Pedagogy Jan 2021

The Theme Course

Michal Horton

Abstract

Theme courses are a common practice despite their limited presence in composition scholarship, which contributes to a fractured understanding of the theme course’s purpose and place in the discipline. This article offers an aggregate picture of theme (or topic) based courses based on disparate scholarly publications and affirmed by data collected through an online survey of writing instructors and program administrators. To trace the theme course within our disciplinary tradition and as a continuing practice, this article defines the theme course, distinguishing between writing as subject matter and theme content as a form of reinforcement. It furthermore historicizes the theme course’s limited life in scholarship, synthesizing key features of theme course practice, reinforced by survey responses. Ultimately, this article offers a framework for reflective practice that all theme course practitioners can use for developing, implementing, and evaluating their teaching methods. The underlying argument is that theme courses can support learning about writing, so long as theme selection and implementation work in purposeful support of the course’s learning about writing goals.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2021-01-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-8692737
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing program administration race and writing multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Windle (2025)
    Teaching Intersectionality in the Age of Intersectionality
    Pedagogy

Cites in this index (9)

  1. Row-Heyveld (2015)
    Reading Batman, Writing X-Men
    Pedagogy
  2. Heiman (2014)
    “Odd Topics” And Open Minds
    Pedagogy
  3. Dannen (2012)
    Sports and the Life of the Mind
    Pedagogy
  4. Estrem et al. (2012)
    What New Writing Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Teaching
    Pedagogy
  5. Sponenberg (2012)
    Course Theme and Ideology in the Freshman Writing Classroom
    Pedagogy
Show all 9 →
  1. Downs et al. (2007)
    Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions:
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Black (2007)
    Instructional Note: Beyond the Veil: Writing about the Paranormal in Basic and …
    Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  3. Trimbur et al. (1993)
    Responses to Maxine Hairston, "Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing" and Reply
    College Composition and Communication
  4. Snyder (1982)
    Working 1-002: A Theme Course for Freshman Composition
    College Composition and Communication
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
  1. Aitchison (2015)
    Decline and Renewal in the Liberal Arts as Themes for First-Year Writing
    Journal of General Education  ↗
  2. Cohen (1996)
    Monster Culture (Seven Theses)
     ↗
  3. Coles (1970)
    The Sense of Nonsense as a Design for Sequential Writing Assignments
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  4. Connors (1997)
    Composition-Rhetoric: Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy
     ↗
  5. Isaacs (2018)
    Writing at the State U: Instruction and Administration at 106 Comprehensive Universities
     ↗
  6. Rinto (2015)
    Library Instruction and Themed Composition Courses: An Investigation of Factors that Impa…
    Journal of Academic Librarianship  ↗
  7. Scheffler (1980)
    Composition with Content: An Interdisciplinary Approach
    College Composition and Communication  ↗
  8. Smelstor (1976)
    Using Popular Culture to Teach Composition
    English Journal  ↗
  9. Yancey (2014)
    Writing across Contexts: Transfer, Composition, and Sites of Writing
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network →

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