This post was written by member Jens Lloyd, editorial assistant for College Composition and Communication.
College Composition and Communication publishes scholarship in rhetoric and composition studies that supports college teachers in reflecting on and improving their practices in teaching writing.
The articles in our June 2018 issue, available online and in print, explore the perspectives of some key constituents that make up the classrooms and institutions within which we ply our trade as teachers and scholars of college writing.
In particular, authors contributing to the latest edition of CCC document how students, instructors, and administrators are mutually connected to but differently impacted by decisions that get made in the course of completing an assignment, designing and delivering instruction, and managing a writing program.
Kicking off the issue with an argument for resuscitating our field’s interest in composing processes, Pamela Takayoshi offers a thorough review of scholarship from the heyday of process research and finds that there is plenty of unfinished business to attend to in this area. “Much of the composing process scholarship,” Takayoshi writes, “concluded with questions the current research left unanswered and calls for further research.”
The next article in our June issue pairs nicely with Takayoshi’s insistence that we recommit to studying students’ writing habits. Heather Lindenman, Martin Camper, Lindsay Dunne Jacoby, and Jessica Enoch present findings from a large-scale study of a first-year writing course emphasizing revision and reflection. The authors document that, though commonly assumed to function synergistically for students, revision and reflection are often practiced in a disconnected fashion and, after sharing their results, the authors provide suggestions for how we might help students close the loop.
Todd Ruecker, Stefan Frazier, and Mariya Tseptsura shift the focus from students to instructors, specifically those who have a first language other than English. The authors draw upon data from an extensive survey and provide in-depth profiles of three individuals to flesh out the experiences of these instructors who are increasingly playing prominent roles in the delivery of composition instruction. Ultimately a provocative and encouraging portrait, this article hints at the “deeper institutional restructuring” that needs to happen in order to fully appreciate the linguistically diverse backgrounds of students and instructors.
Shari J. Stenberg and Debbie Minter conclude the June issue with a study of veteran writing program administrators. Stenberg and Minter use the concept of resilience to elucidate how administrative work is a complex rhetorical act, especially amidst the continuing pressures of neoliberal reforms to higher education.
“Resilience,” Stenberg and Minter insist, “is required not when things are going well, but when one is forced to negotiate difficulty or disappointment.”
In the coming weeks, some of our June authors will be featured in our podcast series. Check out these interviews for additional insights into the scholarship published in CCC.
We welcome feedback and questions about the journal (and our podcasts series!) at ccceditors@gmail.com.
Jens Lloyd recently completed his PhD at UC Irvine. This fall, he will join the faculty in the English department at Drew University.