Composition studies
Composition Studies (also referred to as "Composition and Rhetoric," "College Composition," or simply "Composition") is the professional field of writing instruction, especially at the college level in the United States. In many American colleges and universities, undergraduate students must take freshman — sometimes even higher — composition courses. For example, in California, all public colleges and universities have 1A, freshman composition, and 1B, sophomore composition, requirements.
Many composition scholars study not only the theory and practice of postsecondary writing instruction, but also the influence of different writing conventions and genres on writers' composing processes. As written conventions and genres change over time, compositionists continue to learn how these changes affect writers, and how writers work to change the conventions within which they work.
First-year composition
Many universities have a required freshman, or first-year, composition course. This is not always the same as a literature course, which focuses on literary analysis; rather, composition courses are often intensive instruction in writing non-fiction, expository texts using academic discourse conventions.
Basic writing
Basic writing (often referred to as "remedial," "developmental," or "pre-transfer level") is a subfield of Composition that focuses on working with students who have been determined, typically by a placement test, as unfit to write at a collegiate level. This subfield grew out of the Open Admissions movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The practice of basic writing is often controversial as basic writing students are seen as students on the margins of academia.
Second-language writing
Second language writing is the practice of teaching writing to non-native speakers of English.
Writing across the curriculum
Because academic discourse is not monolithic, many compositionsits have created a writing across the curriculum (WAC) movement that situates writing-intensive instruction in specific academic discourse communities.
Writing center
Many colleges and universities have a writing center, which offers supplementary tutorial support for writing specifically in English classes and/or across the curriculum. Many universities in North America and especially elsewhere only offer writing instruction via writing centers.
See also
- Cultural studies
- English studies
- National Writing Project
- Rhetoric
- Second language writing
- Writing center