Written Communication Apr 2000

Learning the Trade

ANNE BEAUFORT

Abstract

Taking a social constructionist point of view and drawing on the work in cognitive psychology on situated cognition and expert performances, this study reports on a segment of an ethnography of writing in a workplace setting that reveals the interconnections of discourse community goals, writers' roles, and the socialization process for writers new to a given discourse community. Specifically, the data reveal 15 different writing roles assumed by members of the discourse community that depict a continuum from novice to expert writing behaviors. Writing roles were defined in relation to both the importance to community goals of the text to be written and to the amount of context-specific writing knowledge required to accomplish the task. The study applies the notion of legitimate peripheral participation in a discourse community and creates a framework for conceptualizing a social apprenticeship in writing either in school or nonschool settings.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2000-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088300017002002
Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis qualitative research

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (12)

  1. Driscoll et al. (2022)
    Threshold Genres: A 10-Year Exploration of a Medical Writer’s Development and S…
    Written Communication
  2. Lagos (2021)
    Mirroring Lautaro’s Gesture: Toward a Canon in Latin American Writing Studies
    College English
  3. Pigg et al. (2020)
    Metaphor 2: Crossing: Still “Worlds Apart”? Early-Career Writing Learning as a …
    College English
  4. Campeau (2019)
    Rethinking Person-Centeredness: Contestations of Disability, Care, and Culture …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Luo et al. (2017)
    Intervention and Revision: Expertise and Interaction in Text Mediation
    Written Communication
Show all 12 →
  1. Vealey (2017)
    Kenny Fountain, T. (2014). <i>Rhetoric in the Flesh: Trained Vision, Technical …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Cushman (2015)
    “Write Me a Better Story”: Writing Stories as a Diagnostic and Repair Practice …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Ding (2008)
    The Use of Cognitive and Social Apprenticeship to Teach a Disciplinary Genre
    Written Communication
  4. Angouri et al. (2008)
    This Is Too Formal for Us...
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Wegner (2004)
    The Collaborative Construction of a Management Report in a Municipal Community …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  6. Swarts (2004)
    Technological Mediation of Document Review
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. BERKENKOTTER (2001)
    Genre Systems at Work
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (21)

  1. LARSON (1999)
    Analyzing Participation Frameworks in Kindergarten Writing Activity
    Written Communication
  2. Beaufort (1997)
    Operationalizing the Concept of Discourse Community: A Case Study of One Instit…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. RUSSELL (1997)
    Rethinking Genre in School and Society
    Written Communication
  4. GUNNARSSON (1997)
    The Writing Process from a Sociolinguistic Viewpoint
    Written Communication
  5. Nelson (1995)
    Reading Classrooms as Text: Exploring Student Writers' Interpretive Practices
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 21 →
  1. Newkirk (1995)
    The Writing Conference as Performance
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. SPERLING (1995)
    Uncovering the Role of Role in Writing and Learning to Write
    Written Communication
  3. PRIOR (1994)
    Response, Revision, Disciplinarity
    Written Communication
  4. FREEDMAN et al. (1994)
    Wearing Suits to Class
    Written Communication
  5. BERKENKOTTER et al. (1993)
    Rethinking Genre from a Sociocognitive Perspective
    Written Communication
  6. Freedman (1993)
    Show and Tell? The Role of Explicit Teaching in the Learning of New Genres
    Research in the Teaching of English
  7. SCHRYER (1993)
    Records as Genre
    Written Communication
  8. Sperling (1990)
    I Want to Talk to Each of You: Collaboration and the Teacher-Student Writing Co…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  9. ANSON et al. (1990)
    Moving Beyond the Academic Community
    Written Communication
  10. NYSTRAND (1990)
    Sharing Words
    Written Communication
  11. McCarthy (1987)
    A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum
    Research in the Teaching of English
  12. SPERLING et al. (1987)
    A Good Girl Writes Like a Good Girl
    Written Communication
  13. DOHENY-FARINA (1986)
    Writing in an Emerging Organization
    Written Communication
  14. MYERS (1985)
    The Social Construction of Two Biologists' Proposals
    Written Communication
  15. LANGER (1985)
    Children's Sense of Genre
    Written Communication
  16. Florio et al. (1982)
    The Functions of Writing in an Elementary Classroom
    Research in the Teaching of English
Also cites 19 works outside this index ↓
  1. Applebee, A. N. (1983)
    10.58680/la198326236
    Language Arts  ↗
  2. Bereiter, C.
    The psychology of written composition
     ↗
  3. 10.2307/357655
     ↗
  4. 10.2307/378193
     ↗
  5. 10.1017/S0142716400000187
     ↗
  6. Geisler, C.
    Academic literacy and the nature of expertise: Reading, writing and knowing in academic p…
     ↗
  7. 10.1017/S0047404500009039
     ↗
  8. 10.1525/aeq.1997.28.1.3
     ↗
  9. Macrorie, K.
    Telling writing
     ↗
  10. 10.1177/0893318990003004006
     ↗
  11. 10.1080/00335638409383686
     ↗
  12. 10.3102/0013189X018001016
     ↗
  13. Petraglia, J.
    Reconceiving writing, rethinking writing instruction
     ↗
  14. 10.2307/1175725
     ↗
  15. 10.1016/0883-0355(87)90006-1
     ↗
  16. Sanjek, R.
    Fieldnotes: The makings of anthropology
     ↗
  17. 10.3102/00346543062003279
     ↗
  18. 10.2307/468619
     ↗
  19. Vygotsky, L. S.
    Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 46 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2023
    All in a Day’s Play: How a Child Resists Linguistic Racism and Constructs Her Identity ↗
    Denise Dávila
    discourse analysis writing across the curriculum qualitative research race and writing multilingual writers
  2. Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2022
    Gendered Genius Hour: Tracing Young Children’s Uptake of Expert across the Nexus of Personal Digital Inquiry ↗
    Jon M. Wargo
    genre theory discourse analysis qualitative research race and writing
  3. Literacy in Composition Studies Feb 2021
    Composing Literary Arguments in an 11th Grade International Baccalaureate Classroom: How Classroom Instructional Conversations Shape Modes of Participation ↗
    Newell, George E.; Thanos, Theresa Siemer; Seymour, Matt
    writing pedagogy discourse analysis qualitative research multimodality race and writing argument
  4. Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Oct 2019
    Figuring Identities and Taking Action: The Tension Between Strategic and Practical Gender Needs within a Critical Literacy Program by Christopher Worthman ↗
    discourse analysis literacy studies qualitative research multilingual writers
  5. Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Oct 2019
    Into the Field: The Use of Student-Authored Ethnography in Service-Learning Settings by Thomas Trimble ↗
    service learning discourse analysis qualitative research multilingual writers