College Composition and Communication Dec 1980

Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writer's Block

Mike Rose

Abstract

Ruth will labor over the first paragraph of an essay for hours. She'll write a sentence, then erase it. Try another, then scratch part of it out. Finally, as the evening winds on toward ten o'clock and Ruth, anxious about tomorrow's deadline, begins to wind into herself, she'll compose that first paragraph only to sit back and level her favorite exasperated interdiction at herself and her page: No. You can't say that. You'll bore them to death. Ruth is one of ten UCLA undergraduates with whom I discussed writer's block, that frustrating, self-defeating inability to generate the next line, the right phrase, the sentence that will release the flow of words once again. These ten people represented a fair cross-section of the UCLA student community: lower-middle-class to upper-middle-class backgrounds and high schools, third-world and Caucasian origins, biology to fine arts majors, C+ to Agrade point averages, enthusiastic to blase attitudes toward school. They were set off from the community by the twin facts that all ten could write competently, and all were currently enrolled in at least one course that required a significant amount of writing. They were set off among themselves by the fact that five of them wrote with relative to enviable ease while the other five experienced moderate to nearly immobilizing writer's block. This blocking usually resulted in rushed, often late papers and resultant grades that did not truly reflect these students' writing ability. And then, of course, there were other less measurable but probably more serious results: a growing distrust of their abilities and an aversion toward the composing process itself. What separated the five students who blocked from those who didn't? It wasn't skill; that was held fairly constant. The answer could have rested in the emotional realm-anxiety, fear of evaluation, insecurity, etc. Or perhaps blocking in some way resulted from variation in cognitive style. Perhaps, too, blocking originated in and typified a melding of emotion and cognition not unlike the relationship posited by Shapiro between neurotic feeling and

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
1980-12-01
DOI
10.2307/356589
CompPile
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy assessment affect and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (20)

  1. Khuder et al. (2019)
    L2 Writing Task Representation in Test-Like and Non-Test-Like Situations
    Written Communication
  2. Takayoshi (2018)
    Writing in Social Worlds: An Argument for Researching Composing Processes
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Peary (2016)
    The Role of Mindfulness inKairos
    Rhetoric Review
  4. King (2012)
    Reverse Outlining: A Method for Effective Revision of Document Structure
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Adnot-Haynes et al. (2012)
    Knocking Sparks
    Pedagogy
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  1. Taylor (2006)
    Assessment in Client-Based Technical Writing Classes: Evolution of Teacher and …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Shankar (2006)
    Speaking on the record: A theory of composition
    Computers and Composition
  3. Smith (2003)
    The Role of Technical Expertise in Engineering and Writing Teachers’ Evaluation…
    Written Communication
  4. Haas et al. (2001)
    Writing as an Embodied Practice: The Case of Engineering Standards
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. BOICE (1997)
    Which is more Productive, Writing in Binge Patterns of Creative Illness or in M…
    Written Communication
  6. PALMQUIST et al. (1992)
    The Notion of Giftedness and Student Expectations about Writing
    Written Communication
  7. HIGGINS et al. (1992)
    Planning Text Together: The Role of Critical Reflection in Student Collaboration
    Written Communication
  8. Griffin (1990)
    Shaftesbury'sSoliloquy:The development of rhetorical authority
    Rhetoric Review
  9. SMAGORINSKY (1989)
    The Reliability and Validity of Protocol Analysis
    Written Communication
  10. BETANCOURT et al. (1988)
    Sources of Writing Block in Bilingual Writers
    Written Communication
  11. TOMLINSON (1988)
    Tuning, Tying, and Training Texts: Metaphors for Revision
    Written Communication
  12. TOMLINSON (1986)
    Characters are Coauthors: Segmenting the Self, Integrating the Composing Process
    Written Communication
  13. BOICE (1985)
    Cognitive Components of Blocking
    Written Communication
  14. RUBIN (1984)
    Social Cognition and Written Communication
    Written Communication
  15. FLOWER et al. (1984)
    Images, Plans, and Prose: The Representation of Meaning in Writing
    Written Communication

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