Chaos theory provides a powerful lens for re-seeing a number of issues in composition studies ranging in scale from achieving a generative model for text production to articulating the very nature of the discipline. Chaos systems are nonlinear, have complex forms, manifest recursive symmetries between scale levels, have feedback mechanisms, and…

As a critical activity, academic debate potentially offers its participants a wide choice in deciding how, and on what basis, a proposition can be defended or challenged. Despite this range of possibilities, CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) debate at the national level has developed a consistency in the types of arguments offered and…

This paper describes the present "state of the art" of the field of "empirical studies of literature" and explains how this state has come about, given the interdisciplinary and international character of the groups involved. This entails looking at the relationships among, for example, the disciplinary and national influences…

Represents an educator interviewing himself, with the help of an imaginary Jacques Derrida and quotes from the film "The Commitments." Ranges over many issues, including thoughts about rhetoric, composition, and U.S. culture. (PA)

Uses a case study based on interviews and documents to apply narrative theory and methods to "garbage can" decision theory. States that narrative approaches to organizational action offer insight into how decisions occur in organizations and that organizational decision making may be understood as the interweaving of multiple, ongoing,…

Analyzes video recordings of classroom discourse in a cooperative learning program by using sociolinguistic methods to discover the actual content of a classroom dialog and how the participants infer the meaning of what is said. Concludes that, when children are left alone, they will involve themselves in the curriculum but frame it in perspective…

Suggests that nineteenth-century divisions of the university are no longer an adequate grid for intellectual activity, and that, in response, many intellectual disciplines appear more open to external discourses. Proposes substituting the metaphor of river or current for that of territory when discussing interdisciplinarity. (RS)

Constructs a discourse (through argument, analysis, and reading) concerning conceptual changes that might expand ideas of hypertext rhetoric. Applies those changes by combining conventions of traditional print discourse with conventions of hypertextual writing. (NH)

Applies M. Foucault's account of power-discourse and its relationship to its owners to aspects of late 19th/early 20th centuries, when new technologies have multiplied the capacity of power-discourse to intervene in lives. Identifies industrial urban crowd as a target for discourse; considers this conjunction in light of Foucault's theories.…

States that changes in the United States Senate evolve slowly and idiosyncratically. Discusses Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania's violation of the Senate's style of rhetorical decorum. Concludes that, while clinging to the customs of the past and slowness of pace that distinguish it from the House of Representatives, the Senate has not escaped the…

Draws on theories of situated learning in a study that compared novices learning written genres in two different institutional settings within similar disciplines: university students in public administration, and graduate student interns in government agencies. Concludes when students move from the university to the workplace, they have to learn…

Fahnestock and Secors "The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism" characterized literary criticism of the 1970s as conservative and self-celebratory. However, although literary theory has since undergone significant change, few rhetorical analyses of recent literary criticism as the preferred genre of a disciplinary discourse community have been…

Ritual has played an integral role in human development and socialization throughout history. This paper seeks to highlight that role so that the importance of perpetuating ritual becomes obvious and necessary. The purpose of this paper is to re-iterate the significance of ritual in human development, education, and social improvement; discuss the…

In the literature dealing with L2 teacher training and education numerous references are made to the concept of reflective teaching and teachers and teacher educators are encouraged to engage in reflective practices. The present paper, however, argues that in our attempt to empower teachers to become more efficient practitioners, we have lost…

This paper explores evaluation strategies to gauge the impact of a novel instructional design on international community participation online. This is done by conceptualizing and devising indicators for measuring "engagement" online amongst marginalized adult communities worldwide. In doing so, a review of online evaluation literature is…