Written Communication Oct 1985

The Reform Tradition in Nineteenth-Century Composition Teaching

WILLIAM F. WOODS

Abstract

The composition teaching we tend to associate with nineteenth-century schools was exemplified by A. S. Hill's courses at Harvard, which emphasized correctness, clarity, stylistic refinements, and organization. But there was also a “reform tradition” that stressed the importance of the student's interests and experience, and saw the writing task as based on observation, description, speaking, and listening. Inspired partly by romantic educational theories from the continent, this tradition grew out of the social and educational reforms of the 1830s and 1840s and provided the basis for the early progressive teaching of the 1890s.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1985-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088385002004003
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
teacher development
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Schultz (1995)
    Pestalozzi's Mark on nineteenth‐century composition instruction: Ideas not in w…
    Rhetoric Review
  2. NELMS (1992)
    The Case for Oral Evidence in Composition Historiography
    Written Communication

References (42)

  1. Adams, C. F. (1897)
    Harvard Graduates Magazine
  2. Barnard, H.
    Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism
  3. Blair, H.
    Lectures on rhetoric and belles letters
  4. Button, H. W.
    History of education and culture in America
  5. Campbell, G.
    The philosophy of rhetoric
Show all 42 →
  1. Commager, H. S.
    The American mind
  2. Cremin, L. A.
    The American common school: An historic conception
  3. Cremin, L. A.
    The transformation of the school: Progressivism in American education
  4. Dearborn, N. E.
    The Oswego movement in American education
  5. Downs, R. E.
    Heinrich Pestalozzi: Father of modern pedagogy
  6. Finkelstein, B. J. (1970). Governing the young: Teacher behavior in American primary sc…
  7. Frost, J.
    Easy lessons in composition
  8. Genung, J. F.
    The practical elements of rhetoric
  9. Gibbons, T.
    Rooms in the Darwin Hotel: Studies in English literary criticism and ideas 1880-1920
  10. Greene, S. S.
    An analysis of the English language
  11. Gutek, G. L.
    Pestalozzi and education
  12. Hall, G. S.
    Educational problems
  13. Hall, G. S.
    Life and confessions of a psychologist
  14. Hess, G. C. (1949). An analysis of early American rhetoric and composition textbooks …
  15. Hopkins, E. M.
    A handbook on the teaching of English
  16. James, W.
    Talks to teachers on psychology
  17. Katz, M. B.
    The irony of early school reform: Educational innovation in midnineteenth-century Massachusetts
  18. Kuhn, A. L.
    Mother's role in childhood education: New England concepts, 1830-60
  19. Lull, H. G. (1913). Inherited tendencies of secondary instruction in the United States (University o…
  20. Lyman, R. L.
    English grammar in American schools before 1850
  21. Monroe, W. S.
    History of the Pestalozzian movement in the United States
  22. Müller, M.
    Lectures on the science of language
  23. Neef, J.
    Sketch of a plan and method of education
  24. Parker, R. G.
    Progressive exercises in English composition
  25. Parker, R. G.
    Aids to English composition
  26. Pinloche, A.
    Pestalozzi and the foundation of the modern elementary school
  27. Pinneo, T. S.
    Analytical grammar of the English language
  28. 10.1080/00335635909382357
     ↗
  29. Russell, W. H. (1856)
    American Journal of Education
  30. Silber, K.
    Pestalozzi: The man and his work
  31. Smith, R. C.
    English grammar on the productive system
  32. Sunley, R.
    Childhood in contemporary culture
  33. Tyler, A. F.
    Freedom's ferment: Phases of American social history to 1860
  34. Ward, J.
    A system of oratory
  35. Whately, R.
    Elements of rhetoric
  36. White, E. E.
    The art of teaching
  37. 10.2307/357604
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Computers and Composition Jun 2026
    “Article laundry” or “tutor in pocket?”: Multilingual writers’ generative AI-assisted writing in professional settings ↗
    Qianqian Zhang-Wu
    writing pedagogy teacher development professional writing qualitative research digital rhetoric artificial intelligence multilingual writers
  2. Computers and Composition Jun 2026
    Evaluating students’ Coded animated stories as multimodal narrative composition in the middle school English curriculum ↗
    Len Unsworth
    first-year composition teacher development digital rhetoric multimodality
  3. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly May 2026
    Andrew Carnegie and the Rhetorical History of Business and Professional Communication ↗
    Joe Edward Hatfield
    rhetorical criticism teacher development professional writing archival research
  4. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Apr 2026
    Bridging Curricula and Workplaces in China: A Needs-Based Model for Arabic Business Communication ↗
    Suo Yan Mei; Suo Yan Ju; Zarima Mohd Zakaria
    discourse analysis teacher development professional writing
  5. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Apr 2026
    Teacher Clarity, Immediacy, and Self-Efficacy: An Ecological Approach to Student Burnout ↗
    Diyako Rahmani; Jenilee Crutcher Williams; Michelle T. Violanti; Stephanie Kelly
    graduate education teacher development professional writing