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These excerpts are typical of the ways that writers and writing are framed in public documents – mainstream media stories, foundation reports, and so on. It doesn’t take much work to find news stories that portray student writers as duplicitous or underprepared or writing as an activity that begins from correctness. In fact, you’d have to search for a long time to find an alternative representation of writers and writing.
A frame is a way of understanding something; it both reflects and perpetuates a set of values. When frames catch on and become widely used, the frame reflects values that make sense to a lot of people. It becomes “common sense – “of course <writing instruction and/or writers > are like this!” Alternatives to the frame – different approaches to writing instruction or different ways of talking about writers, for instance – are seen as outside of the mainstream. Might it be that students aren’t duplicitous? Might correctness not be the starting place for good writing? Not in this frame.
We can frame writing and writers differently in our own teaching and administrative work, sure. But we don’t work in a vacuum. Frames around writers and writing at other levels – on our campuses, at the state level – affect the possibilities available for our writing courses and programs. Just ask K-12 colleagues whose work is profoundly affected by No Child Left Behind. Or writing instructors in Texas, where the state legislature develops curricula for basic writing courses. Or WPAs in California, where the state has decided who should be tracked into 2- and 4-year colleges.
Almost ten years ago Joseph Harris lamented “the ongoing inability of compositionists (myself among them) to explain ourselves…” (85-86). In 1997 this was a problem. In 2005, it may be a fatal error. As much as we talk about ‘audience’ with students and work with them to write for real audiences, we need to do a much better job at communicating with outside audiences about our work if we are to shift the frame around discussions about writers and writing.
Becoming a Writing Activist Writing is everybody’s business because everybody wants good writing. That’s where we can start our discussion – and that’s where our expertise will be most valued outside of the profession. The first step toward changing the frame of discussions about writers and writing is participating in public discussions. We can help people understand how good writing is produced and what it looks like. Who are these people? They’re colleagues in other disciplines and departments. They’re administrators on our campuses; they’re people who read your local newspaper or listen to your local radio stations – especially public radio, where they love to listen to people like us. What do they want to hear? Accessible, thoughtful stories – and stories is a key word here – about what makes for good writing and what makes writing good. A couple of examples:
These stories share some common characteristics: They have a focus (here is what makes writing good; here is what good writing looks like). They demonstrate the expertise of the storytellers (WPAs-writing instructors who know how to teach writing well/students who have learned about subjects through their research). And they are current and relevant (prevent plagiarism!/engage students in academic writing!). But they also shift the frame of how writing and writers are discussed. They preclude certain ways of talking about writing or writers (they are duplicitous; their writing isn’t very good) and leave room for others (good writing instruction means good writers; writers can do very cool work). The linguist George Lakoff has of late devoted time and energy to this idea of frame-shifting in contexts outside of the academy. He notes that “when we negate a frame, we evoke the frame” (3). In other words, when we respond to a situation by saying, “We’re trying to prevent plagiarism!” or “Writers aren’t terrible!” we reinforce the frame that students are plagiarists (or potential plagiarists), or writers are terrible. Instead, Lakoff makes the case that we need to re-frame the discussion – not by negating it, but by shifting its terms. For the next month, we’ll talk about the opportunities available for changing the frame around writers and writing – on your campus, in your community. We’ll do this in several stages; I’ll introduce new questions and tips as we talk. What’s an opportunity? Something unique or novel in your class or program. A challenge to your pedagogy. A discussion of writers and writing that you don’t agree with in your local newspaper.
Let’s start our discussion brainstorming about the question: What opportunities do you see to change the frame around writers and writing? After we talk about opportunities, we’ll talk about the question: What are alternative frames around the opportunities you’ve identified? Here, we’ll brainstorm new ways to think of the issues that you raise in part one of the discussion. One concept we can play with here, also from Lakoff, is the idea of metaphor. If current metaphors for writing (for example: “Writing is crucial for success”) lead to particular understandings of writing (e.g., “bad writing=lack of success”), will different metaphors lead to different discussions? Next, we’ll think about What products you can create, where, and how to take advantage of the opportunities and shift the frame. These products might include campus events (like the Celebration of Student Writing), pieces for campus p.r. reps (like the press release), letters to your campus/local newspaper, op-ed pieces, or other items
As you ponder your answer, a few tips: *Remember the frame. It’s easy to react to negative portrayals by saying, “That’s not true!” But only saying that something isn’t the case, or that you’re/we’re trying to counter that case, merely reinforces the case. *Your best bet is to stay local. Local publications (campus, town, city) are interested in local stories. *Become an expert source. Even if your idea doesn’t “hit” the first time, part of changing the frame is becoming a source known to media professionals. Developing stories is a great start. *Check out the Council of Writing Program Administrators Network for Media Action (or WPA-NMA), a project devoted to shifting the frames around writing and writers in mainstream media. You can access the WPA-NMA site by going to wpacouncil.org and clicking on the NMA link in the menu bar.
Let’s begin!
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