In this article, the authors comment on Douglas Downs and Elizabeth Wardle's "Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions." As Downs and Wardle note, a one-year academic writing course will not prepare students to write in all fields, and evidence suggests limitations on the transfer of skills. The authors agree, in addition, that the study of…

For good or ill, textbooks are the most widespread means of disseminating theoretically-informed practices in the field of composition and rhetoric. In fact, in spite of the growing number of graduate programs concentrating on composition theory, pedagogy, and rhetoric, composition textbooks still reach more teachers and more students than…

Offers institutional critique as an activist methodology for changing institutions. Claims institutions are rhetorically constructed human designs and are therefore changeable. Argues that rhetorical action in the area of professional writing and public discourse rather than the composition classroom and departments of English can provide the…