Proposal for Independent Study Fall 2011

ENGL699: Independent Study: Rhetorical Genre Studies

1. Rationale for the Independent Study
This independent study will provide an inquiry framework for teaching and research related to rhetorical genre studies. The course is designed for students to shape and address questions about genre-based approaches to the teaching of writing, to inform uses of genre in writing consultation and commenting contexts, such as the University Writing Center, and to survey genre-focused research in both academic and non-academic contexts.

2. Objectives for the Independent Study

To survey key concepts and influential scholars (e.g., writers, theorists, teachers, researchers) related to rhetorical genre studies. To establish a framework through which to envision, plan, and undertake teaching and/or research grounded in rhetorical genre studies. To identify existing and in-progress rhetorical genre studies research projects and pedagogies, and to analyze the motives, rationale, and exigencies to which they respond. To situate rhetorical genre studies in relationship to the fields of technical communication and rhetoric and composition. To research and evaluate selected theories and methods in rhetorical genre studies. See attached reading list.

3. Readings/Texts/Other Materials 4. Nature of the Study

This study will consist of reading, writing, and conversation convened on a regular basis throughout the semester. We will return recursively to larger organizing concepts and questions as we read work in rhetorical genre studies and examine established and in-progress pedagogical frameworks and research projects in rhetorical genre studies.

5. Topical Outline
Topics of special interest include A. What are salient insights for writing teachers and researchers available through rhetorical genre studies? B. What must tech comm. and rhet/comp scholars know about rhetorical genre studies? About specific domains of writing and reading activity, both academic and non-academic? About methodologies related to genre studies, such as user-centered design, activity theory, and actor-network theory? C. What are points of convergence (established or unexplored) among rhetorical genre studies and technical communication or rhetoric and composition?

6. Role of Professor
The professor will offer perspectives and questions related to readings, conversations, and the student's development of two projects: a first project concerned with the multigenre-based ENGL121 curriculum at EMU and a second project concerned with developing a genres-across-the-curriculum database for use by University Writing Center consultants at EMU.

7. Frequency of meetings with professor

Two hours weekly throughout the Fall 2011 semester. 8. Papers Written/Other forms of evaluation Blogged notes on course readings (weekly) A unit lesson plan on genre for use in ENGL121, Winter 2012 semester A research-informed description of the genre-across-the-curriculum database, and five entries (genre profiles) based on interactions (interviews, other sorts of collection efforts) with EMU faculty 9. Proposed Bibliography See #3 above.

Proposal for Independent Study Fall 2011

Rhetorical Genre Studies Reading List Bakhtin, M.M. The Problem of Speech Genres. [1952 1953]. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Eds. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin, TX: U of Texas P, 1986. 60-102. Bawarshi, Anis. Genre and the Invention of the Writer. Logan: Utah State UP, 2003. Bawarshi, Anis, and Mary Jo Reiff. Genre: An Introduction to History, Theory, Research, and Pedagogy. West Lafayette, Ind.: Parlor Press and WAC Clearinghouse, 2010. ---. Tracing Discursive Resources: How Students Use Prior Genre Knowledge to Negoriate New Writing Contexts in First-Year Composition." Written Communication 28.3 (2011): 312-337. Clark, Irene. "A Genre Approach to Writing Assignments." Composition Forum 14.2 (2005): no pagination. Web. Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Vol. 1. 1. Ed. Charles Lowe. West Lafayette, Ind.: Parlor Press and WAC Clearinghouse, 2010. Web. Devitt, Amy J. Writing Genres. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2004. ---. Generalizing About Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College Composition and Communication. 44.4 (1993): 573-586. Fleischer, Cathy, and Sarah Andrew-Vaughan. Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Helping Students Navigate Unfamiliar Genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2009. Miller, Carolyn R. Genre as a Social Action. 1984. Genre and the New Rhetoric. Eds. Aviva Freedman and Peter Medway. Bristol: Taylor and Francis, 1994. 23-42. ---. Rhetorical Community: The Cultural Basis of Genre Genre and the New Rhetoric. Eds. Aviva Freedman and Peter Medway. Taylor and Francis, 1994. 6778. Prior, Paul A. Resituating the Discourse Community: A Sociohistoric Perspective. Writing / Disciplinarity: A Sociohistoric Account of Literate Activity in the Academy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. 3-33. Geisler, Cheryl. Toward a Sociocognitive Model of Literacy: Constructing Mental Models in a Philosophical Conversation Textual Dynamics of the Professions. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. 171-190. Russell, David R., and David Fisher. Online, Multimedia Case Studies for Professional Education. Genre in the Internet: Issues in the Theory of Genre. Ed. Janet Giltrow and Dieter Stein. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2009. 163-91.