Written Communication Oct 1994 Open Access

Redefining “Context” in Research on Writing

ELAINE CHIN

Abstract

Interest in the social aspects of composing has led writing researchers to examine more closely the contexts in which writing takes place. However, there is little agreement about what constitutes context as a theoretical construct. Because of this lack of agreement, writing researchers have not been able to delineate as fully as possible the interactions between context and composing. This article examines ways in which context has been defined and suggests a reconceptualization of this construct. The argument depends upon analyses of data gathered during a year-long ethnographic study of graduate journalism education. Specifically, results from the analyses of these data suggest that contexts for composing need to take into account individual writers' personal and social histories as they interact with the economic and political circumstances in which writers compose.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1994-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088394011004002
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Topics
qualitative research
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Wickman (2010)
    Writing Material in Chemical Physics Research: The Laboratory Notebook as Locus…
    Written Communication
  2. WINSOR (2000)
    Ordering Work: Blue-Collar Literacy and the Political Nature of Genre
    Written Communication
  3. Aronson (1999)
    Composing in a material world: Women writing in space and time
    Rhetoric Review
  4. MEDWAY (1996)
    Virtual and Material Buildings: Construction and Constructivism in Architecture…
    Written Communication

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