Campus Units
English
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
2016
Journal or Book Title
Futures for English Studies. Ed. Ann Hewings, Lynda Prescott and Phillip Seargeant
Volume
Chapter 8
First Page
139
Last Page
157
DOI
10.1007/978-1-137-43180-6
Abstract
The study and teaching of academic and other practical kinds of writing has become, over the last 40 years, a major focus within university English departments in the US. Although the study and teaching of imaginative literature has traditionally had greater prestige, writing studies (as it is coming to be called) has altered the landscape of academic English dramatically, both within and beyond English departments. A typical US university provides support for student writing in various programmatic ways, which are usually housed in English departments. There are introductory courses in general academic writing ('composition') in the first year or two, required of almost all students (and have been so for 140 years). There is a 'Writing Center' that provides one-on-one or small group tuition for students in any course. There is a 'Writing Across the Curriculum' or 'Writing in the Disciplines' program that offers support to teaching staff in all departments on ways to use writing more effectively to support students’ learning in their fields. There are English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) courses mainly for international students. Often there are specialized communication courses to support writing in such fields as engineering, commerce, law, or the natural sciences. And increasingly there are four-year curricula where students earn a bachelor's degree in writing, just as they might in literature or chemistry. All of these supports for writing are in addition to (and separate from) courses in creative writing (poetry, fiction, drama) and professional schools of journalism. This was not always so. And the expansion of English department curricula has been—and in some ways still is—a site of contestation, more and less bitter, for almost 150 years.
Copyright Owner
The Author(s)
Copyright Date
2016
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Russell, David R., "The Literary and the Literate: The Study and Teaching of Writing in US English Departments" (2016). English Publications. 274.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/engl_pubs/274
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Higher Education Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Technical and Professional Writing Commons
Comments
This accepted book chapter is published as Russell, David R. (2016). “The literary and the literate: The study and teaching of writing in US English departments” In Futures for English Studies. Ed. Ann Hewings, Lynda Prescott and Phillip Seargeant. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapter 8; 139-157; doi:10.1007/978-1-137-43180-6. Posted with permission.