Teaching Writing, Rhetoric, and Reason at the Globalizing University

This book argues that traditional approaches to teaching writing, grammar, and argumentation foster marginalization, oppression, and the restriction of student agency. It provides a critical analysis of core topics in composition studies, including the teaching of grammar, objectivity and neutrality, empiricism and pragmatism, identity politics, and postmodernism, and aims at graduate students and junior instructors in rhetoric and composition, as well as more seasoned scholars and program administrators.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 138 pages
Publication date: 09 January 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This timely intervention into composition studies presents a compelling case for the necessity of teaching all students a shared system of communication and logic rooted in modern globalizing ideals of universality, neutrality, and empiricism. Through a series of meticulous close readings of contemporary writing by esteemed scholars such as Stanley Fish, Asao Inoue, Doug Downs, Elizabeth Wardle, Richard Rorty, Slavoj Zizek, and Steven Pinker, this book critically examines recent arguments that traditional approaches to teaching writing, grammar, and argumentation perpetuate marginalization, oppression, and the limitation of student agency. Instead, it advocates for a mode of academic discourse dedicated to the impartial judgment of empirical facts communicated in an open and clear manner. This book serves as a valuable resource for graduate students and junior instructors in rhetoric and composition, as well as more seasoned scholars and program administrators. It provides a comprehensive analysis of core topics in composition studies, including the teaching of grammar, notions of objectivity and neutrality, empiricism and pragmatism, identity politics, and postmodernism. By presenting these debates in an accessible format, this book equips writing instructors with the tools they need to navigate the complex and ever-evolving landscape of composition education.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367638788