Composition: History & Theory: 2000 - 2009
Lee-Ann M. Kastman Breuch “Post-Process ‘Pedagogy’: A Philosophical Exercise”
Description
In her 2002 article “Post-Process ‘Pedagogy’: A Philosophical Exercise,” Lee-Ann M. Kastman Breuch takes to task sorting out the complex and often vague assumptions placed on post-process theories of composition. She begins her argument by asserting that critics’ notion of post-process as nothing more than an attack on the process paradigm, or a means to simply, “knock process off its pedestal,” are neglecting insights offered by post-process theorists’ on troubling questions that have plagued the profession since the inception of “writing as a process” (108). Breuch describes post-process as a rejection of what she calls “mastery” of a universal writing process, in favor of a more situated and contextual approach to writing (105). Breuch draws on post-process theorist Thomas Kent in establishing what she considers to be the central tenets of post-process theory: writing as a public action, writing as it is shaped by interpretation, and writing as it is situated within various contexts. While Breuch offers a well thought out rebuttal to critics of post-process theories, her characterization of post-process as “anti-foundational” is problematic in that it excludes Post-process theories that do acknowledge the process paradigm as a foundation for teaching writing and encourage teachers of writing to simply move beyond teaching a single universal process of writing. More problematic, in that in her characterization of post-process as an “anti-foundational” theory, Breuch rejects the notion that Post-Process theories can evolve into classroom pedagogies, and claiming that, “it is unlikely that we will ever see a ‘post-process pedagogy’” and that teachers and scholars should inform their classroom practice by rejecting the teaching of mastery of process, and by engaging in direct dialogue with students (117-18).
Date of Upload
11/4/09