Developmental Gains of a History Major: A Case for Building a Theory of Disciplinary Writing Expertise

• Published in: Research in the teaching of English Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 136 - 185
• Main Author: Beaufort, Anne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Urbana National Council of Teachers of English 01.11.2004
• Subjects: Academic Language; Basic writing; Case Studies; Composition; Content Area Writing; Developmental Stages; Discourse Communities; English instruction; History Instruction; Knowledge; Knowledge Level; Literacy; Literary criticism; Longitudinal Studies; Rhetoric; Thinking Skills; Undergraduate Students; Writing; Writing (Composition); Writing assignments; Writing instruction; Writing Processes; Writing Skills; Written communication; Written composition; United States > US
• ISSN: 0034-527X; 1943-2348
• DOI: 10.58680/rte20044467

In literacy and composition studies, efforts to develop data-driven theories of disciplinary writing expertise and of writers' developmental processes in joining specific discourse communities have so far been limited. This case study, of one writer's experiences as an undergraduate history major, parses the multiple knowledge domains comprising disciplinary writing expertise and compares his beginning and later work for signs of developmental progress. A conceptual model of five knowledge domains writers must draw upon--discourse-community knowledge, subject-matter knowledge, genre knowledge, rhetorical knowledge, and writing-process knowledge--is applied to the data both for analysis of the case and for exploring the usefulness of the conceptual model for further empirical and theoretical work. What results is a fuller depiction of the complexities of gaining expertise in any given discourse community, as well as an indication of the importance of educators across all disciplines considering the multi-dimensional and developmental nature of their curricula for building literacy skills.