Written Communication Jan 1989

A Social-Interactive Model of Writing

MARTIN NYSTRAND

Abstract

In this decade, writing researchers have shown increasing interest in the social aspects of written communication. This interest has largely been stimulated by interest in writing-across-the-curriculum programs and dialogue journal keeping, as well as such pressing issues as the relationships of process to text and to the social contexts of writing, and the problem of genre. This article outlines a social-interactive model of written communication, highlighting the writer's role in negotiations with readers in the medium of text. Formalist theories of text meaning (meaning is in the text) and idealist theories of meaning (meaning in the reader) are reviewed and challenged. In social-interactive theories of discourse, which are proposed as an alternative to formalist and idealist theories, meaning is said to be a social construct negotiated by writer and reader through the medium of text, which uniquely configures their respective purposes. In the process of communicating, writers and readers may be said to make various “moves,” which achieve progressive and sequential “states” of understanding between them. Writers make three essential kinds of moves: They (1) initiate and (2) sustain written discourse, which they accomplish by means of (3) text elaboration. The rules for writers' moves are spelled out in a fundamental axiom and seven corollaries.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1989-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088389006001005
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (25)

  1. Axelrod (2025)
    Improving Proposal Writing by Looking to Information Operations
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Rogers et al. (2020)
    Formal Communications’ Role in Knowledge Work: Evidence From Projects
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Bahls et al. (2015)
    LaTeXnics: The effect of specialized typesetting software on STEM students’ com…
    Computers and Composition
  4. Harwood et al. (2012)
    Performance in the Citing Behavior of Two Student Writers
    Written Communication
  5. Hunter (2011)
    Erasing “Property Lines”: A Collaborative Notion of Authorship and Textual Owne…
    Computers and Composition
Show all 25 →
  1. Evensen (2002)
    Convention from Below
    Written Communication
  2. Smidt (2002)
    Double Histories in Multivocal Classrooms
    Written Communication
  3. GEISLER (2001)
    Textual Objects
    Written Communication
  4. WIEMELT (2001)
    Toward an Activity-Based Conception of Writing and School Writing Contexts
    Written Communication
  5. ABBOTT (2000)
    “Blinking Out” and “Having the Touch”
    Written Communication
  6. ANGELOVA et al. (1999)
    “If You Don't Tell Me, How Can I Know?”
    Written Communication
  7. LARSON (1999)
    Analyzing Participation Frameworks in Kindergarten Writing Activity
    Written Communication
  8. SULLIVAN (1997)
    Dysfunctional Workers, Functional Texts
    Written Communication
  9. Grant‐Davie (1997)
    Rhetorical situations and their constituents
    Rhetoric Review
  10. FOERTSCH (1995)
    Where Cognitive Psychology Applies
    Written Communication
  11. CHIN (1994)
    Redefining “Context” in Research on Writing
    Written Communication
  12. FREEDMAN et al. (1994)
    Wearing Suits to Class
    Written Communication
  13. SMELTZER et al. (1994)
    Managers as Writers
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. Baker et al. (1994)
    The rhetoric of power: Political issues in management writing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  15. KAUFER et al. (1994)
    Some Concepts and Axioms about Communication
    Written Communication
  16. WILLIAMS (1993)
    Rule-Governed Approaches to Language and Composition
    Written Communication
  17. NYSTRAND et al. (1993)
    Where did Composition Studies Come from?
    Written Communication
  18. DONIN et al. (1992)
    Students' Strategies for Writing Instructions
    Written Communication
  19. WITTE (1992)
    Context, Text, Intertext
    Written Communication
  20. PRIOR (1991)
    Contextualizing Writing and Response in a Graduate Seminar
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (7)

  1. Porter (1986)
    Intertextuality and the discourse community
    Rhetoric Review
  2. BRANDT (1986)
    Toward an Understanding of Context in Composition
    Written Communication
  3. BEREITER et al. (1984)
    Learning about Writing from Reading
    Written Communication
  4. Witte (1983)
    Topical Structure and Revision: An Exploratory Study
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Odell et al. (1982)
    Writing in a Non- Academic Setting
    Research in the Teaching of English
Show all 7 →
  1. Fox (1980)
    Treatment of Writing Apprehension and Its Effects on Composition
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Bruffee (1973)
    Collaborative Learning: Some Practical Models
    College English
Also cites 15 works outside this index ↓
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    What writers know: The language, process, and structure of written discourse
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CrossRef global citation count: 121 View in citation network →

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