Author Description

At a time when everyone seems to regard the state of writing instruction with despair, the appearance of this book is especially welcome. Here is an engaging and enlightening look back at how eight leading teachers and researchers from the past succeeded with the teaching of writing.The crisis over writing ability is hardly new, John Brereton observes, and over the past eighty years educators have worked to devise appropriate theories and techniques, devoting their careers to researching the writing process and to teaching college students how to "think through" in writing. The eight figures profiled here flourished at different times, from the turn of the century to the 1970s, and they varied considerably in temperament and approach. But, sharing a professional commitment to the writing process, they remain enormously important as sources of ideas, as models for current future careers, and as figures to agree with or to argue against. Containing seperate essays written by today's leaders in the field, this book is the first to examine the contributions of these teachers under one set of covers. It thus offers an invalubale perspective as it puts current writing instruction in touch with a tradition dating back to the nineteenth century and earlier.The contributors to this collection have all published widely on the subject of writing instruction and research, and most have held eminent positions in professional organizations.About the Author:John Brereton is Associate Professor of English at Wayne State University and has authored a textbook and articles on writing instruction.