Conceding Composition

A Crooked History of Composition's Institutional Fortunes

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Communication
Cover of the book Conceding Composition by Ryan Skinnell, Utah State University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ryan Skinnell ISBN: 9781607325055
Publisher: Utah State University Press Publication: September 1, 2016
Imprint: Utah State University Press Language: English
Author: Ryan Skinnell
ISBN: 9781607325055
Publisher: Utah State University Press
Publication: September 1, 2016
Imprint: Utah State University Press
Language: English

First-year composition became the most common course in American higher education not because it could “fix” underprepared student writers, but because it has historically served significant institutional interests. That is, it can be “conceded” in multiple ways to help institutions solve political, promotional, and financial problems*. Conceding Composition *is a wide-ranging historical examination of composition’s evolving institutional value in American higher education over the course of nearly a century.
 
Based on extensive archival research conducted at six American universities and using the specific cases of institutional mission, regional accreditation, and federal funding, this study demonstrates that administrators and faculty have introduced, reformed, maintained, threatened, or eliminated composition as part of negotiations related to nondisciplinary institutional exigencies. Viewing composition from this perspective, author Ryan Skinnell raises new questions about why composition exists in the university, how it exists, and how teachers and scholars might productively reconceive first-year composition in light of its institutional functions.
 
The book considers the rhetorical, political, organizational, institutional, and promotional options conceding composition opened up for institutions of higher education and considers what the first-year course and the discipline might look like with composition’s transience reimagined not as a barrier but as a consummate institutional value.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

First-year composition became the most common course in American higher education not because it could “fix” underprepared student writers, but because it has historically served significant institutional interests. That is, it can be “conceded” in multiple ways to help institutions solve political, promotional, and financial problems*. Conceding Composition *is a wide-ranging historical examination of composition’s evolving institutional value in American higher education over the course of nearly a century.
 
Based on extensive archival research conducted at six American universities and using the specific cases of institutional mission, regional accreditation, and federal funding, this study demonstrates that administrators and faculty have introduced, reformed, maintained, threatened, or eliminated composition as part of negotiations related to nondisciplinary institutional exigencies. Viewing composition from this perspective, author Ryan Skinnell raises new questions about why composition exists in the university, how it exists, and how teachers and scholars might productively reconceive first-year composition in light of its institutional functions.
 
The book considers the rhetorical, political, organizational, institutional, and promotional options conceding composition opened up for institutions of higher education and considers what the first-year course and the discipline might look like with composition’s transience reimagined not as a barrier but as a consummate institutional value.

More books from Utah State University Press

Cover of the book Slender Man Is Coming by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Stories of Our Lives by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Out in the Center by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book On Being Human by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Microhistories of Composition by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Re/Orienting Writing Studies by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Rewriting by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Great Basin National Park by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Wildflowers of the Mountain West by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book The Meaningful Writing Project by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Retention, Persistence, and Writing Programs by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book The Working Lives of New Writing Center Directors by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book Very Like a Whale by Ryan Skinnell
Cover of the book The Open Hand by Ryan Skinnell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy