Basic Writing and Disciplinary Maturation: How Chance Conversations Continue to Shape The Field

Edward M. White, William DeGenaro
2016 Journal of Basic Writing  
B JW J o u r n a l o f B a s i c Wr i t i n g VOLUME 35 NUMBER 1 SPRING/FALL 2016 1 5 23 63 85 CALL FOR ARTICLES We welcome manuscripts of 15-25 pages, double spaced, on topics related to basic and ESL writing, broadly interpreted. Submissions should follow current MLA guidelines. Manuscripts are refereed anonymously. To assure impartial review, include name(s), affiliation(s), mailing and e-mail addresses, and a short biographical note for publication on the cover page only. The second page
more » ... uld include the title but no author identification, an abstract of about 150 words, and a list of 4-5 key words. Endnotes should be kept to a minimum. It is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission for including excerpts from student writing, especially as it entails IRB review. Contributions should be submitted as Word document attachments via e-mail to: hopekcc@aol.com as well as hope.parisi@kbcc.cuny.edu, and Cheryl.Smith@baruch.cuny. edu. You will receive a confirmation of receipt; a report on the status of your submission will follow in about sixteen weeks. All manuscripts must focus clearly on basic writing and must add substantively to the existing literature. We seek manuscripts that are original, stimulating, well-grounded in theory, and clearly related to practice. Work that reiterates what is known or work previously published will not be considered. We invite authors to write about such matters as classroom practices in relation to basic-writing or second-language theory; cognitive and rhetorical theories and their relation to basic writing; social, psychological, and cultural implications of literacy; discourse theory; grammar, spelling, and error analysis; linguistics; computers and new technologies in basic writing; assessment and evaluation; writing center practices; teaching logs and the development of new methodologies; and cross-disciplinary studies combining basic writing with psychology, anthropology, journalism, and art. We publish observational studies as well as theoretical discussions on relationships between basic writing and reading, or the study of literature, or speech, or listening. The term "basic writer" is used with wide diversity today, and critiques the institutions and contexts that place students in basic writing and standardize academic language, as much as it may illumine the subtexts of individuals' writing processes. To help readers, therefore, authors should describe clearly the student population which they are discussing. We particularly encourage a variety of manuscripts: speculative discussions which venture fresh interpretations; essays which draw heavily on student writing as supportive evidence for new observations; research reports, written in non-technical language, which offer observations previously unknown or unsubstantiated; and collaborative writings which provocatively debate more than one side of a central controversy. What does it mean to say that basic writing has matured as a subfield?¹ The subfield of basic writing studies as a distinct enterprise within the larger discipline of composition and rhetoric has matured, which is to say BW scholars can (and do) collectively point to agreed-upon, discipline-sanctioned touchstones. Moreso than fifteen years ago, we comprise a community that uses these touchstones productively to create both new knowledge and new programs. A little more than fifteen years ago, the two of us wrote ABSTRACT: Thirty years ago, Maxine Hairston observed that disciplinary shifts in writing studies occur not gradually but rather due to revolutionary "paradigm shifts." Perhaps. But even as the discipline has grown, chance encounters, collaborations rooted in friendship, conversations and coffees, and the discovery of mutual acquaintances have continued to play roles. The subfield we call basic writing has maintained an ethos informed by these "small moments," and even as the subfield has matured in the last fifteen years, we have collectively stayed small and ought to continue fostering an atmosphere that is paradoxically mature but also serendipitous, friendly, and even informal. This article is about BW's burgeoning (sub-) disciplinary maturity. In equal part, though, we tell our own stories, and reflect on how serendipitous that engagement has been, ultimately arguing that the BW community continue to foster and expand serendipitous engagement.
doi:10.37514/jbw-j.2016.35.1.02 fatcat:dfyrn5w2fnbk3ozq552n6ztexm