 'j ?£ i i 9 l»JarrtFk, Cr.R i HJjU'l t h r p t u f M nr rjMprt^nr. nk!UF:>s: a TnFURfcTlfAL f T c. A (. H l Nj R L ?-fc A K C r i l M MF Pril l iTi»Tt jNiVtRilTV* \4~to University M icrofilm s International «>on /»i h .hiao »nn imbjh• Miami*, Regina Tuakan Rinderer 1978 THE PERSON IN THE COMPOSING PROCESS: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN COMPOSITION DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Regina Tuskan Rinderer, A.B., M.A. The Ohio State University 1978 Reading Committee: Approved By Donald R. Bateman Edward P. J. Corbett Donald P. Sanders Adviser Department of Humanities Education To Don Bateman, who always believed In me ii PREFACE I came to the activities of teaching and writing with what educational philosopher Maxine Greene calls the eyes of a stranger. Naive, unsure of the constitutive and regulative rules for teaching or for writing, I continually approached both activities with the eyes of a foreigner, someone who is trying to learn how to cope with a new culture. Thus this dissertation grows out of an inquiry context, for I continually had to ask myself, ,fHow does one teach?'* and "How do people write?" Constantly I searched for "answers,” only to discover that there are no blueprints as to how to teach or write effectively. There are only useful attitudes, helpful relationships, tacit understandings. And, always, more questions. I started teaching writing in 1964, a shy kid, afraid of those unmanageable six-foot basketball players and burly football players my undergraduate suitemates had warned me about. Not until fall quarter of 1977 did any such students appear in my classroom; the 6*11” basketball player in my Basic Writing course was a mild-mannered and delightful fellow. What I have encountered, though, were questions, problems, unexpected situations which my brief teacher-training experience and my teaching assistant graduate training had not prepared me for. In many ways this dissertation is an outgrowth of what I have seen and dealt with out of that lack of total preparedness. The dissertation reflects my various teaching experi ences. In my thirteen teaching years, I have taught composition in a variety of settings: in large midwestem universities, in a small English high school nestled in the heart of French Canada, and in a middle-sized Black southern university. In addition to tutoring one-to-one in a writing lab, I have taught classes small enough to be designated seminars and others large enough for lectures only. I have taught commercial and academic high school students, some of whom were native French speakers; Black students in a Developmental Education program at a predominantly white university; Black students in a Black university. Those diverse situations have allowed me to ask questions, to have a sense of what goes wrong in the teaching of writing, and to see possibilities for the future. iii This dissertation likewise is a personal sense-making venture. It has been necessary for me at this stage in my personal and professional development to stand back and take stock of where I have been, what I have observed and read, what I know. That stock-taking has carried me down two personally useful paths. One, it has forced me to introspect on my own writing career— on my own workings as a writer, both in doing the dissertation, itself a marvellous learning activity, and throughout my life. Two, it has allowed me to reflect on my career as a writing teacher: to recollect student comments and behavior, to re-consider student mistakes and problems, to remember teaching joys and pains, so as to gain some fresh insights into the process of writing and into the teaching and researching of that process. I have reached a point in my professional life, then, where I need to make sense of what I know. Especially do I need to pull together my knowings in three areas of concern to me: the writing event, teaching writing, and doing research into how people write. This dissertation has occasioned the sense-making. As well, this dissertation has a heuristic component for the profession. In large part the intent is to extend the limits of our vision, to move beyond the trees to the larger forest. For perspective is lacking in our teaching and research, perspective which can be restored as we understand more of who persons are--their vast complexity— and more of what writing, teaching, and research encompass. There are worlds waiting to be explored, where we have perceived only dunes of sand. The thrust of this disserta tion is to tw incomplete theoretical understandings of persons, the writing process, teaching, and doing research. It attempts to stretch our understandings and our visions of those four areas as far as mine will now carry me. Let me add that, having been through my own period of initiation as a writing teacher, the last thing 1 mean to do in this work is to castigate other English teachers. We all teach too many students, read too many papers, expend too many energies on our students, to deserve chastizing. Tet I sense that there have been important gaps in our understanding and practice, gaps which we need to acknowledge and deal with, gaps which, when filled, would allow us to enjoy our composition teaching more fully and experience greater success than many of us do at present. It is in this spirit of friendly persuasion, then, that I offer this dissertation to all those who, like me, believe writing can be taught and researched and would like to see those activities done more enjoyably and more effectively. iv I wish to thank the many friends and family who pulled me— or pushed me— through the year as I was writing this dissertation: to Bonnie, David, Wilke, Dennis, and Jay for giving me a start last summer; to Ellie, Joan, and Tony for their presence and support, love and laughter this year; to Tom and my family— especially my mother— and to the Blyths, ray adopted family, for being there when I needed them; to old and new friends alike, who cheer me on, A special thank-you to the professors who, as teachers and friends, supported and encouraged me while these ideas were growing: to Paul Klohr for the chance to explore curriculum theory in ways that made sense to me; to Johanna DeStefano for her presence and linguistic insights; to Ed Corbett, whose questions continually challenge me; and to Don Sanders for his incisive questions, constant support, and love. Most of all, I want to thank Don Bateman for the freedom he has given me to explore the questions I needed to explore; for the many insights he has shared with me during many delightful conversations, hours which I shall miss; and for continuing to support and unceasingly to believe in me. He has led me in directions I didn't expect, to places I never thought I could go. v VITA June 22, 1944 . Bora - Uniontown, Pennsylvania 1964............... A.B., University of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1964-1966 ......... Teaching Assistant, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1966............... M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1966-1967 ......... Teaching Assistant, Department of English, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 1967-1969 ......... Lecturer, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1969-1972 ........