Readings and Research for Teaching Writing

The discipline of rhetoric and composition conducts extensive research on the teaching of writing. Below is a selection of resources connecting theory to effective pedagogical practice, which might be particularly helpful for teachers in multiple disciplines.

Annotated Bibliographies

The following annotated bibliographies were composed by our program’s graduate instructors as part of their teaching practicum class.

A Non-Binary Pedagogy: Queer Theory in Teaching Composition

Emma Crisp

The application of queer theory—a critical framework that focuses on the role of gender and sexuality norms in maintaining oppressive power structures—to pedagogy has met a resurgence in recent years after stalling somewhat in the early 2000s. To “queer” something is to celebrate the messiness and complexity of individual identity; wrestle with questions of boundaries, binaries, and social norms; and find joy in a constant process of dismantling and recreating the self. All of these actions are particularly relevant to rhetoric as a discipline, and thus, a queer pedagogical ideology would seem to be a natural fit for composition teachers to consider and implement in their English classrooms.

Queer Pedagogy & Identity in the Composition Classroom

Lauren McKinnon

The composition classroom should aim to equip students with rhetorical tools to amplify their own unique voices; otherwise, binary classroom structures create no space for queer identities and bodies to exist. Queer pedagogy encourages students to embrace their unique identities and voices as strengths and encourages students to lean into aspects of their identities that do not fit a binary structure. Composition teachers can model the breaking of binaries through restructuring classroom lessons with queer pedagogy in mind and reembodying the teaching experience (Buyserie and Ramírez 8).

Decolonial Approaches to Rhetoric and Composition Pedagogy

Wes Mathis

In the past, it has been common for instructors of rhetoric and composition to apply decolonial frameworks to their instruction with just a few modifications of the syllabus and assignments, using the term decolonial as a metaphorical “catch-all term appropriated to mean human rights or social justice” (Itchuaqiyaq 36). The following annotations are just a few selections of decolonial scholarship that can help composition instructors apply what the collective literature interprets as a more literal decolonial pedagogy.

Teacher Resource: Mental Disability Rhetorics

Taylor Wyatt

This bibliography focuses on the pedagogical theory behind the human actor in composition settings. The document asks readers to question the rhetorical position they exist in with regard to their students.