College Composition and Communication Jun 2019

The Emotional Work of Revision

Bruce Ballenger ; Kelly Myers

Abstract

Forty years ago, Nancy Sommers identified dissonance and the ways in which writers respond to incongruities between “intention and execution” as a core competency of revision. While still a challenge for student writers, dissonance now takes different forms, particularly for advanced student writers who embrace theories of revision but struggle to implement the practices. Unspoken, these experiences of dissonance become internalized as fear-based narratives and scripts that negatively impact student writers. Through in-process reflection, this study surfaces the ways in which students navigate the dissonance by adapting, or rescripting, their fear into a productive element of writing and revision. To better understand the interplay of strategy and struggle, we argue that revision pedagogies for advanced student writers must take the emotional work of revision into consideration

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2019-06-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc201930180
Open Access
Closed
Topics
race and writing multilingual writers revision

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Lambrecht (2025)
    Using Eye Tracking as a Peer Review Tool for Visual and Digital Compositions
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Stenberg et al. (2024)
    Acts of Recognition: A Study of Faculty Writers’ Experiences of Engaging Peer Review
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Mack (2024)
    Developing Dispositions for Transfer
    Pedagogy
  4. Kennedy (2024)
    Depression and Drama in Augustine of Hippo’s Rhetorical Imaginary
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  5. Comstock (2023)
    Toward a New Neurobiology of Writing: Plasticity and the Feeling of Failure
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 9 →
  1. Miller et al. (2023)
    Thinking about Feeling: The Roles of Emotion in Reflective Writing
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Vossoughi et al. (2021)
    Writing as a Social Act: The Feedback Relation as a Context for Political and E…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. Williams (2021)
    Feature: What are we doing with this?”: How High School Students’ Lived and Exp…
    Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  4. Beare et al. (2020)
    “Everyone Thinks It’s Just Me”: Exploring the Emotional Dimensions of Seeking P…
    College English

Cites in this index (1)

  1. Myers (2016)
    Metanoic Movement: The Transformative Power of Regret
    College Composition and Communication
Also cites 11 works outside this index ↓
  1. Aronson (1992)
    “The Return of the Oppressed: Dissonance Theory Makes a Comeback.”
    Psychological Inquiry  ↗
  2. Brand (1987)
    “The Why of Cognition: Emotion and the Writing Process.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  3. Festinger (1957)
    10.1515/9781503620766
    A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance  ↗
  4. Fitzgerald
    “Research on Revision in Writing.”
    Review of Educational Research  ↗
  5. Hjortshoj (1995)
    “The Marginality of the Left-Hand Castes (A Parable for Writing Teachers).”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  6. Norem (1986)
    “Defensive Pessimism: Harnessing Anxiety as Motivation.”
    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology  ↗
  7. Perkins (2012)
    “Knowledge to Go: A Motivational and Dispositional View of Transfer.”
    Educational Pscyhologist  ↗
  8. Roozen (2016)
    “Reflective Interviewing:Methodological Moves for Tracing Tacit Knowledge and Challenging…
    A Rhetoric of Reflection  ↗
  9. Sommers (1992)
    “Between the Drafts.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  10. Sommers (1980)
    “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers.”
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  11. Yancey (1998)
    10.2307/j.ctt46nsh0
    Reflection in the Writing Classroom  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 11 View in citation network →

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