Written Communication Jan 1995

Uncovering the Role of Role in Writing and Learning to Write

MELANIE SPERLING

Abstract

Social theories of language (e.g., Vygotsky and Bakhtin) implicate instruction that promotes spoken interaction during the writing process. Such interaction is said to make explicit for students the dialogic relationship between writers and readers that underlies written text. This case study of a “prewriting” class discussion and student writing in a secondary English class suggests that, more than establishing a relationship with readers, students talk and writing invoke a complex of roles that reflect their relationships with one another, the outside world, and their texts. Speaking and writing contexts shape the different roles that students take. The setting of the study is an inner-city classroom in which students' lives bear critical connections to the outside world; such classrooms may be particularly valuable sites for studying students as complex role players in the process of learning to write. In offering a theory of roles and relationships, the study complicates current thinking about how classroom discourse in these and other settings is linked to writing.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1995-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088395012001006
Open Access
Closed
Topics
qualitative research multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. VanDerHeide et al. (2013)
    Instructional Chains as a Method for Examining the Teaching and Learning of Arg…
    Written Communication
  2. BEAUFORT (2000)
    Learning the Trade
    Written Communication
  3. LARSON (1999)
    Analyzing Participation Frameworks in Kindergarten Writing Activity
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (7)

  1. Sperling (1994)
    Constructing the Perspective of Teacher-as-Reader: A Framework for Studying Res…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Freedman (1992)
    Outside-In and Inside-Out: Peer Response Groups in Two Ninth-Grade Classes
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. DYSON (1992)
    The Case of the Singing Scientist
    Written Communication
  4. HIGGINS et al. (1992)
    Planning Text Together
    Written Communication
  5. Sperling (1990)
    I Want to Talk to Each of You: Collaboration and the Teacher-Student Writing Co…
    Research in the Teaching of English
Show all 7 →
  1. McCarthy (1987)
    A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Herrington (1985)
    Writing in Academic Settings: A Study of the Contexts for Writing in Two Colleg…
    Research in the Teaching of English
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.2307/357715
     ↗
  2. 10.2307/356600
     ↗
  3. Gumperz, J.
    Discourse strategies
     ↗
  4. 10.2307/358073
     ↗
  5. Mehan, H.
    Learning lessons
     ↗
  6. 10.1080/00405847909542846
     ↗
  7. Nystrand, M.
    The structure of written communication: Studies in reciprocity between writers and readers
     ↗
  8. 10.2307/377093
     ↗
  9. Vygotsky, L. S.
    Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 15 View in citation network →

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