Written Communication Apr 1991

Dialogues of Deliberation: Conversation in the Teacher-Student Writing Conference

MELANIE SPERLING

Abstract

Through the use of case study portraits, this article examines naturally occurring one-to-one writing conference conversations between a ninth-grade English teacher and three students in his class. Suggesting a broadened model of effective writing conference instruction, the article considers composing processes that appear to be privileged in the conference context when different students are learning to write. The focus is on the dialogic nature of markedly contrasting conversations, demonstrating that while dialogue wears many guises and while the give and take between teacher and student can be fleeting and “forgettable,” the conversational context contributes to a deliberative process critical to the process of composing. Methodology for the research on which this article is based drew on ethnographic techniques combined with discourse analysis of writing conference conversation.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1991-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088391008002001
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis teacher development qualitative research
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. LARSON (1999)
    Analyzing Participation Frameworks in Kindergarten Writing Activity: The Role o…
    Written Communication

References (41) · 7 in this index

  1. Athaneses, S.
    From recitation to discussion: Shaping classroom discourse in the study of literature
  2. Bakhtin, M. M.
    The dialogic imagination
  3. Bereiter, C.
    Advances in instructional psychology
  4. Blenski, M.
    They really taught us how to write
  5. Bruner, J.
    The child's concept of language
Show all 41 →
  1. Cazden, C. B.
    The sociogenesis of language and human conduct: A multi-disciplinary book of readings
  2. Chafe, W.
    Spoken and written language: Exploring orality and literacy
  3. 10.1080/00405847909542836
     ↗
  4. Cooper, C.
    Survival through language: The basics and beyond. Proceedings of the 29th Language Commun…
  5. Daiute, C.
    The social construction of written communication
  6. deBeaugrande, R.
    Advances in discourse processes: Vol. 2. Text production: Toward a science of composition
  7. Dyson, A. H.
    The multiple worlds of child writers: A study of friends learning to write
  8. Florio-Ruane, S.
    annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association
  9. 10.2307/356600
     ↗
  10. Freedman, S. W.
    Selected papers from the 1981 Texas Writing Research Conference
  11. Freedman, S. W.
    Response to student writing
  12. Freedman, S. W.
    The acquisition of written language: Revision and response
  13. Graves, D.
    Writing: Teachers and children at work
  14. Grice, P.
    Syntax and semantics
  15. Gumperz, J.
    Discourse strategies
     ↗
  16. Halliday, M.A.K.
    Learning how to mean
  17. Heath, S. B.
    Language, authority, and criticism: Readings on the school textbook
  18. Jacobs et al. (1977)
    Helping Writers to Think: The Effect of Speech Roles in Individual Conferences …
    College English
  19. Knapp (1976)
    Contract/Conference Evaluations of Freshman Composition
    College English
  20. 10.2307/376356
     ↗
  21. Perl (1979)
    The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers
    Research in the Teaching of English
  22. Rose (1982)
    Spoken versus Written Criticism of Student Writing: Some Advantages of the Conf…
    College Composition and Communication
  23. Roth, P.
    The ghost writer
  24. 10.1353/lan.1974.0010
     ↗
  25. Sperling, M. (1988). The writing conference as a collaborative literacy event: Discours…
  26. Sperling (1990)
    I Want to Talk to Each of You: Collaboration and the Teacher-Student Writing Co…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  27. SPERLING et al. (1987)
    A Good Girl Writes Like a Good Girl: Written Response to Student Writing
    Written Communication
  28. Stone, C. A.
    annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association
  29. 10.1080/01638538909544733
     ↗
  30. Vygotsky, L. S.
    Thought and language
  31. Vygotsky, L. S.
    Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes
     ↗
  32. Walker et al. (1987)
    Writing Conference Talk: Factors Associated with High- and Low-Rated Writing Co…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  33. Walters, K.
    annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication
  34. Walters, K. (1984)
    Texas Linguistic Forum
  35. Wertsch, J. V.
    Children's learning in the “zone of proximal development”
  36. 10.2307/357634
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 20 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Pedagogy Apr 2023
    A Mighty Cooperative ↗
    Jennifer Horwitz
    discourse analysis decolonial rhetorics writing pedagogy teacher development argument qualitative research digital rhetoric multimodality online writing instruction race and writing disability studies place and space editorial matter
  2. Rhetorica Mar 2023
    Rhetoric and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Purity, Covenant, and Strategy at Qumran by Bruce McComiskey (review) ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis teacher development argument qualitative research body and rhetoric book reviews
  3. Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2023
    Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English ↗
    Katherine Brodeur; Anne Crampton; Chelsea Faase; Madeleine Israelson; Stephanie M. Madison; W. Ian O’Byrne; Lisa Ortmann; Erin Stutelberg; Kathryn Allen; Richard Beach; Nick Kleese; Debra Peterson; Stephanie Rollag Yoon; Anna Schick; Andrea Gambino; Jeff Share; Mikel Cole; Candance Doerr-Stevens; Amy Frederick; Robin Jocius; Megan McDonald Van Deventer; Sara K. Sterner; Mark Sulzer
    discourse analysis teacher development empirical research qualitative research
  4. Journal of Writing Research Jun 2022
    Baseline assessment in writing research: A case study of popularization discourse in first-year undergraduate students ↗
    Florentine Marnel Sterk; Merel Margot van Goch; Michael Burke; Iris van der Tuin
    genre theory discourse analysis graduate education teacher development assessment scientific writing qualitative research
  5. Composition Forum 2022
    From Tacit Myth to Explicit Lurking: Using Discourse-Based Interviews to Empirically Confront the Mythologized *Standard English Eel ↗
    Sarah Johnson
    modern rhetorical theory discourse analysis teacher development assessment qualitative research translingualism race and writing