ENC 5700 - Spring 2025 - Lathan

Theories of composition will introduce you to the discipline of Composition Studies and a number of conversations within the profession.

The primary goal of this course is to increase understanding of, and appreciation for, composition studies both as situated, practical activity in the world and as an academic discipline concerned with writing. The course should also help you learn about the history of English studies in general, reflect productively on literacy issues for your own professional development, and open up a body of new texts, debates, theories, and practices that could be relevant for your research.

We will begin with a survey of composition theory from historical perspectives exploring some key concepts and issues that give rise to what we know about writing, and the rhetoric(s) behind composition pedagogies. Another section of the course explores theories of composition including social linguistic, cognitive writing and the literacy theories. In addition, we will analyze how writers learn to write and how researchers study writing. Throughout the course we will discuss the politics of composition studies.